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I’ll be posting live from the Shawnee vs. Wyoming high school football playoff game at Welcome Stadium.
We’re about 45 minutes from kick off. I’ll be post updates as they’re available.
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Wittenberg will host Mt. St. Joseph in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 21, the NCAA announced Sunday.
Mt. St. Joseph was undefeated until losing to Thomas More on Saturday. It finished 9-1.
If the Tigers win, they would play Case Western Reserve or Trine in the second round. Mount Union isn’t in Wittenberg’s eight-team bracket.
Wittenberg enters the playoffs not only with the momentum of their first 10-0 season since 2000, but with the confidence that comes with having destroyed two of the top four teams in the NCAC, Allegheny and Wooster, by a combined score of 94-16 in the final two weeks.
In going 10-0, the Tigers outscored their opponents 388-53. Only Wabash played the Tigers close. Wittenberg won that game 10-7 on a last-second field goal by Zack Harris.
This is its first playoff appearance since 2006 when it lost in the first round at Capital. It is seeking its first playoff victory since 2002 when it lost to Wabash in the second round.
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SPRINGFIELD — The trophy changed hands more often in a few minutes than a football at the bottom of the pile. Everyone wanted to touch it. More wanted to kiss it.
Homecoming queens don’t get the attention the North Coast Athletic Conference championship trophy received after Wittenberg beat Wooster 42-6 on Saturday, Nov. 14. The still-undefeated Tigers claimed sole possession of the trophy for the first time since 2001, likely securing home-field advantage in the NCAA Division III playoffs for one round or two.
“Where’s that trophy?” senior wide receiver Patrick Williams asked.
“It’s mine,” said senior cornerback Keenan Freeman later, clasping it to his chest.
Yet no one showed better trophy possession skill than senior linebacker Kyle Lohrman. He made it his personal mission to escort the trophy from Edwards-Maurer Field to the coaches’ offices.
“I’m so excited. I can’t believe this happened,” Lohrman said. “We’ve been working four years for this, all the seniors, and finally all our hard work’s paid off.”
That work resulted in the fourth 10-0 regular season, and the first since 2000, for coach Joe Fincham. Two brave players, obviously secure with their spots on the team, doused him with a bucket of ice water in the closing seconds. Fincham said he had no idea it was coming.
Outside Wittenberg, few saw this 10-0 season coming, either. This team wasn’t ranked until beating Wabash in its sixth game. NCAC coaches picked the Tigers to finish third.
“Going 10-0 is really hard,” Fincham said. “You’re not going to have your ‘A’ game‚ every Saturday, and you’ve got to be talented enough that when you don’t have your ‘A’ game, you can still win.”
The Tigers had their best game Saturday. Aaron Huffman completed 24 of 31 passes for 277 yards and rushed for two touchdowns. All three running backs — Corey Weber, Conner Warye and Jeff Wilbur — had TD runs of more than 16 yards.
And the defense, led by Brad McKinley’s six tackles, cemented its status as one of the most dominant in Wittenberg history. The Tigers gave up just 53 points this season, the best mark in the nation in all divisions of NCAA football and the best total by a Wittenberg defense since 1998.
“Three hundred and 64 days ago,” Fincham said, “we had a team meeting where we talked about the commitment that was needed and the sacrifice and all the things you need to do to have a championship-caliber football team, and guys like Taylor Scherer and Pat Williams and Lance Phillips, and they took it and really did a great job with it.”
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The final is Fort Loramie 63-21. The Redskins will play Marion Local for the Region 24 final next week.
Continue reading "Final: Fort Loramie beats Southeastern 63-21"...
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Winton Woods advances to the regional final to face Trotwood-Madison. The Arrows finish the season 10-2.
Tecumseh had a good kick return to open the second half, but its drive stalled on the Winton Woods 19.
So then Dominique Brown ran 80 yards on the Warriors’ first play of the half. A quick 1-yard run puts Winton Woods up 40-7 early in the third quarter.
Continue reading "Final: Winton Woods 40, Tecumseh 7"...
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D3Football.com has projected that Wittenberg will earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Division III football playoffs. That is contingent on the Tigers beating Wooster on Saturday.
A No. 2 seed would give Wittenberg home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The official playoff bracket will be announced on Sunday between 3 and 3:30 p.m. on ESPNews and NCAA.com.
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Wittenberg jumped one spot to 11th in the American Football Coaches Association poll.
In the D3Football.com poll, it jumped two places to 12th.
The Tigers (10-0) can clinch the NCAC title outright by beating Wooster at home Saturday, Nov. 14., at 1 p.m.
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