Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan. Harding wing Chaz Coleman puts up a shot in the lane during a win over Austintown Fitch on Jan. 3 in Warren.

WARREN — As a player, Keelyn Franklin never got to experience a district championship at Warren G. Harding.

During his time playing for the Raiders from 2003-07, Harding ran into NBA-prospect-laden teams like Canton GlenOak and Canton McKinley in the postseason, ultimately falling short of a district title.

Since Franklin took over the Raiders’ head coaching job in 2019, he’s wanted to elevate the Harding program to compete at a regional and state level. This year has been his best season with the Raiders, leading Harding to its most wins in a season in a decade, while winning the All-American Conference title outright and the program’s first district championship since 2016.

“My senior year, we lost to two NBA guys, so I wasn’t able to get a district title as a player,” Franklin said. “But I was able to get one as an assistant (under former head coach Andy Vlajkovich in 2016), and now blessed enough to get one as a head coach.

“When I took this job over, I wanted to keep that tradition that we’ve had in the past, and obviously surpass what we’ve done. The journey has been great, the kids have been great, the support from my administration, from the families of the players and the support we’ve gotten from the community has been amazing. It’s what you imagine and dream of when you take over a job, especially at your alma mater — you want to not only hold up those standards and those expectations, but do your best to exceed them, and we’ve done a good job of that this year.”

With what Harding had coming back this year, in addition to a couple new additions, Franklin felt that the Raiders were capable of making a run before the season even began.

The OHSAA expanding the playoff divisions to seven also helped Harding, as well.

“We knew we had a good group coming back,” Franklin said. “Then once they realigned the divisions, we looked at the teams that were going to be in our division, and we thought it made the goals a little more realistic just based on how everything with the alignment played out.”

With a roster that can put as many as four different players on the floor each 6-foot-3 or taller, the Raiders have a length and size advantage over many of the teams they’ve faced.

As a result, Harding’s defense has been a foundational component for everything that they do, as it has limited opponents to 48.8 points per game this season.

“I feel like defensively, we are very versatile,” senior guard Davion Herron said. “We can play zone, we can play man, we can press you full court. We can do pretty much any defense and pull it off. But that’s what really sparks our offense because we get out in transition and push it.”

Senior Chaz Coleman has been the centerpiece of the Raiders’ roster. The 6-foot-5 senior wing, who’s signed to play football at Penn State, has been a dynamic and explosive scorer for the Raiders, having averaged 20.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game this season.

“Chaz is one of those kids that just leads by example,” Franklin said. “He goes about his business in a workman-like way. … If your best player is your hardest worker, you know you’ve got something. So he’s done a good job of leading by example, just going out there on the floor and producing and leading through his production.”

In the backcourt, Herron and Harding’s other scoring guards Gummy Hart and Jeremy Sampson each made strides during the offseason and put together big scoring performances throughout the season.

Herron leads the group with 9.3 points per game, while Sampson chips in 7.3 points per game and Hart adds 5.3 points per game.

“They’ve grown a ton from last year,” Franklin said. “We challenged those guys throughout the summer and fall to make sure our guard play wasn’t going to be our weakness this year, and they accepted that challenge. … It was an up and down season last year, but I feel like they’ve been way more steady this year. Those guys can make shots, they can get us in our offense and they can pressure the ball defensively. … Their growth and maturation has been huge for our success.”

The additions of Myles Miller and Xavier Clark, who each transferred from Ursuline before the school year, have also helped lift Harding to another level this season with their length and size. The 6-foot-5 Clark is averaging 6.9 points per game, while the 6-foot-6 Miller is putting up 9.4 points per game.

“I feel like our size manages a lot,” Coleman said. “Even with the people who come off the bench, we all know they can play hard, so it adds a lot.”

Harding’s 70-37 district final win over Hudson this past Saturday sets up today’s 5 p.m. regional semifinal showdown with Massillon Perry at James A. Rhodes Arena at the University of Akron.

“Once you get to regionals, it’s anybody’s game,” Franklin said. “So we’re in a good spot where we want to be and where we set our goals to be. So we’re excited about the opportunity.”

The 11-13 Panthers are the No. 15 seed and knocked off No. 9 seed Solon 52-51 last week to win the Northeast 3 district.

Perry is powered by the senior duo of Luke Wolf and Drake Jacobsen, who combine to average 28 points per game.

“They run their stuff, they’re very disciplined, they’re hard to turn over and they’re a very well-structured team,” Franklin said. “I believe their coach (Matt Voll) just got his 400th win, so he knows what he’s doing over there too. … They’ll mix it up — they’re similar to us in that aspect. So we have to prepare for a lot, be ready for a lot.

“They pose some different challenges for us — they have some big guys that can really shoot it, so we have to get out and guard. They throw a lot of different things at you, so we gotta be on our toes. But I think if we’re prepared and we’re mentally focused, then we’ll put ourselves in a good position.”