Random Thoughts: Sept. 25, 2018

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

This week’s Random Thoughts center around lack of officials, MAC volleyball, OSU at Penn St., high scoring football games, Le’Veon Bell and the Van Wert Health Cross Country Invitational.

Lack of officials Part II

Last week I wrote about how a shortage of officials is becoming a more widespread problem, and it’s a situation that the Ohio High School Athletic Association is aware of.

“It is starting to happen around the state, especially at the lower levels, like junior high, freshman and junior varsity. Soccer and volleyball are the two fall sports most affected,” OHSAA Director of Communications Tim Stried said. “The average age of officials continues to rise (it’s now 50) and there aren’t enough younger/newer officials coming on board to replace them.”

Can anything be done to increase the number of officials?

“We are trying to raise the level of sportsmanship towards officials and encourage more people to get involved with officiating,” Stried said.

It’s not an easy job, but hopefully people step up.

MAC-tacular

This week’s Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association statewide poll was released on Monday, and the top four teams in the state are Midwest Athletic Conference teams – 1. St. Henry 2. New Bremen 3. Fort Recovery 4. Marion Local. That’s just crazy, and if it’s not enough, two more MAC teams are ranked in the Division III poll – Coldwater at No. 10 and Versailles at No. 13.

Ohio State at Penn State

I’m a little nervous about this game. Ohio State is 6-6 at Beaver Stadium since Penn State joined the Big Ten, and the Buckeyes never seem to play well there.

I’m still convinced that the Nittany Lions will try to put all sorts of pressure on Dwayne Haskins, who’s not exactly a mobile quarterback. Great arm, not a runner.
Hopefully the Buckeyes are up to the challenge.

A plethora of points

Did anyone else notice that plenty of points were piled up during last week’s area high school football games? St. Marys put up 70 on Kenton, Wapakoneta scored 56 on Elida, Celina tallied 42 against Ottawa-Glandorf and Van Wert hung 39 on Shawnee.

Spencercville scored 69 on Ada, Allen East scored 50 against Delphos Jefferson and Wayne Trace and Antwerp combined for 88 in a game that took three and a half hours to complete. Edgerton scored 62 and Hicksville had 51 points.

Coldwater, St. Henry, Marion Local and Minster each scored at least 35 in their games.

It seems we’re in an age where offenses are dominating defenses, and not just at the high school level.

There was one low scoring game last Friday – Tinora 7 Ayersville 6.

Le’Veon Bell to the Colts?

The Steelers are reportedly open to trading franchise running back Le’Veon Bell, and I can’t say that I blame them. His holdout is bizzare and pretty silly when you think about the money it’s costing him. He’s not the most durable back around and he’s had some off the field issues. Granted, when he’s healthy and his head is on straight, he can be downright dominating.

I saw a report that it would make sense for him to be traded to the Colts. Can you imagine Andrew Luck and Bell in the same backfield?

If I’m the Steelers, I trade him in a heartbeat for the right offer, because it’s pretty obvious things have been damaged beyond repair in Pittsburgh. There’s almost no chance he’s returning next year, so why not trade him now and get something out of it?

Well done

A tip of the hat to everyone involved with Saturday’s Van Wert Health Cross Country Invitational. It was a well run event. Thank you to Van Wert Health for sponsoring it, Crestview for being the official host, Crestview Athletic Administrator Trent Kreischer for supplying plenty of information, volunteers who helped on race day, Bob Barnes for taking outstanding pictures, and of course, the runners who participated.

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