The high school football playoffs opened around Ohio last night, including two games of local interest.

As featured on 98.3 WPKO, host West Liberty-Salem edged West Jefferson 3-0 in Division V.

Erik Thomas drilled a 38-yard field goal in the second quarter.

The contest was a rematch; West Jefferson won 56-24 two years ago.

The Tigers defense made several key stops to earn the shutout.

West Jefferson was stopped on a 4th and goal play from the WLS two-yard line with about six minutes remaining in the game.

After gaining one first down, West Liberty-Salem was forced to punt.

The Roughriders marched to the WLS 32-yard line, but the Tigers defense stopped them on downs with 20 seconds remaining.

Listen to Chad Wilkinson's play-by-play of the game-sealing stop.

WLS (11-0) will play perennial power St. Henry (8-3) in the regional semifinals next Friday. The site will be announced by the OHSAA on Sunday.

West Jefferson finishes the season 9-2.

As featured on 1390 WBLL, Bellefontaine visited Columbus Watterson in a Division III matchup.

The Eagles shut out the Chiefs 26-0.

Watterson dominated the field position battle in the first half.

The Eagles led 12-0 at halftime thanks to a field goal, a touchdown, and a field goal.

Watterson then took command with the opening possession of the second half by marching 68 yards for a score.

The Eagles outgained BHS 235 to 189.

Watterson improves to 8-3. They will take on Napoleon in the second round next Friday night.

The Chiefs finish the season 8-3.

Listen to Bellefontaine head coach Jason Brown recap the game and the season with Ken Keller.

Other finals included:

Division II:

Tecumseh blitzed West Carrollton 55-23.

Division III:

Springfield Shawnee defeated Goshen 28-7.

Tipp City steamrolled host Sandusky Perkins 34-6.

Columbus DeSales handled Bryan 45-21.

Napoleon defeated Columbus Eastmoor 28-14.

Division V:

St. Henry beat top-seeded North Union 28-3.

Anna edged Columbus Bishop Ready 20-17.

Coldwater ran past Hamilton Badin 41-0.

Lima Central Catholic blanked Hicksville 49-0.

The Cleveland Indians today announced the hiring of Tim Belcher as Major League Pitching Coach.

Belcher, 48, has spent the last eight seasons in the Indians organization as a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations.  In that role Tim worked extensively within the Indians Player Development System, providing instruction and evaluation at each level of the organization.  He also spent a considerable amount of time scouting players from outside of the organization and for the last several years provided advance scouting reports to the Major League staff.  He has assisted the Major League pitching coach during each of his spring training camps during his tenure and at various points served as interim pitching coach at each level (AAA, AA, A) of the Indians system.

The Sparta, Ohio native compiled a major league pitching record of 146-140 with a 4.16 ERA over a 14-year career from 1987-2000 with seven major league teams and 373 starts (394G, 2442.2IP, 2423H, 1130ER, 1519SO).  He won 10 or more games in 9 of his 14 seasons at the big league level, topped the 200.0 innings pitched mark 7 times and finished in the top 10 in his respective league’s ERA on 3 different occasions.   His 2442.2 big league innings are the most of any active pitching coach in the Major Leagues at present.

Belcher was an All-American pitcher at Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio before winning The Sporting News National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year honors in 1988 with the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (won Game 4 of the WS for LA).  The following season with LA he led the National League in complete games (10) and shutouts (8).  He was the first overall pick in both the 1983 June amateur draft (Minnesota) and the 1984 January secondary phase amateur draft (NY Yankees).

Tim is the first member of Manny Acta’s Major League Coaching Staff.  Acta was named the 40th manager of the Cleveland Indians on October 25th.

Lakeview’s U10 and U12 teams each made championship appearances in the county tournament last Saturday.

The U10 team, IndianLakeOutfitters.com (pictured), defeated Huntsville 4-1 to advance to the championship before falling to Calvary Christian in the finals. Ezra Naylor, Nikolas Vance, and Kaleb Vance notched goals for Indian Lake.

