You vote, you decide…who had Ohio’s best team performance this past week? Find out who the nominees for the Ohio National Guard JJHuddle Ohio Football Team of the Week are here and how to pick the winner. The choices are impressive…
JJHuddle is proud to announce that the Ohio National Guard will again sponsor the ONG JJHuddle Player and Team of the Week awards in Football and Basketball during the 2014-2015 school year.
Each week during the football, boys basketball and girls basketball regular and postseasons, we will hold a fan-generated contest on JJHuddle to tab a weekly Ohio National Guard Ohio Team and Player of the Week. Each weekly winner will receive a personalized banner, certificate and bracelet from the National Guard and JJHuddle.
How it works?
A thread soliciting nominations will be posted in the JJHuddle Football Forums each week. Fans will then nominate top performances. We will announce the 10 weekly finalists on JJHuddle every Monday and voting will be conducted in a special JJHuddle forum. Voting will cease at noon on Friday, after which the winners will be announced.
Winners receive a personalized banner suitable for hanging from the Ohio National Guard.
Ohio National Guard JJH Team of the Week
Week 12 (Regional Semifinal) Nominees
Bay (VOTE)
The Rockets went 1-9 last year. Next week they meet Benedictine in a D-IV regional final. Bay, which won the program’s first playoff game ever last week, scored 20 second half points to rally and beat NDCL 27-24. RB Nick Best carried the ball 34 times for 179 yards and two TDs for the winners.
Columbus Grove (VOTE)
The Bulldogs, who went 2-8 last season, find themselves in a D-V regional final after beating Calvert 17-7. This is the first regional final GC has played in since winning the state title in 2003. In fact, the Bulldogs two postseason victories this season are as many as they’ve had the last 10 seasons. More? CG started off this year 3-0 but then lost four straight. Since then they’ve gone 5-0.
West Jefferson (VOTE)
The Roughriders advanced to the their seventh regional final in nine years with a 21-20 win over Badin in D-V. How unlikely is that? Probably not very if you are a West Jeff fan, but consider, the Roughriders had to replace 10 All-MSL performers from last year’s team and at one point this season were 1-3. The teams combined to score 16 points in the final 3:03. After West Jeff kicked a FG to take a 15-12 lead, the Rams scored on their first ensuing play from scrimmage (72-yard TD pass). West Jefferson returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for the game-winning score. The Roughriders beat Badin 17-6 in last year’s regional semis.
Lakota West (VOTE)
Lakota West just keeps winning. The Firebirds beat rival Lakota East for the second time in three weeks and advanced to the D-I regional semifinals with a 52-27 win over the Thunderhawks. West is now 7-5 on the season, is the first Lakota school to advance to the round of eight in the OHSAA playoffs and will appear in the program’s first regional semifinal next week.
Kenton (VOTE)
Triway came into its D-IV meeting with the Wildcats averaging 52.6 points per game. The Titans managed six points. Six. Kenton intercepted Triway QB Parker Carmichael, who came into the game having accounted for 72 TDs this season, three times. That’s not bad on Carmichael’s part considering he threw the ball 76 times. Yes…76 times. Kenton also forced two fumbles. Kenton QB, sophomore Trent Hites, completed 20-of-44 passes for 269 yards and two TDs.
Nordonia (VOTE)
In a match-up of No. 1 teams in D-II, Nordonia, the National Guard JJH poll champ, beat Perrysburg, the AP Poll No. 1, 56-52. What a game. Nordonia senior WR Alex Alders caught 10 passes for 104 yards and three TDs, but it was his 75-yard kickoff return with two minutes left that made the difference. Nordonia QB David Murray threw for 341 yards and six TDs, while Ohio State commit and DB Denzel Ward scored two TDs and had an INT (his ninth of the season). Perrysburg QB Gus Dimmerling was defiant in defeat. He ran for 199 yards on 34 carries and threw for 189 yards while accounting for seven TDs (four passing, three rushing). The teams combined for 15 TDs.
Benedictine (VOTE)
Ohio’s best Bengals aren’t in Cincinnati. Benedictine crushed Mooney 56-16 in D-III in a game that resonated statewide. The Bengals scored on three straight offensive plays that covered 65-yards or more in the first half en route to building a 42-9 lead at intermission. Dontez Rash ran for 180 yards and three TDs and DeCavilon Reese ran for 158 yards and two TDs.
West Liberty-Salem (VOTE)
For the second week in a row the Tigers dispatched an undefeated team from the D-VI playoffs. This time it was CCC champion Tri-County North that fell 21-14. The reward? A meeting with Midwest Athletic Conference member Minster. The Wildcats clobbered Versailles 45-19. The problem for WLS in the regional final? Minster is 9-3, not undefeated. Oh yeah, and the OHC, of which WLS is a member, is 0-19 lifetime against the MAC. Two quality teams. Two quality conferences. One big regional final. This has a chance to be a huge week for West Lib.
Midview (VOTE)
The Middies scored on the last play of the game (40-yard TD pass from Dustin Crum to Dimitri Redwood) to force OT and eventually beat West Shore Confernece rival Avon (for the second time this season) 42-36 in D-II. Heading into this season, Midview was 1-6 in its previous playoff games. It’s the second regional final appearance for the Middies who last reached this level in 1998 when only four teams per region made the postseason.
Wapakoneta (VOTE)
During a successful tenure at Wynford, head coach Travis Moyer led the Royals to a 118-28 record from 1999-2011. He stepped down riding a 58-game regular season win streak. Three years later Moyer reappears at Wapakoneta and has led the Redskins to their best season ever. Yep. Wapak beat Tippecanoe 28-7 in D-III to claim the school’s first 12-win season and advance to the program’s first regional final. To be fair, the cupboard wasn’t bare. Former head coach Doug Frye rebuilt Wapak the last three years and left before the season to go back to St. Marys. Redskins fans new this season could be special. Moyer has helped make it so.
Week 12 (Regional Semifinal) Honorable Mention
Athens
In a rematch of a playoff game Athens won 55-52 in OT last year, the Bulldogs beat Tri-Valley 41-20 this time around. The highly anticipated meeting pitted Athens high-octane offense (averaging 62 points per game) against a TV defense that had allowed 48 points in 11 games. The Scotties almost allowed that much against Athens whose 41 points were its lowest output of the season.
Centerburg
Centerburg lost to Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference rival Fredericktown 28-21 in Week 7. In the rematch, the Trojans got revenge 27-21. Centerburg QB John Rings ran for 163 yards and two TDs and threw for another TD.
Kirtland
The defending state champion Hornets were stout in a 41-0 shutout win over Garaway in D-VI. The Pirates, who entered the game averaging 39.4 points, were held to five first downs and 86 total yards.
Clinton-Massie
The Falcons scored two fourth quarter TDs to run its win streak to 22 straight games and beat McNicholas 28-14 in D-IV.