As if you didn't already feel old, here is a story from the Messenger: (the first line of this story almost made me cry )
Last Ross home playoff game was epic
Similarities abound between Saturday’s Whitmer matchup, ‘83 Sandusky tilt
By VINCE GUERRIERI
Sports Editor

The seniors on this year’s Fremont Ross football team weren’t even born the last time the Little Giants hosted a playoff game.

But they’ve got a surprising amount in common with them.

In 1983, the Little Giants were coming off a lousy year — a 3-7 season the year before. Although 5-5 isn’t lousy, last year’s Ross team did underachieve, given the amount of talent on it.

In 1983, the Little Giants went undefeated, going 9-0-1. They tied Toledo St. Francis in Week 3. This year, the team went undefeated, a perfect 10-0.

In 1983, the Little Giants beat Cleveland Benedictine for the first and only time in the school’s history — until this year.

Their 1983 playoff opener was a rematch — just like this year. Ross will host Whitmer on Saturday. They hosted then Buckeye Conference rival Sandusky then.
And in 1983, the Little Giants leapfrogged into the regional championship in the last weekend of the season — just like this year.

But the biggest similarity is in the chemistry of the team.

“I think we played very well as a team and clicked on all cylinders,” said Derek Isaman, a junior linebacker on the 1983 team. Isaman said there weren’t a lot of big stars on the 1983 team.

“We’re all friends,” said Aaron Hinkle, a senior linebacker on this year’s team.

However, while this year’s team was assured of a playoff spot going into the last game of the season against Sandusky, the 1983 Little Giants were fighting for the postseason going into the season finale.

They went to Sandusky third in the region, behind Toledo St. Francis and the Blue Streaks, then 9-0. The Little Giants, who had returned about two dozen lettermen from the 1982 team, were 10th in the state. Sandusky was third.

The Little Giants won the regular season finale, 7-0, and ended up third in the final wire service poll and first in their region —good enough to get in the playoffs for the first time. It appeared they were headed to Toledo — either Waite or the Glass Bowl — but ended up hosting the game, once again against the Blue Streaks.

“We were concerned a bit about that,” said former Little Giants coach Rex Radeloff, who was the offensive coordinator for the 1983 team.

Isaman said the Streaks had a physical advantage.

“They had a **** good-size line and they were much faster,” he said.

It was the middle of November, after the election and Veteran’s Day.

The Mets’ Darryl Strawberry had just been named National League Rookie of the Year. Youngstown real estate developer Edward DeBartolo and Donald Trump are among the potential buyers for the Indians. David Stern had just been named NBA commissioner, and Earle Bruce’s Ohio State Buckeyes were preparing for Bo Schembechler’s Michigan Wolverines — a game that wouldn’t be televised in Toledo or Bowling Green.

The game was played in the snow.

“They had to snowblow the lines on the field,” said then-fullback Todd Beatty.
The game was scoreless into the fourth quarter, but with 7:29 to play, the Little Giants were set up with first down on the Streaks one-yard line. Beatty took a handoff and ran it up the middle for what turned out to be the game’s only score.

“They blew a hole open you could drive a truck through,” Beatty said. “I just walked through.”

For the second week in a row, Ross had beaten Sandusky 7-0.

“It was a carbon copy,” Radeloff said. “They were both defensive struggles.”

Ross held Sandusky to just three first downs, and a total of 60 yards. The Little Giants managed 149 yards rushing, led by Beatty’s 51.

The Little Giants were regional champions. They would go on to face Cincinnati Princeton in the state semifinals. Princeton had played back-to-back games against Cincinnati Moeller in Week 10 and the first week of the playoffs. But while Moeller won, 28-21, in the regular season finale, Princeton won the playoff matchup by the same margin.

Princeton rolled over the Little Giants, racking up 320 yards of offense to win, 35-7. Princeton would go on to win the state championship.

WOW! I went to that game! It was in Dayton on my 16th birthday..lol. I remember being at the hotel that night, on the elevator with Gaye Fiber, and Wendy McNair drinking a big ole bottle of Canei Rose when the doors opened and we came face to face with Mr. Ruggerio! Lucky for us, he had a drink of his own!