UPDATE: This story has been updated since it was originally published on Wednesday afternoon.
LUCAS — A strange season got even stranger for Lucas athletic director Taylor Iceman.
The Cubs search for a Week 5 foe crossed the state diagonally after Cincinnati Western Hills had to cancel this week’s game.
Lucas will now play host to the Lakewood Rangers, an undefeated Division II foe from the suburbs of Cleveland.
The Rangers have knocked off Cleveland John Marshall (38-6), Bay Village (29-10), Fairview Park (55-3) and Rocky River (21-14).
Lakewood is rated No. 4 in Division II, Region 6 with 8.313 points in the latest OHSAA computer ratings.
The Western Hills program was put on pause earlier this month while officials for Cincinnati Public Schools investigated an alleged hazing incident. Coach Armand Tatum has been relieved of his duties and the Mustangs haven’t played since Week 2.
“We caught wind of it last week and started calling (Western Hills athletic administrators) at that point,” Iceman said. “We never heard back from them.”
Lucas found out the game was canceled Tuesday afternoon through social media, but Iceman has been searching for a replacement since first hearing news of the situation last week.
The search which landed on Lakewood was a challenge.
“We’ve talked to about 25 schools,” Iceman said Wednesday afternoon. “We didn’t think we would have an issue finding someone because of all the COVID cancellations, but we haven’t had any luck so far.”
Lucas, it turns out, is a victim of its own success.
“We have gotten close but then they will do some research on us and decide not to play,” Iceman said. “I’ve had a couple athletic directors tell me, point blank, they don’t want to play us because it won’t be competitive.”
“We had a couple of schools we were close with and they decided they would play each other.”
With just two days to prepare, coach Scott Spitler’s Cubs have a huge challenge in front of them.
The Cubs are 4-0 with wins over Danville (34-20), Hillsdale (14-12), Wynford (38-7) and Willard (30-0). Lucas is No. 1 in Division VII, Region 25 with 6.575 points.
