Sariah Yackee of Wauseon, Ohio has had an eventful 2015 so far, and perhaps the biggest event for her could happen this spring. Back in January, the senior basketball player hit a game winning shot at the buzzer against a rival in the Northwest Ohio Athletic League. She has also been given numerous awards, and she may end up with the Prom date of her dreams if she can reach a certain goal proposed by that dream date.
According to Sariah, her chance to have her dream date all started rather innocently at a pre-game team meal. She and the members of the Wauseon girls’ basketball team were talking about the prom set for May 2. While searching the internet on their phones, someone discovered the dream date for prom. “One of us stumbled upon this photo of this cute guy,” Sariah said in a recent interview, “and we started joking about asking him out to prom.” That “cute” guy turned out to be Sam Hubbard, a red shirt freshman football player at The Ohio State University. While in high school, Hubbard played football for Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati. 
The team has won a number of state championships, but Sariah and teammates were unaware of Hubbard’s background. At the coaxing of her teammates, Sariah reached out on Twitter to Hubbard. Hubbard’s teammate, Stephen Collier, aided in Sariah making contact with Hubbard since Collier and Yackee follow each other on Twitter. Hubbard replied that he’d take her to prom if she was able to get her request retweeted 50,000 times.
In an interview with 1370 WSPD, Sariah explained how she negotiated with Hubbard. “My teammates kind of pushed me to bargain with him so he brought it down to 15k,” she said. At present, Sariah has had over 8,000 retweets, so she has gone past the halfway mark with about two months before prom. If you would like to help Sariah reach the 15,000 goal, go to this link and be sure to retweet it for her cause!
“This past month has been crazy for me with all of the attention,” Sariah said. “I’ve had offers from stores for a prom dress and a tuxedo for Sam. Plus, I’ve been contacted by a number of newspapers and radio stations. I appreciate everyone who has reached out to me in trying to get the 15,000 retweets. I think it would be great for Wauseon if Sam would come to our little town.”
Besides the campaign to bring Sam Hubbard to Wauseon as her prom date, the senior guard recently brought joy to local basketball fans by helping the Wauseon Indians defeat NWOAL rival, the Archbold Blue Streaks. “It’s been a long time since we have beaten Archbold at Archbold,” Sariah said. The game was an epic battle with the lead changing hands many times during the game, and when the final buzzer sounded at the end of the fourth quarter, the score was tied. In overtime, the Blue Streaks took control early, but the Indians fought back and with only 6.2 seconds left in the game, Coach Ashley Oyer called a timeout. The score was 46-47, Blue Streaks.
Coach Oyer instructed the girls on the play to use for the final shot. According to Sariah, Coach Oyer set up the play so that Maddie Richer would get the ball on the wing after Sariah took the inbounds pass at the top of the key. At that point during the timeout, Sariah went into what some athletes describe as “the Zone”. “I remember being calm and usually I have so much energy in games, I tend to freak out.” Sariah took the inbounds pass and drove down the middle of the key but she almost lost control of the ball. There was no chance to pass the ball to Richer, so Sariah took the shot. She made it and the Indians won 48-47 in front of a shocked Archbold audience.
Sadly, Sariah’s basketball season ended sooner than she had hoped it would. Sariah and the Indians became sectional champs, but lost in semi-district play to the Wapakoneta Redskins. The loss deeply hurt the senior guard. “I was heartbroken when we lost to Wapakoneta.” Sariah led all scorers in that game with 23 points. 
During her basketball career with the Indians, she has earned a variety of awards including the Crescent News Player of the Week, Village Reporter Player of the Week, and 1st team NWOAL honors, but Sariah treasures her Athlete of the Week Award from 96.1WMTR & Swanton Welding and Machining Company the most. She received this particular accolade after helping her team beat the Archbold Blue Streaks. “It’s every girl’s dream to beat your archrival with a last minute shot,” Sariah said, and she displays the award in the center of her trophy shelf. To view Hit Trophy’s photo collection of 2014-2015 Athletes of the Week plaques, click this link.
Hit Trophy was happy to create that particular award for Sariah. Her award is our Black Glass Plaque that comes in two sizes: 6” x 8” and 8”x 10”. The 3/8” thick plaque has beveled edges and stands upright due to its metal peg at the bottom of the award. This style also comes in Clear, Blue, and Smoked Glass colors. And for 2015, we have just added a sophisticated new plaque, our Blue Accent Glass Plaque. This marvelous award has a clear glass 3/8” body with a dramatic sapphire highlight running vertically down the award. A beautiful silver plated easel post keeps the tribute standing so everyone can read the engraving. Our graphic artists can place artwork, logos, mascots, and up to 8 lines of text on this award, and our engraving is always free of charge on all of our products.
Once again, congratulations to Sariah Yackee on a fine basketball season and career with the Wauseon Indians, and we wish her good luck in getting her dream date with Sam Hubbard as well as all of her future plans.