The coaches would like to congratulate all the players on their season and thank them for all the hard work they put in. The team showed excellent teamwork and sportsmanship throughout the season. Players for IndianLakeOutfitters are Nikolas Vance, Kaleb Vance, Ezra Naylor, Logan Ingle, Josh Cavinder, Tyler Usas, Hannah Park, Tristin Goings, Logan Whaley, Georgia Blackburn, Cheyanne Miller, Alexa King, Kaleb Weirick, Caleb Knief, Bryce Hyder, Jarett Monroe, and Tiffany Clark. Coaches are Joe King, Troy Vance, and Rodney Cavinder.

The Lakeview U12 (pictured) team edged Calvary Christian in a shootout in the semifinals.

Breanna Bryant, Abby Watson, Emali Sroufe, and Michael Mallory scored in the shootout.

Keeper Elijah Knief made two saves in the shootout.

Mallory and Katie Banning netted goals in regulation. Abbi Siebeneck recorded an assist.

In the championship game, Lakeview defeated West Liberty 3-1.

Mallory scored twice and Sroufe added a goal.

The U12 Lakers ended their season with an unblemished record and coaches attributed the success to teamwork and dedication from the players all season long.

Players for Indian Lake are Sroufe, Mallory, Watson, Banning, Siebeneck, Knief, Breanna Bryant, Brittany Bryant, Colton Wilson, Eva Sarver, Xena Quintanilla, Ashley Meiter, Kaci Kidder, Walker Mustaine, Victoria Ortiz, Lindsey Huffman, and Patricia VanOss. Coaches are John Huffman, Terry Sroufe, Jamie Watson, and Ryan Collins.

On the final day of the season, the Urbana University women’s soccer team defeated the Dragons from Tiffin University 2-0 yesterday.  The win was the Blue Knights 3rd straight.  Urbana ends their year at 7-8-2.  Tiffin falls to 11-6-2.

The shutout was senior goalkeeper Melanie Johansing’s (pictured) 16th career shutout, tying the school record.  Johansing (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon HS) notched 14 saves in the game to earn the shutout.  She finishes her career with 321 saves.

Urbana got all the scoring they needed in the 21st minute.  Junior forward Randi Granat (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS) got her team-leading 8th goal of the season on a bloop shot over the keeper’s head.  Sophomore Leah Guey (Conover, Ohio/Graham HS) provided the assist, her 1st of the season.

Guey provided some insurance in the 69th minute, scoring her first goal of the year on a corner kick from sophomore Abby Pearson (Xenia, Ohio/Xenia HS).  Freshman Mikaela Tolbert (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance HS) headed the ball down to Guey who scored easily on the Dragons’ doorstep.

The Urbana University men’s soccer team saw their 4-game winning streak come to an end in a season finale heartbreaker on Wednesday night.  Taking on a Tiffin team that Urbana had never beat in 8 previous attempts, the Blue Knights forced overtime but saw the game slip out of their grasp, literally.

On a seemingly harmless shot by Tiffin’s Michael O’Neill in overtime, the ball slipped out of keeper John Kolhoff’s hands and trickled into the net for the game-winner.  Kolhoff was playing his first collegiate game in goal, filling in for the Blue Knights’ regular starter Huw Howell-Pryce.

The Dragons opened the scoring with a PK goal in the 19th minute.  The Blue Knights fouled Rhys Cannela in the box, and Cannela capitalized on the penalty kick, beating Kolhoff for the 1-0 lead.

The game got a little ugly in the second half.  As Urbana battled for an equalizer, the referees dished out an incredible 8 yellow cards and 34 fouls.  The Blue Knights finally found the back of the net in the 82nd minute.  Junior Justin Parmenter got behind the Dragon defense and pounded the ball past the Tiffin keeper to tie the score at 1-1.  Nicodemus George provided the assist, and the stage was set for Tiffin’s dramatic win in the 4th minute of overtime.

With the win, Tiffin improves to 13-4-1, while Urbana finishes at 6-10-1 for the second straight season.

Directions to the Bellefontaine at Columbus Watterson football playoff game:

US Rte 33 toward Columbus

Take I 270 N from US Rte 33

Follow I 270 N to I 71 S

Take I 71 S to Exit 115 (Cooke Rd.)

Turn Right on Cooke Rd. and follow to Indianola Ave.

Turn Left on Indianola Ave. and follow to Arcadia Ave.

Turn Right on Arcadia Ave and follow to Hagely Field

Parking is limited around the school. The field is in a residential neighborhood and most parking is limited to spaces along the street.

