2012 State Championship Games / Predictions

[Steely Dan]

I fixed myself a big pot of chicken stew Fri morning and have kept it warm and available for the past 2 days. I love that our OH high school championship weekend is televised. I'm pretty much glued to the TV - I just go dip myself another bowl of stew at halftimes or between games.
I don't have a huge choice between Cincinnati Moeller and Toledo Whitmer, but I'll always root for the southern Ohio team over the northern. What great games all have been!! Love it!!

Div ! Cincinnati Moeller won 20 - 12
This has been such a GREAT tournament - all 6 Div with close, interesting, exciting final games!

What a great championship series this weekend. I agree with caglewis, all close, interesting, and exciting games. OHSAA and STO should reap benefits from such a great set of games. And the weather was fantastic as well. Ohio High School football is some of the best in the country, and this years tournament shows exactly why that is the case. What an enjoyable two days!

[fuzzhead]

Got to watch yesterday's action, but was mostly on the road today to and from Virginia. I did keep track of the scores on Twitter, though. Friday's games were all VERY entertaining. The one I enjoyed the most was probably St. Clairsville and Clinton-Massie. Massie was clearly the better team, but the Devils pulled out all the stops and threw everything at them but the kitchen sink and managed to get closer to them than anyone has all year.
Marion Local further cemented their case for DVI team of the 21st century so far, escaping a very game Green Wave team. Hopefully Newark Catholic is back to being competitive on a state-wide level year in and year out.
Moeller winning tonight doesn't surprise me even though I picked against them. The Cincinnati schools seem to play better defense than a lot of the better teams up north and as cliche as it is to say, defense does indeed win championships and they completely stuffed the Whitmer offense this evening.

[ironman02]

This set of games might have been the most competitive overall that I have seen since I started watching the state championships. Five of the six games were in doubt until the final minutes, and Bellevue played SVSM tough for quite a while too. Great weekend of high school football.

[fuzzhead]

I was astonished to learn that attendance was down by about 4,700 from last year. Great weather and great games.

[ironman02]

I was astonished to learn that attendance was down by about 4,700 from last year. Great weather and great games.

I can't believe that either. It's usually cold and snowy for this weekend in Massillon/Canton. The weather was great this time, some teams with great fanbases were playing in the games, and as you said, the games were competitive. Very surprising.

[Steely Dan]

I watched some or all of all six games and in my opinion, St. Clairsville, by far, had the best turnout. They filled up their side Fawcett stadium, and then some.

[caglewis]

St. Clairsville is geographically the closest of all 12 teams, I think. I also am amazed to hear attendance was down. To my mind OHSAA does a fine job of structuring the tournament.
Pretty evenly divided by all definitions. And Canton/Massilon have done a good job with venues and hosting, haven't they? This year they got the additional benefit of good weather.
Obviously Columbus is more central geographically - let them come up with a package of venues that meet the requirements of more Divisions and teams.
I don't remember when the Championship games started being televised, but it's been quite a while, and I doubt TV access affected this year's attendance. I am physically unable to go there [even if it was closer geographically] in person, but I love watching those games.

[Kentucky Trojan]

Akron is only 30 minutes from Canton.

Kirtland is only an hour from Canton.

St. Clairsville is an hour and a half away from Canton.

[seasick80]

Congrats to St C on a great run!! Got to love the Devils!! After the Burg St C series, there have been a few of us that kept up the small talk on here. I have worked alot lately this season and didnt do my part, but most often you could see a DEVIL wish the Burg luck! I will do my part next year to give the Devil their due!! keep it up guys!!! Good luck next year!!