For most of the Valley’s high school football programs, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

No one is arguing that November’s postseason games aren’t more important. It’s been exciting when our local teams, especially public schools that don’t have open enrollment, are still practicing as Thanksgiving approaches.

As recently as 2005, South Range advanced to the Division V state semifinals, losing to eventual state champion Patrick Hamler.

A week later, Canfield played for the Div. III state crown, losing to Toledo Central Catholic.

But that was an exception to the norm of this decade. Most public school seasons end by mid-November.

On the other hand, Mooney has played in the past four Div. IV title games, Warren JFK was state runner-up in Div. VI in 2006 and Ursuline was the Div. V runner-up last year and is the favorite to win it all this year.

November winning streaks aren’t unusual for parochial programs.

For the other schools with decent records, October is special. For those programs, the battle for league titles and playoff berths is filled with plenty of tension. Unlike November contests, these outcomes are often a mystery.

Take last Friday when several upsets turned the race for the Inter Tri-County League Tier One crown into a marathon.

At Crestview, the Rebels snapped a nine-game losing streak to South Range with a last-second 31-yard field goal by Cameron Reynolds for a 31-28 win.

At Columbiana, Springfield rallied to defeat the Clippers, 27-24.

In Mineral Ridge, United defeated the hometown Rams, 32-21.

Five teams — Columbiana, Crestview, Mineral Ridge, South Range and United — are tied for first place in the ITCL’s Top Tier standings.

Considering that South Range went 7-0 in each of the first two seasons of the league, this logjam is more than surprising. With four weeks to go, it’s hard to imagine the standings being tighter.

That isn’t the only race of interest. The ITCL Tier Two has four teams still hoping to finish first.

Two — McDonald and Western Reserve — are unbeaten and control their destiny.

One — the loser of this Friday’s Leetonia at Lowellville game — will drop out of the race with a second league loss.

The smaller tiers of the All-American Conference are especially tight. Liberty and Hubbard have 2-0 records to lead the White Tier. Lakeview is 0-1 but can stay in contention with a win over Liberty Friday.

Three teams in the ACC Blue — Girard, LaBrae and Brookfield — have unbeaten league records. Friday, the race will become clearer when Brookfield plays Girard.

Regular-season finales don’t get much more exciting than last week’s South Range-Crestview game.

The Raiders (4-2) had lost a league contest since October 2004. The Rebels trailed 21-7 at halftime, scored a third-quarter touchdown then watched South Range’s James Nell return the ensuing kickoff 98 yards to restore the 14-point margin.

“The thing that really concerned me is that we always seem to do something against South Range that kind of turns the tide in their favor,” Crestview coach Paul Cusick said, “and that could have been that play.

“But our guys [bore] down and really kept playing,” Cusick said, “and in the second half, I really think our offensive line stepped it up and really started getting off the ball.”

The Rebels celebrated like it was Christmas morning.

Senior Jakob Leon, who intercepted a fourth-quarter pass and hauled in a 29-yard reception right before the game-winning field goal, said, “We’ve been working for this game our whole career, and finally we’ve got that win over South Range.”

Running back Corey Hill said, “Oh man, this is a great win for us.

“We’ve lost to them five times in the last three years,” said the senior who rushed for 124 yards in the second half. “It’s just awesome to come back and beat them in our stadium after losing a couple of weeks ago to Columbiana. It just showed what we are really made of, showed what we can do.”

The win vaulted the Rebels past the Raiders in this week’s Div. V Region 17 computer playoff standings.

Cusick called the victory one of his “biggest because of how it happened and it’s South Range.

“Being down like we were and coming back, then having Cameron make that kick at the end” are why, Cusick said. “He’s had opportunities in the past and hasn’t been able to connect. Being able to do it and him being a senior, I think that’s pretty special.”

With four weeks to go, the playoff picture is far from clear for the teams closer to No. 8 instead of the top in the computer ratings.

“There is a long season yet,” Cusick agreed, but added that tight races mean that “you have got to get these games. If you want to be playing Week 11 these are the games you’ve got to win.”

Overtime Report

Since WFMJ Channel 21 began its Arby’s Overtime Report in 1994, the station has produced highlights from 3,000 games.

The milestone contest was the Pymatuning Valley at Mathews game last Friday that was won by the Mustangs, 40-14.

How times have changes — in 1994, Channel 21 showed highlights of 126 games. In 2006, the station showed video from 270 contests.

williams@vindy.com