It was an exciting final Friday of the high school football season. A wacky West Shore Conference season stayed true to form on the season's final night. Co-leaders Rocky River and Bay lost allowing North Ridgeville, down by 14 at the half, to rally for a share of the WSC title. The Rangers' season seemed to be in shambles after week nine's late-second loss to Rocky River. Not only did the Rangers get a share of conference with a 18-14 win over Midview, as of midnight Joe Eitel's unofficial Harbin ratings have the Rangers in the playoffs as the eighth seed.

Football takes a lot of dedication. Bring winless and still playing hard takes a special kind of pride. Both Vermilion and Norwalk's seniors can leave their high school careers with their heads a little higher. Both 0-9 to start the night, the Sailors and Truckers faced overtime. Vermilion defeated Firelands 20-14 in overtime and Norwalk beat Upper Sandusky 27-21 in the extra session.

Avon Lake won the SWC outright as North Olmsted defeated Olmsted Falls14-6. Clyde won a share of the SBC with a 7-0 win over Edison. The Fliers will share the title with Perkins which beat Margaretta 29-18. Clearview won the Stars division of the PAC with 35-0 drubbing of Oberlin. As of Midnight Clearview sits in 8th on the unofficial Harbin ratings of Joe Eitel. But they have not clinched a spot as secondary points Saturday will decide the 8th and final spot. Elyria Catholic is also mathematically alive.

In the Morning Journal Game of the Week, Amherst used a 89-yard drive late in the fourth quarter, capped off by a Charlie Davis 5-yard run to defeat Olmsted Falls 17-16.

With the win, the Comets find themselves in a three way tie with Olmsted Falls, and Avon Lake, who destroyed Brecksville 39-10, for the Southwestern Conference title.

All three teams are now 5-1 in the SWC, and Amherst and Avon Lake will play each other Thursday night at Amherst. Olmsted Falls will travel to take on North Olmsted Friday night to see which two teams will share the SWC crown.

Elyria Catholic's playoff hopes came to crashing end as they lost a hard fought game to Trinity 15-13.
Alex Alicea had a monster game for the Panthers, rushing for 186 yards and two touchdowns. The lost all but eliminates the Panthers chances to make the playoffs, as they began the night 10th in Region 14 in Division IV.

Bay didn't let the cover of the Edge distract them as they handily defeated winless Vermilion 35-6.

Owen Dalton scored two touchdowns for the Rockets, who improved to 7-2 overall, 5-1 in the West Shore Conference.

All Bay has to do is defeat Avon, the defending WSC champions, to clinch its first-ever WSC crown.

Another exciting game took place at Rocky River as the Pirates defeated North Ridgeville in overtime 23-21.

Replacement kicker Mike Jones booted the 28-yard game-winnning field.

The Pirates are now tied with Bay, who they beat earlier in the season, atop the West Shore Conference.

It was another rainy and muddy Friday night and some area teams struggled in Week 8 in the less than favorable conditions, while others did not let the weather slow them down.

The big upset of the night happened in Clyde, where the Fliers knocked off previously unbeaten Perkins 27-13.

Perkins held a 7-3 lead after the first quarter, but was outscored 24-6 in the second half.

Perkins' problem was they could not contain Clyde's Kade Kramer, who rushed for 223 yards on 31 carries.

The victory becomes huge for Clyde (5-3, 4-0) as they now move into sole possession of first place in the Sandusky Bay Conference with Perkins (7-1, 3-1) now a game back.

Elyria Catholic (6-2) kept his playoff hopes alive as they defeated St. Peter Chanel 28-6.

Alex Alicea carried the load on offense for the Panthers. He finished with 149 total yards (95 rushing) and scored three touchdowns.

