Some thoughts on the games tonight. I tried to follow along with a couple different broadcasts as it's exciting to have so many WBL teams in playoff action.
(19) Defiance over (14) Bay, 27-10
--The folks at Bay had a YouTube stream of this game which was awesome. I was actually really impressed with Defiance's offense in this game. It was obviously their best performance of the season, and I bet that tough WBL slate prepared them well for this game. Defiance seemed to be dominating the line of scrimmage on offense, and had a lot of success with their running game as they had multiple weapons. They even had a couple good passes. The Defi defense held on strong. At one point, it looked like Bay got in the end zone and was about to cut the Defi lead to 20-17, however that TD was called back for holding. Who would've thought Defiance, of all teams, would pick up a playoff win?? Nice job Bulldogs!
(18) Wapak over (15) Shawnee, 15-0
--This was an intriguing match-up as it was a rematch of a week 4, Shawnee 9-7 win. Wapak didn't seem to be at full strength for that game, but was for this week 7 playoff rematch. It was a 0-0 halftime score. It looked like Wapak had chances in the first half as they drove into Shawnee territory on about every drive, but just couldn't finish. Wapak seemed to muscle past Shawnee in the 2nd half as they went up 13-0. Wapak turned it over on downs close to the Shawnee goal line in 4Q, then Shawnee on offense got called for intentional grounding in their own end zone which gave Wapak a safety, the ball back, and the ability to run the clock out. It was the first time Shawnee had been shutout this season, and the second straight defensive shutout for the Wapak defense. Good win for Wapak.
(8) St Marys over (25) Greenville, 56-21
--The score was a lot worse than the final indicates. The Roughriders roughed up the Green Wave to the tune of a 42-0 halftime score. Stark contrast to the Wapak-Shawnee halftime score.
St Marys, with a running clock, eventually went up 56-6, before Greenville got on the scoreboard a couple more times. SM benefited from a couple early Greenville fumbles, and then St Marys just ran right through their defense as SM had a lot of LONG TD runs. Not much to say with this one, it was a clear mismatch. Higher seed prevailed.
(21) Monroe over (12) Elida, 27-10
--This one was a little more lopsided than I thought it'd be. Monroe darted out to a 21-0 lead, before Elida nailed a FG as time expired in the first half. I saw a tweet that the Monroe rushing attack piled up like 250 yards rushing in the first half alone. Elida defense seemed to be getting shredded and Elida's offense no where to be found. However, Elida rallied in the 2nd half getting a TD to cut it to 21-10. Elida then appeared to be close to another TD, but was picked off by Monroe at the goal line. Elida had chances in the second half, but was again picked off and Monroe returned it to the house. 27-10, Monroe too much for Elida. Just as surprised as I was to see Elida get a 4-2 record in the regular season, I'm surprised at the outcome of this game. Still what a year for Elida, hopefully they get some games scheduled these next couple weeks.
(19) Carroll over (14) Celina, 42-39
--Unless Bath-Swanton pulls something crazy tomorrow, this may have been the most exciting game to follow along with. Celina started off red hot. They got a TD, recovered an onside kick, scored another TD, recovered ANOTHER onside kick, and went up 13-0 before Carroll even knew what hit them. It was then a 20-7 Celina lead over Carroll before things started to go wrong for the Bulldogs. Carroll went on a scoring spree to go up 28-20. Bulldogs then had to rally as they found themselves down 42-32, as they added another TD. Unfortunately, time ran out on them as this one had to come to an end. The difference in this game? Extra points. Celina missed one early (when they went up 13-0) and then missed a potential tying 2-pt conversion (28-26, Carroll lead). I personally picked Carroll to win, but I'm impressed with the fight Celina showed.
Overall, WBL went 2-2 tonight (excluding Wapak-Shawnee). Defiance with the most surprising win and Elida with probably the most surprising loss. Notably with the 5 WBL teams in D3R12, it's now just the Auglaize County teams left standing as St Marys and Wapak won, while Elida, Celina, and Shawnee get knocked out of the tournament.
