Week 10 High School Football in Review

Games I attended last week:

THURSDAY-North at South. This series is becoming just like Army-Navy in college football, with South winning for the 8th year in a row. South junior RB Kareem Hunt put on an unbelievable performance. The mud certainly affected things, but both teams had to play in it. It's unfortunate for North that once again it came up short of its goals. South, on a 22-game PAC winning streak, with 4 straight outright PAC  titles, is more than just the team to beat-it's the standard of the conference.

FRIDAY-Hawken at Wickliffe. As a Wickliffe alum, it was satisfying to see the team finish at .500 after 7 straight losing seasons. They had to lighten the non-conference schedule to do it, and made the ridiculous "swap" of week 10 games with Beachwood, but still, it's something to build on. Hopefully this coaching staff is in it for the long haul. As for the game, it went the way Hawken-Wickliffe games generally do, with the Hawks giving the Blue Devils fits, but Wickliffe winning in the end, as it has all 9 times these teams have met.

SATURDAY-Chanel at Trinity. I went to Lakewood for the St.Ignatius-St.Edward game 2 hours early, found a good parking spot, and then found out that the game was sold out. So I moved on to plan B, which was this game. A 'mini Holy War', if you will. It was a 25-minute drive from Lakewood to Bedford, so no big deal. These teams struggled all season, but it is a major rivalry for Division 5, and the Firebirds and Trojans really went at it. Chanel had a bit more talent and speed, and that equaled a 24-7 victory. The Firebirds finished 3-7, but will return many current juniors next year. The Trojans struggled to a 1-9 record, but had a lineup loaded with sophomores. Overall, not quite Iggy-Ed's, but still a very enjoyable game despite the cold weather.

     I attended 23 regular season games in all this year, and will most likely attend 8-10 playoff games. My pick for the regular season game of the year that I attended is:

Benedictine 31 Boardman 30. This game from a Saturday night way back in Week 1 at Bedford is my pick for the game of the year. It was a stirring comeback from a 21-3 deficit for the Bengals. Both of these teams are still alive in the playoffs, Benny in Division 3 and Boardman in Division 1.