The Ninth Grade City Football Championship

^{October 26, 1949 program for Appleseed v. Simpson (Sherman Room Archives)}

Starting in 1940, with the opening of Johnny Appleseed and the new John Simpson Junior High Schools, an annual football battle would be fought by the ninth grade teams to determine the city champion. These games were immensely popular with over 6,000 fans watching in the late 1940s after the construction of Arlin Field. These games would be complete with cheerleaders, majorettes and marching bands for each school. For twenty years these two schools battled for the title of city’s best, with Simpson taking the advantage 13-8 between the years 1940-1960. In 1961 a new school entered the race, John Sherman. Simpson would repeat as Champion that year and a three-way tie would be the result in 1962. In 1963 John Sherman won its only championship. Johnny Appleseed would be the team to beat in the late 1960s and early 1970s before the championship came to an end with the reorganization of the schools when the ninth grade began attending Mansfield Senior High. Below is a list of the city champions, with the date of the game, score and attendance, if available, and the program above can be seen in full by clicking here.

^{From the Mansfield News-Journal (Mansfield, Ohio), 25 October 1949, p10.}

Junior High City Championship Results 1940-1976

Date	Winner	Score	Attendance
October 18, 1940	John Simpson	6-0	3,000
October 29, 1941	John Simpson	26-6	3,000
November 6, 1942	John Simpson	45-0	N/A
November 3, 1943	John Simpson	13-9	N/A
November 2, 1944	Johnny Appleseed	18-0	5,000
October 31, 1945	Johnny Appleseed	19-0	4,500
October 31, 1946	John Simpson	38-0	4,200
October 29, 1947	John Simpson	18-6	4,000
October 24, 1948	Johnny Appleseed	7-0	6,600
October 26, 1949	Johnny Appleseed	13-7	6,000
October 26, 1950	Johnny Appleseed	38-19	5,000
October 17, 1951	John Simpson	14-6	4,000
October 5, 1952	John Simpson	38-6	3,500
October 21, 1953	John Simpson	13-6	6,000
October 20, 1954	Johnny Appleseed	6-0	2,500
October 19, 1955	John Simpson	18-7	2,500
October 22, 1956	John Simpson	12-7	1,800
October 29, 1957	Johnny Appleseed	26-6	800
October 25, 1958	Johnny Appleseed	36-0	1,100
November 7, 1959	John Simpson	42-8	2,000
October 29, 1960	John Simpson	32-22	1,500
October 14. 1961 October 21, 1961 October 28, 1961	John Sherman (defeats Appleseed) John Simpson (defeats Sherman) John Simpson (defeats Appleseed) Champions: John Simpson	14-8 32-20 38-0	N/A N/A 1,000
October 13, 1962 October 18, 1962 October 25, 1962	John Sherman (defeats Appleseed) John Simpson (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Simpson) Champions: Three-Way Tie	19-14 22-7 22-20	3,000 2,000 N/A
October 6, 1963 October 12, 1963 October 26, 1963	John Sherman (defeats Simpson) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Simpson) John Sherman (defeats Appleseed) Champions: John Sherman	14-6 8-0 6-0	N/A N/A N/A
October 3, 1964 October 17, 1964 October 24, 1964	Johnny Appleseed (defeats Simpson) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) John Simpson (defeats Sherman) Champions: Johnny Appleseed	8-0 22-0 14-6	N/A N/A N/A
September 29, 1965 October 7, 1965 October 14, 1965	John Sherman (defeats Appleseed) John Simpson (defeats Sherman) John Simpson (defeats Appleseed) Champions: John Simpson	16-14 48-8 24-16	N/A N/A N/A
October 15, 1966 October 22, 1966 November 7, 1966	John Simpson (defeats Appleseed) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) John Simpson (defeats Sherman) Champions: John Simpson	20-12 12-0 6-0	N/A N/A N/A
October 14, 1967 October 21, 1967 October 27, 1967	John Simpson (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) John Simpson( defeats Appleseed) Champions: John Simpson	46-8 26-0 20-0	1,000 N/A 400
October 12, 1968 October 19, 1968 October 26, 1968	John Sherman (defeats Simpson) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Simpson) Champions: Johnny Appleseed	35-22 8-0 28-7	N/A 1,500 N/A
October 11, 1969 October 18, 1969 October 25, 1969	John Simpson (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) John Simpson (defeats Appleseed) Champions: John Simpson	14-8 26-12 16-6	N/A N/A N/A
October 10, 1970 October 17, 1970 October 24, 1970	John Sherman/John Simpson Tie Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed/John Simpson Tie Champions: Johnny Appleseed	6-6 13-6 0-0	N/A N/A N/A
October 9, 1971 October 16, 1971 October 23, 1971	John Simpson (defeats Sherman) John Sherman (defeats Appleseed) John Simpson (defeats Appleseed) Champions: John Simpson	38-0 8-6 41-6	N/A N/A N/A
October 7, 1972 October 14, 1972 October 28, 1972	John Simpson (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Simpson) Champions: Johnny Appleseed	8-0 14-12 14-12	750 1,000 750
October 6, 1973 October 13, 1973	John Simpson (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) Note: Unable to find results for final game.	28-6 36-6	N/A N/A
September 21, 1974 October 6, 1974 October 26, 1974	Johnny Appleseed (defeats Simpson) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) John Sherman (defeats Simpson) Champions: Johnny Appleseed	– 26-14 30-6	N/A N/A N/A
October 5, 1975 October 11, 1975 October 18, 1975	John Sherman (defeats Simpson) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Simpson) Champions: Johnny Appleseed	18-6 19-12 6-0	N/A N/A N/A
September 25, 1976 October 9, 1976 October 16, 1976	Johnny Appleseed (defeats Simpson) John Simpson (defeats Sherman) Johnny Appleseed (defeats Sherman) Champions: Johnny Appleseed	24-6 14-0 20-6	N/A N/A N/A