WAVERLY — As soon as the clock hit zero with Minford defeating Waverly 14-7, the Falcons' attention turned toward Wheelersburg.

Down at Ed Miller Stadium, Wheelersburg defeated Valley 41-14. With that game pretty over, Minford (7-2, 4-0) clinched a share of the SOC II title. Aware of the situation, the Falcon players ran over to their stands and the familiar chant of, "SOC, SOC" began.

Just minutes earlier, Minford was staring down a potential setback. After trailing 14-0 at halftime, Waverly (3-6, 0-4) climbed back into the contest on a 20-yard run by senior Kevin Malone with 4:50 to play. Malone, who was playing for the first time since week three, had 15 carries for 61 yards.

After a defensive stand, the Tigers got the ball back on their own 44 with 2:10 to play. The ball only moved backward though, the final play of the drive coming when senior quarterback Derek Roback's pass intended for Jake Kretzer was intercepted by Minford's Ethan Butcher. It was Minford's second interception of the night, and the Falcon defense held Waverly to 151 yards of total offense.

"Our defense did an outstanding job," Minford coach Brent Daniels said. "I can't say enough about our defensive coaches. Our defense bent a couple times but didn't break."

The Falcon offense did pretty well too, considering the swampy conditions. Minford amassed 245 yards of total offense and 197 of those yards came from junior running back Mark Slone. Slone also scored both Minford touchdowns.

Slone said the conditions were tough.

"We changed up the game plan and just went to the ground the whole time, took out the pass stuff," he said. "The line did a pretty good job blowing guys off the ball and making me some holes."

When asked about clinching a share of the title, Slone's attention turned immediately to the task at hand next week.

"Next week we're going to face Valley and if we beat them we got our first outright SOC since 2000," Slone said.

"We shared it once in 2003 but next week is going to be really important to us."

Daniels acknowledged the win put Minford in good position.

"This is something the kids worked for all year," he said. "Winning the SOC is our number one goal and making the playoffs is our No. 2 goal. We've got both of them right in front of us right now to take advantage of. We got to go back to work this week."

For Waverly, the game marked the first time in a while that Roback and Malone were on the same field.

"They battled from the kickoff til the end," Waverly coach Rusty Wright said. "It just shows that if we ever could have been healthy this year, that this is a good football team... We haven't had all our parts since week three."

Roback was 4 of 13 passing for 35 yards with two interceptions.

Slone said Waverly was a much tougher team with those two players on the field.

"Roback and Malone were out most of the season and Waverly was getting beat by teams," Slone said. "They were back this game and they played hard. They're probably some of the top players in this area. We were lucky to come out with this win tonight."

Wright also complimented his players’ effort, and hoped for a strong finish for their careers.

"What a great effort they gave," Wright said. "They stood toe-to-toe with the conference champs and fought them and didn't back off one inch.

"Hopefully they can end their senior year the way they came in," he added. "These guys came in as freshman and did a great job on the playoff team as freshmen and hopefully they can end their careers with a victory."

Waverly hosts Northwest in its season finale next week.

Minford will host Valley, where a win grants the Falcons an outright SOC II title and a loss would tie them with Valley as co-champs.

JOHN STEGEMAN can be reached at jstegeman02@hotmail.com

Minford 7 7 0 0 — 14

Waverly 0 0 0 7 — 7

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

M — Slone 1 run (Hackworth kick) 1:52

Second Quarter

M — Slone 5 run (Hackworth kick) 5:37

Fourth Quarter

W — Malone 20 run (Roback kick) 4:50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Minford — Slone 28-197, Bryan 9-14, McCormick 4-12, Oesch 5-(-2). Waverly — Malone 15-61, Murray 7-25, Underwood 2-21, Roback 7-9.

PASSING — Minford — Oesch 1-1-0 27. Waverly — Roback 4-13-2 35.

RECEIVING — Minford — McKnight 1-27. Waverly — Kretzer 2-15, Tackett 1-11, Underwood 1-9.

Records — Minford 7-2 (4-0); Waverly 3-6 (0-4)