By JAMES COOK
Traverse City Central and West are in extremely capable hands.
Face it, most people didn't think TC West would be in the playoffs this year. First-year coach Tim Wooer put the Titans there.
Many didn't expect much from Central last year after coming off an 0-9 season, but the Trojans went 5-4. Tom Passinault was a huge reason for the turnaround in his first season at the helm.
They duplicated that record this year, coming through to pull off the upset and cost West an outright Big North Conference title.
Most importantly, the Trojans beat West in a match-up of wing-T offenses.
Coach Passinault said it best when he stated that his team needed to defeat West in order to legitimize the whole program. The Titans have dominated the series between the crosstown rivals ever since the schools split in 1997.
Aside from the heroics of Ben Nemode and Robbie Harman, Central has always come out on the wrong side of the ledger in its annual regular-season finale against its biggest rivals. The lights of Thirlby Field had shone brightest on West in nine of 11 previous matchups.
But the most recent name on the Nowak-Olson Trophy is Traverse City Central.
Friday's game was a classic.
The seven-point margin doesn't reflect how close it really was.
Two yards is all that separated Central from a win and possible dramatic overtime. Ray Gidley made sure an extra session didn't happen when he stopped John Purdy at the 2 and time expired, unleashing a torrent of screaming Central students onto the field.
Can Central make it back-to-back wins over West next season?
That remains to be seen.
Wooer and his Titans might have something to say about that.
Until then, we'll have to check out the playoff pairings on Sunday and see if the two biggest TC programs can get into the playoffs in the same year for just the third time.
