Pigskin Pick’Em: Week No. 2

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Just like that, 10 percent of high school football’s regular season is in the books. Week No. 1 included a couple of notable upsets, a near upset, first wins for some new area head coaches and overall, some pretty competitive games.

Last week I went 23-6 (79 percent), not too bad for opening weekend, which is usually one of the more difficult ones in terms of picks. I have to admit, this week’s slate of games isn’t much easier. There are some outstanding matchups on the schedule. 30 games are included in this week’s picks. As always, the goal is to pick at least 80 percent of the games correctly.

Games of the Week

Bath (1-0) at Van Wert (1-0)

The Wildcats are coming off a surprising 14-7 upset of defending Division VII state champion New Bremen, while the Cougars pulled away from Bryan for a 47-21 win.

Bath would like nothing more than to come in and spoil Van Wert’s debut on the new artificial turf at Eggerss Stadium and while I do think this will be a better than expected Wildcat team as the season goes along, I believe the Cougars will extend their home winning streak to 20 games.

The pick: Van Wert

Crestview (1-0) at McComb (1-0)

This won’t be an easy matchup for Crestview. McComb is one of those teams that doesn’t really do anything flashy. They don’t run a lot of different plays but the ones they do run they run well. It’s a very fundamentally sound football team — you pretty much know what’s coming but stopping it is a different matter.

The Knights will have to clean up some opening week mistakes to win this one.

The pick: McComb

Liberty-Benton (1-0) at Columbus Grove (0-1)

The Bulldogs are coming off a gut-wrenching loss to Pandora-Gilboa, while the Eagles turned some heads with a 45-14 win over a very good Elyria Catholic team.

I want to pick the Bulldogs here. It should be a close game, probably a lower scoring, “first one to three touchdowns wins” type of game. Against my better judgment, I’m going with the Eagles on the road.

The pick: Liberty-Benton

Paulding (1-0) at Spencerville (1-0)

If you look strictly at records, this may not be considered a marquee matchup but it certainly should be a competitive and entertaining one. Both teams went 1-9 in 2022, with Spencerville’s win coming against Paulding in Week No. 2.

History is not on the side of Paulding – It’s been at least 25 years since the Panthers have gotten off to a 2-0 start and it may be longer than that. The records I have only go back to 1997. Regardless, I like the Panthers to eke out a win Friday night.

The pick: Paulding

Wapakoneta (0-1) at Defiance (1-0)

This one feels like it should be a later season game. At least in my mind, it has WBL title implications written all over it. Wapak is coming off a heartbreaking 29-26 loss to Marion Local and Defiance overcame a slow start to roll by Napoleon 38-13.

It’s kind of tough for me to pick against Defiance at home but then again, I did pick Wapakoneta to win the WBL title so I’m sticking to my guns and going with the Redskins.

The pick: Wapakoneta

Best of the Rest

WBL

Elida at Shawnee: Elida
Ottawa-Glandorf at Kenton: Ottawa-Glandorf
St. Marys Memorial at Celina: St. Marys Memorial

Non-conference

Ada at Riverdale: Riverdale
Anna at Brookville: Brookville
Antwerp at Edon: Antwerp
Arlington at Allen East: Allen East
Ayersville at Delphos Jefferson: Ayersville
Bellefontaine at Coldwater: Coldwater
Delta at Fairview: Delta
Edgerton at Hilltop: Edgerton
Findlay at Lima Sr.: Findlay
Franklin at Marion Local: Marion Local
Hicksville at Swanton: Hicksville
Lima Central Catholic at Delphos St. John’s (Saturday): LCC
Mechanicsburg at New Bremen: Mechanicsburg
Minster at St. Paris Graham: Minster
Pandora-Gilboa at Bluffton: Pandora-Gilboa
Parkway at North Central: Parkway
St. Henry at Archbold: Archbold
Tinora at Otsego: Tinora
Urbana at Fort Recovery: Urbana
Van Buren at Leipsic: Leipsic
Versailles at Fort Loramie: Versailles
Wayne Trace at Patrick Henry: Patrick Henry