By Jason Hickman
MaxPreps.com
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Playoffs Take Center Stage
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Cue up Don Cheadle. It's playoff time. Okay, this isn't the NFL and we don't really have the power to "cue up" the Oceans Eleven and Hotel Rwanda star, but it is win-or-go-home time in high school football. Let's take a trip around the country and look at the storylines developing as the playoffs unfold.
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California: We could go in a lot of different directions for opening round action in the Golden State, but how about a Mission Viejo-Los Alamitos matchup to get things started in the Southern Section's Pac-5 Division? Mission Viejo is eyeing a potential rematch with De La Salle in the first-ever state championship bowl game, while Los Alamitos would like to prove it is the team that started the season 7-1, and not the one that experienced an 0-2 finish. This will be the fiercest sectional title competition in Southern California with Crespi, Edison, Esperanza, Long Beach Poly, Mater Dei, Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks, Orange Lutheran, San Clemente, Santa Margarita, and Servite all appearing in the 16-team field.
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District of Columbia/Maryland: Good Counsel, Md., took one in the jaw two weeks ago in a 42-13 loss to DeMatha, D.C., but the Falcons will have an opportunity to avenge that setback this weekend in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship game. Good Counsel and DeMatha have met in the title contest each of the past two seasons, and DeMatha has come away a one-point winner in both.
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Illinois: The MaxPreps USA Football Tour will roll into the Land of Lincoln to see Lincoln-Way East continue its quest for back-to-back state titles. The Griffins will face a dominant defensive team in Mount Carmel, winners of four-straight and allowing just 7.6 points per game this season. Despite Lincoln-Way East's 26-game winning streak, the Griffins seem vulnerable - surviving scares against Providence Catholic, Bolingbrook (twice), and Lincoln-Way Central.
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Indiana: National No. 3 Warren Central is just two victories away from winning its fourth-straight state title. The Warriors got 236 yards from standout running back Darren Evans in a 42-7 over rival Ben Davis to advance last weekend. 5A Penn (1996-98), 4A Roncalli (2002-04), 3A Bishop Chatard (2001-03), and 2A Franklin Central (1980-82) have all won three-consecutive state titles, but Warren Central is bidding to become the first in state history to make it four.
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Ohio: It will be tough to top St. Xavier-Colerain in the Division I playoffs, even in the state championship game. Both Cincinnati-area teams won in convincing fashion over the weekend to set up a Saturday showdown at Nippert Stadium. St. Xavier shutout Glen Este, 17-0, while Colerain did the same to Sycamore, 28-0. The game should be a showcase for two of the top defensive squads in Ohio. The Bombers - No. 8 in this week's MaxPreps National Rankings - and the Panthers (No. 18) have combined to shutout nine opponents in 2006. St. Xavier and Colerain met twice in 2005, with "X" coming away with a pair of victories en route to its first state title.
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South Carolina: Revenge, or the end of an era? That question will be answered Friday when Byrnes travels to Gaffney in a rematch of South Carolina's "Game of the Year" thus far. Gaffney defeated Byrnes Oct. 19, 28-15, ending the Rebels' 33-game winning streak. The Indians now have the opportunity to end Byrnes' streak of four-straight state titles, and the career of local legend Willy Korn. It won't be easy, however. Since that loss a month ago, head coach Bobby Bentley's squad has responded by dominating three games by a combined score of 160-13.
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Oregon Loses All-Time Winningest Coach
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Dewey Sullivan, Oregon's all-time winningest high school football coach, passed away last week after battling pneumonia-related complications.
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"The Silver Fox" accumulated a record of 352-82-2 in 42 years at Dayton High, winning state titles in 1985, 1986, 1995, 1996, and 2002. His Pirate teams reached the state playoffs 30 times, and incredibly, didn't miss the postseason in any of his last 25 seasons on the sideline.
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"The biggest impact Dewey made on me was not about football," former player J.J. Dearborn told McMinnville's News-Register. "It was about life in general. He taught me how to be a good man and how to be there for people when they need you."
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The Pirates are carrying on in his memory, opening yet another postseason run by defeating Grant Union, 27-6, Saturday.
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Team of the Week: Roosevelt, S.D.
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South Dakota's Roosevelt High became the poster boys for persistence Saturday night.
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The Rough Riders entered the 11AA championship game over the weekend with just five losses over the previous three seasons. Unfortunately, all of them came against O'Gorman - Roosevelt's opponent once again in the title tilt.
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Making matters worse, the Sioux Falls school's lack of success in the series wasn't exactly a recent trend. The Rough Riders had managed just one victory in 21 games all-time against the Knights.
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But not too many students at Roosevelt were talking about history Monday morning after the Rough Riders defeated O'Gorman, 28-21, capturing the school's first state title and ending the Knights' 38-game winning streak in the process.
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Roosevelt overcame a 21-14 fourth-quarter deficit with touchdowns from David Sturdevant and Jarod Smith in the final seven minutes.
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"It feels great to finally get it done, to win a championship," Sturdevant told the Argus Leader. "To win the state championship and beat O'Gorman at the same time - that's awesome."
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Max Performer of the Week: Will Hill, St. Peter's Prep, N.J.
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Will Hill might be in line for a new nickname. They call him "The Thrill", but after Saturday's performance in a 63-14 win over Bergen Catholic, he might bump Kordell Stewart for the "Slash" moniker.
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The 6-3, 190-pound quarterback/wide receiver/kick returner/punt returner/defensive back (that's four "slashes" for those counting at home) reached the end zone four times three different ways in the first 16 minutes against the Crusaders.
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Hill threw a pair of touchdown passes on the first two drives of the game, a 33-yarder to Joe Valenti, followed by a 23-yarder to Michael Clarke.
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The junior then took matters into his own hands by sprinting 40 yards for touchdown No. 3. Hill got a little help on the fourth and final score, taking a pass from Shawn Boysen early in the second quarter and turning it into a 44-yard touchdown.
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Hill finished with 120 passing yards, 103 more on the ground, and 44 receiving. For the season, Hill has thrown for 594 yards and nine touchdowns, rushed for 522 and 11 scores, and caught four passes for 98 yards and another score. He has also racked up 391 yards in the return game.
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St. Peter's Prep moved to 9-0 on the season with the win.
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Special Mention
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Joe Campbell, Tri-Cities Prep, Wash. - Two weeks ago in a 54-6 win over Jubilee Christian, Campbell became the first Washington running back at any level to surpass the 3,000-yard mark in a single season.
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The eight-man standout rushed for 420 yards and five touchdowns in that contest, then followed with 318 yards and another five scores in a 46-16 win over Columbia. For the season, the 5-10, 170-pound senior has a remarkable 3,477 yards and 51 touchdowns.
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Campbell became the state's all-time leading rusher at the eight-man level earlier this season, surpassing Lonnie Simpson's (Inchelium) mark of 6,274 yards. With 7,639 yards to his credit entering Friday's playoff game with Touchet, he is just 116 shy of current University of Oregon back Jonathan Stewart's (Timberline) all-time, all-class record of 7,755 career rushing yards.
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Bulletin Board
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- Former Dayton, Ore., player Corey Sutton to the News-Register on legendary Pirate coach Dewey Sullivan:
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"If someone didn't have shoes? They did. Because Dewey got shoes for them. If a kid didn't have a letterman's jacket because he couldn't afford it? Dewey went out and bought one. That's the kind of thing nobody ever hears about because it's just something that was so normal for Dewey to do."
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Photo: Willy Korn and his Byrnes (S.C.) teammates will look to avenge their only loss of the season Friday against Gaffney. (By Todd Shurtleff)