party celebrating not only the end of someone's career, but the beginning of a.j. mccarron's playoffs career. fans here are confident in our quarterback and our defense. for steelers fans, we found a married couple who traveled 900 miles from connecticut to come to cincinnati for the first time. fans say they love this rivalry because of the team traditions them. >> i've been a bengals fan for over 35 years. tomorrow's game is probably the most pivotal game that i have seen in my 35 year career. >> honestly, as die-hard as i am, steelers defense is not strong and i'm afraid of this new quarterback's going to come out and shine and i don't want that, i like tradition where we beat you guys. reporter: steelers fans tonight not as confident to put a score out there. the bengals fans we spoke with predict a bengals win 23:17. we're just going to have to only 21 hours and counting until kickoff. sheree: i think i like it that steelers fan was fearing there. controversy for tomorrow's big game centering around a warning aimed at ben roethlisberger. in the big ben warning 700 ran it tells women to use extreme caution especially if heavily consuming alcohol. in the downtown area this weekend. it goes on to say he poses the greatest threat to 18-40-year-olds. the spoof ad is in reference to previous sexual assault allegations against the former miami university redhawk. >> one in three women and one in six men actually have experienced rape or sexual abuse. something i think is worth joking about. we have reached out to the response. wlwt is not associated with news radio 700 wlw. mike: doing it without dalton. all week, bengals fans have been mentally preparing for the possibility. today, the team made it offical. if they beat the steelers, it will be with backup quarterback a.j. mccarron. george vogel joins us with more. george: the steelers have officially ruled out one of their weapons as well. deangelo williams, who ran for more than 900 yards, in the regular season, and is playoff veteran, has not recovered from a foot injury. it is hard to get to the playoffs period. in this league. it is extremely hard to win a game. you know, i don't -- there is not a reason to live in the team does bye-bye any means. last year was last year. the year before that was then. that's what i'm getting back. living in the present moment. george: the steelers have ruled out one of their weapons as well. d eangelo williams. he has not recovered from a foot injury suffered last week against browns. a.j. mccarron played against steelers last month. in that same game, andy dalton was injured. mccarron must avoid the mistakes tomorrow night. mike: roethlisberger has had some mistakes recently. six picks in the last three games. let us see your bengals spirit. upload a picture of you and tailgate group to the u-local slideshow. crash, in north college hill. a cincinnati police officer lost control, around 8:00 p.m in a single car crash. the cruiser went off of hamilton avenue striking a pole. that police officer was not seriously hurt. no word on what caused the officer to lose control. an arrest warrant leads u.s. marshals to an active meth u.s. marshals went to a home on robertson avenue, in oakley. to arrest 54-year-old richard saylor on a probation violation, and sex offense registration charge. that's when they say they found an active meth lab inside his house. saylor is in jail, and could face manufacturing drug charges. mike: a former northern kentucky bus driver, is now facing child pornography charges. kenton county schools confirm tonight, that derrick becker was a bus driver from 2011 to november 10 of last year. he was arrested nine days after that for one count of becker is out on bond. >> safety is the number one priority in our school district for our students. and as soon as we found out about these criminal charges, we asked for and received his resignation. mike: according to the district becker drove routes for three schools, ryland heights elementary, woodland middle school, and scott high school. sheree: the business owner, shot during a robbery in north college hill this week has died. a family member confirmed 63-year-old joe leach died from the injuries he suffered tuesday. leach was shot in the back at leach brothers automotive. police still need to find the gunman in this now murder case. if you have any information that can help call crimestoppers. ohio has the second highest number of drug overdose deaths nationwide. and now a mother from alabama is among those death. -- those victims. police say mary ann landers and at children's hospital. maryann died. wesley is facing charges. the hamilton county coalition task force says it's now trying to find the dealer, suspected of selling the couple the drugs. >> you can't not take the shock value out of that the fact that they were in a hospital, in front of their infant, doing this but for us i think it's more heart breaking and frustrating. >> since the task force formed back in june, it has investigated 52 overdose deaths. meanwhile wesley landers is being held on a half million dollar bond. mike: fellow firefighters are organizing a fundraiser for the family of fallen firefighter patrick wolterman. the fundraiser is january 23 from 5 until 11 at the pub in rookwood. the norwood firefighter's association is organizing the event. a part of the sales that night will be donated to the wolterman fund at first financial bank. there will also be a silent happening now 75 north at mitchell avenue just crosed for bridge work in that area. that stretch of road expects more overnight closures next week between tuesday and friday. sheree: the blitz is back. mike: great matchups including a headliner between erled and lasalle. george and his sports team bring you the highlights and the scores. >> a >> a mild night at not too wet but more rain is on the way. first me to get her deposit in today. too late. branch is already closed. but she could make the atm. still won't beat the cutoff time. really? at huntington, with atm and mobile deposits, you have up till midnight. we call it all day deposit. midnight? what