Coldwater, MAC rivals, rally around injured Cavalier

Coldwater athletic director Eric Goodwin called on all Midwest Athletic Conference fans and patrons for their support for Shane and his family. The response was inspiring.

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Hundreds of students and parents from all 10 MAC schools and neighboring Celina and St. Marys formed a human shield on the Coldwater football field last weekend and sent an overhead image of the scene to the Homans. A tweet of the scene went viral.

The hashtag #ShaneStrong is popular. Shane’s story went national following a USA Today posting.

He now has feeling in his legs and will have to learn to walk again.

»WEEK 2 REWIND: Observations and other big hits

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Coldwater (2-0) is at Versailles (1-1) in its MAC opener on Friday.

Here’s some other things to know about Week 3 of the high school football season:

• Wayne (2-0) has a daunting challenge in visiting Akron Hoban (2-0). The Knights have taken their considerable game to the next level and are aiming for their fourth straight state championship.

Hoban won Division III titles in 2015-16 and added a D-II crown last season after being bumped up due to the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s competitive balance initiative. Hoban owns a 16-game win streak.

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• Trotwood-Madison (1-1) also will be put to the limit against visiting Pickerington Central (2-0), which has yet to play an Ohio team after two blowout wins. Central lost only to visiting Trotwood last season, 28-19 in Week 3. The Tigers recovered by winning their first D-I state championship.

Trotwood had a 16-game win streak blown up 33-6 by visiting Chicago Simeon last week. Central owns a 14-game win streak.

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• Defending Greater Western Ohio Conference National East champ Centerville (0-2) will host Alter (1-1) in a rare matchup. Anchored five miles apart, the state powers have played just five times and most of those were before Centerville joined the defunct Western Ohio League in the late 1960s. Centerville won the last meeting, 24-7 in 2010.

The teams agreed to play when a proposed doubleheader against two Canadian teams fell through during the preseason.

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• It won’t count in the Southwestern Buckeye League standings, but Middletown Madison (2-0) at Valley View (1-1) is being touted as the SWBL game of the year.

Madison made its first playoff team count last year, advancing to a D-V state semifinal and is loaded with key returners. Valley View was derailed late 27-23 at Fort Recovery last week. That was the Spartans’ first regular-season loss since Week 5 of the 2016 season.

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• The first Associated Press state polls will be released on Monday.

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»WEEK 1 REWIND: Observations and other big hits

• Chaminade Julienne (2-0) was scheduled to host Greenville (2-0) in a non-league game on Thursday.

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