PREP FOOTBALL McKinley right at home in title game

Mooney will try to stop Versailles in its quest for back-to-back crowns.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Three teams shoot for their second consecutive title while Canton McKinley is out to prove there's no place quite like home.
Those are the two biggest story lines at this weekend's 33rd Ohio high school football championships at Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and Canton's Fawcett Stadium.
Avon Lake in Division II, Cleveland Benedictine in III and Versailles in IV are out to defend their titles. Twenty-two schools have won two playoff crowns in a row, so it's not as if the three teams that lifted the championship trophies a year ago are in uncharted territory.
Avon Lake's Shoremen (14-0), ranked No. 1 in the final regular season Associated Press poll, has won its last 29 games, including a 33-14 win over Tallmadge in last week's state semifinals. Next up is Columbus Brookhaven (14-0), ranked No. 2 in the poll and making its first appearance at the finals.
Benedictine (11-3) opened and closed its regular season with losses, but the Bengals have been at their best in the postseason, winning by an average score of 33-14. Their opponent will be St. Marys Memorial (13-1) which is reliving a glorious past with its first appearance in a title game since 1993.
Versailles (11-3) is an old hand at playing in big games -- this is the Tigers' ninth trip to the finals, including six state championships. They will take on Cardinal Mooney (11-2), which also has a history of success but won its fourth and most recent title in 1987.
Too late to change
In the big-school division, who knew that McKinley's road to the state finals would take them back to their own locker room?
McKinley takes on top-ranked Cincinnati Colerain on its home field, Fawcett Stadium, in Saturday night's showdown.
"The contest has been scheduled there for some time, tickets have been sold and allocated and changing venues at this point in time will not work logistically," said commissioner Dan Ross of the OHSAA.
Colerain has been aware of the possibility of playing in decidedly unfriendly confines and looked at it as just another obstacle to a championship.
"The location certainly could be a factor, but what can you do?" athletic director Dan Moody told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "We won't use it as a crutch."
Nothing else has shaken Colerain this year. Only one team has scored more than two touchdowns against the Cardinals -- and West Chester Lakota West lost that game by 49 points. In the postseason, they have walloped Cincinnati Elder 38-3, Centerville 35-0, Cincinnati Moeller 34-6 and Worthington Kilbourne 34-3.
The Division V opponents, St. Henry (13-1) and No. 1-ranked Amanda-Clearcreek (14-0), have storied pasts in the state finals. St. Henry is chasing its fourth title, but first since 1995, while the Aces are going for their third championship after winning back-to-back in 1999 and 2000.
In Division VI, Dola Hardin Northern (13-1) takes on Norwalk St. Paul (12-2), with the winner claiming its first playoff title.