Blue Jackets 2 Islanders 0

NHL Hockey
Home Team: Columbus Blue Jackets
Visiting Team: New York Islanders
Venue: Nationwide Arena (Section C4)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.

Fellow Attendees: Brandi, Chris, Spencer

Official Recap

Ten years later and I finally made it to a second Blue Jackets game. We should do this more often, because it's really fun. I don't love hockey the way I do football and baseball, or even basketball (I haven't made it to an OSU hoops game since we've been in Columbus), but I went to a ton of local games when I was a kid, and being in the arena is great.

And this was the way to do it. Our friend Chris works for one of the Blue Jackets' major sponsors, and he was able to get tickets in the new Diamond Cellar Club area. My friends...this is the way to go. Besides the price of admission, a drawback of actually going to sporting events is the price of concessions—but not tonight! In the Diamond Cellar Club, food is included (and it was quite a spread—I've never gone to a game and eaten spaghetti and meatballs before, but I did tonight), and a selection of beer and wine is included as well. And the seats were great, too, just off of center ice, pretty much at one of the blue lines.

It was a good game. The season is young (this was just the ninth game), and after a poor season last year and a tumultuous offseason that included a tragic accident that killed one of their star players, Johnny Gaudreau, it's hard to know what to expect from them this year. I'm not going to pretend that I know much about hockey and have anything insightful to say, but they definitely played hard. I can say that I was really impressed with the goalie, Elvis Merzlikins, who made some truly incredible saves on his way to a shutout.

I'm guessing it won't be ten years again before we make it to our next game.

Troy 49 Greenville 0

High School Football

Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Greenville Green Wave
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 8:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

It was a hot one tonight. Kickoff was actually bumped back an hour, to 8 p.m., to play in at least somewhat cooler conditions. It was still in the upper 80s when the game started, and I imagine it was quite a bit warmer than that down on the turf. From my spot about 2/3 of the way up the stands, it was fairly comfortable once the sun dipped below the trees, which happened right before the game started. Still, I'm glad the crowd was a little bit spread out—if it was as crowded as it was last week, when the new field debuted, I might have felt differently.

Obviously, the Trojans looked a lot better this week than they did last week. After they scored on the opening kickoff, Greenville then gave the ball back deep in their own territory on two straight possessions, leading to a 21-0 score after the first quarter. Troy cruised from there; the 35-0 score at the break meant the entire second half was played under a running clock, and the starters took the rest of the night off.

It's good to start league play with a big win, but next week will be a much more interesting test. Troy will go on the road for the first time this season, traveling south to take on an improved Butler squad that sits at 2-0 and is fresh off a win over Piqua.

Middletown 28 Troy 18

High School Football

Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Middletown Middies
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

I have great reverence for the Wing-T offense. That's what Troy was running when I was in high school 30+ years ago, and they had been running it for a long time then. But in the year of our lord 2024, brother...I don't think this is it. It's a different coach running it and a different era in football, and watching Troy's running backs and quarterback plow into the line for a two-yard gain over and over and over and over again was a chore. Without at least one beast on the line or in the backfield (preferably both), this offense just isn't the advantage it used to be.

Now, I have no doubt that Troy will right the ship and be more or less fine this year. Not world-beaters, maybe, but they'll be in the hunt for a league title. Probably. We'll see. Middletown is a team that has been up and down in football, and it seems like they only end up on Troy's schedule on their upswings. Troy lost to them in 2010 and 2011; Middletown's head coach then is Troy's head coach now. The Middies have a new coach this year, and the team he came from (Withrow) ended Troy's season in the playoffs last year. So they're probably going to turn out to be pretty decent.

