Local Sports

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Prep Football: MAC piles up teams in playoffs

By RUSTY MILLER

AP Sports Writer

This is why they call it the Big MAC.

The Midwest Athletic Conference will send half its members to the state playoffs.

Anna, Coldwater, Delphos St. John's, Marion Local and St. Henry all qualified.

Marion Local (5-5) earned a fifth straight trip to the playoffs, thanks to a 28-21 win over Anna last weekend. The Flyers nearly earned a home playoff game, getting edged out by 0.399 points by Sidney Lehman Catholic, whom the Flyers will play on Saturday.

Speaking of the postseason, 15 schools will be making their first appearance in the playoffs. Cincinnati Moeller made the grade for the 28th time, Ironton the 27th and Mogadore and Youngstown Mooney the 23rd time.

SEASONAL STATS: There were 30 undefeated teams in Ohio this year, down from 35 last year. Wynford has the longest regular-season winning streak at 38, while Genoa and Logan have each won 29 in a row in scheduled games.

There were 29 teams who went winless, down from 40 a year ago. Columbus Centennial has lost 32 in a row, Dayton Stebbins 30 and Lisbon Anderson 27 straight.

FIRST TIMES: Abany Alexander defeated Wellston 21-13 to finish the season at 8-2 -- second only to a 9-1 mark in 1975 -- to make the playoffs for the first time in school history under fifth-year coach Sean Arno; Springfield (6-4), formerly Springfield North and South, made the playoffs in its second year of existence after going 4-6 a year ago; Richwood North Union earned its first state playoff berth in a big way, posting the school's first unbeaten season, winning its region and putting up its fourth consecutive winning season after having just one in the previous 15; Girard beat Liberty, 19-12, on Friday night to complete the first 10-0 regular season in school history; McDonald beat Leetonia, 48-7 to become first Trumbull County team with back-to-back 10-0 seasons since Warren G. Harding in 2002-3; and Middletown beat Princeton 49-28 to clinch its first Divison I playoff berth since 1990 as Jerry Gates had 156 yards rushing on just two carries -- TD runs of 76 and 80 yards -- to go with a 96-yard kickoff return score.

FORGETTABLE FIRST: Cincinnati Colerain (8-2) will miss Division I playoffs for the first time since 1999.

"It's unfortunate, but we should have just handled business early in the year and not put our fate in someone else's hands," said coach Tom Bolden, whose team lost to St. Xavier and Elder to open the year.

RUSH CHAIRMEN: Ontario's Jamey Robson broke the school record when he rushed for 320 yards on 34 carries in a 31-7 win over Lucas while scoring all five TDs; West Chester Lakota West (9-1) secured a Division I playoff berth with a 17-5 win over Liberty Township Lakota East, getting 302 yards and two TDs on 37 carries from Jordan Thompson; Aaron Swanson rushed for 282 yards and three TDs in Defiance's 42-6 victory over Lima Bath; Blake Foor ran for 244 yards and one TD leading Tinora to a 42-0 win over previously unbeaten Hicksville; and Liberty Center's Jake Elling had 229 yards and three TDs in a 34-14 win over Archbold.

BULLETIN BOARD MATERIAL: Will Lenhart intercepted three passes in the third quarter, returning one for a TD, in Zanesville West Muskingum's 48-20 win over Uhrichsville Claymont Cole Hudson completed 16 of 19 passes for 276 yards and Kyle Gladden ran for 230 yards on 23 carries as Zanesville (9-1) beat Jackson 42-14 for its best record since 1997; West Liberty-Salem is undefeated for the second time in five years;Greg Gallaway missed a PAT but then booted a 31-yard field goal with 3.4 seconds remaining to give Ashland a 31-28 win over Lexington;Fairfield rallied to beat Hamilton 19-15, giving the Indians a 6-4 record under first-year coach Aaron Fitzstephens -- after three seasons with a 2-27 mark;the Southern Ohio Conference has four teams in the playoffs: Minford, Wheelersburg, Oak Hill and Symmes Valley; and Elder's 42-0 defeat of Western Hills ended an 81-year old rivalry as the teams will not play again in the foreseeable future.

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