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2018 Week 10 (New York & Pennsylvania)

2018 Week 10 (New York & Pennsylvania)

New York has a rather intriguing post-season structure. After a seven-game regular season, a three round playoff starts. For most classes. Class AA and D only play a two-round playoff, because of how few teams are in each. So, they get an extra regular season game. Then, those that don’t qualify can play in the “Funke Bowl”, which is a two-round playoff in each class. Again, except for Class D, since there’s only four teams.

However, teams that don’t qualify for the playoffs, or lose in the Funke Bowl, can play consolation games. Some only play one additional game. However, they can play up to three. One of those, is Springville Griffith. Who plays Tonawanda in the first post season week. And then plays East Aurora/Holland in the second week. Both games on a Wednesday. And one more week, next week, on a Tuesday at Alden. Finishing at 0-7, they’re desperate to get their first victory. Last week, losing, 14-7 to the Tonawanda Warriors. Continue reading “2018 Week 10 (New York & Pennsylvania)”

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2018 Week 9 (New York & Ohio)

2018 Week 9 (New York & Ohio)

New York State generally has a seven-game regular season. In Section 6, which covers far western New York, teams that don’t qualify for the sectional playoffs, may qualify for the “Chuck Funke Bowl”, an NIT-like tournament. For the regular playoffs, it’s a three-round setup, except for Class D, which only has four teams. So, the ‘first round’ is just an eighth regular season game. Teams that don’t qualify for the Chuck Funke Bowl have the option to schedule additional games over the next two weeks. Continue reading “2018 Week 9 (New York & Ohio)”

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2018 Week 8 (Ohio & New York)

2018 Week 8 (Ohio & New York)

Week 8 was a very busy week. So, this is a bit delayed. Wednesday started with an Elton John Concert for my wife, followed by four high school games between Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and a Browns game on Sunday.

So, let’s dive in. Thursday consisted of several games in northeast Ohio. A result of a teachers’ conference that leads to many schools not having Friday classes. And many of those to play on Thursday night instead. Continue reading “2018 Week 8 (Ohio & New York)”

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2018 Week 7 (Ohio)

Glenville v. John Adams, John Adams Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

2018 Week 7 (Ohio)

For a weekend with almost all Ohio games, it started off in Pennsylvania. In Clarion County, the annual Autumn Leaf Festival always alters the schedule of at least one county school. With most of the festivities on the weekend, many schools are off. This moves a lot of the games to Thursday night.

For 2018, it was only one school that elected to play on Thursday. Keystone, in the town of Knox just west of county-seat Clarion, was hosting Union/ACV. Union and Allegheny-Clarion Valley formed a co-op a few years ago. The Falcon Knights, as they’re called, split time between both schools. Hosting games in Rimersburg and Foxburg.
Continue reading “2018 Week 7 (Ohio)”

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2018 Week 6 (West Virginia & Pennsylvania)

2018 Week 6 (West Virginia & Pennsylvania)

Week 6 was a lot of fun, but a lot of driving and a lot of games. With Carrick cancelling the rest of their season due to low numbers, I was on the hunt for another Thursday game. Which led me to search the surrounding states for games. Parma had a game, and elsewhere in Ohio. And Buffalo had two games. But, as I looked around, I found one in West Virginia. With a 1pm kickoff. Continue reading “2018 Week 6 (West Virginia & Pennsylvania)”

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2018 Week 5 (Pennsylvania & New York)

2018 Week 5 (Pennsylvania & New York)

Week 5 went nothing like I had originally planned. Some of that can be blamed on the weather, the matchups, and just my mood in general.

With no real intriguing Thursday games aside from Parma or Pittsburgh, my wife and I opted to head to Cleveland for the Browns game. It’d been over two years since my last Browns game. Having a 2 year old daughter made the choice easy to give up my season seats. But, seeing that tickets were fairly cheap on Ticketmaster meant the idea of heading to Cleveland worthwhile. Continue reading “2018 Week 5 (Pennsylvania & New York)”

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2018 Week 4 (Maryland & Indiana)

2018 Week 4 (Maryland & Indiana)

Week 4 was an interesting confluence of things. I had been planning, for months, to travel to Muncie, Indiana for the four CIC Day at Ball State games. The Central Indiana Conference (and the Tri-Eastern Conference) have held, sporadically, a weekend of conference games at one Ball State. This year, Week 1 hosted the TEC Day, and Week 4 hosted the CIC Day. Continue reading “2018 Week 4 (Maryland & Indiana)”

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2018 Week 2 (Pennsylvania)

2018 Week 2 (Pennsylvania)

Week 2 was definitely a road trip. Thursday night included a nearly three hour jaunt to southeastern Ohio and the Noble County Fair. The Caldwell Redskins play full-time at the Noble County Fairgrounds. However, during the annual fair, if they have a home game that weekend, it’s played on Thursday night and becomes a marquee event of the fair.

Similar to how Clarion County (PA) handles the Autumn Leaf Festival, however in order to attend the game you must pay to enter the fair. Admission to the stadium itself is then free. This $9 charge may seem a bit much for a high school game, but you do have an entire fair to check out before or after the game.

Continue reading “2018 Week 2 (Pennsylvania)”