Larry Phillips

SHELBY – Ohio has hosted some historic high school football games in more than 100 years of epic action.

Even in that rich, storied history, it's unlikely there has ever been a game quite like Friday night's shootout at W.W. Skiles Field. Tiffin Columbian and Shelby's offenses unleashed their full arsenal at each other, landed haymaker after haymaker and lit up the scoreboard at an unprecedented pace.

When the smoke cleared, Tiffin Columbian had a surreal, 83-82 Northern Ohio League overtime victory that would've made either school's head basketball coach pleased with such production.

Shelby freshman Brennan Armstrong scored on a 1-yard plunge to begin overtime and the PAT gave the Whippets a short-lived, 82-75 margin.

But Tiffin Columbian's Cliff Miller scored his 10th touchdown of the night on an 8-yard run. Tornadoes' coach Brian Colatruglio, probably tired of watching his defense, decided to put the game in his best player's hands and went for two and the win. Miller barely squeezed into the end zone to cap an incredible show.

Shelby drops to 2-6 overall, 1-4 in the Northern Ohio League. Meanwhile, Tiffin Columbian kept its playoff hopes alive by improving to 5-3, 3-2.

The contest was crucial to Tiffin's playoff hopes, while the improving Whippets were simply looking to find their confidence after a rugged start to the season. This was Shelby's third heartbreaking defeat of the season, the second in two weeks. Last week Ontario edged the Whippets on a two-point conversion in the final two minutes.

Not surprisingly, at least a couple of state records were in play.

Unofficially, this contest tied the state record for most points scored by two teams combined at 165. According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association, the state record was established on Oct. 5, 1923 when Medina and Spencer combined for 165 points, although no final score is listed.

Also, Toledo Waite beat Ada 162-0 on Oct. 15, 1921. However, those games were in regulation, while this contest went to overtime.

Miller ripped off somewhere between 436 and 516 yards rushing. There were conflicting reports. Six of his TDs came in the first half, and four after intermission, including a kick return. His scoring total of 62 points tied for third in state annals with Howard "Tick" Hamilton, of Bellville, on Nov. 10, 1939.

Erastus "Tunk" Simmons, of Medina, has the state record with 78 points scored on Oct. 5, 1923 vs. Spencerville.

Whatever the tally, Miller's rushing total did not approach a state record, as Williamsburg's Jason Bainum ran for 532 yards to set the Ohio all-divisions record against Batavia Clermont Northeastern on Sept. 28, 2001.

Twitter blew up across Ohio as fans tuned into find the game online to follow the final tense moments.

Could anyone blame either defensive coordinator if they missed Saturday morning's film session?Look for more on this game in Sunday's News Journal and online at www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com.

lbphillips@nncogannett.com

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Twitter:@OhioPrepLegends