Random Thoughts: officials and more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

This week’s edition of Random Thoughts centers around cross country, officials (or lack of them), volleyball, a nice award for Crestview and of course football.

Cross country

I’ve learned in my short time here that cross country around here is a big deal, and with good reason. There are some outstanding teams in this area, starting with Van Wert and Lincolnview, with boys and girls squads from both schools turning in excellent individual and team performance thus far this season.

Delphos St. John’s and Columbus Grove have excellent teams as well, and Crestview is up and coming.

All of this is due to hard work by the runners, along with great coaching.

Lack of officials

It’s happened in other areas of Ohio and it happened here last week. Van Wert’s boys’ soccer match against Spencerville was canceled, but not because of weather. It was canceled due to a lack of officials.

This isn’t just a soccer thing. Numbers are down and officials are getting harder to find in other sports.

What are the reasons? It’s not the best paying gig, but it’s not bad for 2-3 hours of work. I think the main reason is the way officials are treated by fans and some coaches. Think about it – how often do you hear something good about an official, compared to the number times people complain.

I’ve always said if fans in the stand think they can do a better job, take officiating classes and help out.

Volleyball

A lot of people seemed to enjoy last week’s Coaches Corner feature with Van Wert head coach Jeff Marbaugh, Lincolnview coach JaNahn Evans and Crestview coach Tammy Gregory. All three coaches and their teams are enjoying success this season. If you haven’t seen any of them play, you should check them out.

More good football matchups

At the top of this week’s high school football list – air vs. ground. No. 12 Kenton (3-1, 3-0 WBL) at No. 1 at St. Marys in a key WBL matchup. The two teams were 1-2 in my Western Buckeye League preseason poll.

Kenton’s only loss is to Coldwater, and the Wildcats upset Wapakoneta last Friday. St. Marys has posted three impressive wins and squeaked by Shawnee 27-26 last Friday night.

While they may not feature state ranked teams, Shawnee at Van Wert, Antwerp at Wayne Trace and Bluffton at Paulding should be entertaining games. I can’t shake the feeling that the Panthers may win their first game of the season.

Congrats to Crestview

Crestview has been selected as a winner of the Fields of Excellence Award, presented by Cleveland based Pioneer Athletics.

Since 1997, colleges, universities, high schools and parks and recreation departments from all over the U.S. have submitted pictures, letters of recommendation and applications describing in details their athletic field maintenance programs. A rigorous judging process yielded 91 winners from a large pool of applicants, with two winners chosen as scholarship winners.

Crestview will receive a certificate of recognition and a banner to hang at the football field.

Hats off to Crestview and the district’s maintenance crew.

The Cleveland Browns

Sometimes it’s not easy being a Browns fan. Sunday’s loss was like a punch in the gut. After missing two field goals and two extra points, kicker Zane Gonzalez is gone, but the signing of the team’s new kicker is a bit baffling.

Greg Joseph is an undrafted free agent out of Florida Atlantic University. My wife says it sounds like an online school, but they do indeed have a campus, with over 30,000 students.

My problem with this signing is that Joseph made just 71 percent of his field goals in college, in Florida, in nice conditions. That’s not exactly a steller number for kickers, and his NFL experience is limited to preseason games. Something tells me this isn’t going to go well.

As for wide receiver Josh Gordon – I think it’s absolutely amazing that Cleveland was able to get a fifth round draft pick for him, given his history. If he can stay out of trouble, he should have a great season in New England.

If you have any thoughts on the above topics or anything else, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.