Random thoughts: High school football

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Just like that, Week No. 1 of the high school football season is in the books. Western Buckeye League teams will jump into league games this Friday, while Midwest Athletic Conference teams will play non-conference opponents for one more week. Northwest Conference and Green Meadows Conference teams have two more weeks of non-league play.

Cougars roar

Van Wert’s defense did a superb job against Bryan’s offense last Friday, holding the Golden Bears to 105 total yards. The entire unit was dominate, with the defensive line and linebackers chasing the quarterback all night, and the secondary did a nice job against some tall receivers.

The defense will need another top notch effort Friday against Wapakoneta.

Knights roll

Crestview rolled to 609 yards and 59 points against Parkway, both impressive numbers.

I’m not going to say we’ll see that every week, but I think the Knights have the ability to put up some eye-popping numbers throughout the season.

Week No. 1 surprises

At least on paper, there were couple of upsets around the area on Friday, including Allen East’s over Bath and Fairview over Wauseon. Elida losing to Tiffin Columbian 35-3 was a surprise (at least to me), simply because Columbian has gone 2-18 over the last two seasons.

I’m not surprised that Celina defeated Versailles, but the margin was surprising. It’s not often that anyone beats a MAC team by 29 points.

Paulding played GMC title contender Wayne Trace tough before falling by eight. Perhaps better things are ahead for the Panthers.

Western Buckeye League

As I noted in my preseason rankings, the Western Buckeye League looks to be a meat grinder this season. We’ll find out pretty quickly what teams are true contenders when WBL competition begins this Friday.

Among the more intriguing matchups: Van Wert at Wapakoneta, Ottawa-Glandorf at St. Marys and Celina at Kenton.

The losers of those games won’t be out of the WBL title race, but they’ll be behind the eight ball after the first week of league play.

An adjustment

I have to admit I’m still getting used to the WBL starting league games in Week No. 2, and the MAC in Week No. 3. I’m used to three non-conference football games, then seven conference games, like the NWC and GMC.

And during basketball season, I’m used to round robin league competition, i.e. teams playing each other twice. If nothing else it makes it easier to schedule, but that’s a discussion for a different time.

Thursday games

A handful of Ohio high school games are played on Thursday nights now, mainly for television. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I suppose it’s enjoyable for fans of the teams involved, but high school football is a Friday night mainstay, with some games on Saturday night, due to schools sharing a field.

ESPN

Did anyone watch the high school football games on ESPN over the weekend? The games pitted “big-time” teams from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, Maryland, California and Florida.

It seemed whenever I tuned in, the game was a blowout. At least one of the games had a rolling clock, which probably wasn’t something ESPN officials envisioned happening.
Better luck next year.

If you have any thoughts you’d like to share, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.