Trotwood faces another big task

Trotwood’s Breland Cospy scores against Springfield Shawnee in the playoffs. Bill Lackey/Staff

Credit: Bill Lackey

Credit: Bill Lackey

Trotwood’s Breland Cospy scores against Springfield Shawnee in the playoffs. Bill Lackey/Staff

Tippecanoe senior quarterback Ben Hughes got it right following a decisive 25-7 loss to Trotwood-Madison in the high school football playoffs last week.

“Their size was a big factor,” said Hughes of the Red Devils’ only defeat this season in the Division III, Region 14 final at Piqua. “They had some big boys up front. We hadn’t seen that all year. Averaging 300 pounds? That’s a college football line right there.”

Nope, that’s just how the Rams roll.

Trotwood (10-2) will direct all that might against Clyde (12-1) in today’s D-III state semifinal at Lima Stadium. Joining Trotwood in this weekend’s state semifinals are area teams Coldwater (D-V), Mechanicsburg (D-VI) and Marion Local (D-VII). All winners advance to next week’s state finals at Massillon and Canton.

This is the fourth straight year that the Rams have advanced this deep into the playoffs. They’ve swept their three previous state semifinals and won their only state title in 2011. Clyde, a public school that’s tucked between Fremont and Bellevue on State Route 20 in Sandusky County, won’t be an easy out.

Clyde lost only to Perkins (11-1), which the Fliers knocked out in a second-round rematch. Clyde also made certain that there would be no rematch of the D-II 2012 title game between Trotwood and Toledo Central Catholic. Clyde beat TCC in a 42-41 regulation shootout last week.

Clyde has playoff history on its side, too. The Fliers have been in the playoffs eight times since 2004 and won a state title in 1995.

Trotwood started the season 0-2 following a forfeit loss to Springfield in the opener and a 35-21 setback to Wayne in Week 2. But since then, the Rams have been unbeatable.

Trotwood is on a 10-game winning streak and has hiked up the offense, scoring 41 or more points in eight of those wins.

The other D-III state semifinal has Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (13-0) playing Columbus Marion-Franklin (12-1) at New Philadelphia also today.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association will release state final times, days and locales for the Dec. 5-7 championship weekend on Sunday.

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