MERRYVILLE—The Oberlin Tigers (9-1, 5-0 4-1A) are the outright 4-1A District champions and the Merryville Panthers (5-5, 1-4 4-1A) will have to wait and see if they make the playoffs. This became the scenario after the Tigers won at Merryville 43-7 Friday.

The Tigers being the district champions helps the Panthers in the power ratings.

“We get eight points,” Panthers head coach Mark Delaney said. “Oberlin is a good team.”

The Panthers fought to the end.

“I’m pleased with the effort,” Delaney said.

He also said the Panthers made some mistakes with penalties.

“District champs,” Tigers head coach Pat Miller said about his team.

Miller was the former Panthers head coach.

“I feel good,” Miller said. “I feel bad for those guys (Panthers). They probably won’t make the playoffs. Coach Delaney is doing a good job.”

Miller said good things would happen for the Panthers if they stay together.

Things were close early, as the two teams traded touchdowns at the start.

Cedric Skinner had a 4-yard run for Oberlin, the PAT failed and Cory Carlson had a 12-yard touchdown for the Panthers with 4-minutes to play in the first quarter and Patrick Peterson made the PAT.

Merryville led 7-6 at that point.

On the Panthers initial kickoff, they were called offsides and had to kickoff again.

Spencer Sonnier took the second kickoff for a 70-yard touchdown for Oberlin with 3:45 to play in the first quarter. Skinner ran in the 2-point conversion to give the Tigers a 14-7 lead.

Carlson took a pitch to the right, fumbled the football and it was recovered by Jacob Ware of Oberlin with 13-seconds to play in the first quarter at the Tigers 38-yard-line.

Two plays later, which was the final play of the first quarter, Skinner ran for a 52-yard touchdown for the Tigers. Ware ran in the 2-point conversion to give Oberlin a 22-7 lead.

There was one fumble and one non-fumble call during the first quarter, which Delaney disagreed with.

“I think it changed the momentum,” Delaney said.

Those fumbles caused a 14 point turnaround.

The first call Delaney questioned came on the possession where Oberlin scored its first touchdown.

Ware completed a pass to Michael Guillory. Carlson recovered the football after knocking the ball out of Guillory’s hands.

However, Guillory was ruled down because it was called forward progress.

“They gave it right back to Oberlin and said it wasn’t a fumble,” Delaney said.

The very next play, Skinner broke a long run to setup his 4-yard touchdown.

Delaney said Carlson had control of the football when a fumble was called against him during the first quarter.

At the time the fumble was called, the Panthers were inside the Tigers 40-yard-line.

After Oberlin recovered the ball, it scored a touchdown two plays later.

Although the game was close for much of the first quarter, Miller said the Tigers did not make any adjustments to separate themselves from the Panthers.

“We didn’t make any adjustments,” Miller said. “We knew they were going to come out and play hard because it was do or die for them.  We just stayed with what we were doing. We knew eventually we would ware them down a bit.”

And the Tigers continued to build on their lead in the second quarter.

Capping off a 12-play drive, Ware completed a 23-yard touchdown pass to McKinley Storer with 3:54 to play in the second quarter. Skinner ran in the 2-point conversion to increase the Tigers lead to 30-7.

The Tigers increased their lead on their first possession of the third quarter.

Following a punt, which gave Oberlin the ball at the Panthers 45-yard-line, Skinner ran for a 37-yard touchdown two plays later with 8:59 to play in the third quarter. The PAT failed and Oberlin led 36-7.

Oberlin’s Desmond Antoine intercepted a pass off of Merryville quarterback Austin Moore when the Panthers had the ball back.

Chadd Strother caped off a six play drive with a 5-yard touchdown run for the Tigers with 1:40 to play in the third quarter. H.D. Martin made the PAT to give Oberlin a 43-7 lead.

That score would hold up, but Merryville played some strong defense in the fourth quarter.

Taylor Peterson recovered a fumble for the Panthers with 9:06 to play in the game inside the Oberlin 20-yard-line.

The Panthers would lose the ball on downs.

Zach Giles recovered a fumble for the Panthers with 1:33 to play in the game, but the clock ran out on Merryville.

The Panthers still have some chance to make the playoffs. It will be determined today whether or not they make the playoffs.

Either way, Delaney was proud of his team this year.

“We improved from last year,” Delaney said, adding the 5-5 record was the first time the Panthers were a .500 team during the regular season in a long time.

Delaney said the Panthers won three more games than last year and, if they win three more games next year, Merryville would be 8-2 in 2010.

“Hopefully, this senior class has started something,” Delaney said.

The Panthers were 1-4 in 4-1A District play, but Delaney said it was one of the better districts in the area. He also said knowing the teams in the district would help him make adjustments next season.

“Most teams stick with what they do unless they get a new coach,” Delaney said.