And at any rate, this particular game wasn't so much about the game itself. This was all about Troy Memorial Stadium, which at long last has been converted from a natural grass field to an artificial surface, and also now features an upgraded video scoreboard. I'm pretty sure the scoreboard it replaced was installed for the 1994 season (although it's possible it happened after that season and debuted in 1995), and its best days were long behind it. As for the turf, I have mixed feelings. The evidence seems to suggest that natural grass is better to play on in terms of injuries, and I wouldn't be surprised if the pendulum swings back in that direction sooner rather than later; Troy may have been better served to wait it out with the grass field. But in the meantime, it looks fantastic, and it's great that the stadium will be able to serve as a neutral site in the playoffs again.

Bowling Green 70 Chicago State 41

Men's Basketball

Home Team: BGSU Falcons

Visiting Team: Chicago State Cougars

Venue: Stroh Center (Bowling Green, Ohio)

Game Time: 7 p.m.

Fellow Attendees: None

Game Story | Box Score

It was something of a happy accident that I was able to attend this game. I knew I was due for an overnight Toledo trip for work at some point this week, and as I was starting to make arrangements, I saw this game on the calendar. Basketball season already? I thought. Hm. Home opener? First game under a new coach? I'm...going to make this happen.

Which really wasn't much of an undertaking. I've been in this job and working remotely for a long time, and I'm trusted to make my own schedule. Of course, my department does have a team-building outing scheduled for Wednesday, so I'm sure setting my trip for Tuesday-Wednesday or Wednesday-Thursday would have been the politic move. But Monday-Tuesday made more sense for actual work objectives, and with the ability to attend this game thrown in, it wasn't a tough choice.

I really liked what I saw from the Falcons tonight. I'm not sure how much more I have to say about this game, really. There's so much roster turnover from one season to the next in college basketball nowadays, and then you throw a new coach into the mix, and there were only two Falcon players I was familiar with still on the roster. Now, I did think those two players (Rashaun Agee and Sam Towns) were pretty good for BG last year, so I'm glad they stuck around. But I was definitely looking at the roster a lot tonight and trying to put names with faces and numbers.

I think it was pretty obvious that these guys were still getting used to playing together and trying to figure out their roles. I'm sure that was exacerbated by presumed starting point guard Trey Thomas, a Vanderbilt transfer, being out with an injury. But you know what? Everybody looked competent, and like they belonged. At least until the bench was emptied toward the end of the game, I wasn't looking at anyone and wondering what they were doing on the floor, to say nothing of the roster. That in itself is an improvement over some of BG's previous coaches. The new guy, Coach Todd Simon, wants to play a fast-paced style and score a lot of points. There were some flashes of that tonight; it's pretty clearly a work in progress.

Troy 42 Lima Senior 15

High School Football

Division II Region 8 Playoffs
Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Lima Senior Spartans
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Twenty-seven years later...well, it doesn't erase old scars. But it was a pretty sweet win nonetheless.

Troy has played Lima Senior twice before in the playoffs, both losses for the Trojans. The first, in 1989, was before my fandom began. The second, though...the second time was in 1996, at the height of my interest. That year's Troy team was the best I've seen—AP poll champions for Division I in Ohio, and nationally ranked by USA Today. It's unfortunate that they shared a region with Lima Senior; I truly believe the actual state championship game took place in the second round at Dayton's Welcome Stadium. Unfortunately, the Spartans pulled that one out 13-10 and went on to win the state championship, and the Trojans went home. My devastation was immeasurable.

The two teams haven't met in the meantime. So when the playoffs started this year, I saw this as a likely second-round matchup and circled it as a game I wanted to attend if both teams advanced. Of course, when the day of the game finally rolled around, I felt a little wishy-washy about going. This is normal for me. Of course I wanted to be at the game, but making the drive from Columbus to Troy, and then the return trip after the game...I just wasn't sure I wanted to give up my whole Friday evening, especially since I could still watch the game from the comfort of my own living room if I stayed home.

But in the end I decided to go. Win or lose, this would be the final home game for the Trojans this year (since games move to neutral sites after round two). And if all goes to plan, this was the last game at Troy Memorial Stadium with a natural grass surface. The weather was perfect for a November game, and I really wanted to see them take another shot at Lima Senior. Basically I had more reasons to go than excuses to stay home. So I bought my ticket online and hit the road, and I was in the familiar confines of the home-side stands about 35 minutes before kickoff.