are you, a bank or a convenience store? i've got to make a deposit! you go, girl! she's got no chance. deposit hours that make sense for you, not the bank. welcome to huntington, s a place online more than you pay for. tjmaxx.com work for you... anytime. maxx life! shop tjmaxx.com >> it really will be a weekend in which we have a tale of two seasons across the area. first we'll start off with spring-like weather and then we'll realize the calendar says january and it is the middle of winter for us. how about a wet playoff game for us. looks like the rains will come down pretty good during the game. then followed by a blast of cold air. during the transition there will probably be a period of snow. i'll talk more about that in a moment. a good part of next week. there is not much happening out there tonight. from middletown to hamilton back toward miamitown, over into the southeast indiana area, some spotty showers. this will continue off and on to some degree through the remainder of the night. or widespread. look at this. 50 at this hour at the airport. 10. highs in the 50's tomorrow. this will not at all be january football weather. for the playoff game tomorrow evening, very nice for tailgaters during the afternoon. dry conditions. temperatures in the 50's. however by the time the game gets going around kickoff, rains will be established across the area. that will make for a soaking tomorrow night. there are two storm centers i'm city and lilt rock. that will zip along to the ohio valley and bring us a significant change to our don't expect much tonight or during the day sars. a bit gloomy, though. 6:30. still fairly dry. if you're tailgating, you're in pretty good shape. watch what happens as we approach 80, the 8:30 hour. look how the rain overspreads the area. this is during the game m rain comes down pretty good. temperature also start to crash towards daybreak sunday morning but this is when things start to get interesting. expect to see a transition from rain to snow around day break on sunday and then there will probably be a period here of a couple of hours where it snows and then it may snow at a fairly decent clip for a couple of hours. but because of warm ground temperatures, temperatures in the 50's, mid 50's. weekend see accumulation on some of the grassy surfaces. consequences. talk about bitter cold and bitter winds sunday night. you can see in some of the grassy areas i wouldn't be surprised to see a dusting or half an nitschke a few places. if that happens, at least at the airport, we will have officially had our first measurable snowfall. we still haven't done it yet. 48 for tonight. tomorrow cloudy and mild with rain making a reappearance during the afternoon and evening hours. it should generally be after dark before the rain returns. here is a look at your day planner tomorrow. 48 at 8:00 a.m. 52 by lunchtime. here is your seven-day forecast. 46, that is at midnight tomorrow night. it will be in the 30's and down into the 20's by sunday night as we drop to 17. look at that. the cold is here to stay next week. temperatures barely above freezing. snow temperatures down into the single digits wednesday morning. mike: it is sports time. the holidays now over. crew. sheree: we have you covered with pretty place like this. cable's out. no friday night rom-com? that's a shame. we at time warner cable need to apologize to you. we no longer offer you an excuse to get out of friday romantic comedy night. we're making a bunch of changes at time warner cable. if you experience an outage, we're committed to getting to your home within 24 hours. and before we leave, we'll do a free whole-home check to make sure that all your connections and equipment are working great. [doorbell] george: hello welcome to the blitz on a friday night. you know, we talked about the bengals big playoff game earlier in the show. the steelers arriving in town earlier this evening. one thing we like to do on this show is bringing people together. they will write another chapter in their rivalry tomorrow in primetime but there is no time like the present. like the rivalries in the g.c.l. south. what ballgame this was. frankie hoffmyer is going to take the pass. there is not a whole lot of hesitation. air connecting to distance for the purple nation in a back and forth first half. you want to see acceleration? check out trey. elder won doing the dirty work. what you have got to do to be a good team. off the miss, look at the panthers crash the class. panthers improved to 11-1. 56-50. future cincinnati bearcats commit jarron cumberland and his wilmington hurricanes were facing chillicothe. junior chris wolary scored the first five points of the game, this basket was a three and wilmington is good jarron cumberland calls for it in the paint and dylan beaugard delivers it, that as easy as it gets folks cumberland calls for it again and this time he steps back and drops the triple. that had the hurricane faithful fired up, he finished with 33.. but none of that was as important as this three that made him the schools all time leading scorer and wilmington got their tenth win 80-28. things are crowded at the top conference. north college hill began the evening a perfect 5-0 with summit and chca both within a game of the trojans. zach:the two second place teams went head to head,, and both came in with modest winning streaks. they start 'em young, at chca, and why not, become a basketball junkie when you're little. chca, the southerlands team up blake to tanner first basket 2-0 eagles. summit, zairn davis. the early three. 