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Big Saturday for area football fans

If you’re a fan of football, this weekend is the type of weekend that you probably have been waiting for all season.

On the local high school level, Weirton Madonna will be looking to win the West Virginia Class A title when it takes on Greenbrier West at 7 p.m. Saturday in Wheeling Island Stadium. The Blue Dons will carry a 13-0 record into that game while the Cavaliers will check into the game at 12-1.

Madonna earned its spot in the state title game with a 42-28, come-from-behind win over Williamstown last weekend in Jimmy Carey Stadium. This weekend’s trip to West Virginia’s Super Six will be the second in as many years for the Blue Dons, who suffered a 43-42 overtime loss to Wahama in the 2012 championship game.

Leading the way for the Blue Dons will be senior quarterback Ross Comis, who has accomplished something in his career that few quarterbacks on any level have -he has accumulated more than 9,000 yards in his high school career, 4,716 yards rushing and 4,290 passing. He’s scored 69 touchdowns on the ground and 47 more passing.

Also helping to make the Madonna offense go is senior Eliott Nero, who has run for 1,725 yards and caught passes totaling 341 yards this season.

The Blue Dons last won the state title in 2009, stopping Man 27-7 in the championship game.

Most of our area’s fans of college football, meanwhile, will be looking toward Indianapolis. That’s where the Big Ten title game will be played.

There will be much more at stake than just the conference title when Ohio State and Michigan State meet in Lucas Oil Stadium. The Buckeyes, 12-0 this season and 24-0 under second-year coach Urban Meyer, likely will earn a spot in the BCS National Championship Game with a win over the Spartans, 11-1.

In addition to winning all 12 of their games this season, the Buckeyes, who have stood at third in the BCS standings for several weeks, got the help they needed to move into the second spot when Auburn’s Chris Davis returned a missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown on the last play of the game to lift his team to a 34-28 upset win over No. 1 Alabama.

When the dust had settled from that win, Florida State was first, Ohio State second and Auburn third. With the Seminoles expected to get a win over Duke in Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference title game and claim one spot in the BCS title game, that leaves the Buckeyes and Auburn fighting for the second spot. Auburn will meet Missouri in the Southeastern Conference title game earlier Saturday, which means the championship picture will be a little clearer when Ohio State and Michigan State take to the field at 8:17 p.m.

It adds up to an interesting football Saturday around our area.

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