Random Thoughts: record, polls, more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

This week’s edition of Random Thoughts centers around a new three point record, Crestview and the polls, Richmond Heights, National Signing Day and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Congrats

Congratulations to Crestview’s Nate Lichtle, who broke the 30-plus year school record for three pointers in a game.

Lichtle shot the lights out (literally) by going 10-of-12 from beyond the three point arc. It’s all an amazing feat and the previous record holder got to see it firsthand. Head coach Doug Etzler had the previous record of nine, which he accomplished twice during his junior season.

Polls

It’s a nice honor for both teams.

The Crestview Knights moved up one spot to No. 4 in this week’s Associated Press Division IV poll. The Knights trail only Richmond Heights (unanimous No. 1), Jackson Center and Leesburg Fairfield.

In the girls’ poll, Crestview is tied for 10th with New Middletown Springfield.

Richmond Heights

As mentioned earlier, Richmond Heights is the unanimous No. 1 team in Division IV in the latest AP poll.

Here’s an eye-popping score – the defending state champions beat Edgewood 124-39 on Friday. 124-39 with a running clock. It’s not like Edgewood is struggling – the Warriors (Division II) entered the game 9-6.

National Signing Day

Tomorrow is National Signing Day and while it’s an exciting day for high school student-athletes signing letters of intent to play collegiate sports, remember that it’s also the most overrated day in sports, especially at the major Division I level.

The recruiting of athletes isn’t an exact science. Often times, things don’t work out as planned once a student-athlete arrives on campus and there are a number of reasons for that. Plus, the NCAA’s transfer portal has taken a sizable bite out of National Signing Day.

While it’s fun to see how many four and five-star athletes sign with a particular school just remember, the only way to truly gauge how things went is to wait 3-4 years and see how things turn out on the field, court, etc. Instant recruiting rankings literally mean very little.

Bengals

I understand why Bengals fans are upset over Sunday’s AFC Championship Game loss to Kansas City.

Not to rub salt in the wound, because I really did hope Cincinnati would win the game, however – here are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Don’t allow Kansas City to return a punt 29 yards with under a minute left and don’t get called for unnecessary roughness with less than 10 seconds left. You can probably argue that had it been a wide receiver or running back shoved out of bounds, a penalty flag might not have been thrown. But with the way the NFL protects quarterbacks, a flag was bound to come out.

Two interceptions by Joe Burrow didn’t help either.

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