The Newark Advocate from Newark, Ohio • 25

HIGH SCHOOL The Advocate3D Friday, December 2, 1994 Fremont Moss' Woodson awarded 'Mr. Football' Powers seeking crowns ill l- wl it the field, off it he rarely speaks. "To a certain extent, he's somewhat of a loner," Radeloff said. "I like to keep to myself," Woodson said. Maybe that's why it was such a surprise a year ago when, seconds after finishing a 9-1 season, Woodson stood up before his teammates and thanked all the seniors for their effort and guidance.

"They were a year ahead of me and when we were in junior high they never won any games," Woodson said. "I just wanted them to know I thought they did a great job as seniors and they did a great job blocking for me. I thanked them for working so hard. I appreciated what they had done for me." In Woodson's terms, that's a filibuster. He chooses to let the numbers pile up and let everybody else do the talking.

Woodson was a clear choice over Dayton Stebbins running back Jamal Robertson, running back Justin Gail of Nelsonville-York, Lore City Buckeye Trail quarterback Jeff Snedegar and Cleveland St. Ignatius defensive lineman Pat Kratus. 22-7 with Woodson in the lineup. But after watching Woodson rush for 3,861 yards and 77 touchdowns in just 19 starts over that period, who could blame him for raving about his star player? "He's the best athlete I've seen' in my 27 years as a coach," Radeloff said. It's in the genes, perhaps.

Woodson's father, Solomon Woodson, was a boxer. His half-brother, Shawn Simms, played football at Bowling Green and is now a running backs coach at To ledo. His half-sister, Shannon Carter, went to Arkansas on a full scholarship in track. And half-brother Terry Carter was a standout back at Ross who just completed his senior season in football at Miami of Ohio. Woodson carries a 2.9 grade-point average and has met all NCAA freshman eligibility requirements.

He keeps the hundreds of recruiting letters he has received in "a bunch of shoeboxes" in his bedroom. So far, the only official visits he has planned are to Notre Dame, Michigan and Miami of Florida. Even though he is audacious on COLUMBUS (AP) Charles Woodson, Fremont Ross' superlative runner, didn't become the 1994 Associated Press Mr. Football because of self-promotion. How many other backs who rush for 2,000 yards and score 38 touchdowns give most of the credit to their teammates? How many other tailbacks prefer playing on the other side of the ball? "I love defense," said the 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior.

"I love coming up and making the hits." Woodson's self-effacing attitude and versatility are contributing factors to why a state media panel selected him as the eighth annual Mr. Football Thursday, The numbers say a lot more than Woodson does. This year he carried 218 times for 2,028 yards, caught 10 passes for 160 yards, returned 15 punts for a 20-yard average and accounted for 2,596 all-purpose yards. And that was just on offense. On defense, he was in on 62 tackles, intercepted three passes and returned a fumble 28 yards.

His coach, Rex Radeloff, is naturally biased. Over the last three years, the Little Giants have gone I--- I- i a -t Fremont Ross running back Charles Woodson has been named this year's Mr. Football by the Associated Press. (AP) Wave, Aces win first of '94 hoop season Lakewood's Phillips perfect from stripe By The Associated Press It is one thing to have a powerful high school football program with a lot of tradition. It is entirely another to play other such programs and beat the tar out of them.

That is the gulf that exists between the haves Cleveland St. Ignatius, Versailles and St. Henry and the have nots everybody else heading into the 23rd state high school football championship games this weekend at Mas-sillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. Mighty St. Ignatius has pulled a Moeller on the biggest schools in the state, winning Division I state titles in five of the last six years.

The Wildcats (12-1), who have never lost a game in the state semifinals or finals, will try to make it six out of seven Saturday at 8 p.m. when they play Wester-ville South for the big-school trophy. Westerville South (12-1) has never played in a title game. Many people still don't know that Versailles rhymes with "tails" and not "high." But that's not the fault of the football team, which has done its best to educate other regions of Ohio by winning state championships in 1990 and 1993, advancing to the finals in 1988 and playing in the semifinals four other times since 1986. Versailles (13-0) goes for its third title of the '90s when it plays Wellsville (13-0) at 11 a.m.

