Which is the best undefeated Middie team?

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The 1934 Middies vs. the 2010 Middies

1934 Middletown High School football season

Coach: Elmo Lingrel, 12th season

Middletown 32, Columbus East 0

Middletown 26, Cincinnati Elder 0

Middletown 6, Cin. Roger Bacon 0

Middletown 38, Lima Central 0

Middletown 17, Dayton Roosevelt 6

Middletown 14, Portsmouth 0

Middletown 19, Springfield 0

Middletown 39, Columbus West 0

Middletown 27, Piqua 13

Middletown 34, Hamilton 0

**Middletown 252, Opponent 19

2010 Middletown High School football season

Coach: Jason Krause, 3rd season

Middletown 34, Simon Kenton 0

Middletown 38, Troy 7

Middletown 49, Lima Senior 14

Middletown 24, Lakota West 13

Middletown 42, Hamilton 9

Middletown 38, Sycamore 12

Middletown 69, Mason 44

Middletown 38, Fairfield 2

Middletown 49, Lakota East 35

Middletown 32, Princeton 21

**Middletown 413, Opponent 157

** Total points for the season

MIDDLETOWN — Nothing is better than a little sports debate, especially this close to the election.

Who’s better, the ’27 Yankees or ’76 Reds?

Or the ’76 Steelers or ’90 49ers?

Or the ’64 Celtics or ’92 Bulls?

Or Marilyn Monroe or Rihanna?

Wait a minute, let’s keep this about sports.

Around here, most of the conversation now centers around the 2010 Middletown High School football team, which completed its 10-0 season with a 32-21 victory over Princeton on Friday night.

This was the first 10-0 season at Middletown since 1934, and that’s saying a lot considering the Middies have been playing football since 1911.

So who’s better, the defensive-minded 1934 Middies under Coach Elmo Lingrel or the high-scoring 2010 Middies under third-year Coach Jason Krause?

The 1934 team, with only 26 players, scored 25.2 points a game, and surrendered only 1.9 points per game. Those Middies recorded eight shutouts.

This year’s team is more offensive-minded. They averaged 41.3 points and allowed 157 points.

Here’s where the debate gets one-sided. No players from that ’34 team could be located. Of course, the 2010 Middie bandwagon is full.

Don “Woody” Withrow probably has watched as many Middie games as anyone. If the 1934 team played this year’s team, “there’s no doubt who’d win by a big margin,” Withrow said. “This team has too much speed.”

He figures the team 76 years ago probably didn’t have an athlete as talented, or quick, as Middie quarterback Jalin Marshall, who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards.

But, Withrow said, players in the early 1930s probably were “harder-nosed” than today’s athletes because the steel mill was “thriving” back then.

Betty Sexton, 87, of Monroe, was married to Jim Sexton, a standout on the 1934 team. Jim Sexton, who later played at Ohio State, died Oct. 12, 2005.

When asked to pick a winner of the ’34 vs. ’10 game, Betty Sexton said: “I have no idea, no idea whatsoever. I don’t follow much football. I do know that Jim loved playing for Middletown and Ohio State.”

On Wednesday, as the Middies prepared to practice for the Princeton game, Mike Takach and J.B. Deaton took their regular seats in folding chairs near the sidelines.

They looked like proud grandfathers.

They’re closer to the age of the 1934 players than the 2010 players, but that didn’t influence their predictions.

“This team,” Takach said, “has too much speed.”

“Speed kills,” Deaton added.