You can see a map at http://www.bishopwatterson.com/files/FootballField.pdf 

You can hear the game live on 1390 WBLL Friday night starting at 6:30.

A small group of the Buckeye Hilliker swimmers got an early start to the 2009/2010 season with a competition last weekend in Cincinnati.

While competing at the PCY Invitational, Jessica Miller and Emma Smith placed in the top 20 in freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly. Both swimmers made it into the top 10 in breaststroke with a fifth-place finish for Miller and a sixth-place finish for Smith.

Next weekend, the Hilliker YMCA will host the Fourth Annual Harvest Invitational. Buckeye Hilliker swimmers will compete against swimmers from Columbus, Sidney, Kenton and Marysville teams.

In youth football, the Little Raiders JV team defeated Indian Lake 40-14.

Coaches say the team played their best game of the year.

In varsity action, Urbana beat the Little Chiefs 28-14.

The JV Little Chiefs lost to Marysville 22-14 in overtime.

The Bellefontaine Chieftains fell in the Division II District Finals to the always tough Kettering Alter Knights by a score of 6-1.

Alter led 4-0 at the half.

For BHS, Anthony Vicario scored off an Aaron Dunn assist.

The Chiefs finish the season 15-4-1, which is a school record for wins.

Head coach Steve Henry said, "I'm proud of the way we played today, even though the score is as lopsided as it is. We did a great job of keeping possession, but we got caught sleeping on their counter-attacks. This was a great season though. This group of seniors played in 4 sectional finals, and won 3 of them. They have set a new standard for our program that the younger players can set their sights on. If we want to be able to compete with the Alters of the world, we're going to have to do better in the off season to prepare ourselves."

U10

Calvary Christian completed an undefeated season on Saturday, capturing the championship.

In the first game, Calvary defeated North Logan 3-0 in hard fought game.

Braden Studebaker scored all three goals for the hat trick. Derek Robb and Ian Lawlor had excellent games on defense.

In the championship game Calvary defeated Lakeview 9-0.

Parker Grothaus scored the first two goals of the match. Also scoring were two goals from Josh Kilgore, three from Cole Kennedy, one from Rylan Studebaker, and one from Daniel Wilt.

Josh Kilgore also had two assists and Braden Studebaker added one.

Rylan Studebaker and Josiah Kratz contributed in goal for the shutout.

U8

Lakeview 1 C&S Farm Market won two games on Saturday to capture the championship.

Lakeview defeated North Logan 1 2-0.

Ethan Shoffner scored both goals on assists by Landon Siebeneck.

Paige Schindewolfe, Carson Shepherd, and Rider Siebeneck shined on defense.

Keepers Anna Peterman and Bethany Golliday combined for the shutout.

In the championship game, Lakeview beat the Huntsville Scorpions 4-1.

Shoffner and Siebeneck each scored twice.

Midfielders Nathan Reichert and Bethany Golliday played excellent defense.

After losing its first game of the season, Lakeview won eight consecutive games.

Lakeview is pictured above.
Bottom Left to Right:  Ethan Shoffner, Rider Siebeneck, Anna Peterman, Landon Siebeneck, Reid Vance, and Annabelle Bryant
Top Left to Right:  Head Coach Gary Bryant, Carson Shepherd, Paige Schindewolfe, Nathan Reichert, Bethany Golliday, and Assistant Coach Brent Golliday

In the semifinals, the Scorpions edged Huntsville 1 1-0.

Pierce Wall scored the game-winner.

Keeper Amy Lonsway earned the shutout.

The Scorpions are pictured left.
First Row: Karma Williams, Maison Johnson, Lizzy Foreman, Amy Lonsway, Ethan Parker, and Skyler Tackett
Second Row: Haley Shields, Megan Neal, Devin Stalling, Kaylee Foreman, Nichol Wall, Pierce Wall, Damien Opel, Kyle LeVan, and Austin Parker
Third Row: Head Coach Sam (Luigi) Johnson, Assistant Coach Nicole Foreman

U6

The Huntsville Sharks won the U-6 Logan County Soccer title on Saturday.

The Sharks first beat Calvary Christian by a score of 7-0.

