Well, the Great Darke County Fair has come and gone and peace and quiet have returned to the south end of Greenville after late nights of tractor pulls, a Bachman Turner Overdrive concert (just taking care of business), motorcycle races, a demolition derby, and general overall entertainment and family fun! One certainty follows as Darke County schools open up this week—it will be hot and humid as always the first few days—thank goodness all schools are air-conditioned by this point in time!!
Many topics to cover today so let’s start with some high school football around the area. Greenville opened the season with a 23-7 loss to Eaton, but take heart, Green Wave fans, as new coach Sean Ford’s young team (only five seniors on the active roster) showed signs of better things to come. The Wave demonstrated some big play potential and was only down 10-7 heading into the fourth quarter to an Eaton team, which should once again make some noise in the SWBL.
Keep an eye out for the Eagle’s junior kicker, Jon Hewitt—he just returned from a kicking camp at the University of Texas and already holds scholarship offers from numerous big-time college programs. He consistently boomed kickoffs into the end zone in the air, easily made a 40-yard field goal, and just missed a 54-yard attempt.
The first half of the Wave’s schedule is a killer with Troy, Tipp, Butler, and Piqua on tap. If the Green and White can survive that gauntlet, the potential is there, and the experience gained should translate into a competitive second half of the season. Hang in there with this group!!
In other games of local interest, Sidney was one of five MVL squads with over 300 yards of total offense, albeit in a loss to Bellefontaine and superstar quarterback Tavien St. Clair. The 6’4” senior and Ohio State commit threw for four touchdowns and 295 yards to lead the Chieftains.
Tipp and Xenia both held opponents to under 100 total yards of offense, with the Red Devils downing Bellbrook 28-7 and the Buccaneers handling Beavercreek 26-7. Butler looks to be strong again this fall with a 49-20 trouncing of a good Northmont team. Troy and Piqua fell in their openers, while Fairborn and Stebbins started with wins over Tecumseh and Shawnee respectively.
In the WOAC Tri-Village rolled over Troy Christian 56-0, Mississinawa fell to Waynesfield Goshen, Bradford lost to Springfield Central Catholic, Preble Shawnee overwhelmed Madison 52-0, Ansonia lost a tough game to Riverside after trailing 34-6 at halftime, and a Covington team which was winless last year pounded Arcanum 54-27.
Versailles opened with a 33-0 shutout of Milton-Union as “Tiger Ball” returned to northeast Darke County, Brookville beat Tri-County North, St. Henry fell to St. Marys, Coldwater beat Valley View 38-0 while playing with heavy hearts at the passing of senior Cale Wenning as a result of injuries sustained in an accident, and Marion Local went out of state to Indiana and clobbered Linton-Stockton 45-6.
Over 3,000 fans roamed the fields and woods around the Milton-Union school Saturday morning as the prestigious Bob Schul Invitational cross-country meet was run. Piqua senior
Noah Burch ran a 16:02 to win the DI-large DII race, while Butler finished second as a team, with Piqua third, Troy tenth, and Greenville eleventh in a nineteen-field.
Tony Moorman of Versailles won the small DII-DIII contest, with the Tigers winning the team title and Russia placing second. In girls action Minster placed second, Versailles sixth, and host Milton seventh in DIII while in DI-DII it was Brookville’s ladies finishing fourth, Troy fifth, and Greenville eighth out of 20 squads.
How about the Sports Illustrated jinx or “kiss of death” as the venerable magazine picks THE to win the national championship this year while the Bengals are predicted to win the AFC title. Evidently THE has a player payroll of around $20 million dollars this fall with defensive end JT Tuimoloau the highest compensated—man has college football changed! Former Buckeye coach Jim Tressel is quoted as saying “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that many great players in the building all at once”. Think there will be pressure on THE to win it all?
Meanwhile the Stripes are the choice to beat the Chiefs in the AFC title game only to lose in the Super Bowl. Here are today’s trivia questions—what team does SI pick to win Super Bowl LIX and who do they predict THE will defeat in the college playoff finale?
Can anybody tell me who some of the players are wearing Reds uniforms the past few weeks? Every time I catch a game I have to research who the heck is batting, pitching, or fielding—must be watching the Louisville Bats or some teams’castoffs!! Pretty disheartening weekend after losing three of four to the Pirates wasn’t it?
How about Georgia Tech defeating tenth-ranked Florida State to kick off the college season Saturday on a last-play field goal in Dublin, Ireland? I do love upsets of so-called prohibitive favorites!
SI picks the Bucks to defeat Texas in the semifinals and then beat Georgia (what a surprise as they’re picked to oust Oregon in the other semi) in the title matchup. Meanwhile the Bengals are evidently doomed to fall to the Lions (yes, Detroit) in the Superdome in New Orleans according to the experts at SI. Those predictions and $4.59 will get you a Whopper at Burger King! Have a great Labor Day Weekend!
