Firelands at Black River tonight

Another big game in the PAC Stars Division tonight in Sullivan, Ohio as the Black River Pirates host the Firelands Falcons. I will be covering the high school football game for WOBL. You can tune in to 1320 AM or listen online (replay will be available online as well). I'll be working with play-by-play announcer Bob Karlovec and sideline reporter Dave Andrews.

Looking at the division standings, still four teams alive with two weeks left:

Black River (4-4, 4-1, 6 points)
Buckeye (3-5, 3-2, 5 points)
Keystone (4-4, 3-2, 5 points)
Firelands (2-6, 2-3, 4 points)
Wellington (2-6, 2-3, 3 points)
Brookside (0-8, 0-5, 0 points)

A team earns two points for each victory going forward which means every school can earn an additional four points.

Firelands

The Falcons suffered a major setback last week losing 35-14 against Buckeye. In the game, the offense couldn't get going and the defense didn't tackle well. The Bucks led 7-0 at the half and was 4-4 in the redzone in the 2nd half. Falcons had their two-game winning snapped after starting the year 0-5.

Senior quarterback Joe Hyster leads the Falcon offense. Playing the position for the first time this year, Hyster has completed 67 of 144 throws for 702 yards, five touchdowns and eight interceptions. He has also added 444 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Freshman Aaron Stevanus has chipped in with 230 yards rushing and three touchdowns. The Falcon defense is led by linebackers Hyster (63 tackles) and fellow senior captain Zack Hofecker (75 tackles).

Black River

The Pirates are closing in on their 2nd PAC Stars championship. Winning their final two games against Firelands and Keystone will clinch it.

Black River is coming off a 63-14 win at Brookside - a game in which the Pirates had an incredible 585 yards rushing. Junior Andrew Vaughn led the way with 269 yards rushing on just 11 carries and four touchdowns. He had some help from senior Austin Phillips (10-96 rushing, TD), freshman David Bell (10-95 rushing, TD) and brothers Nick and Colin Filak (2 TDs).

Vaughn is already a record-setting running back. Coming into tonihgt's game, he has 3,438 career rushing yards good for 7th in Median County History. Earlier this year, Vaughn broke Charlie Moskal's school career rushing record and single game school rushing record after accumulating 351 yards against Fairview.

Head Coach Al Young has been a Black River lifer. He played football at the school, he was an assistant coach from 1984-1989, and the head coach since 1990. His 156 career wins is the most in Medina County history – passed Brunswick's Rich Nowak earlier this year.

The two teams met a year ago with Firelands winning 55-26. The Falcons had 604 yards of offense while the Pirates had 490. Vaughn had 245 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Firelands outscored Black River 41-6 in the 2nd half.

Black River Pirates Lost 28-26 @ Western Reserve Lost 38-7 @ Northwestern Lost 41-14 vs. Manchester Won 31-30, OT @ Lutheran West Won 48-35 vs. Fairview Won 28-27 @ Buckeye Lost 7-0 vs. Wellington Won 63-14 @ Brookside vs. Firelands @ Keystone

Firelands Falcons
Lost 27-9 vs. Lutheran West
Lost 27-7 vs. New London
Lost 41-28 @ Vermilion
Lost 28-7 @ Fairview
Lost 28-6 vs. Oberlin
Won 32-29 @ Wellington
Won 14-7 @ Keystone
Lost 35-14 vs. Buckeye
@ Black River
vs. Brookside