League loaded with state titles

9/28/2001

When it comes to winning championships, the nine-team Midwest Athletic Conference is loaded with high schools that have captured state titles in Divisions IV, V and VI. Now, newest member Versailles is trying to prove it belongs in Ohio's top small-school league.

The Tigers' bid got off to a good start Friday, beating Delphos St. John's 34-28, halting the Blue Jays' regular-season winning streak at 55 games. The winning score came on Nicholas Rhoades' one-yard touchdown run with 45 seconds to play.

Coach Al Hetrick, in his 33rd season at Versailles, won Division V state titles in 1990, '93, '94 and '98, and was runner-up in '96. He also led Versailles to the Division IV crown in 1995.

St. John's won three straight small-school state titles from 1997 to 1999 and lost in last year's Division VI semifinals to conference rival Maria Stein Marion Local, which went on to win the championship.

The conference also features St. Henry, winner of four state titles in the 1990s, and Coldwater, last year's Division IV runner-up.