Goal scorers were Lucas Schwieterman (2), Gavin Clary (2), Caden Whitman, Caden Roberts, and Colin Burba.

The Sharks then went on to defeat North Logan #3 1-0 for the title.

Gavin Clary scored the deciding goal late in second half.

The Sharks capped off an undefeated season for the team, giving up only 1 goal the entire season.

The Riverside Pirates put up a fight in their first ever trip to the District Final in volleyball Saturday afternoon in Vandalia.  The Pirates played with intensity in front of a big Riverside crowd, but fell to the Redskins in four games on 1390 WBLL.

Riverside went toe-to-toe with the ‘Skins and took game 1 25-23.  That showed Ft. Loramie this was not going to be an easy afternoon.  The Redskins rallied back to take game two 25-14 then followed with game three 25-19.  Game four was back-and-forth until Ft. Loramie would string together a few points to pull ahead 17-11.  After a Riverside timeout the Pirates would get a little closer, but Loramie was too much and ended the Pirates season with a 25-20 game four win.

The loss snaps Riverside's 17 match winning streak. Prior to this game, the Lady Pirates hadn't lost a set since losing the second set in their win against Botkins on September 19th. Their winning streak extended to 44 straight sets when Riverside won the first set of the match, but the Redskins ended the streak there.

Riverside loses two seniors off the squad in their first District appearance.

Pictured in this story is the team accepting their District Final runner-up trophy.

Pirate Head Coach Jennifer Thompson spoke with Chad Wilkinson after the game.

For Riverside in the match, Amelia Carter had 8 kills, Sarah Schindewolf 17 digs, Brooklynn Purtee 29 digs and 5 kills, Tory Thompson 30 assists, and 7 kills, Erica Snapp 22 digs and 13 kills, and Abby Heaberlin 11 digs and 5 kills.

Riverside finishes the season 22-4. Ft. Loramie moves on to the Regional Semi-Final next Thursday at Vandalia.

West Liberty-Salem lost in the Division III District Finals against Roger Bacon in 3 games (18-25, 12-25 and 23-25).

For the Tigers, Paige Parker had 11 kills, Kayla Peterson had 24 assists and 4 blocks, and Becka Peterson had 16 kills and 4 blocks.

The Lady Tigers finish as District runners-up with a stellar 23-2 record for the season.

The West Liberty-Salem Lady Big Orange (pictured) qualified for next week's State Cross Country Championships by placing 3rd at the Southwest Regional meet in Troy on Saturday.

The top 4 teams qualified for state. This is the second state berth for WLS. The team previously qualified for state in 2000.

Team Scores: 1st Minster 86, 2nd Spencerville 102, 3rd WLS 117, 4th Ashland Crestview 121, 5th Versailles 123, 6th Attica Seneca East 133, 7th Russia 186, 8th Ft. Loramie 196, 9th Huron 261, 10th Covington 279, 11th Cincinnati Summit Country Day 294, 12th New London 301, 13th Ansonia 302, 14th Marion Local 319, 15th Cincinnati Christian 342, 16th Ft. Recovery 420

The Big Orange was fueled by the top 20 finishes of freshmen Shawnda Henault (12th), Meghan Vogel (15th), and Jasmine Smith (17th). Teammates Jordan Smith (34th), Savanna Shipp (70th), Sarah Williams (81st), and Sarah Murphy (98th) also had strong races for WL-S.

WLS is 126-23 on the season.

The state meet is next Saturday at Scioto Downs. WLS will run at 11:05 a.m.

In Division II girls, three local standouts ran well but did not qualify for state.

Indian Lake junior Rachel Watt was 19th with a season best 20:44.

Sophomore teammate Kayla Beltz finished 21st with a personal best 20:47. 

Bellefontaine senior Katie King finished 24th.

The top 16 runners advance to the state meet.

Benjamin Logan Senior Logan Leis qualified for the Division II State Cross Country Meet with his 8th place finish (16:44) at the regional meet in Troy on Saturday.

Head coach Tom Braddock said Leis ran a great tactical race. He put himself in position at the start and then ran with the lead pack through the two mile mark. As the lead pack broke up, Logan stayed in a top eight position through the finish.

Logan will run at the State Meet next Saturday at Scioto Downs in Columbus at 2:05.