A funny thing happened to the Bengals as they sought to build on a supposed season-changing victory over the Steelers last week to get back in the hunt for an AFC North title. Facing the winless and turmoil-ridden Jets, the Stripes defense decided to take the game off in allowing one of the NFL’s worst offenses to score 39 points, including the final 15, as New York knocked off Cincinnati 39-38. A lot of faith in the team and coaching staff was lost by Bengals fans; you can almost hear the fair-weather fans jumping off the bandwagon! I’m starting to like the Colts more and more every week myself!
The regular season ended Friday night for high school football squads in Ohio, marking the final time suiting up for the majority of high school seniors. For the fortunate ones, the year will continue as their teams advance to the playoffs in all seven divisions. With the top four teams in each region getting first round byes and home field advantage this year and only twelve teams in each bracket (which I think is a really good move by the OHSAA as it will eliminate the majority of first round blowouts with a one-seed facing a sixteen-seed), let’s take a quick look at local elevens who move on this Friday evening—
In D-I region 2, Troy’s Trojans obtained a #2 seed and will await the winner of Hilliard Bradley and Dublin Jerome.
D-II region 8 has Trotwood-Madison at #3 and Xenia at #4. Piqua at #9 plays at Cincinnati Withrow Friday, while Butler at #10 travels to Harrison.
In D-III Region 12, MVL champion Tippecanoe is a two-seed and awaits the winner of Oxford Talawanda and Goshen.
In D-IV region 16, Valley View is a two-seed and will face the winner of #6 Brookville (in what could be an SWBL rematch) and Bishop Fenwick.
D-V region 20 has a WOAC rematch between #7 Preble Shawnee and #10 Arcanum.
D-VI region 24 features #1 Tri-Village, awaiting the winner of Country Day and Portsmouth West. Coldwater’s Cavaliers at #5 square off against #12 Covington in Mercer County.
Finally in D-VII region 28 #1 and four-time defending state champion Marion Local will play the winner of a highly anticipated contest between Minster and Lehman Catholic; #2 St. Henry will take on the winner of #7 Ansonia and #10 New Bremen.
For a more thorough review of the high school season and upcoming playoffs this week, follow the Round Table discussion on MyCountyLink as Gaylen Blosser, Dale Barger, and I hold court.
For a review of results from the Troy Regional Cross Country meet this past weekend be sure to visit the OHSAA website to see what teams and individuals move on to run at Fortress Obetz in Columbus at this Saturday’s state competition. Area squads advancing include the Versailles girls and Russia boys in D-IV and the Versailles boys in D-III. In D-IV Ansonia’s Bennett Lehman claimed a regional boys title with a time on the 5K course along the Miami River of 15:31.7 while Russia’s Samuel Philpot finished second; Versailles’ Jackson Spitzer was second in D-III at 15:33.7; and Tipp’s Landon Kimmel, last year’s D-I state champion, took D-II honors with an outstanding time of 14:56.8 as the Red Devils dropped a division this fall.
Some quick hitters to finish up today’s column—
Could be an interesting World Series as the Dodgers evened the series at 1-1 with the Blue Jays, as the teams play the next three games in Southern California.
My wife and I, along with our six and eight-year-old grandkids, had the chance to experience the Patriot game night experience Friday night as Tri-Village played host to the Arcanum Trojans. A great atmosphere, two fine high school marching bands (good luck to Arcanum at their upcoming state competition), two playoff-bound teams, and a legitimate state title contender in D-VI in the Patriots, this year’s undefeated WOAC champions. Just a great overall experience in southwest Darke County!
Who’d have thunk it? Even three years ago, what were the odds (don’t take that up with this week’s revelation of the gambling scandal in the NBA!) of Indiana’s Hoosiers and Vanderbilt’s Commodores being 8-0 and 7-1 respectively, and the talk of the NCAA football world this fall!! IU has more losses than any school in history (710) while Vandy is ninth with 671!!
Speaking of college ball, here are a few scores from this weekend that you might have missed —The Friends Falcons out of Wichita dropped a 42-28 beating on the Southwestern Moundbuilders; the Mayville State Comets out of North Dakota were mined out by those Orediggers of Montana Tech 51-0; and another cast of Falcons from Fitchburg State in Massachusetts lost to the 5-2 Anna Maria (no, not the island on Tampa Bay) Amcats by a 30-22 count.
Finally, even Deion (Prime) Sanders, the flamboyant coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, was speechless as his team fell to Big 12 foe Utah 42-0 in what was “the worst beating I’ve ever had.” Maybe he needs to spend more time coaching this year and less making AFLAC commercials!! Have a great week!!