Saturday in the Division final. Wellsville has never played in a title game, either. St. Henry, often mistaken for a parochial school, has turned out stars like all-pro lineman Jim La-chey and Ohio State quarterback Bob Hoying. The Mercer County power (11-2) also has produced state titles in 1990 and 1992, and will be seeking another when it plays McDonald (13-0) Friday at 3:30 p.m.

in the Division VI championship game. "Our girls volleyball team just won the state this year and that helped boost our football team," St. Henry coach Tim Boeckman said. "Tradition means a lot around here. You feed off success.

The teams, the school, the whole community has a winning attitude. The town gets its identity from athletics." This is McDonald's third trip to at least the state's final four, but the Blue Devils lost in their only previous trip to the finals in 1989, 16-7 to Minster. In addition to Wellsville and Westerville South, three other schools will be making their first appearance in the spotlight of a football title game: Clyde, Beloit West Branch and Rayland Buckr eye. Clyde (12-1) and West Branch (13-0) meet in the Division III championship at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Rayland Buckeye (13-0) takes on Chardon (13-0), a semifi-nalist twice before this year, in the Division II finale at 8 p.m. Friday. In the Division IV final, Orrville (12-1) takes on Germantown Valley View (13-0) at 11 a.m. Friday. Valley View, the top-ranked team in the final regular-season Associated Press poll, has never played in a title game (falling in the semifinals the last two years), while Orrville was a runner-up in 1983 and '85.

I 4 V. i I ff- 1 i it 1 11 -7 I Licking Valley's Amber Merrill makes a pass while on her back after grabbing a loose ball during Thursday's basketball game against Olentangy. (T.R. Gleason, The Advocate) Hot-shooting LV wears down Braves built on their lead throughout the second half by wearing down the Braves. "We play eight people," said LV coach Terry Nethers.

"We were a lot fresher in second half than they were." Licking Valley nailed 26 of its 54 field-goal attempts. Panther Mandy Morrison led all scorers with 19 points. Teammate Courtney Warman added 16 points, including two 3-pointers. Licking Valley dropped the JV contest 45-38. Erica McGee had 13 points for the Panthers.

NEWARK A pair of youngsters and Newark Catholic's lone senior were the key to the Green Wave breaking the Worthington Christian full-court press and winning 69-62 Thursday. Sophomore Katy Lusetti fired a career-high 18 points in the win, and along with senior Jenny Weisgerber and freshman Meghan Walsh, were the keys to breaking the Warrior pressure. Ahead by 14 early in the second quarter, NC (1-1) saw its lead chopped to eight before halftime. The Green Wave led by as much as 1 5 in the second half. Six-foot center Ashleigh Dick-erson took advantage of WC's de-fense on Lusetti and Meghan Kelly (10 points) to get open at her post position; she scored 14 points and pulled down 16 rebounds.

Mandy Woller paced the Warriors (0-2) with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Newark Catholic, which hosts Rosecrans (2-0) Saturday, committed 27 turnovers, three less than Worthington Christian. The visitors won the reserve game 36-24; Elizabeth Thornton scored eight points for NC. Granville 48 New Albany 42 NEW ALBANY, Ohio Granville got some breathing room by scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter and went on to get its first win of the season. Field goals from Susanne Schwartz and Brenda Stover sandwiched around an Ashley Reeputback put the Aces (1-1, 1-0 in the Mid-State League) up 43-36 early in the final period.

Granville upped its man-to-man pressure a notch in the final eight minutes to preserve the win. The two teams battled to a 26- it third, playing on Saturday night in Texas Stadium. The outcome seemed predictable when a 35-yard fumble return increased Tyler's lead to 41-17 with 3:03 left. Two plays later, Piano East made it 41-23 on a 21 -yard touchdown pass. A two-point conversion pass failed.

