{"id":136233,"date":"2020-10-19T03:50:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T08:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=136233"},"modified":"2020-10-19T03:50:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T08:50:48","slug":"monday-mailbag-football-playoff-questions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/10\/19\/monday-mailbag-football-playoff-questions-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mailbag: playoff questions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag features questions about Van Wert and Keystone, Crestview-Spencerville Part III and playoff upsets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: It doesn\u2019t seem right that Van Wert should have to drive more than two hours and 30 minutes for a regional quarterfinal game. Why can\u2019t the Cougars and Keystone meet at a neutral site somewhere in the middle? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: The higher seeds have home field advantage. That\u2019s one of the perks of this year\u2019s playoff format. If Van Wert was the higher seed I suspect you would be just fine with Keystone making the long trek here. Along those same lines, why would Keystone agree to travel anywhere when they can play at home?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do wish the region wasn\u2019t so widespread but as coach Keith Recker said after the game on Saturday, his team is willing to travel anywhere to keep playing in the postseason.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I\u2019m hearing rumors that tickets for Van Wert at Keystone will be very limited. Is this true? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: I\u2019ve heard the same rumors but at this point I don\u2019t have any numbers. However, it\u2019s my understanding that Keystone has a smaller facility, so I\u2019m guessing the number of available tickets will be at least somewhat limited because of COVID-19 restrictions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Thoughts on Crestview and Spencerville, Part III? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: I think it\u2019s most likely the first time that the same two high school football teams have met three times in a single year. If it\u2019s happened before, I\u2019d like to know when.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As far as the game itself, I think it\u2019ll be a great one. Check Wednesday\u2019s Sports page for a preview.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Last week you commented on the number of upsets in the first round of the playoffs. Most of those \u201cupsets\u201d didn\u2019t surprise me that much, and that\u2019s because of the relative powers of the conferences involved.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Parkway was winless going in, but the Panthers play in the powerful MAC. Bath had only one win going in, but the Wildcats play in the WBL. On the other hand, there are some conferences that are relatively weak, although I\u2019d better not mention those. Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: With no disrespect to any team or teams, I\u2019m a firm believer that a MAC schedule preps those teams for long playoff runs. In certain cases, first or second round playoff games might be breathers for some MAC teams.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people may not like to hear it, but MAC football seems to be at a different level compared to conferences and leagues with similar sized schools.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s true that some conferences and leagues are stronger than others, but that\u2019s not just restricted to northwest Ohio.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a question or comment for the next Monday Mailbag, please email it to sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag features questions about Van Wert and Keystone, Crestview-Spencerville Part III and playoff upsets. Q: It doesn\u2019t seem right that Van Wert should have to drive more than two hours and 30 minutes for a regional quarterfinal game. Why can\u2019t the Cougars and Keystone meet at a neutral […]<\/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-136233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 22:57:18","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\/136233","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=136233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}