Ohio Loves It's High School Football: Especially in Cincinnati

Ohio loves it's football - especially at the high school level. Could it be we were tired of rooting for our losing pro teams? I think not. This isn't an overnight phenomnom that just caught everybody buy surprise. No, Ohioans have always loved a friday night game and the sense of closeness they feel towards the community as they sit in the bleachers on a crisp Fall night, while the band plays their alma maters fight song. It's not just the, " has beens," it's also the "never was's," and the, "never wills," that fill up the stands to watch these pre-men of iron battle it out for, basically: bragging rights! And Bragging rights alone. There are no multi-million dollar contracts, no one-hundred dollar ticket prices. This is the sport in it's purest form - man'o-a-man'o, them versus us, and all of it - for fun!

Cincinnati and the surrounding area is a Hot-bed of high school talent, with programs like Cincinnati's Elder, Moeller, St. Xavier and Public School Powerhouse Colerain alway's in the national rankings. It's only natural that people started to wonder how Cincinnati and Ohio teams would match up against other big three states that love High School Ball, such as: Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida. Well now we know - enter Kirk Herbstreit.

Along with Mcdonalds, the former Ohio St. Buckeye and ESPN college football analyst launched the: McDonalds Kirk Herstreit Ohio Vs. The USA Challenge in 2005. The Challenge now in It's third-year showcases some of the country's finest in high school teams, like: DeLassalle (Cal.), Lakeland (Fla.), Poly (Long Beach, Cal.), Don Bosco Prep (N.J.), Cardinal O'Hara (Penn.) and Tyler Lee (Tex.) - just to drop a few names. These teams and others will be matched up against the above mentioned Cincinnati teams, as well as other Ohio talents: Hillard Davis ( last years Div. I State Champs), Massillon and Findlay - all appearing in 2007.

Here's a small breakdown of some of the local talent we have, just in the Cincinnati area, take for example: Moeller - ranked fourth nationally in all-time winning percentage (.826%. The Crusaders set the bar for the rest of Cincinnati teams, back in the 70's and 80's, under legendary Coach Gerry Faust - who went on to coach Notre Dame. With an over-all record of 391-87-2, 5 national championships, and 7 state titles the Crusaders were Top-Dog. Moeller also produced some great college and pro athlete's, such as: Michael Munoz ( U. Tenn. All-American), Barry Larkin ( U. Michigan, Cin. Reds), and Ken Griffey Jr. ( Sea. Mariners & Cin. Reds). But Moeller couldn't maintain their Top-Dog status forever playing in the ever-tough G.C.L., with teams like Elder and St. Xavier in your way every year.

Elder High School sits a top Cincinnati's Price Hill. A true blue-collar, working class neighborhood. Elder's home field,"The Pit," was named by,"The USA Today," as one of top ten places to watch a high school football game in the country (Massillon, Ohio was also mentioned); the stadium also known as, "The Twelfth Man" holds between ten and thirteen thousand, purple-clad screaming fans, sitting just five-yards from the field - making it an intimidating place to play. In 2002 Elder won it's first state championship, following it up in 2003.

Another Representitave of the almighty G.C.L. is the St. Xavier Bombers - who won the state title in 2005. St. X has been at the top of the Div. I - region 4 rankings the past few years. The Bombers only regular season loss last year, was to the no. 3 ranked team in the country - Lakeland (Fla.) in overtime. St. Xavier was beaten in last years state finals, by city rival Colerain.

Colerain is the pride of the cincinnati public school system. The cardinals are led by head coach Kerry Coombs. Coomb's Cardinals were defeated in last year's state championship by Hillard Davis, but this writer has a feeling they'll appear there again this upcoming season. In 2005 Colerain defende Ohio pride by defeating Tyler Lee (Tex.) 27-12, in a prime-time showdown game of the, Ohio vs. USA Challenge. Colerain was the State champs in 2004, state finalist in 1995, semi-finalist 94',95',and 04'. Ranked number one in the final Ohio poll 01', 04', and 06'. Nationally the Cardinals have finfished 18th in the USA Today's final poll in 05' and 06', and 5th in 04'.

The upcoming 2007 season is going to be one barn-burner of a year. Agian, here in Southwestern Ohio we not only have the regular season G.C.L. match-ups, were also going to see the, McDonald's Kirk Herbstreit vs. USA Challenge again. I can't wait to see teams like: The Hoover Bucs (Ala.), Mission Viejo (Cal.) and Evangel Christian (Shreveport, La.) - and see the quality syle of play they bring to town.