Random Thoughts; playoffs, proposal, more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

This week’s installment of Random Thoughts centers around the NWC and the playoffs, an important stretch of games, public/private, and Lincoln Keinholz.

NWC and the playoffs

WKSD’s Shawn Gerber brought this up with me and he’s right – there seems to be an execellent chance that six of the eight NWC teams will qualify for the playoffs this season.

Those teams are Lima Central Catholic, Columbus Grove, Bluffton, Fort Loramie, Allen East and Delphos Jefferson. For a couple of them it’s not yet set in stone but it’s close.

Three week stretch

I think we can all agree that Ottawa-Glandorf is the surprise team of the area this year and at least on paper, it appears, the Titans and Celina could be playing for an outright WBL championship when they meet in Week No. 9.

O-G has an interesting three game stretch coming up before that – at St. Marys Memorial and Bath, then home against Van Wert. One could argue they’ll be considered the favorites in all three games, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be easy games.

Celina survived a scare by Shawnee – the Indians led 13-0 before the Bullodgs rallied for a 28-13 win. Celina’s next three games are at Kenton and Elida, then home against Bath. 

Public/private

The news came out last week that the Suburban League in northeast Ohio wants to place a referendum before OHSAA member schools next spring, which would allow the schools to vote on a proposed public/private split.

It feels like this came out of nowhere and from what I’ve heard, member school reception to the idea has been lukewarm at best. That could be an understatement. In the end, Suburban League administrators need 75 schools from around Ohio to sign petitions and if everything checks out, it would likely go to a vote by OHSAA member schools in May. Based on early feedback, I’m really wondering if they’ll get the required number of signatures or if this thing will flame out.

Yes, it’s possible that it will get to a vote and I suppose it’s possible it could pass, but I doubt it. Actually, I think there’s very little chance of it becoming reality. It failed twice before, years ago, and there have been rumblings here and there over the years about similar attempts.

As I wrote last week, it seems like a bad idea and now there’s word that if it did somehow pass, a number of private/parochial schools would leave the OHSAA and form their own association. If there’s a problem now, it could potentially be much worse since they wouldn’t have to abide by OHSAA rules. There’s also open enrollment but I won’t go into that again here.

Again, I could be wrong here but something tells me the people behind this push didn’t seem to realize there’s not really a big call for this from other schools.

Lincoln Keinholz

Some Ohio State fans are grumbling that perhaps the better quarterback got away.

Julian Sayin, of course, is fully entrenched as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. I have no issue with it. For the most part, he’s very accurate but like other fans, I do wish he was a bit more mobile. However, he seems to fit what the Buckeyes want to do.

Meanwhile, Lincoln Keinholz is putting up big numbers through the air and on the ground at Louisville, leading people to wonder if he was the one that “got away.” It’s kind of funny though, because many of those same people were fine when he left via the transfer portal.

Personally, I liked him when he was at Ohio State and I refer to my comments from the April 7, 2025 installment of Random Thoughts:

“Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said Julian Sayin and Lincoln Keinholz are neck-and-neck in the quarterback race. What else is he going to say? Any mention that one is ahead of the other will likely send the one who’s not ahead to the transfer portal. Remember, he did the same thing with Kyle McCord and Devin Brown two years ago. A lot of coaches do it.”

“Personally, I’m very intrigued by Keinholz. To me, even with very little game prep or reps, he looked light years ahead of Devin Brown in the ill-fated Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri in 2024. I know, OSU scored a grand total of three points in the game. He still showed some encouraging flashes. It won’t be a shock, at least to me, if he eventually wins the QB battle.”

Keinholz obviously didn’t win the quarterback battle and eventually left for Louisville.

I suppose decisions like these are never easy for coaches. In some ways, it’s like Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow. Regardless, I’m rooting for both quarterbacks.

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