There’s something special going on with the Port Clinton football team on the shores of Lake Erie with a turnaround two years in the making.
In 2013, the Redskins lost 73-16 at Sandusky Perkins during a 0-10 season. Last season, Port Clinton went 7-4, including a 33-30 win over Perkins, and made the playoffs for the first time with its first winning season since 1990.
The victories keep piling up this season under coach Beau Carmon. Port Clinton is 5-1 after defeating previously unbeaten Perkins 25-22 to end the Pirates’ 22-game home winning streak. Perkins dropped from eighth to unranked in the Associated Press Division III poll last week.
Port Clinton, which has scored 42 or more points three times this season, plays Friday at Huron.
CLASH OF CHAMPIONS: The ultra-competitive Midwest Athletic Conference, with 28 state football titles among its members, has another showcase Friday in a battle of unbeaten state champions.
Maria Stein Marion Local, the Division VII champion now competing in Division VI, travels to Coldwater to play the defending Division V titleholder. Each is 6-0 overall and 4-0 in league play, and they lead their respective AP divisional polls.
Coldwater has outscored opponents 225-20 and shut out each team through three quarters by a hefty 204-0 margin. Marion Local opened the season with a 24-22 win against McComb but has since outscored the opposition 213-39.
In another MAC game, Minster (4-2) plays at Fort Recovery. The Indians are 6-0 for the first time in school history and holding a share of the conference lead at 4-0. Minster won the Division VI title last season but has moved to Division II, where it is fourth in the AP poll.
FOOT NOTABLES: Michael Johnson of London (5-1) is on a tear, rushing for a school-record 407 yards on 16 carries with four touchdowns in a 42-3 win over Worthington Christian. Johnson has run for 1,896 yards, on a 13.5-yard average, with 21 TDs for the Red Raiders. . Ridge Reed has rushed 59 times for 679 yards and nine touchdowns in the last two games for Carlisle. … Luke McCarrell of Cardington Lincoln completed 10 of 14 passes for 422 yards and five TDs in a 55-21 win over Galion Northmor. Teammate Devin Pearl made five catches for 297 yards and four scores. . Hunter Stark had 13 carries for 214 yards and three touchdowns during Defiance Ayersville’s 41-3 win over Sherwood Fairview.
ON THEIR GAME: Jackson’s special teams were just that in helping the Ironmen to a 41-0 victory over Vincent Warren. Jackson blocked two field goals in the second quarter en route to a 14-0 halftime lead and junior Johnny Farley returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.
DENIED: Danville, top-ranked in Division VII, has not allowed a point in four straight games. During the stretch, opponents have run seven plays on Danville’s side of the 50-yard line. . Norwalk St. Paul has allowed just one defensive touchdown — in the final seconds of a week 3 game at Huron — in its past five games. . Dresden Tri-Valley’s first-team defense has yet to yield a point in Muskingum Valley League play this season following a 55-6 win against Zanesville West Muskingum. . Defiance Tinora scored two defensive touchdowns in a 47-6 victory over Hicksville. Dakota Stark returned a fumble 45 yards for a score, and Alex Gareau ran an interception back 25 yards for a touchdown.
CUTTING IT CLOSE: Crooksville’s Chip Russell made a 29-yard field goal in overtime in sloppy field conditions to give the Ceramics (3-3) a 3-0 win against Philo. It marked the fifth time in six years that the rivalry had been decided by three points or fewer, and the third time in that span it had been decided in overtime. . Milan Edison, sixth in Division V, beat Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic 36-33, giving the Chargers their first 6-0 record since 1981. . A year ago Holland Springfield drove 94 yards in the final 1:31 to beat Napoleon 26-22 with a touchdown with four seconds left. On Friday, Napoleon scored with 19 seconds remaining but missed a two-point conversion and lost to the Blue Devils, 35-34.
QUICK SIX: Akron Hoban, No.2 in Division III, got only six points from its two first-half red-zone tries but got three touchdowns in the final 3:42 of the first half and the Knights (6-0) beat Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit 48-7.
Senior wide receiver Jonah Morris put the game away with two touchdowns in 12 seconds for a 20-0. The first was a 47-yard catch and run from quarterback Danny Clark, a 2017 Ohio State commit. Then on the first play after the kickoff, Morris scooped up a fumble and scored.
HEAVY HEARTS: Beverly Fort Frye improved to 6-0 with a 39-6 win at New Matamoras Frontier on Friday. Earlier that day, longtime Fort Frye football and boys and girls basketball coach Terry Huck, 58, passed away. He was the offensive coordinator to his son, head coach Eric Huck. Eric’s brother, Terren, was a senior quarterback in 2014 when the Cadets went 7-3.
