We hosted good friends from Athens, Georgia, and Hudson, Ohio, over the weekend as they returned to West Central Ohio for The Great Darke County Fair and high school reunions. With the Fair getting into full swing Friday, Rotary Club lemon shakes, funnel cakes, New Madison Kiwanis sausage sandwiches, etc, were quickly consumed while making an initial walk around the grounds. For those longtime fairgoers the sights, sounds, and smells are all familiar as are the greetings from folks who haven’t seen each other since last year’s festivities.
Meanwhile, class reunions for classes from 1955 to 2015 were held at various locations around the area as classmates returned home from around the country to reminisce and become reacquainted. I was honored to be invited, along with three other former Greenville High School teachers and coaches, Kyle Kagey, Randy Reed, and Wendell Meyers, to attend the GHS Class of 1980 gathering at the Sure Shot Tap House Saturday evening. It’s always good to share the stories of graduates’ lives and how they’ve turned out to be good, solid citizens!
Fall high school sports really start to heat up this week as all competitions swing into action. Over the next two weeks, several large cross country meets take place, notably the Bob Schul Invitational at West Milton on the 23rd and the Treaty City Invitational in Greenville on the 30th. Both girls’ and boys’ teams from schools all around the area will participate in many of the invitationals throughout the next two months.
Volleyball has already gotten underway for a few schools and will ramp up this week with such matches as perennial power Tipp visiting Greenville Tuesday evening, Troy traveling to Northmont Monday, and Piqua, which already beat Milton earlier, making the trip to Xenia on Tuesday.
Soccer, both boys and girls, takes to the “pitch” this week with a few games already in the books. Soccer seems to have an inordinately wide spread between the “haves and have-nots,” as has been evidenced over the years.
Girls’ tennis has seen quick starts by the Fairborn Lady Skyhawks at 4-0 and Sidney’s Lady Jackets at 3-0. Other schools will assert themselves as the season rolls on, however, and if you’re looking to see some quality interscholastic net action, check out your local favorites’ websites.
There’s been a lot of good golf played since the first of August, both by the boys and the girls. As an example, Tipp’s girls are 3-0 in MVL play while Greenville’s Lady Wave are 3-1. Tipp’s Ella Berning paces MVL scoring with a 39.1 nine-hole average, while Greenville’s Vera Cox, who was just honored as the Dayton Daily News Athlete of the Week, shot a 72 at the Lady Bucc Invitational at Piqua’s Echo Hills Golf Course and was medalist at the Lady Tigers Invitational at Versailles’ Stillwater Ridge.
“Friday Night Lights” returns this week with plenty of games of interest around West Central Ohio. To mention a few ,involving MVL teams are contests like Eaton at Greenville (with a 6:45 ribbon cutting ceremony to open the new Alumni Stadium), Tipp at Bellbrook, Lima Senior at Piqua, Sidney traveling to Bellefontaine, and the Trojans of Troy busing down to Middletown.
In WOAC play Arcanum hosts Covington, Tri-County North goes to Brookville, National Trail ventures down to Carlisle, Mississinawa Valley entertains Waynesfield-Goshen, Bradford travels over to face Springfield Catholic, Tri-Village stays at home to take on Troy Christian (the Patriots looked awfully good in a scrimmage at Greenville the other night), Bethel goes to Twin Valley South, and the Tigers of Ansonia look to build on last year’s success by hosting Riverside. For complete schedules throughout the season, once again, go to the school’s website.
Evidently ,Jim Harbaugh got out of Ann Arbor just ahead of the posse when he left to take over the San Diego Chargers after leading the Wolverines to a national title two years ago. What little power the NCAA has left was used to ban him from coaching college football until August of 2038 for violations of multiple nature during his tenure at TTUN. Also included was a three-game suspension for current head coach Sherrone Moore and a $30 million fine for the school. The team will be allowed to compete in postseason play this year, however. Hard to understand what the people at the NCAA are thinking, isn’t it?
By the way, the college football season kicks off this Saturday as Iowa State and Kansas State travel to Dublin, Ireland, and play a “neighborhood” rivalry game, much to the delight of the television audience and affluent alumni of both universities!!
And wasn’t it good to see the Reds finally beat the Brewers Sunday, ending the Blue Crew’s fourteen-game winning streak and preserving Cincy’s claim as the only MLB team not to be “swept” in a series this year. Stay active and healthy!!
