Random Thoughts: fall sports, 50-50, more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

This week’s edition of Random Thoughts centers around fall sports, a giant 50-50 jackpot, a pair of football websites, and college football.

Fall sports

This is the week where the full fall sports season get in full swing around the area, with the addition of volleyball and cross country to the daily schedule.

Golf and tennis have been going since early August, then football and soccer kicked off last week.

As far as volleyball, it should be an interesting season. Lincolnview is seemingly ready to reload and Crestview should be loaded. Van Wert is looking to turn things around with new head coach Matt Krites. Van Wert and Lincolnview are known for strong cross country programs and Crestview has some promising runners on the roster.

50-50

All I can say is wow.

The first 50-50 jackpot of the season at Eggerss Stadium topped $10,000, which is amazing. What’s even more amazing is the fact that ticket sales took off late Friday afternoon and early evening. At approximately 4 p.m. the jackpot was at roughly $3,500 but by halftime, it had grown to more than $10,300.

The Van Wert Cougar Athletic Boosters are selling tickets throughout the week and all the way to halftime, which obviously pumps up ticket sales.

I can only imagine what the jackpot will be in Week No. 5, when the Cougars host St. Marys Memorial.

Joe Eitel and Fantastic 50

There are a pair of excellent websites for Ohio High School football fans. One is well known to even casual fans, joeeitel.com. The site features complete schedules for every single varsity team in Ohio and it computes playoff points and standings. I’ve never known it to be wrong.

The other is fantastic50.net, a site run by Drew Pasteur, a mathematics professor at the College of Wooster. It includes weekly rankings and weekly game predictions. It was on hiatus for a year or two but it’s back up and running now and is certainly worth a look.

College football

College football returns with a limited schedule this weekend. The most notable game on the slate is Nebraska vs. Northwestern in Dublin, Ireland. The full schedule begins Labor Day weekend, including Ohio State vs. Notre Dame.

The consensus is Alabama and Ohio St. are the top two teams but we shall see.

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.