How about a mixture of football and basketball at all levels with a dash of college volleyball thrown in to stimulate one’s senses in this week’s fountain of knowledge? Let’s start with high school gridiron happenings here in West Central Ohio—OHSAA regional finals take place Friday around the state in all seven divisions as the winds of late November are forecast.
The always-powerful MAC is represented by five schools, all of whom won easily in the regional semis last weekend. In D-VI, Coldwater and Anna have a rematch at Sidney; Minster tries to halt Marion Local’s 61-game winning streak in a D-VII contest to be played in Wapakoneta; and Delphos St. John’s faces unbeaten Columbus Grove in another D-VII regional final at Lima. What’s unusual about the Blue Jays of St. Johns is that they finished the regular season with a 3-7 record before winning three straight in the playoffs—must be something to playing that tough MAC schedule, huh?
In other area pairings Wayne and Centerville meet at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium in a D-I encore of one of the GWOC’s great rivalries. The Warriors of Wayne are on a roll again with the return of their starting quarterback from injury and will be out to avenge a 38-14 loss to the Elks in the final game of the regular season. Meanwhile, Piqua’s Alexander Stadium will be the site of a D-V battle between two nearby teams, and the Lakers of Indian Lake and the Tigers of West Liberty-Salem tee it up.
In breaking news, first-year Head Coach Sean Ford of Greenville has submitted his resignation at the helm of the Wave. No particulars are available at this time, but I will say that he is an impressive young man with motivational skills and a good football background. I am disappointed that he won’t be around to rebuild a Green Wave program that has been struggling over the past several years and is currently mired in a 22-game losing streak.
From the where are they now section—Greenville grad Brock Short is a sophomore running back for Indiana Wesleyan and finished the regular season with an eight-carry, forty-eight yards rushing game against Lawrence Tech. Brock, who holds all GHS rushing and scoring records, was the 10-1 Wildcats fourth-leading rusher and had a long run of 73 yards against Marian. IWU received a bye in the first round of the NAIA championships and will host a second-round game on November 30th in Marion.
Big game at Ohio Stadium Saturday as the unbeaten and fifth-ranked Indiana Hoosiers (bet you thought you’d never hear that) tangle with THE in a game with huge Big Ten and college playoff consequences. Hoosier Hysteria is running wild, and while I think IU will hang in there with the second-ranked Bucks I predict a 14-20 point THE victory. Indiana should make the 12-team playoffs however, just a tremendous turnaround for a team that only had three wins last season.
The Bengals continue to cause indigestion and mental anguish for the faithful as once again they failed to close out a winnable game against the Chargers and fell to 4-7 overall. Barring a miracle finish a team many predicted to make the Super Bowl will miss out on the playoffs. The only more disheartened fans would be Browns backers this year who have watched their favorites regress from last year’s 11-6 mark to this season’s 2-8.
Here’s today’s trivia question—what teams are in the Top Five of this week’s mens’ college basketball rankings? Bet you can’t name at least four of them!
Speaking of basketball I had the chance to see a scrimmage last week between Mississinawa Valley’s boys and Greenville. Watch out for the Blackhawks over the next few years as they have a talented bunch of young players under the guidance of Jeff Vaughn.
Spent two days in northern Indiana with our younger daughter Lauren, and our two youngest grandkids Millie, age 7, and 5-year-old Clarkson while her husband Erick was out of state over the weekend attending continuing education seminars. They live in Syracuse, which is just about an hour from South Bend, home of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. We journeyed to ND Sunday afternoon to watch the Lady Irish volleyball team take on Duke’s Lady Blue Devils in ACC action at the Joyce Center which is adjacent to Notre Dame Stadium. If you’ve never been on the ND campus, it is well worth the trip (the history and traditions are almost magical, and the campus bookstore is impressive!).
Check out the roster for the Lady Irish as they face big-time NCAA competition—of the twenty-two players listed, thirteen states are represented, along with one Canadian province. Of the twenty-two, fifteen are 6’0” or taller, with five 6’3” and two 6’4”. Talk about national recruiting and this is a young team that is only 3-13 in conference play as the season winds down! Anyhow a great time in South Bend and admittance was free—the grandkids were thrilled as they got free posters, a tee-shirt thrown by the cheerleaders, four visits during the game from the Irish leprechaun mascot, two appearances on the overhead digital screen and scoreboard, and a Lady Irish win!
Finally, this week’s Top Five hoop squads are, in order, Kansas, UConn, Gonzaga, Auburn, and Iowa State. What’s that mean—absolutely nothing but college diehards love the controversy generated each week by the rankings! Have a healthy and active week!