October 29, 2001
Four area football teams head into playoffs
By Andy Cole
Sports Writer
Ten weeks of games have gone by and basketball conditioning has started, but the fall goes on for four area high school teams in the OHSAA playoffs.
Mohawk is the top seed in Division VI, Region 22, while Carey is the sixth seed in that same region. Calvert has earned a home game as the fourth seed in Division VI, Region 21, and Upper Sandusky slid into the eighth spot in Division III, Region 10 to guarantee the first football playoff appearance in school history.
Columbian came close to making it five teams in Division II, Region VI, but Maumee's win last weekend move them from ninth to fourth in that region, and wins by Bedford and Toledo St. Francis also conspired to shut out the co-Northern Ohio League champion Tornadoes (7-2). Columbian finished ninth in the region with an average of 17.6104, less than 1.6 behind eighth-place Olmsted Falls.
Calvert (8-2) will entertain Southington Chalker (6-3). Division VI games are slated for 7 p.m. on Saturday, but Calvert's game will be played Friday at 7:30 p.m. due to a Heidelberg home game at Frost-Kalnow Stadium scheduled for Saturday.
"I think our experience is going to be a big help for us, because for our seniors we've been in the playoffs every year they've been in high school," Calvert coach Toby Hammond said. "(Chalker) only had three home games, and they travelled all over the place, so this will be nothing new for them.
"(Chalker) only has about 25 guys on the varsity team, including freshmen, and they've only got five seniors and five juniors, so we know they're young but they're also tough. I think Friday night (a 7-3 loss to Mohawk) was a good warm-up for the playoffs for us. With a good opponent and the big crowd and a lot on the line, it was that kind of atmosphere."
Midland Athletic League champion Mohawk (10-0), one of six undefeated teams in Division VI, tries to extend the best season in school history Saturday when it hosts Pandora-Gilboa (7-3).
"I don't know much about (Pandora-Gilboa) other than I'm going to pick up some film from them in a few minutes," said Mohawk's first-year coach Erik Baker. "We know them by reputation, but I haven't gotten a good look at anything they do. We'll get the films of their league losses to Hardin-Northern and McComb, and their last game in Van Buren, so we have a good idea of what their personnel is now.
"I met with a group of our kids yesterday and we talked a good bit about re-establishing our goals now that we're in the second season. They think we can go a long way, but it's still one game at a time and it just gets harder from here on out."
Carey (9-1), the MAL runner-up, will make a trip to Blanchard Valley Conference runner-up Hardin-Northern (9-1). Carey's only loss was to Mohawk, while the Polar Bears fell to McComb.
"The kids have really exceeded our expectations this year," Carey coach Jim Draper said. "It's still a young team, but we got great senior leadership this season and everyone followed it. Our sophomores and junior stepped up and got better every week. A big part of it was Drew Walter being able to handle the quarterback spot that well in his first year.
"I think my coaching staff did a great job getting to these young kids and teaching them what they needed. We've had a lot of close games, which you come to expect in our league, so the kids are ready for that part of it, but nobody in the BVC runs the same formations we do, so it's going to be difficult to know what to expect from (Hardin-Northern)."
Upper Sandusky's double-overtime, 32-26 win over Galion Friday night gave the Rams a 6-3 record, the first winning record at Upper since 1992 and the lowest loss total in a season since a 7-3 mark in 1983. Upper Sandusky's average of 15.3884 nudged Lima Bath (15.2170) for the eighth and final playoff spot. The task will not be easy, as Sunbury Big Walnut (10-0), the top-ranked team in the state in Division III, welcomes the Rams to playoff action.
"I don't think having to play a great team is going to take anything away from the excitement our kids are feeling right now," Upper Sandusky coach Dick DeWitt said. "You obviously don't want to start out with a team like that, but we've earned the right to be here and play them, and at this level anything can happen. I'm sure our kids will be pumped and play with a lot of emotion, and we have nothing to lose.
"It's nice being in a conference like the NOL where it seems like you play a great opponent every week. Most weeks, our opponents were bigger and had some more athletes, so we're usually the underdog and our kids are used to that position. Hopefully, we can go out and play our game."
Also in Region 10, Willard (7-3) opens up at Bellefontaine (8-2) while Bellevue (8-2) goes to St. Mary's Memorial (9-1). In Division IV, Huron (8-2) goes to Suburban Lakes League champion Millbury Lake (8-2) and Delta (9-1) is at Margaretta (9-1). In Division V, Woodmore (8-2) heads to top-seeded Marion Pleasant (10-0). In Division VI, Norwalk St. Paul (8-2) is at Gibsonburg (7-3).