Monday Mailbag: picks, Vanlue, more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

This week’s installment of Random Thoughts centers around Friday’s football scrimmage, preseason predictions, Vanlue football and the Monday Mailbag.

Scrimmage

If you plan on going to Friday’s Crestview at Van Wert scrimmage, keep in mind it will start at 6 p.m. at Eggerss Stadium. The first half will be treated like an actual varsity game, with two full quarters of action. After that, the junior varsity teams will play and will likely alternate 10-play series.

Preseason predictions

I’ve received a couple of questions about my WBL preseason football predictions and both are valid questions.

In a nutshell, one reader said as defending champion, Wapakoneta should have been picked as the favorite to win yet another WBL crown. I tend to lean toward that mindset, but there are exceptions. One of those exceptions is graduation losses. If a team wins the title and returns most of those players, it’s a pretty easy call. But what if a staggering number of key senior players graduate? That’s the case with Wapakoneta. As I said in my predictions, I don’t expect the Redskins to plummet in the standings, but losing those players to graduation will/should have some kind of effect.

On the flip side, another reader asked why I picked Wapak so high, given all the graduation losses. Did I pick them to finish second, based solely on the name, was the question.

Yes and no. It’s hard to pick against a problem that has enjoyed so much success, especially in recent years. Plus, you have to remember that while many starters and lettermen are gone, a number of the returning players saw significant varsity action last year. That’s why I don’t think Wapak will plunge in the standings. 

Is this it?

Vanlue has scheduled a special school board meeting for tonight (Tuesday) and it doesn’t sound good. The public meeting has been planned to discuss the status of football for the 2026 season.

Vanlue is believed to be the smallest school in the state that offers 11-man football. Numbers have always been a challenge there and I have to admit – I’ve always rooted for them to succeed. Unfortunately, the Wildcats have posted a 2-46 record over the last five seasons, and the program’s struggles date back many years before that.

If the season is canceled, it would join at least two other programs that have done the same – Loveland (near Cincinnati) and Oberlin, in Lorain County. I don’t know much about Loveland’s program, but I know Oberlin’s football program has struggled for many years.

It’s probably too late for this season, but schools like these and others may want to consider transitioning to the 8-man game, which is now a recognized sport in Ohio.

Monday Mailbag

The last topic today is the Monday Mailbag, a feature that in previous years ran each Monday during the high school football season. The last two or three seasons, questions and comments sent to the Monday Mailbag were hit-or-miss – some weeks there would be a lot of questions, other weeks very few, which makes me wonder if the feature has run its course. I will note that some of the questions that were sent in were not suitable to be published. The VW independent will not publish entries that are disparaging to high school athletes or coaches. This isn’t major college or the pros – these are high school kids and coaches we’re talking about.

If you would like to see the feature continue, please drop me a line and let me know – sports@thevwindependent.com, and if you have a sports comment or question at any point during the high school football season, don’t be shy, send it in. It doesn’t have to about high school football – it can be about any sport, boys or girls, at any level. Again, negative comments about high school athletics will not be published.

We’ll see what the response is. If it’s good, we’ll keep going. If there’s little or no response, then it’s time to end the Monday Mailbag.

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