{"id":143938,"date":"2021-07-19T03:56:22","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T08:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=143938"},"modified":"2021-07-19T03:56:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T08:56:24","slug":"monday-mailbag-playoffs-wbl-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2021\/07\/19\/monday-mailbag-playoffs-wbl-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mailbag: playoffs, WBL and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag features questions about OHSAA\u2019s expanded football playoffs, new Western Buckeye League football coaches and the possibility of high school athletes getting paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: This may be random, but I don\u2019t like the idea of OHSAA\u2019s expanded football playoffs. Eight teams per region fine and in some cases, too much. There will be teams in the playoffs that simply don\u2019t belong there. Am I the only one who thinks like this? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: There are plenty of people who like the expanded playoff format, but you\u2019re certainly not alone in thinking it\u2019s too much.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a lot of doubters and the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association isn\u2019t pleased with the switch. For what it\u2019s worth, I still wonder if it\u2019s a good idea. I have a tough time seeing a No. 16 seed defeating a No. 1 seed in any division, especially Division VII. Yes, upsets happen but I can\u2019t help but think there will be a good share of lopsided results in the opening two rounds.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, if it proves to be not such a great idea, it\u2019ll be tough for the Ohio High School Athletic Association to scale things back.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: With Kenton, Defiance and St. Marys Memorial each having new head football coaches, which one of those teams do you see making the biggest jump this year in the WBL? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: I\u2019d like to see more information about those teams in terms of returning letter winners, roster size, etc. but offhand, I\u2019ll say St. Marys Memorial. That\u2019s not exactly jump, but with Bo Frye taking over for his father I don\u2019t see much changing for the Roughriders in terms of style of play.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Like I said last week, this should be an interesting year in the Western Buckeye League. The top half appears to be very balanced and there are other teams that should be competitive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Here\u2019s a hypothetical question for you. On the heels of the recent Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for college athletes to get paid, what\u2019s to stop it from happening at the high school level. Could a lawsuit against the OHSAA produce the same result? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: Interesting question and I\u2019ve wondered the same thing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I\u2019m not a lawyer so I can\u2019t accurately say what would happen or if a challenge like that would be successful, but my gut says it would be a real uphill battle. If there are any attorneys out there who would like to chime in, please feel free to do so.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I agree something more could have been done for college athletes, I\u2019m still not sure if this is the right way to go but as I\u2019ve said before, I\u2019m not sure what way would be better.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a question or comment for next week\u2019s 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 OHSAA\u2019s expanded football playoffs, new Western Buckeye League football coaches and the possibility of high school athletes getting paid. Q: This may be random, but I don\u2019t like the idea of OHSAA\u2019s expanded football playoffs. Eight teams per region fine and in some cases, […]<\/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-143938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 20:26:50","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\/143938","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=143938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}