{"id":95886,"date":"2017-11-30T00:04:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T05:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=95886"},"modified":"2017-11-29T17:25:29","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T22:25:29","slug":"pigkskin-pickem-state-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/11\/30\/pigkskin-pickem-state-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Pigkskin Pick&#8217;Em: State Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong><em>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The end of the 2017 high school football season is upon us, with seven championship games to be played in three days in Canton.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, I was 1-1 predicting games. In Division VI I correctly picked Marion Local to defeat Liberty Benton, but was wrong when I picked St. Paul to defeat Minster in the Division VII state semifinals. My overall postseason record is 23-3 (88.4 percent).<\/p>\n<p>My final record could wind up looking excellent or average because in my mind, four of the title games could go either way. Here are my final predictions for the 2017 season (predicted winner in <strong>bold<\/strong>):<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Thursday, November 30<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nDivision II \u2013 <strong>Akron Hoban<\/strong> (13-1) vs. Cincinnati Winton Woods (13-1): Hoban is trying to win the school\u2019s third consecutive state championship, which is incredibly difficult to do. This appears to be an evenly matched game. I\u2019m giving Hoban a slight edge, due to title game experience.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Friday, December 1<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nDivision VII \u2013 Cuyahoga Heights (12-1) vs. <strong>Minster<\/strong> (10-4): This is another tough one to pick. After a 3-4 start, Minster is on a roll, while Cuyahoga Heights is no slouch. After a runner-up finish last year, I\u2019m picking Minster.<\/p>\n<p>Division V \u2013 <strong>Wheelersburg<\/strong> (14-0) vs. Pemberville Eastwood (14-0): Another tossup, but I\u2019m picking Wheelersburg.<\/p>\n<p>Division I \u2013 <strong>Pickerington Central<\/strong> (13-1) vs. Mentor (13-1): This has the potential to be a very good game, with each school in search of its first state football title. I\u2019m going with Pickerington Central, but I won\u2019t be surprised if Mentor wins.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Saturday, December 2<\/strong><br \/>\nDivision VI \u2013 <strong>Marion Local<\/strong> (14-0) vs. Kirtland (14-0): These two teams have tangled before, but I\u2019m predicting Marion Local\u2019s smothering defense will lead the Flyers to yet another state title.<\/p>\n<p>Division IV \u2013 Clarksville Clinton-Massie (13-1) vs.<strong> Steubenville<\/strong> (14-0): Tough draw for Clinton-Massie. I like the Big Red win this one, perhaps by a couple of touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Div. III \u2013 Dresden Tri-Valley (13-1) vs. <strong>Trotwood-Madison<\/strong> (14-0): Tri-Valley has been the Cinderella story of the playoffs, with wins over Marion-Franklin, Bellefontaine, Columbus Bishop Hartley and Akron SVSM. Unfortunately for the Scotties, they have to take on a team that some believe to be the best in Ohio, regardless of division.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor The end of the 2017 high school football season is upon us, with seven championship games to be played in three days in Canton. Last week, I was 1-1 predicting games. In Division VI I correctly picked Marion Local to defeat Liberty Benton, but was wrong when I picked St. Paul [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 13:22:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}