Perkins, Liberty Center win football poll titles
11/2/2000COLUMBUS - Sandusky Perkins was among the first-timers and Liberty Center among those who had been champs before when the final Ohio Associated Press football poll was released yesterday.
Youngstown Chaney and Portsmouth also won for the first time while Cleveland St. Ignatius and Delphos St. John's added to their history.
Defending state tournament champions St. Ignatius in Division I, Perkins in Division IV and Delphos St. John's in Division VI led all eight weeks of the balloting.
The poll title is the seventh for St. Ignatius and the Wildcats' first since 1995.
Liberty Center won its second poll crown in three years, while St. John's, the three-time defending tournament champion in Division VI, was the small-school winner for the fourth straight year and fifth time since 1994.
Only Massillon Washington, which won seven straight from 1948 to 1954, when the poll included all Ohio teams in one division, and Cincinnati Moeller, the big-school winner from 1979 to 1984, have longer strings of consecutive poll titles than St. John's.
The Blue Jays won their 54th straight game last week, tying the state record set by Versailles from 1993 to 1997. They can break it tomorrow night with a victory against Ottawa Hills in the first round of the state playoffs.
Defiance finished second in Division II, Rogers was ninth.
In Division VI, McComb was ninth.
MANSFIELD, O. - Rossford defeated Columbus Bishop Hartley 15-7, 15-13 last night in a Division II regional volleyball semifinal.
The victory puts Rossford (18-9) in Saturday's final at 4 p.m. against Galion (22-2).
Alison Zemanski led the Bulldogs with 10 kills and 11 digs, Erin Appelhans had 7 kills and 5 digs, Ashley McGannon 6 kills and Jenni Giles 19 assists.