This is the second in a three-part series on the history of Shelby’s W.W. Skiles Field, which will host its final game on Friday against Madison. Part I published on Monday and Part II was published on Tuesday.
SHELBY — Northern Ohio League championships became increasingly difficult to come by during the 1980s and ’90s, but Shelby found itself in contention for league crowns more often than not.
The Whippets won outright NOL championships in 1984 and 1998 and shared the title with Bellevue and Tiffin Columbian in 2000. Those would be Shelby’s final NOL titles as the conference, once the most stable in the state, began to take on water in the early 2000s.
The departure of Bucyrus for the North Central Conference in 2002 set in motion a chain of events that ultimately led to the NOL’s demise. The league disbanded following the 2016-17 school year after 73 years when six member schools, including Shelby, left for the Sandusky Bay Conference.
Shelby spent only one season in the SBC before taking North Union’s place in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference — and what a season it was. The Whippets won the SBC’s Bay Division championship and reached the Division IV state semifinals before falling to eventual state champ Steubenville.
None of the 2017 games made this list, however, because none of the six opponents who visited Skiles Field in the fall of 2017 finished within 30 points of the Whippets. The closest home game that season was in Shelby’s home opener, when the Whippets walloped Lexington 41-7.
Here is our final installment of the 10 greatest games in W.W. Skiles Field history:
1984, Week 10
Shelby 27, Bellevue 16: Head coach Bill Varble won his fourth Northern Ohio League title in the last game of his 11th and final season in charge — Ron Stepsis succeeded Varble the following year. Running back Terry Baldridge rumbled for 150 yards, including touchdown runs of 62 and 51 yards, and hauled in a 23-yard touchdown pass from Mike Stanford.
The biggest cheer of the night came when the public address announcer informed the Skiles Field crowd that Tiffin Columbian had knocked off Willard, which beat Shelby in Week 8, giving the Whippets an outright NOL title. It was the 18th NOL crown in program history.
1998, Week 10
Shelby 28, Tiffin Columbian 0: The Whippets put the finishing touches on the first unbeaten regular season since 1968, locked up the first Northern Ohio League title since 1984 and secured the first ever playoff berth with a win over the Tornadoes in the regular season finale in front of 5,238 fans.
Shelby was undefeated and ranked 10th in Division III in that week’s Associated Press state poll. The Tornadoes also were undefeated and ranked third in Division II. Shelby was coached by Steve Hale, who was in his second season with the Whippets, while Columbian was coached by former Mansfield Senior coach Steve Gilbert, who had led the Tornadoes to 42 wins in their previous 49 games.
Shelby’s 20-man senior class included cornerback Erik Will, who would return to coach the Whippets from 2013 to 2018 and pilot his alma mater to its best season ever in 2017. Halfback Jason McCoy and bruising fullback Israel Martin (6-foot-1, 255 pounds) did a majority of the work in Shelby’s option attack.
Martin carried the ball 19 times for 120 yards, while McCoy rushed for 123 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Shelby’s first touchdown of the evening came on a trick play when McCoy took a pitch and threw an 18-yard TD pass to John Terry. McCoy added a 73-yard touchdown run on Shelby’s first play from scrimmage in the second half.
2007, Week 3
Shelby 42, Ashland 14: Both teams entered the game 2-0 and harbored conference championship and playoff aspirations. The Arrows were led by quarterback Taylor Housewright, who would lead Ashland to the Division II state semifinals and be selected the Division II Offensive Player of the Year before embarking on an All-American career at Ashland University. The Ashland students turned out in force and hung signs reading, “Housewright for Heisman,” from the visitors’ bleachers. Housewright had an arsenal at his disposal, including receivers Anthony Fairhurst, Logan Kerr and Tyler McFarlin.
Shelby countered with a talented signal-caller of its own in Scott Baird. Like Housewright, Baird was surrounded by a wealth of talent that included running back Brett Thompson, receivers Matt Sommer and Cody Baker and tight end Chad Coward. Thompson and fellow linebacker Kyle Bailey each had more than 100 tackles on the season and Sommer picked off six passes. Thompson was the workhorse, rushing for what was then a career-high 161 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries. One of his TDs was set up by a Sommer interception.
Shelby’s decisive win over the Arrows followed victories over Madison and Division III playoff qualifier Lexington, prompting Shelby coach Chris Solis to jokingly comment that the Whippets were the champion of the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
2014, Week 8
Tiffin Columbian 83, Shelby 82, (OT): This game had to be seen to be believed, and even then it was hard to believe. It went down as one of the greatest games in the history of Ohio high school football, if not THE greatest. The Tornadoes survived an onslaught by a red-headed, left-handed freshman quarterback named Brennan Armstrong.
All Armstrong did was throw for 306 yards and five touchdowns and rush for 214 yards and four touchdowns just days before turning 15. Columbian’s Cliff Miller carried the ball 25 times for 516 yards and scored 10 touchdowns, including a state record-tying nine rushing TDs.
Shelby trailed 28-6 in the second quarter and 75-54 with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation before rallying.
Armstrong’s 17-yard touchdown run with 5:48 remaining cut Tiffin’s lead to 75-61. The Whippets recovered the ensuing onside kick and Armstrong hooked up with Tanner Orr on a 28-yard scoring strike to make it 75-67. Armstrong and Orr hooked up again later on a 40-yard TD pass to cut Tiffin’s lead to 75-73. Armstrong then found Cody Stine in the corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion to tie it at 75-75.
Shelby had the ball first in overtime and took an 82-75 lead on Armstrong’s 5-yard QB keeper. On Columbian’s overtime possession, Miller pulled the Tornadoes within a point at 82-81 on a 10-yard TD run. Columbian coach Brian Colatruglio opted to go for two and Miller won it with a conversion run, just getting the ball across the goal line.