3 area teams in high school football playoff hunt

By Jay Morrison, Staff Writer Updated 8:05 AM Wednesday, September 23, 2009

If the high school football playoffs started this week, Butler County would have three representatives.

The first weekly Harbin Ratings were released Tuesday, Sept. 22, and Middletown (Division I), Monroe (Division III) and Badin (Division V) all find themselves in position to make the postseason in their respective regions.

Of course there’s still a lot of football to be played, and coaches will tell you they need to worry more about their opponents than computer ratings.

But this is the official system, so don’t think they aren’t keeping a close eye on the numbers.

The top eight teams in each region qualify for the playoffs.

The Middies (4-0) are ranked No. 4 in Region 4, Monroe (3-1) is sixth in Region 12, and Badin (3-1) is sixth in Region 20.

Lakota West (10th in Region 4) and Ross (11th, Region 8) are on the cusp. And Ross certainly controls its destiny with three of its six remaining games scheduled against teams ranked higher than the Rams.

Catching Colerain

When Hamilton takes on Colerain in a Fox Sports Ohio televised game Thursday night, Big Blue will be trying to snap an eight-game losing streak against the Cardinals.

Hamilton’s last victory against Colerain was a 37-21 triumph in 1997, the year Big Blue rolled to a 10-0 regular season.

Since then, the Cardinals have won each of the last eight games by at least 19 points, outscoring HHS by a combined 337-124.

Best for Last

The purpose of two-a-day practices in the blazing heat of August is to make sure the players are in good enough shape to be as strong in the fourth quarter as they are in the first when the lights go on for real.

Given that, the Lakota West Firebirds appear to be one of the best conditioned teams around.

Larry Cox’s squad hasn’t given up any points in the fourth quarter since the opening week of the season. And the Firebirds are outscoring opponents by a combined 41-19 in the second half, and 20-7 in the fourth quarter.

Tough times in Trenton

Among the biggest surprises thus far are the Edgewood Cougars and their 1-3 record.

Just how rare is it? Consider the Cougars have lost fewer than three games in nine of the last 11 seasons. And they lost exactly three in the other two, both of which were playoff seasons in 2008 (8-3) and 1997 (9-3).

With six games remaining, Edgewood needs to run the table in order to avoid its first four-loss season since 1995.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.

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