3-2. and summit knows how to share the ball look at the shovel pass setup to t.j. walker for another three. a gold ball for the silver knights. the eagles also took things outside cory combs a three ball in the book. and it went outside inside cody shiver with an off balance shiver that found the basket. eagles came up short. summit won. zach: fall cons paying a visit. mark cruz to james smith just like that. here comes aiken. lonnie berry. i remember that name. he can do more than tote the football. james smith takes the baseline. coker can do it himself too. the 2,000-yard running back will drive and he will get fouled. look at the spin and look at that move. spin cycle. that is a highlight. back comes aiken. yes, lonnie berry and aiken getting a good win. wyoming did its best. imitation, of rick pitino's kentucky teams, of the 1990's. live by the 3. and live by the 3 some more. garyn prater,lonnie grayson joey edmonds jake edmonds maybe jim edmonds. maybe he shot the ball too. wyoming led 14-2. finneytown quieted down the nicely done. but leave it to the freshman, from wyoming, joey edmonds. the defender hit the deck and he scored on a layup. only to hit a corner three to fall out of bounds. circus shot. i'm won convincingly, 62:41. george: everyone knows what a rivalry game is all about,, and those game usually turn out to be the most fun. clinton county with the east clinton their neighbors,, the falcons of clinton massie. slaughter was burning through the company gas card tonight he was all over that place. that's in the paint. indowneding to trey. cutting to the basket. then they get great ball dalton with the wide-open three. clinton massey defending that home court getting the win 71-62. to help bring a little more information to the proceedings tonight,, we are about to roll out our blitz five basketball insider. zach: the meach man will be talking bluegrass basketball,, and the gcl we have both of those coming up as the blitz continues after this. >> smeckeds proud to present the student athlete of the week. george: jack nguyen is a senior at lakota west and plays football, basketball and soccer jack is the 6th all time ohsaa consecutive pat's kicker with 76 in a row and is the most accurate kicker in lakota west history. he is a member of the national honor society and has a gpa of 3.77 kelly mcmanus is also a senior and is on the cross country, qualifier in cross country and was gmc 1st team for 3 years kelly is a member of the national honor society and has a gpa of 4.57 if you know someone who deserves to be our next mcdonald's student athlete of drop us a line or email us george: we are back with more blitz on a friday night basketballs were bouncing on both sides of the river, and year in and year out there are teams to be reckoned with in northern kentucky. zach:one of those teams would be the colonels of covington catholic on this night, they were making michael b. proud. george: they were. right off the opening tip. there is the first bucket of the game. c.j. frederick i believe getting that bucket. terrific ball movement all over the place. it is perfection. the man in the middle. that is a three-point play. the colonels scoring the first five of the game. alex garnett will get the finish. zach: on the road at moeller. st. x fell behind by double digits in the first half and a matthew budde three. for the bombers brought xto within 10 at 31-21. the crusaders don't back down from anybody. nate georgetown with the drive and the contested layup. and coach carl kremer loves it when his guys share the ball. working the back door to riley voss to move ahead by 14. and it was all big mo. trey mcbride, the bank is open on friday nights along montgomery road and mo cruised. 64-47. as for where we head next, now is your time to vote for our wildcard game of the week. you can see the four options on the screen. pick which one you want to see by heading over to wlwt.com. each week we try to bring a little more insight into the world of high school basketball let's sent it over to george vogel,, who is with our blitz 5 basketball insider. catholic highlight >> there is. northern kentucky. pretty wide open again. some good schools again. we have new cath who had a fine win last night. >> led by two guys. ben mavis. they are playing a fast style of basketball. playing very well. george: and you saw cooper with a win over elder earlier this week. >> they have a three-guard lineup which is tough. they have a kid named dunkle and then the mcneill boys. they can hit the jump shot. george: cub cath had the big win. newport in the mix. >> with newport, coaches son ethan snap. long and wiry. kind of has that steph curry type of game. likes to shoot quick. step back. george: g.c.l. south tonight, that conference. there is plenty of room to go. we have a big match yumup coming up friday. >> right on montgomery road. elder goes to mulder. it is going to come down to rebounding. george: he is our blitz 5 basketball insider. alex meacham. good to see you again. zach: two fist bumps. nicely done. it is always fun. to recognize, our latest beacon orthopaedics and sports medicine primetime performer just before the holidays, newport's kedan davis poured in 32 points in a big win against holmes. coach rod snapp has a good team at newport,, and it's the coach handing out this week's honor on behalf of beacon. >> a kid who has worked really a hard. like a son to me. the beacon primetime performer of the week gos to davis. george: here are our candidates. jones, for making a double-double. 24-12. you saw it earlier in the show. an official night for mason's kyle lamont. the pole is up and running. vote for your primetime performer. vote ing runs through monday afternoon at 3:00. january 6. 1991. it has been a long time. i was trying unsuccessfully to navigate my algebra homework in high school. with a report card to prove it. the last time the bengals won a playoff game. george: they have a chance to snap the longest postseason drought in the nfl. backup quarterback a.j. mccarron running the offense. a couple of guys have been ruled out. we knew andy daltop probably wasn't going to play in this game. now we know it. he is out. the steelers losing a weapon as well. deangelo has not recovered from a foot injury suffered last week. >> to avenge carson's knee injury. hines ward. the 25-year streak of playoff futility. george: a.j. mccarron under center for the bengals. the young man has been impressive. not lighting it up statistically but since the two interceptions against the steelers when he came in for dalton, no interceptions in the last three games. >> playoff fever in cincinnati.