2003 Around the Great Lakes columns

November 19, 2003 Waynesburg bucks regional trend Saturday, 35 years of waiting came to an end as Waynesburg wrapped up the PAC title with a 34-20 home win against Westminster (Pa.).

November 11, 2003 OAC, NCAC, MIAA champs clinch bids Seven days can make a big difference. Seven days ago, no Great Lakes region team had wrapped up an NCAA playoff berth. Since then, three automatic berths were secured while a handful of teams continued to move into position for Pool B and C invitations.

November 4, 2003 Several teams on the doorstep No playoff berths have been secured in the Great Lakes Region. But a handful of teams moved closer to earning their place in the 28-team 2003 Division III tournament.

October 28, 2003 Hold onto the ball, hold onto first place Probably no stat is more indicative of a team's success than turnover margin. Teams that hang onto the ball usually win; teams that give it away often lose. Saturday, previously undefeated Capital and Washington and Jefferson both went to hostile environs in conference play and committed early turnovers in defeat.

October 21, 2003 And then there were three Just three teams in the Great Lakes region sport undefeated records entering Week 8. Mount Union held off pesky John Carroll 34-16 for the Purple Raiders’ 48th consecutive win while fellow Ohio Athletic Conference member Capital also improved to 6-0 with a 56-10 drilling of Heidelberg in Columbus.

October 14, 2003 Oberlin's win resonates through NCAC For now, eight other NCAC teams are looking up at conference co-leader Oberlin, which shocked Wooster Saturday 14-7 at the Yeomen’s Dill Field to improve to 2-0 in the conference.

October 7, 2003 Away from the spotlight, games shone brightly Although the projected game of the week, John Carroll at Baldwin Wallace, turned out to be a 36-0 Baldwin-Wallace rout, three other early-season league games in the Great Lakes Region turned out to be classics Saturday.

September 30, 2003 Sutton starts as Wooster rolls Wooster tailback Tony Sutton gashed the Case Western Reserve defense for a school- and North Coast Athletic Conference-record 338 yards and six touchdowns as No. 19 Wooster knocked Case from the ranks of the unbeaten with a come-from-behind 62-33 win in Cleveland.

September 23, 2003 Defense leads way in blanking B-W Adamson. Ballard. Borchert. Bubonics. Moore. Pugh. For years, Mount Union's offensive standouts have gotten much of the attention and credit for the Purple Raiders' run of success. But Saturday, the Mount Union defense took its turn in the spotlight in front of a Mount Union-record crowd of 8,732.

September 15, 2003 Sirianni's first win a thrilling one More than a few memories were made in Washington, Pa., on Saturday night, the site of this past weekend’s Game of the Week. Host Washington and Jefferson gave new head coach Mike Sirianni his first victory with a thrilling 28-23, come-from-behind win against Allegheny.

September 9, 2003 Region's first week is an offensive one After the first week of Division III football competition, one thing is certain in the Great Lakes Region: The offenses are certainly ahead of the defenses early in the season.

August 28, 2003 2003 regional preview Here’s a look at who could contend, who might take a step backward and who could sneak up in 2003.