Football is a sport that probably started in small towns in the Midwest in the 1800s, developing from sports first played in Britain that involved kicking the ball toward a goal or running it over a line.
It developed quickly in Ohio, which was among the first states to field professional, college and high school teams. Schools like Mansfield Senior, Shelby and Galion have nearly 100 years of history.
That history runs deep. Especially in the villages of Plymouth and Lucas, who play each other in a first round playoff game in division seven at Mary Fate Park in Plymouth on Saturday night.
When football was developing it became a way for a towns to compete against each other to find out who had the best team. It was a way to develop civic pride and in 2014, that remains the case in North Central Ohio.
I can guarantee you that fate of the game between Lucas and Plymouth, a district that also includes the Village of Shiloh, is about the only thing that anyone has been talking about this week. Whether it is in the grocery store, at the gas station, the public library, local watering holes, wherever people gather.
The former players who now have kids of their own are discussing strategy. Current Players grandmas perk up when they get a chance to talk about the exploits of their favorite grandson. And even the local hairstylists will be asked to design some interesting cuts before the big game.
Some area schools expect to be in the playoffs every year. But to these two schools this is different. It’s special.
For the Big Red this is first time they have ever made the playoffs. They are part of the Firelands Conference, which has been dominated over the years by Norwalk St. Paul, Monroeville and Crestview.
Lucas is making just their third appearance. They lost first round games to state power Mogadore in both 2000 and 2006.
The Big Red and its fans realize this is something special, something that doesn’t happen everyday. They are embracing it as they should. They are the heroes in town, even though they aren’t even old enough to vote yet. All of the elementary kids want to be like them. More than a few kids will be asking Santa for a football for Christmas this year, so they can try and be like their favorite player.
This will be different this time for Lucas too. They are going to have a lot better chance to win the game this time than they did in 2000 or 2006. Their players know if they execute their run-heavy, “football-in-a-phone-both” style they can win a playoff game.
This is actually a re-match from the first week of the season when Plymouth won, 40-22, in a game that actually closer than that score would indicate. We’ll find out Saturday night if Plymouth’s wide-open offense or the run-oriented game of the Cubs prevails in the second contest.
I heard there was some discussion of having the game at a neutral site, like Madison’s newly-renovated Ram Field at STARTEK Stadium, due to the fact that there are no longer any locker rooms or restroom facilities at Mary Fate, the high school/middle school was moved down the street a decade ago and the old building, that stood next to the filed torn down.
I for one think it should be played at Plymouth because they earned it, like all of the rest of the teams that finished in the top four in their region across Ohio.
The teams can meet in the end zones before the game, I’m sure that is how they did it when football got its start.
As for the restrooms, my mom always told me to go before I left home anyway.
After years of toil and sweat behind radio station microphones, longtime broadcaster, Jeff Swank joined the new generation of sports followers on the web.
Swank launched his internet radio station with nothing more than some wire, a box with some knobs and switches, and an itch to do much more than just scratch the surface of everything sports.
Richland Source is proud to introduce Jeff as a writer focused on high school sports. He will contribute a weekly column and analysis of a featured game of the week from one of our area high schools.
In addition to his work at Richland Source, Jeff provides complete high school sports coverage for over 70 Ohio schools at his web site, http://www.swankonsports.net76.net/.
