Pickerington Central High School, Saint Ignatius' opponent in Saturday's Division I state championship game at Canton's Fawcett Stadium, is making its first appearance in the big-school title game and is seeking its first state football championship.
The Tigers fell to eventual state runner-up Cincinnati Elder, 24-10, in a 2008 Division I semifinal. And we all know what happened to Elder in the next game.
Pickerington Central reached the Division II state final in 2006, losing to Piqua, 26-7. Known as Pickerington High School until Pickerington North opened in August of 2003, Central, or Pickerington as it was known then, was defeated by Saint Ignatius, 48-8, in a 1999 Division I state semifinal game at Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
The 2011 Tigers (11-2) earned the right to face the 10-time state champion Wildcats (12-2) by defeating St. Xavier, 14-7, in Saturday night's semifinals. Senior running back Devone Penick scored the game-winner on a 10-yard run with 4:51 left.
Penick combines with fellow senior running back Billy Eakins in giving Tigers head coach Jay Sharrett a solid 1-2 punch. Eakins and Penick have combined for 24 touchdowns.
The Tigers also have two gifted wide receivers in Jake Raymond and Ohio State recruit Roger Lewis. Raymond helped Coach Sharrett's team tie the score against St. Xavier by hauling in a 9-yard touchdown pass with just 35 seconds remaining in the first half. His behind-the-back circus catch set up Penick's decisive TD.
Pickerington Central, which has one of the top defensive coordinators in Ohio in Jeff Lomonico, has run off 11 consecutive victories after losing its first two games of the season – to Archbishop Moeller and St. Xavier.
Just wanted to give you a taste of what we're up against on Saturday night. AS ALWAYS, THE CORNER WILL POST ITS FULL STATE-CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PREVIEW ON TUESDAY NIGHT, ALONG WITH THE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK FROM THE WHITMER GAME (SEE ELEVEN IN '11 GAME STORY BELOW) AND A FEW OTHER TIDBITS.
****FROM THE SAINT IGNATIUS ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Tickets for Saturday's State Championship football game vs. Pickerington Central will go on sale on Monday at 10:30 a.m. in the ticket booth. Ticket sales for the week will be Monday, 10:30 - 5; Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. - 5; Wednesday & Thursday, 8 - 5 and Friday 8 - 3. All seats for the game at Fawcett Stadium in Canton are reserved and cost $8 ($10 at the gate). Section 10 will be the students section for the game on Saturday - if we sell enough tickets we will also designate section 9 as a student section. Even though all tickets are reserved seating, the student section will be treated like a general admission section.