{"id":137473,"date":"2020-11-24T04:58:12","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T09:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=137473"},"modified":"2020-11-24T04:58:15","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T09:58:15","slug":"random-thoughts-championship-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/11\/24\/random-thoughts-championship-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Random thoughts: championship weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts centers around championship weekend at Massillon\u2019s Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for the memories<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the Van Wert High School football team and coaches, thank you for a memorable 2020 season and a championship game win that ranks up there with the very best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday was truly a team victory and a well deserved one at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a pleasure to cover this year\u2019s Division IV state championship Van Wert Cougars, a once in a generation team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. 5 seed<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seeding process was different this year, Van Wert became just the eighth No. 5 seed to win a state football championship since the playoffs expanded to eight teams per region in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Midwest Athletic Conference produced two more state champions, with New Bremen winning Division VII and Coldwater taking Division VI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s safe to say the area was well represented in Massillon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hats off<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hats off to the people at Massillon Washington High School for offering Paul Brown Tiger Stadium as a last second site for six state championship games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it was a long drive, but I\u2019m happy Van Wert fans were able to enjoy the experience at one of the more hallowed stadiums in Ohio high school football history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pigskin Pick \u2019Em<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final numbers are in from this season\u2019s Pigskin Pick \u2019Em feature, which appears each Thursday during the high school football season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I somehow managed to go 6-0 picking the weekend\u2019s six state championship games. Admittedly, a couple of the games were closer than I thought they\u2019d be, but a win is a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My final 2020 record stands at 158-43, or 78.6 percent, a bit shy of my goal of 80 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the old saying goes, there\u2019s always next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not quite<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if Owen Treece\u2019s 44 pass attempts were a record for a Division IV state championship game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A check of the OHSAA record book shows the record is 48 by Bellaire\u2019s Jose Davis in the 1995 title game against Versailles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maddix Crutchfield\u2019s 10 receptions came close to a state record, which is 12, set by Tyler Vogel of Coldwater in 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the only number that matters is 31, the number of points it took for the Van Wert Cougars to win the Division IV state championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have thoughts on any of 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 edition of Random Thoughts centers around championship weekend at Massillon\u2019s Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. Thanks for the memories To the Van Wert High School football team and coaches, thank you for a memorable 2020 season and a championship game win that ranks up there with the very best. Sunday […]<\/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-137473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 20:06:41","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\/137473","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=137473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}