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Prep Confidential

Cola War

Posted by: Marcus Jackson

Sunday, November 11, 2007 12:23 AM

- So there's going to be another Cola War after all. With Tuscola's move to the Okaw Valley Conference this season, it looked as though the rivalry between Tuscola and Arcola would be put on hold for a while.

- But with both teams reaching the semifinals, the folks in Douglas County have someting to be excited about. Before Tuscola completed its 49-27 win at Mount Olive, the fans were already buzzing about the matchup. Expect a crowd in the 5,000 range next Saturday in Tuscola.

- Fans will see one of the best quarterbacks in area history. John Wienke continues to put on passing clinics. Saturday he threw for 334 yards and five more touchdowns. And if there is a better playmaker than Tyler Carter around, I'd love to see him. I'd actually pay to see it.

- But if you're looking for a future star, then Tuscola sophomore linebacker Jordan Knerr is your man. He registered 13 tackles and two sacks and was in the Mount Olive backfield all afternoon.

- How about Arcola? If we had a Coach of the Year, Jarod Kiger would be it. Honestly, I didn't think the Purple Riders would sniff .500 this season and now they're one of the Final Four in Class 1A. Quarterback Mark Klinger is as dangerous as they come.

- No one is more surprised than yours truly that St.Joseph-Ogden was eliminated on Saturday. I thought the Spartans were the class of Class 3A, but apparently the defending champions, Plano, had other thoughts. Either way, Lukas Graves, Zach Becker, Will Lindsey and company gave the Spartan faithful plenty of memories this season.

- I'm sure I'll be hearing from the folks in Westville. I picked the Tigers to fall to defending Class 2A champ Maroa-Forsyth, but as usual, I was wrong. I just thought the Trojans were too tough for Westville after seeing them handle Tuscola earlier this year.

I'll make sure to update the blog at least twice this week, and as always, your comments are welcome. E-mail me at mjackson@news-gazette.com and I'll be sure to get to as many as possible.

MJ