By Marc F. Pendleton - Staff Writer
MIAMISBURG —
The seniors on Miamisburg’s football team won’t get to play at the school’s new football stadium. But they sure played a role in turning around the Vikings fortunes and helping make that happen.
Fittingly, Miamisburg (7-1) will host Springboro (7-1) in the final game at historic Harmon Field at 7 p.m. today. That’s where Vikings football has played out since 1923. To be sure, community and nostalgic interest should be at an unprecedented high.
That the Greater Western Ohio Conference South Division title and playoff hopes also are at stake revs up the Week 9 showdown.
“We’ve come a long way in three years,” Miaimisburg coach Steve Channell said. “To play a game of this magnitude at home is very rewarding.”
Miamisburg has lost only to unbeaten Wayne in Week 5, a 49-14 mauling at home. Springboro is seeking its fourth straight division title and has fully recovered from a season-opening 24-17 loss to Mason. The Panthers are on a seven-game win streak and haven’t dropped a division game since Week 11 in 2011 to Lebanon.
Springboro is likely a lock to make the Division I, Region 2 playoffs; not so for Miamisburg. The Vikings were reclassified in D-II, Region 6. Unlike D-I in which the top 16 teams make the postseason, only the top eight in the remaining 24 regions for Divisions II-VII advance.
Miamisburg is No. 9 in the computer rankings this week, meaning this outcome will likely determine if its season is extended. Miamisburg qualified for the D-I playoffs the last two seasons.
“When that came out people said it would be easier (to make the playoffs),” Channell said. “I said no it won’t. The second-level point situation is what’s catching us right now. We probably would have qualified at the D-I level, but unfortunately in Region 6, we could be on the outside looking in.”
Featuring a power running game, Miamisburg has become accustomed to late-game heroics. The Vikings have beaten Fairmont (overtime), Springfield and just last week Xenia by a total of seven combined points and all were on the road.
Sophomore Tony Clark is the Burg’s leading rusher with 671 yards (6.6 average) and nine touchdowns. Channell also cited the two-way effectiveness of tight end/defensive end Brian Corbett and wingback/linebacker Xavien Jones, both seniors.
“From a coaching standpoint, your kids are in a position to take advantage of someone else’s mistakes or unlucky break,” Channell reflected. “If you’re not in that position, those mistakes or breaks don’t matter.”
Led by senior quarterback Elijah Cunningham, Springboro is threatening all of its major offensive records. The 6-foot-2 Bowling Green State University verbal commit has completed 163 of 233 passes (70 percent) for 1,942 yards, 21 TD’s and just four interceptions. Alex Feldman has 60 catches for 610 yards (10.2) and seven scores and Nick Kovacs 50 catches for 777 yards (15.5) and 11 scores.
Springboro beat Miamisburg 26-14 in Week 9 last season.
“We’ve seen a lot of good quarterbacks, four or five who are going to be playing on Saturdays,” Channell said. (Cunningham) potentially could be the best of the group we’ve seen.”
Former Miamisburg football, soccer, managers, trainers and coaches and band/guard members and cheerleaders have been invited to be recognized at halftime. The Vikings Football Alumni Association will sponsor a themed celebration at Riverfront Park in downtown Miamisburg from 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday.
• Xenia (3-5) is limping into today’s game at Lebanon (4-4) on a two-game losing skid following losses to Springboro (7-1) and Miamisburg (7-1). Unfortunately for the Bucs, setbacks to high-end opponents are their norm.
Xenia also has lost to Kings (7-1) and Beavercreek (6-2). Incredibly, the only team that doesn’t own a winning record that has beaten Xenia is perennial big-school state power Cincinnati Moeller (4-4).
• Clinton-Massie (7-1) will visit Wilmington (7-1) in what should decide the South Central Ohio League title. Massie’s only loss was in Week 2 at unbeaten Steubenville, 37-18. Wilmington was beaten 29-20 by visiting Vandalia-Butler in Week 4.
• A share of the Ohio Heritage Conference is at stake for Mechanicsburg (8-0, 5-0) when the Indians visit Greeneview (6-2, 4-1). West Liberty-Salem (6-2, 4-1) is looking to stay in title contention against visiting Southeastern (2-6).
• Piqua (football) and Valley View and Ben Logan (boys soccer) were cited by the Ohio High School Athletic Association on Thursday for violating transfer bylaws/regulations. None of those programs was required to forfeit games because the players in question participated only in preseason scrimmages and not regular-season contests.
Meadowdale wasn’t so lucky. As previously reported, the Lions had to forfeit a Week 5 defeat of Hughes for using an ineligible transfer player. The Lions (3-5) self-reported the violation to the OHSAA.
They are among 34 schools throughout the state penalized by the OHSAA since the start of the school year for rules infractions.
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