CANTON: If Jackson could have gotten off to a better start and played any more efficiently Saturday, it would have won the Boston Marathon, the Iditarod, the World Series, the Super Bowl and made a side trip to the moon.
And if Polar Bears coach Tim Debevec could have pictured his team playing a more complete game, he would have been coaching on Cloud Nine.
As it is, the Polar Bears and Debevec will gladly settle for the Division I district championship they won in front of 3,852 fans in the Canton Memorial Civic Center. And for at least one day, Debevec enjoyed the view from such lofty heights.
In an outcome no one could have anticipated, Jackson overwhelmed rival Hoover from the opening whistle and cruised to a 70-42 victory to advance to the regional tournament for the first time since 2014.
Jackson (24-2) will play Medina (18-7) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Rhodes Arena. Medina upset top-seeded Archbishop Hoban at Copley.
Led by senior Kyle Young and junior Jaret Pallotta, the Polar Bears fell behind 4-0, but then dominated the Vikings at both ends of the floor through the first two quarters like no one has this season. And there wasn’t much let-up in the second half.
Jackson held the Vikings (18-6) scoreless for almost eight minutes during the opening two quarters while going 9-for-9 from the field in the second quarter to build a stunning 35-10 lead at the half.
“At one point I looked up at the scoreboard and saw it was 26-6 and I asked myself, ‘Did we just go on a 26-2 run?’ ” said Pallotta, who repeatedly made big plays with clutch baskets, bull’s-eye passes, slick steals and offensive rebounds. “We executed everything exactly the way we wanted. The seniors stepped up but we all came out composed and ready to play.”
Pallotta scored 19 points, had seven assists — some of the eye-opening variety — three steals and three rebounds.
Young, the player of the year in the Northeast Inland district for the second season in a row, led everyone with 21 points and had nine rebounds. The 6-7 Butler recruit was especially effective in the second quarter when he had 11 points, two rebounds and one steal.
“We came out after those first two baskets and Jaret got us going and we kept rolling and everything was perfect,” Young said. “I felt like I had no worries at all. It was awesome going into halftime with that lead and knowing all we had to do was stay smart and keep the lead.”
Junior Eli Blackledge, the son of coach Todd Blackledge, led Hoover with 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Senior Nathan Fox finished with 10 points and five rebounds.
“I’d really like a re-do of the first half,” Todd Blackledge said. “They just bombed us. It’s kind of hard to explain ... Obviously, they outplayed us. They pushed us around and they seemed a little looser and more focused than us. We were just out of sorts.”
After Fox hit a basket to bring the Vikings to within 7-6 with 3:10 left in the first quarter, they did not score again until Fox made two free throws with 3:17 to go in the first half. In between, Jackson reeled off 19 consecutive points to take a commanding 26-6 lead.
“They were really efficient in the first half,” Debevec said of his team, which was making its fourth consecutive appearance in the district finals. “It was nice to see because I don’t think we’ve done that all year. To hold a team that had been scoring a lot of points to 10 points in a half, that’s something else. The pressure has been on these guys all season but they keep answering the call.”