On the evening of Saturday, November 9th, 2013, I went to see a Division V High School Football playoff game between West Salem Northwestern and Loudonville at Northwestern High School. The game was at Northwestern because teams that are in the top four positions in their region get a home game the first week of the playoffs. It was 34 miles between where I live in Oberlin, Ohio to the school, and it took about 52 minutes to get there. The school was actually located about six miles south of West Salem. I had not been to the school since I went in 2000 to see a girls soccer game. I was also there in 1998 when Oberlin scrimmaged Northwestern in football. The football stadium had improved since I had seen it last. They had a track around the field, and the bleachers on both sides of the field were much bigger. I think the concession stand and restrooms were fairly new. They also built locker rooms for both teams outside of the school building and within the stadium. The locker room for the home team was in the concession building with the visitors being near the other end of the field next to the home stands. There was a huge turnout for the game. The stands were full on both sides with many people standing along the fence. I heard some people say that it was the biggest turnout that they had seen in years. Loudonville lead 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Northwestern got inside the 10-yard line and had an apparent touchdown that ended up being called back due to illegal procedure. They turned the ball over on downs inside the two-yard line. A couple of plays later, the Loudonville quarterback tried a keeper and got tackled in the end zone for a safety to make the score 7-2. It looked like Loudonville would go into halftime with a 5-point lead, but they ended up blocking a punt inside the 10-yard line. Somebody picked up the ball at the 2-yard line and carried it in for a touchdown, and Loudonville lead 14-2. At halftime, I met a former football player that played 6-man football back in the 50s when Ohio still had 6 and 8-man football. The guys name was Marion Shine Zody, and he told me that he had the record for the longest punt of 76 yards. He had played for Perrysville High School before they consolidated with Loudonvillle. Anyway, Northwestern scored on their very first possession of the third quarter with a touchdown pass into the end zone from about 20 yards out to make the score 14-8 after a missed two-point conversion. Nobody scored again until Loudonville put the game away with less than two minutes left with a touchdown that made the final 20-8.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 04:18:45 +0000