Talk about a “game of inches”!! Number four ranked THE dodged a bullet in ending Indiana’s 22-game winning streak Saturday in Bloomington when the fifth-ranked Hoosiers Nick Marsh failed to get a foot down inbounds on what at first looked like a possible game-winning touchdown with 1:02 remaining. The 19-15 win secured the Bucks’ place at the top of the Big Ten standings but came at a cost as QB Julian Sayin may miss a game or two with a shoulder injury suffered in the fourth quarter. Fortunately, THE has next week off, but a trip to USC and a visit from Oregon quickly follow!
In another Big Ten matchup, Maryland suffered a similar loss with 16 seconds remaining as a receiver came down in the end zone with a toe out of bounds, costing the Terrapins a tying touchdown in losing to Rutgers. A “game of inches” indeed!!
What a weekend of college football! Number one Georgia fell at home to unranked Auburn, second-ranked Notre Dame lost on the road to a strong BYU team, number three Miami (FL) eked out a double-overtime win over Florida State, sixth-ranked Alabama lost to Tennessee, and number seven Texas was beaten by Florida. Also, it was a doubly tough week for Indiana as the Crimson Hawks of Indiana (PA) lost to undefeated Slippery Rock 42-26!
How about the Brewers sweeping the two-time defending champion Dodgers!! In reversing the results of last year’s NLCS series, the Brew Crew struck a blow for all so-called “small market, small payroll” teams in Major League Baseball as they overcame the high-priced Dodgers after trailing six times in the four games. In winning the NL pennant for the first time since 1982 the Brewers now await the winner of the ALCS between the Guardians and the Rays, a series tied at two games each as this is written.
Of the 30 MLB teams, Milwaukee was tied with Tampa Bay for the season’s best team batting average, hitting .258 even though they were tied for 28th in home runs with 154; only Toronto with 152 hit fewer. The favorites of Wisconsin “cheeseheads” ranked 2nd in team Earned Run Average with a 3.51 mark, thanks in no small part to an outstanding bullpen in addition to strong starting pitching.
The Reds, who invariably compare themselves to the Brewers as far as demographics and payroll, on the other hand were dead last in team batting average at .229; struck out 1,544 times to rank 29th; were 28th in ERA at 4.83; and issued the most walks with 668!
No need to wonder why they finished last in the NL Central!!
A sport I’ve not mentioned enough since the start of the high school fall sports season is soccer. Looking at the standings as regular seasons wind down prior to tournament action beginning next week, Troy won the MVL Miami Division with an 8-0-1 record, narrowly edging out Butler at 8-1 and Tipp at 7-1-1, while Fairborn at 6-3 captured Valley Division honors. On the girls’ side of the ledger, Tipp at 8-0-1 took home the Miami trophy with Troy at 8-1, while Fairborn also claimed the Valley with a 4-3-2 mark.
In WOAC boys action, it was Dixie in the top spot with a perfect 8-0 league record while Newton was second. The Twin Valley South girls and Newton shared the title as South defeated Newton in the last game of the league soccer season by a count of 2-0.
Eaton’s girls captured the Buckeye Division of the SWBL with a perfect 7-0 record while Oakwood’s boys did likewise, also in the Buckeye Division.
Greenville’s girls soccer team struggled this fall, finishing 1-8 in the MVL and 2-15 overall. But it’s the Wave boys program that I want to discuss in as positive a manner as possible. The Wave ended the regular season in the throes of a 78-game losing streak, the last victory coming on October 16, 2021 against Graham Local.
What is more than a little disheartening is the fact that only 19 goals have been netted by the Green and White in those 78 games, this year being outscored 151-3 by the opposition.
Wave soccer has had some success in the past, most recently in ‘15 when the team went 7-9-1 and in ‘16 when a winning season mark of 8-7-3 was recorded, both years when GHS was a member of the mighty Greater Western Ohio Conference. Since then, the drop-off has been significant. The Athletic Department is doing all it can to provide help to the program, and the number of participants at the beginning of the season at the high school level was up from previous years. But the lack of a strong feeder system has hampered progress; this year a co-ed middle school team was formed, and hopefully results will be seen down the road.
You have to feel for the young men (one senior, four juniors, and the rest freshmen and sophomores) who take to the pitch wearing the Green and White as well as the coaching staff. They work hard, play hard, and keep good attitudes but it has to be discouraging. We can only hope for the best in the future, as soccer is a part of the overall athletic and academic opportunities available to the students.
Finally, back in October of 1954, Texas Instruments unveiled the Regency TR-1, the first commercially produced transistor radio. When World Series games were all played in the afternoon, I remember being in school and catching parts of games on pocket radios during class. To show you how it was way back when, TI came out with the first handheld electronic calculators in the mid-‘70s, thankfully replacing the old-fashioned slide rule I was using in a statistics class in grad school at Miami!
Have a great week. Mother Nature’s Fall colors should be forthcoming soon!!
