{"id":108924,"date":"2018-10-30T06:46:17","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T11:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=108924"},"modified":"2018-10-30T06:46:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T11:46:17","slug":"random-thoughts-playoffs-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/10\/30\/random-thoughts-playoffs-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: playoffs and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around area high school football, Urban Meyer rumors, the Cleveland Browns and Van Wert County\u2019s outstanding cross country teams.<\/p>\n

Football frenzy in Van Wert County<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What a fun time to be a high school football fan in Van Wert County, as the Van Wert Cougars and the Crestview Knights will both begin postseason action at home on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Check Wednesday\u2019s Sports for game previews of Van Wert-Huron and Crestview-Miami Valley Christian Academy, and best of luck to the Cougars and the Knights.<\/p>\n

A rare feat<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not often that a football team has three 1000 yard rushers in the same season, but Spencerville did just that. In fact, the Bearcats finished the regular season with the top three rushers in the Northwest Athletic Conference.<\/p>\n

Cannan Johnson led the way with 1113 yards and 16 touchdowns, followed by Kale Lee (190 carries, 1079 yards, 12 touchdowns) and Joel Lotz (120 carries, 1044 yards, 14 touchdowns).<\/p>\n

As a team, Spencerville averaged 359 yards rushing per game and just 20 yards passing per game.<\/p>\n

The fourth time\u2019s a charm?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s Wapakoneta and Trotwood-Madison, Part IV in the playoffs. The two teams met in the postseason in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The Rams won each of those matchups. Here\u2019s hoping the Redskins can turn the tables this time.<\/p>\n

Region 24<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With all due respect to the other regions in Division VI, Region 24 appears to be the strongest one. I\u2019ll be shocked if the state champion doesn\u2019t come from that region. It\u2019s almost not fair, with teams like Coldwater, Marion Local, Lima Central Catholic, St. Henry and Spencerville.<\/p>\n

One thing\u2019s for sure \u2013 a couple of teams that would otherwise advance deep into the tournament will be going home early.<\/p>\n

Region 26<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

One of the intriguing playoff games in Division VII, Region 26 features Associated Press No. 2 Edgerton (10-0) and NO. Norwalk St. Paul. I won\u2019t be at all shocked if St. Paul wins that game.<\/p>\n

Urban Meyer rumors<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m hearing more rumors that Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer will retire at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Of course he\u2019s denied those rumors and said he\u2019ll be back next season, but what else is he going to say?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m starting to wonder if there\u2019s some truth to those rumors, given the offseason controversy and the team\u2019s play recently. If OSU loses a couple more games, I wouldn\u2019t be at all surprised if Meyer and the university parted ways.<\/p>\n

Dysfunction<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Another wasted season. That\u2019s what I think of this year\u2019s Cleveland Browns season. With a general manager with a proven track record and some exciting new players, this year was supposed to be a big step in the right direction for the franchise.<\/p>\n

Instead, the Browns are 2-5-1 at the halfway point and yesterday the front office pulled the plug on head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley.<\/p>\n

A note to team owner Jimmy Haslam: please, please, please stay out of the way and let GM John Dorsey and his staff do their jobs. Please don\u2019t interfere during the next coaching search. Please don\u2019t interfere with the draft. Please stop trying to be the face of the franchise. Yes, it\u2019s your team and it\u2019s making you a lot of money win or lose, but you\u2019re not helping. You\u2019re hurting. Please let the proven football people you\u2019ve hired do what they\u2019re supposed to do. Can you try that and see how it works?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t suppose he\u2019ll see this, but I think those thoughts echo those of many loyal Browns fans.<\/p>\n

Cross Country<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to end on a down note, so I\u2019ll mention that Van Wert County will be well represented at the 2018 State Cross Country Meet in Hebron on Saturday with Caylee Phillips of Van Wert, Lincolnview\u2019s boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 teams and the Crestview Lady Knights.<\/p>\n

A tip of the hat to those athletes for qualifying for state, and best of luck this Saturday.<\/p>\n

If you have any thoughts on the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around area high school football, Urban Meyer rumors, the Cleveland Browns and Van Wert County\u2019s outstanding cross country teams. Football frenzy in Van Wert County What a fun time to be a high school football fan in Van Wert County, as the Van Wert Cougars and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-10 04:10:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108924\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}