Week 8 also had its share of blowouts which included:

Bay over Firelands 28-7
Avon Lake over Westlake 34-0
Clearview over Lutheran West 54-0
Midview over Avon 33-14
St. Paul over New London 56-0
North Ridgeville over Firelands 42-0
Shaw over Southview 54-0
Crestview over Western Reserve 27-0

After defeating Edison in its biggest game of the season, Perkins struggled but found a way to defeat Huron in Sandusky Bay Conference play, 21-7.

Richard Hohler had a big day on both sides of the field for the Pirates. He totaled 170 yards on offense, and had two interception on defense.

Perkins improved to 7-0, 4-0 in the SBC and will take on Clyde, who is also unbeaten in the SBC.

North Ridgeville bounced back from its first lost of the season to hammer West Shore Conference opponent Vermilion, 30-6.

Brandon Mundell led the Rangers on the ground with 117 yards on 14 carries. Domonique Qualls caught two touchdown passes (27,23) from Michael Mees.

Avon Lake won its third game in a row as they destroyed Berea 42-7.

Mike Mansnerus rushed for 72 yards and scored two touchdowns.

The Shoreman improve to 4-3, and 3-1 in the Southwestern Conference.

After defeating previously unbeaten North Ridgeville, Bay traveled to Rocky River and dropped its first West Shore Conference game 28-16.

Bay didn't help themselves as they turned the ball over six times.

Amherst traveled to Berea and held on for a 20-13 victory.

Alex Basinski threw for 141 yards, including a 95-yard touchdown pass to Jason Stump, and rushed for 35 yards and scored two more touchdowns for the Comets.

Saturday featured three area teams who looked to take care of business at home on the gridiron in Week 6.

In Norwalk, St. Paul's Eric Schwieterman started his second game of the season and led the Flyers to a 55-0 thrashing of visiting South Central. Schwieterman finished 6 of 8 for 130 yards and a touchdown.

Dan Tract, who started at quarterback in place of an injured Schwieterman for most of the season, moved back to wide receiver and caught 4 passes for 109 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown pass from Scwieterman.

The Flyers improved to 6-0, and 3-0 in the Firelands Conference.

At Elyria, Elyria Catholic found themselves in a tight game with Villa Angela-St. Joseph to open North Coast League play.

The Panthers actually trailed 6-0, before scoring 21 unanswered points and held on for a 21-14 win.

Josh Russ had a big game for the Panthers as he scored on both sides. He caught two touchdown passes (39, 29) from Danny Reaser, and recovered a fumble on defense in the end zone.

Elyria Catholic raised its record to 5-1, and 1-0 in the NCL.

And in Lorain the Southview Saints tried to notch their second win of the season as they opened Lake Erie League play against winless Bedford.

The Saints could only muster 170 yards of total offense, and committed 6 penalties in their 27-8 loss.

The only bright spot for the Saints was Ricky Earl, who had 97 yards of total offense.

Southview dropped to 1-5, and 0-1 in the LEL.

It was homecoming time Friday night at Oberlin as the Phoenix took on Wellington in a Patriot Athletic Conference crossover game.
With all the excitement surrounding the game, Oberlin got off to a slow start and found themselves down 14-6 at halftime.
The Phoenix came out with a purpose and dominated the third quarter, outscoring Wellington 22-0 and holding on for a 28-20 win.

Double threat Gib Harris led the Phoenix offense with 228 yards of total offense, including two long touchdown passes to Tim Hill.

The first one came in the second quarter when the two hooked up for a 27-yard td to cut Wellington's lead to 14-6.

The second one, which went for 57 yards, gave the Phoenix the lead for good.

Hill finished with 2 catches for 84 yards. Harris threw for only 90 yards.

Wellington's quarterback John Bowman also had a couple of long passes, both coming in the first half.

Bowman connected with Austin Fullen on the team's first play of the first possession for a 55-yard touchdown.

Later in the first quarter, Bowman found Austen Gray for 78 yards, unfortunately the Dukes could not turn that drive into points.

Oberlin improved to 4-2, 1-2 PAC, while the Dukes fell to 4-2, 2-1 PAC.