HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Perrysburg, Central Catholic, L-B are Blade poll champions
11/4/2013
Central Catholic QB DeShone Kizer runs the ball against St. Francis de Sales in early October.
(School Name, Last Week's Rank, Wins, Losses, Points For, Points Against)
1. Perrysburg-II (1) 8 2 376 178
2. St. Francis-II (2) 8 2 334 275
3. Southview-II (3) 7 3 275 134
4. Bowsher-II (4) 8 2 321 89
5. Whitmer-I (5) 6 4 279 210
6. Fremont Ross-II (NR) 5 5 292 282
7. Springfield-II (NR) 5 5 275 209
8. Anthony Wayne-II (6) 5 5 255 251
Division III-IV
1. Central Catholic-III (1) 10 0 428 109
2. Genoa-IV (2) 10 0 632 151
3. Bryan-IV (3) 10 0 485 128
4. Wauseon-IV (4) 9 1 408 141
5. Lake-IV (5) 8 2 416 164
6. Napoleon-III (6) 6 4 279 177
7. Rossford-IV (7) 6 4 268 246
8. Oak Harbor-IV (NR) 5 5 243 320
Division V-VII
1. Liberty-Benton-V (1) 9 0 420 63
2. Eastwood-V (2) 8 2 416 143
3. McComb-VII (3) 8 2 424 167
4. Northwood-VI (5) 8 2 378 188
5. Patrick Henry-VI (4) 6 3 289 188
6. Liberty Center-V (7) 7 3 300 205
7. Archbold-V (6) 6 4 350 225
8. Edon-VII (9) 8 2 427 169
9. Fremont St. Joe-VII (10) 7 3 199 133
10. Toledo Christian-VII (NR) 6 4 189 222
The Blade poll ranks teams (.500 record or better) from the City League, TRAC, NLL, NBC, TAAC and NWOAL, plus Arcadia, Fremont St. Joseph, Holgate, Lakota, Liberty-Benton, McComb, North Baltimore, Oak Harbor, Port Clinton and Van Buren.
Three outright league champions — Perrysburg, Central Catholic and Liberty-Benton — have captured the poll titles in the final Blade football poll of the season.
In the combined Division I-II poll, coach Matt Kregel’s Northern Lakes League champion Perrysburg team (8-2, 7-0) edged out Three Rivers Athletic Conference runner-up St. Francis de Sales (8-2, 6-1) for the No. 1 spot.
The Yellow Jackets started out 1-2 in nonleague play this year, then ran the table in the NLL after losing the league title in 2012 because of a one-point overtime loss to last year’s champion, Napoleon.
Perrysburg’s defeats this season came against Whitmer and Central in Weeks 1 and 3.
St. Francis also has just two losses, and both came against teams that are 10-0 entering Friday’s playoff games — Michigan Division 1 power Bedford and Ohio Division III power Central Catholic.
Perrysburg and St. Francis will be competing in the D-II playoffs on Friday. Perrysburg outscored its 10 regular-season foes 376-178 and St. Francis 334-275.
Central (10-0, 7-0 TRAC), the 2012 Division II state champion, has dropped down to Division III this year under the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s new seven-division playoff format.
Coach Greg Dempsey’s Fighting Irish, winners of 15 straight games and 20 of their past 21, are ranked No. 2 in the Ohio D-III state poll. Central has outscored its opposition 428-109 entering postseason play Friday.
The Irish head up an outstanding grouping of teams near the top of the Blade’s combined Division III and IV poll.
Finishing No. 2 is two-time defending Northern Buckeye Conference champion Genoa (10-0, 7-0), which is ranked No. 3 in the D-IV state poll, and ending at No. 3 in the Blade poll is two-time defending Northwest Ohio Athletic League champion Bryan (10-0, 8-0), which is ranked No. 2 in the D-IV state poll.
If there is any dispute over the Ohio or Blade rankings of these two teams, that debate will be settled on the field Friday night, when Bryan travels to play its first-round playoff game at Genoa.
Perrysburg QB Gus Dimmerling (10) runs the ball against Maumee's Dakota Yeary (60) during a football game last Friday.
Genoa has outscored its foes 632-151, and Bryan has outscored its opponents 485-128.
Wauseon (9-1, 7-1 NWOAL), the No. 4 team in the final Division III-IV Blade poll, suffered its only loss in heartbreaking fashion by a 28-27 count at Bryan. That came on Oct. 4, when the host Golden Bears were successful on an impromptu two-point conversion pass, after a bungled snap prevented a one-point kick try that would have only forced overtime.
Wauseon outscored its regular-season foes 408-141.
Coach Tim Nichols’ Liberty-Benton Eagles (9-0, 8-0) led the combined Division V-VI-VII Blade poll from wire to wire while winning the Blanchard Valley Conference title.
The Eagles, who had a bye during the regular season, outscored their nine foes 420-63 (46.7-7 per game) and are ranked No. 2 in the Ohio Division V state poll.
Ending up at Nos. 2, 3, and 4 in the final Division V-VI-VII Blade poll are NBC runner-up Eastwood (8-2, 6-1), BVC runner-up McComb (8-2, 6-2), and Toledo Area Athletic Conference champion Northwood (8-2, 7-0), which has won eight straight games after and 0-2 start.
Contact Steve Junga at: sjunga@theblade.com, or 419-724-6461 or on Twitter@JungaBlade.