Area high school football teams met with varying results Friday night in the regional
semifinal rounds of the different divisions, sending some fans home with “The Thrill of Victory” and others with “The Agony of Defeat”. Regardless, to make it to the third round of the playoffs is an accomplishment in itself and congratulations to all who participated.
Tri-Village lost a 56-51 shootout to Anna in a contest that threatened to short-circuit the
scoreboard in the D-VI encounter, ending the Patriots’ season at 11-2. Meanwhile, Versailles overwhelmed Cincinnati Country Day 55-13 to advance to the regional finals and take on the Rockets from Shelby County in a game to be played at Sidney High School.
In D-VII Ansonia held off the Redskins of St. Henry 20-13 to earn the right to play the mighty Marion Local Flyers, winners over Minster by a 28-7 count. The two squads will meet Friday at 7:00 at Piqua High School for the opportunity to reach the state semifinals.
D-V action saw Valley View outlast Cincinnati Purcell Marian 31-22 and the Spartans will
face Waynesville for a second time this season as those Spartans won a wild 45-42 overtime game with Brookville. This matchup will be held in Springboro at Watkins Stadium. Also, Coldwater, after thrashing Milan Edison 42-7, takes on Liberty Center in Lima.
In D-III play the Celina Bulldogs, by virtue of a 27-13 win over Tippecanoe, will square off
with Hamilton Badin, who defeated Wapakoneta 14-10 on a touchdown with two seconds left in the game. Trotwood-Madison High School will be the site of this pairing.
Finally, Troy’s Trojans ran into a buzzsaw in Cincinnati Withrow and lost 42-14, ending the
season with a fine 11-2 record.
How about some quick looks around the National Football League?
—The air you hear coming out of the balloon is a result of the Bengals losing to the Texans, a game the Stripes should have won. Joe Burrow was under pressure all day from Houston’s front four and threw two costly interceptions in the second half while the defense broke a little more than it bent as THE’s C.J. Stroud made a triumphant return to Ohio—seems like a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year honors! Hey, Tyler Boyd, maybe catch that touchdown pass late in the game!!
—Thank goodness Cleveland came from behind to knock off the Ravens, moving the Browns and Steelers, both at 6-3, within a half-game of Baltimore in the AFC North while the Bengals remain one and a half behind at 5-4.
—The 49ers took advantage of last week’s bye, ending a three-game skid and stopping a five-game Jacksonville winning streak, making the Jaguars look more like pretenders than
contenders by a 34-3 score.
—Speaking earlier of the Steelers, they’ve been outgained in all nine of their games so far, yet still have that 6-3 record!!
—The Vikings are red hot, even with Josh Dobbs at quarterback since joining the team less
than two weeks ago. Five in a row for the boys up in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
—Aaron Rodgers of the Jets is saying that he hopes to return to the lineup by the middle of
December following Achilles Tendon surgery in September. Good luck with that, I’ve torn both of mine over the years and regardless of the care, the 40-year-old quarterback receives it usually takes a lot longer than three months to fully recuperate, especially if you’re going to be chased around by NFL defenses!!
—What did the Cardinals, Lions, Seahawks, Browns, and Texans all have in common
yesterday?
I love minor league sports nicknames!! From the East Coast Hockey League come the
Florida Everblades and the Idaho Steelheads ( a form of rainbow trout) which begs the
question, what is Idaho doing in the East Coast Hockey League? Same as asking why UCLA,
USC, Washington, and Oregon are coming to the Big Ten!! Or for that matter, why are the
Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East?
Here’s some West Central Ohio geography and history of which I just was informed that I
find interesting—Preble and Miami Counties were founded in 1808 followed shortly by Darke in 1810. In 1812, Darke and Miami Counties both extended all of the way to the Michigan state line!! Finally in 1820, Mercer and Shelby Counties came along and broke up that territory followed over the years by the rest of the northwest counties once the Great Black Swamp was drained!! Just thought you needed to know that!
Finally, the five teams mentioned above all won games Sunday on last-second field goals,
the most such victories in one day in NFL history!! Stay healthy and active!!