An onside kick recovery led to a 5-yard touchdown pass, and this time the two-point conversion worked. It's, now 41-31 with 1:58 to play. "Then we recover the second onside kick and everyone started believing we still had a chance to at least make it close and respectable," Phillips said. A 6-yard touchdown pass and missed two-point try leaves Tyler ahead 41-37 with 1:04 to play. That is, until Piano East got the hat trick and recovered its third straight onside kick.

"Our kids believed it could happen and their kids were scared it might happen," Phillips said. "They knew it was coming every time. This time, they tipped it in HANOVER Licking Valley cashed in on almost half of its field goal attempts and came away with a 60-45 Buckeye Athletic Conference win over Olentangy. The Panthers (3-0, 1-0) led by only five points at the half, but 26 halftime tie. Leigh Ann Curl paced the aces with 14 points, while Stover fired 10 points and Schwartz grabbed; 11 rebounds for the Aces.

Debbie; Sahr's 14 points was tops for the, Eagles (0-1, 0-1). The junior-varsity Acesj whipped the Eagles 46-17 behind Amy Jenkins' 11 points and Stacy; Sargent's 10. Granville's Tuesday game with, Millersport has been moved toi Millersport. Lakewood 54 Big Walnut 43 HEBRON Lakewood opened BAC play with a win over Big Walnut. A youthful Eagle squad, playing, mostly freshmen and sophomores, battled the more experienced Lancers to a near stand off through most of the game.

The Lancers (3-0, 1-0) pulled away from a four point lead down the stretch by making the most of their free throw attempts. Led by Vickie Phillip's perfect 10-10 at the foul line, Lakewood hit on 24 of 33 attempts to offset a field goal deficit. The game was a physical cori-test with 38 total fouls called. The Eagles caused problems for the Lancers with a tenacious defense. "Their full court pressure bothered us," said Lakewood coach Dave Fleming.

"We've got to get better at handling it." Phillips added three field goals for a game high 16 points. She also pulled in 10 rebounds. Lancer Michelle Brown chipped in 13 points and 10 rebounds. Big Walnut knocked off the Lancer JV squad 25-9. uic an auu we uiui iu Jeff Whitley's fourth touchdown pass within two minutes and an extra point kick put Piano East ahead 44-41.

With 26 seconds left, John Tyler needed a touchdown to win because Piano East led on all tiebreakers. Wanting to force the Lions to have to drive as far as possible, Phillips elected to go for a deep kickoff. But Tyler's Roderick Dunn, had fumbled two of the three onside kicks, had other ideas. He came from the outside, caught it over his shoulder at the 3, then took off upfield for the game-winner. 1 1 HOME SEMINAR Learn all the ins and outs of Home Financing from Financing Expert Jere Dishon.

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it. a CD SPECIALS AT PNB 15 Month 6.00 APY 20 Month 6.25 APY 30 Month 6.50 APY Pi ANn Texas (AP) Tvler John Tyler had a routine 41-17 lead in its Class 5A playoff game with Piano East with less than three minutes left. Then things got weird. Piano East's dream of a state title ended Saturday after turning the 24-point deficit into a 44-41 lead with three onside kick recoveries and four touchdowns, only to lose 48-44 on a 97-yard kickoff return with 1 1 seconds to play. Piano East coach Scott Phillips knew the season-ending booster club meeting would be glum, so he decided to brighten up the get-together by playing an edited version of the game film.

"I dubbed in a kickoff from earlier in the game where we tackled him," Phillips said Wednesday. "Everyone cheered and I said, You can do things like that with movies. Then again, the ending to this Class 5A Division II regional semifinal did have a Hollywood flair. Like a great script with a star-studded cast, there was 12-0 Piano East, ranked second in 5A, against 12-0 John Tyler, ranked 1,000 minimum deposit Annual Percentage Yield accurate as of November 28, 1994 Penalty for early withdrawal S3 1 UNDER PARK NATIONAL BANK.