And I'm really glad I went, even though it took even more of my evening than I expected. With Troy being such a run-heavy team and putting a running clock on so many of their opponents this year, I kind of forgot that sometimes high school football games do run long. Lima Senior runs a pass-heavy offense, which really slows the game down. Add in a group of officials determined to put on a Ref Show, plus one lengthy injury delay, the game went a full three hours, keeping me from getting back to my living room until nearly 11:45 p.m.

But it was worth it. I didn't have any idea how this game would go, but the Trojans really impressed me. Lima Senior, as I mentioned before, runs a pass-heavy offense (they only had 14 rushing attempts in this game [which I think includes the two sacks by the Troy defense] compared to 47 passes), and I think defending the pass is really hard in high school. But Troy was up to the task. The Spartans' 15 points were the most Troy has given up this season, but their two touchdowns included a spectacular diving catch in the endzone of a pass I thought was way overthrown, and a very short field after a Trojan fumble inside the 10. The defense pitched a shutout for the final 27 minutes of the game, as it went from a 15-all tie to more or less a Trojan rout.

And the offense? Well, Troy's prime threat, fullback Jahari Ward, has been out with an injury since early in the Week 9 game against Fairborn. In his absence, a more varied (but still ground-heavy) attack is still putting points up on the board. In this one, they found a plan of attack that Lima Senior just could not stop, and they ran it over and over.

So the Trojans improve to 11-1 on the season and advance to the Region 8 semifinals, where the road gets even tougher. They'll face the Withrow Tigers (also 11-1) out of Cincinnati, I'd guess at Welcome Stadium in Dayton. I won't be able to make it, but I'll be there in spirit, and I'm hoping to stream it if it's available.

Troy 49 Fairborn 14

High School Football
Home Team: Fairborn Skyhawks
Visiting Team: Troy Trojans
Venue: Fairborn Memorial Stadium/Buschemeyer Field
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

As I tend to do, I waffled for a while about whether I was going to go to this game or not. There was rain in the forecast—for later in the evening, it's true, but I wasn't sure I wanted to chance getting soaked to watch a game the Trojans were likely to win going away. But then I found out that this was going to be the last game played at Fairborn Memorial Stadium before the Skyhawks move into a new home next year, and that seemed like a pretty cool thing to be a part of, and so I decided to risk the rain.

Weather-wise, it turned out I had nothing to worry about. I had a poncho just in case, but the rain held off through the game and for my drive back to Columbus. The game, at least at the start, looked like it might be a Friday the 13th horror story. A number of unforced errors, including silly penalties and a turnover, gave Fairborn a 7-0 lead with under four minutes left in the first quarter, and it looked like the Trojans hadn't come to play at all. A fired-up Coach Everhart brought the whole team into a huddle on the sideline after the TD and gave a quick, very animated speech to all of them.

It worked. Following the kickoff, star fullback Jahari Ward went 61 yards to the house to the the score. From there, it was all Trojans—despite one last piece of bad luck. As the first quarter was winding down, after another long run, Ward had to be helped off the field with a leg injury and did not return to the game. In his stead, the Trojans turned to a stable of other backs, who, despite limited chances so far this season, turned out to be pretty capable.

I have no doubt that Fairborn's new stadium will be much nicer than this one. I can't speak to the home side, but the visitors' stands are small and cramped. I sat in the top row and still couldn't see about 1/3 of the field over the players on the sideline. That said, I liked coming here, the handful of times I did so. The lighting, always a crapshoot at high school stadiums in my experience, was great, and I'm a sucker for a neighborhood setting. The new place probably won't have that, but if it's easier to see the game, it's probably a fair trade. I look forward to seeing it when the Trojans play there in two years.

Troy 14 Piqua 0

High School Football
Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Piqua High School
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

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