Random Thoughts: high school football

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

With the start of the 2022 high school football season just days away, the latest edition of Random Thoughts centers completely around the prep game. Next week, we’ll dive into the other fall sports offered at local schools.

Football 2022

It’s here…the 2022 high school football season.

While most teams will kickoff on Friday, there are a couple of interesting matchups scheduled for Thursday night. Columbus Grove will host Pandora-Gilboa and Shawnee will play at Lima Central Catholic.

The floodgates will open with a number of games on Friday night then Saturday, Delphos Jefferson will face Delphos St. John’s at Stadium Park.

Best of luck to all area teams

Previews and picks

The VW independent’s previews of Crestview and Van Wert will appear on Wednesday’s Sports page, and Pigskin Pick’Em is back for its seventh year on Thursday.

Rules changes

There are seven rules changes for the 2022 high school football season. The two most notable deal with intentional grounding and chop blocks.

A new rules exception allows a passer to intentionally throw an incomplete forward pass for the purpose of conserving yardage.

It reads: “Rule 7-5-2 EXCEPTION 2 now permits a player to purposefully throw an incomplete forward pass without warranting an intentional grounding penalty provided the passer is outside of ‘the pocket’ (lateral boundary of the free-blocking zone) and the pass reaches the neutral zone or the extension of the neutral zone beyond the sideline.”

In addition, an alteration to Rule 2-3-8 addressed the new definition of a chop block, which is now described as “a combination block by two or more teammates against an opponent other than the runner, with or without delay, where one of the blocks is below the waist and one of the blocks is above the waist.” Previously, the defensive player’s knee was used to determine the high and low components of a chop block.

Another notable change allows players to now wear the number 0 as a jersey number.

Turf fields

Two more WBL schools will debut their turf fields this season.

Shawnee now has artificial turf, as does Ottawa-Glandorf. Van Wert’s turf field will make its debut in 2023, which will leave Celina, Elida and Kenton as the only WBL schools without artificial turf.

Winning streaks

The Ohio high school football team with the current longest winning streak is Chardon, with 28 consecutive victories.

The Hilltoppers have a way to go if they want to match or exceed the state record of 57, set by Delphos St. John’s (1996-2001).

The longest current winning streak in the U.S. belongs to Riverheads High School in Stauton, Virginia, 50. The national record was set by Concord De La Salle, 151, from 1992-2003.

20 years ago

It’s hard to believe that it was 20 years ago when the Kenton Wildcats wrapped up their second consecutive Division IV state championship with a 45-13 win over Portsmouth West. The Wildcats won the title the previous season, 40-13 over Licking Valley.

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