Football Playoffs

Begin this coming weekend................

Finished up the regular football season last weekend...playoffs for the High School teams are now upon us....local teams that made it included Marion Local(where my youngest coaches summer baseball), and Coldwater...both out of the MAC(Midwest Athletic Conference) which has produced countless small and mid size state championships over the past 35 years....Marion(a township, not to be confused with the city of Marion, 100 miles to the east) finished 10-0 ranked #1 and looks to cruise to it's 4 state football crown in past decade. This time in Division 5, after winning before in Division 6(the smallest division), Coldwater 9-1(losing only to Marion) looks for it's second crown in 4 seasons, this one in Division 4...they have a good chance, but unlike ML, they are not a lock.

In the WBL(Western Buckeye League) Ottawa is the only team going to the playoffs...Celina, despite being the largest school in the league finished a dismal 2 and 8...losing on Friday night to Defiance 63-33.

The Standings:(see photo)

Coldwater defeated Delphos SJ on Saturday 52-7 to go 9-1.

Meanwhile on the college side, Ohio State may have proved the doubters wrong as they hammered Penn State at Happy Valley 37-17 and the game wasn't that close, led by MAC Quarterback Todd Boeckman from where my wife teaches, St. Henry..... and I gotta love Florida getting smacked by Georgia...strange to say since I grew up in Venice, Florida, a big Gator fan...but the way they present themselves and with Ur-Bane Myers(an Ohio boy) as the coach, they can't get beat often enough for me these days.

And from Saturday night where they held the Western Ohio Youth League Championships at Celina Stadium.....scoring late and adding the extra point Union City defeats Sidney Lehman 7-6 in the 3/4th grade championship, and in the nightcap Celina Lions 12-6 over the Union City 5/6th graders to win the varsity title. Total time was a little over 3 hours, but my back survived...a hot shower and a few cold ones after the games helped, since it did drizzle and the temps were in the 50s.