Expanded sports coverage to continue

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

It’s been an exciting 18 months at www.thevwindependent.com sports, as we’ve enhanced and expanded our coverage of local sporting events, and there’s more to come.

Perhaps you’ve noticed more stories and results of games involving Van Wert County’s three high schools – Van Wert, Lincolnview and Crestview, along with regular features such as Coaches Corner and Random Thoughts. Our expanded coverage also includes regular feature stories, news from the Ohio High School Athletic Association, game previews during football and basketball seasons, video highlights of select games, the Van Wert independent/Northwest Ohio Welch Trophy Student Athlete of the Week, On the Air: WSKD/WERT and Pigskin Pick’Em, which proved to be very popular during the 2017 high school football season. Last year, we unveiled our first ever area high school football All-Star Team and earlier this week, we presented our Northwest Conference Coaches Poll, along with preseason football rankings for the Western Buckeye League.

We’ve added a Twitter presence (@VWindependent), and we’ve offered more photographs of local sporting events, thanks to the fine work of Bob Barnes, Jerry Mason and Wyatt Richardson.

All of that coverage will continue this year, along with some additions. The Monday Mailbag will debut soon. Readers may submit questions about any sport at any level, and random questions will be chosen each week and featured each Monday.

As mentioned before, Pigskin Pick ’Em will return with a twist. I’ll continue to pick high school football winners from the Western Buckeye League, the Northwest Conference, the Green Meadows Conference and the Midwest Athletic Conference, but each week, a guest selector will be chosen to make his or her picks. We’ll keep track of the results and compare them at the end of the season. Since there will be limited opportunities available, if you’d like to be considered as a guest selector for one week during the 2018 high school football season, let me know via email at sports@thevwindependent.com.

You’ll notice other new and exciting features as we move into the new athletic season, and podcasts with area coaches are in the works. We hope you’ve enjoyed our expanded sports coverage, and we hope you enjoy what’s to come.

Of course, if you have any thoughts, comments, concerns or suggestions, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.