Through a quarter-century together, John Caparanis broadcast more than 500 high school football games with Harry Paidas, first on TV’s Pilot Sports broadcasts, then on WBBW-AM (1240).

“I used to tell my wife, during football season Harry is my Friday night date,” he said, chuckling.

Now Caparanis, the sports director for WBBW, calls games with Dave Matz, taking up valuable space in the press box and forcing me to sometimes come on as a halftime guest. As punishment, he had to supply me with a column.

A Steubenville native, Caparanis moved to Warren in high school and graduated from Harding High in 1964, then majored in telecommunications and English at Ohio University.

He started broadcasting games at WSOM in 1968 and has since become a Mahoning Valley institution, known for his knowledge, his radio voice and his weekday show, “Tip of the Cap.”

Here are some highlights from this season — and from his 40 years covering Valley football.

Q. Best team you’ve seen this year?

A. Definitely Ursuline. And the Mooney staff has done a heck of a job considering all the people they lost to graduation. And make sure you put Girard in there. They kind of got hosed by missing the playoffs. They went through a lot of adversity and to have the season they did was phenomenal.

Q. Favorite player to watch this year?

A. Braylon Heard from Mooney and Jamel Turner from Ursuline. Those two guys are phenomenal. They’re both going to go big-time if they stay on the track they’re on. And [Liberty’s Fitzgerald] Toussaint is fun to watch. And another guy is Cameron Truss at LaBrae. [Vikings coach] Bill Bohren told me as a freshman, “Keep an eye on this kid — he’s hell on wheels.” And he is. Ben Moody from Lakeview is another guy. We’ve been blessed with some phenomenal running backs this year.

Q. Biggest surprise?

A. Girard. They lost their quarterback, Adam Charles, to a knee injury in their first scrimmage and he didn’t even get bumped. He threw for over 2,000 yards last year and something like 20 touchdowns. For Girard to overcome that and have a freshman at quarterback in [Dan] Graziano step in and do a good job is impressive. Of course he has a great teacher in [assistant coach] Nick Cochran. [Head coach] Bud McSuley has done a great job with that team.

Q. Best player you’ve ever covered?

A. Probably Teddy Bell [from Mooney]. Maurice Clarett is a close second. Sean Penny was an outstanding player at Ursuline. Those three stick out off the top of my head.

Q. Best team?

A. The 1972 and ’73 Warren Western Reserve teams coached by Joe Novak. They had the Browner brothers and to me, that’s the biggest story to come out of the Valley. They had five brothers play football and four made it to the NFL and a couple made All-Pro. Of recent vintage, the Mooney teams from the last couple years.

Q. Can any team compare to what Mooney has done over the past four years?

A. No. The only thing you can compare it to was back in the early 1970s when they first started the state playoffs. Warren Western Reserve won the first big school title and the next year they lost to Cardinal Mooney at the Rubber Bowl in front of 37,000 people in the game Teddy Bell was hurt in. The year after that, Harding won. And they had won the mythical title in ’71. That’s the only thing I can compare it to. Mooney’s run has been amazing.

Q. Best game you ever covered?

A. The most memorable was the Ursuline state title game against Coldwater in 2000. It just kept going back and forth the whole way. That was probably the most fun game.

Final power poll

Big schools: 1. Ursuline, 2. Mooney, 3. Howland, 4. Poland, 5. Canfield.

Small schools: 1. McDonald, 2. LaBrae, 3. Girard, 4. Crestview, 5. South Range. Quick hits

Girard is one of three 9-1 teams to miss this year’s postseason, joining Northwood (Div. V, Region 18) and Urbana (Div. III, Region 10). Urbana got the worst end of the deal — it actually tied Defiance for the final spot with 19.0000 points and lost on third-level points. I didn’t even realize they calculated third-level points. ... If you’re wondering whether a 10-0 team has missed the playoffs under the expanded format, the answer is yes. Newcomerstown was the latest to do it, in 2001. ... How about this gem unearthed by the OHSAA: No school beginning with a “J”, “R”, or “Z” has won a state title.

XJoe Scalzo covers sports for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com.