Not only have Andrew Northeim and the rest of the seniors on the Firelands golf team helped to put the school of the golf map, they also created their own award at the school, the Falcon Cup, that they will leave as a tangible reminder of their contributions to the program.

The Cup was the idea of Northeim back in the 2008 season as a way of fostering competition within the Firelands team.

The Cup is an award that goes to the golfer that leads the team in four statistical categories, including putts, fairways in regulation, greens in regulation and scoring. The statistical leader gets his name engraved on the Cup which will become a permanent fixture of the Firelands golf program.

Long after this years group has graduated, the Falcon Cup will live on.

This week may be the start of football season, but the high school sports season actually started two weeks ago when boys' and girls' golf season kicked off.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association sponsors six girls and four boys sports in the fall season.

The girls have the choice of play soccer, volleyball, tennis, golf, cross country and field hockey.
Some older Lorain County sports fans might actually remember field hockey. Lake Ridge Academy had a field hockey team for over 30 years before dropping the sport earlier this decade. Now the only school between the Cuyahoga River and the Toledo border to have a field hockey team is Magnificat High School in Rocky River.

On the boys side, football, golf, cross country and soccer are the sporting options in the fall season.

Football is the most popular boys sports in the fall with 718 sports participating. There are 679 boys golf teams, 580 cross country teams and 553 boys soccer teams in Ohio.

On the girls' side volleyball is the most popular sport with 793 schools taking part. Next is cross county with 514, soccer is close behind with 493 high school teams. Tennis is fourth with 404 teams participating. Golf is next with 269 teams. Field Hockey is at the bottom of the list with just 35 schools still playing the sport.