Buckeye Community Midget Football League - BCMFL

Since I like to talk about sports, how about a little mention to the little guys of the gridiron? The recent weekend of games for the BCMFL saw our upper division team of Upper Grey shut-out the team of Jefferson Red 20-0. Our lower division team of Lower Red also blanked their opponent of Jefferson Black with a 24-0 win. The final game of the league's teams was the Lower Grey who won a thriller in overtime 24-18 over the Geneva White! I can only give some stats from the Lower Grey team since I was at that game (Of course I was, my son plays for them!). We started right out of the gate with Aaron Pocatko rumbling for a 65 yard touchdown only to have it called back due to a block in the back halfway down field. All was forgiven as the offense then resorted to running the ball straight up the middle on three consecutive gains of eight yards or more. The offensive line was superb in getting off the ball and opening up running lanes for our backs. By halftime the score was now 12-6 with the Grey leading. The second half saw a turnaround as the Geneva team gave up trying to run in the middle against our stout little defensive line and found that if they could break on the corner, their running back could rip off yards in big chunks. He led the Geneva team to take the lead 18-12 until the fourth quarter when our Grey team made a discovery of their own...they could pass the ball and do it effectively! The score was tied 18 all when with time running down, the Grey began a drive at our own 17 yard line and through some serious moxie had driven all the way to the Geneva 20 yard line before a bad snap got away from our QB and was recovered by Geneva. Overtime was now on. We have a one possession each set-up from the 10 yard line...four plays to make it happen and happen it did for the Grey when on fourth and 14 (we lost yards on consecutive run attempts) we connected for a lead taking touchdown. All that was left was for our defense to stop the Geneva sweep play that was working so effectively. We shut down the attempted sweeps on three straight plays and forced them to try a pass play of their own on fourth and 8. They pass was completed but, the receiver was immediately swamped by our defensive end who had intelligently spread out wide to maintain the edge and help on pass coverage! With pressure coming from up the middle the Geneva quarterback threw a desperation pass to his receiver and that was all she wrote as our end took him down with no gain on the play...the celebration was on! Quite the exciting game for the young guys and we had to give credit to Geneva for hanging in there when down early and not giving up after our overtime touchdown. Well played guys and the Lower Grey now has an even 1-1 record. Aaron Pocatko was the offensive star with almost a hundred yards rushing and over a hundred yards passing connecting on 9 of 11 attempts! Way to go Aaron! I wouldn't be a Dad if I didn't give my son Dale Sheldon and the rest of the line some credit for both giving the quarterback time to pass and opening the running lanes on offense (Dale is our center) and being stout in the middle on defensive side as well (Dale also plays the nose guard position). The whole team played very well and they deserved the win for their effort! We can't wait to host our first game next week as we begin a three game home stand at Corlew Stadium. As a side note, our local High School (Edgewood) has invited all the players and cheerleaders from the BCMFL to the Friday night game and will be introduced to the fans in pregame activities! Thank you to Edgewood for giving them some public notice! Good luck to all our teams this weekend!