You have to go back quite a few decades to find a Sidney-Xenia football game as important to the Yellow Jackets as the one coming up on Friday night. The winner gains an inside track to a Valley Division title.
In 1952, Sidney won its fifth straight over Xenia, 13-12, leading the club to its third sixth-win season in a row. Only a tough six-point setback to Fairmont kept the Yellow Jackets from sharing a league crown with Miamisburg, which Sidney knocked off by a touchdown.
The Sidney High School Football Replay: The First Century from 1896-1996, authored and assembled by Dave Ross, is a great resource for a historical perspective of Sidney’s years on the gridiron.
By the way, the Miami Valley League, which was reborn for the 2019-20 school year, actually began competition in the early 1900’s — 1926 to be exact.
Sidney High School was an MVL member up to 1975 before leaving for the Miami Central Conference. Xenia was a member to 1964 prior to its departure for the Western Ohio League.
The Yellow Jackets need another triumph over Xenia, close or convincing either one, to generate early season momentum, to knock off last year’s Valley and overall MVL champs and this year’s favorite, and to help set the table for a surge of computer playoff points over the 10-game season. These two programs might rack up 14 to 16 victories between them.
A new “scene” will help make Friday’s tilt even more interesting.
First-year head coach Dave Taynor takes his Yellow Jackets (1-1) into a beautiful, refurbished Doug Adams Stadium in Xenia, which now holds 6,000 spectators. The 4,000-seat home side faces east, not west. The enlarged pressbox is atop the west stands and features an open observation deck above.
A turf field was installed at the Xenia facility in 2015. The track was replaced in 2017. Stadium lighting has been improved with the addition of high quality, premium LED options that boost illumination and are more energy efficient.
Some of the spotlight on Friday will be focused on two solid quarterbacks who are off to good starts here in 2023.
For Sidney (1-1), senior signal caller Tucker Herron has thrown for 489 yards and a 58 percent completion mark in two games. Gavin McManus, a three-year starter, returns at the helm for Xenia (2-0). He engineered the Buccaneers to a 10-0 regular season in 2022 by tossing for 1,700 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Playmaker Julius Spradling has snared nine passes for Sidney and totaled 170 yards. He has averaged 25 yards on two kickoff returns. On defense, Spradling has produced 27 tackles, 20 of them solos.
Ejected from last week’s game for what was thought by officials to be a targeting foul, Spradling will be on the field at Xenia. A review of the play by the Ohio High School Athletic Association deemed that the hit did not warrant suspension.
ScoresBroadcast.com will covers the Sidney-Xenia tilt at 6:25 p.m. Jack Kramer and Chuck McBee are on the call.
Xenia blanked Sidney, 34-0, last season. Gone from that powerhouse Buccaneers club are stars Trei-Shaun Sanders, Jamell Smith and Tremell Wright
Adam Doenges’ Jackets whipped the Buccs, 38-0, two years ago at Doug Adams Stadium.
