{"id":144970,"date":"2021-08-19T03:55:07","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=144970"},"modified":"2021-08-19T03:57:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T08:57:40","slug":"pigskin-pickem-2021-week-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2021\/08\/19\/pigskin-pickem-2021-week-no-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Pigskin Pick’Em: 2021 Week No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The 2021 high school football season is upon us and it brings with it the VW independent\u2019s weekly Pigskin Pick\u2019Em predictions. This will be the fifth season for Pigskin Pick\u2019Em.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each and every Thursday through the seven state championship games, I\u2019ll make weekly picks of area high school games and teams from the Northwest Conference, the Western Buckeye League, the Green Meadows Conference, the Midwest Athletic Conference and Lima Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The goal is to correctly pick games at least 80 percent of the time. Last season, I went 158-43, or 78.6 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, the first week is usually the toughest and this year is no expection. There are a handful of new coaches, plenty of different players and some new and intriguing matchups, which makes picking games all the more challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, 30 area games are on this week\u2019s slate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Games of the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview at Parkway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This one has the potential to be a very close game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parkway is trying to bounce back from last season\u2019s 1-7 record while the Knights have a new head coach in James Lautzenheiser. I\u2019m a firm believer that Parkway is usually better than its record indicates (referring back to 2020) and it\u2019s not always easy to pick against a MAC team at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I\u2019m going with the Knights in a low scoring contest in the season opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Crestview<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delphos Jefferson vs. Delphos St. John\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This crosstown game will be played Saturday night on the brand new turf at Stadium Park so it\u2019s technically a home game for both teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both teams are trying to rebound from 2020, when the Wildcats went 0-6 and the Blue Jays went 2-6. If Delphos Jefferson can shore up defensive problems that plagued them last season, it could be a good game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a battle of improved teams, I think the Blue Jays will get the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Delphos St. John\u2019s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lima Central Catholic at Lima Shawnee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This is one of those new and intriguing matchups I mentioned earlier. The game will be played tonight and both teams have a lot of returning talent. It\u2019s not often that I pick a Division VII school to beat a Division III school, but I\u2019m doing it in this case. The Thunderbirds pull away for the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Lima Central Catholic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marion Local at Wapakoneta<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another new and different opener on this week\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned above, it\u2019s not easy to pick a Division VII team over a Division III team but Marion Local isn\u2019t your typical small school team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019ll definitely be a physical game but I don\u2019t see it turning into a shootout. I\u2019m going with the Flyers in this one. By the way \u2013 here are Wapakoneta\u2019s first five games: Marion Local, Ottawa-Glandorf, St. Marys Memorial, Van Wert and Shawnee. A rough schedule indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottawa-Glandorf at Eastwood<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve gone back and forth this one a lot. I really want to pick the Titans but I\u2019ve noticed the Eagles have won home matchups against O-G in 2019 and 2017. Plus, Eastwood is renaming and dedicating their stadium to former longtime coach Jerry Rutherford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going with Eastwood but I won\u2019t be at all shocked if Ottawa-Glandorf wins it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Eastwood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Marion Local<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert at Bryan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an off-year due to a COVID-19 shortened regular season last year, this famed series resumes and the defending Division IV state champions are hoping to make it four consecutive wins over the Golden Bears.
The Cougars are 16-2 in their last 18 games and I like their chances on Friday night. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019ll be easy but Van Wert still has a lot of talented players that present all sorts of matchup problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Van Wert<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best of the rest, in no particular order<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celina at Versailles: Versailles
Kenton at Coldater: Coldwater
St. Marys Memorial at London: London
Bowling Green at Bath: Bowling Green
Spencerville at Elida: Elida<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Scioto Valley at Allen East: Allen East
Cory-Rawson at Bluffton: Bluffton
Ada at Waynesfield-Goshen: Waynesfield-Goshen
Columbus Grove at Pandora-Gilboa: Pandora-Gilboa
Perry at Liberty-Benton: Liberty-Benton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montpelier at Antwerp: Antwerp
Ayersville at Delta: Delta
Edon at Edgerton: Edgerton
Wauseon at Fairview: Wauseon
Patrick Henry at Hicksville: Patrick Henry
Liberty Center at Tinora: Liberty Center
Arlington at Paulding: Arlington
Fort Recovery at Wayne Trace: Fort Recovery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indian Lake at Anna: Anna
New Bremen at Marion (IN): New Bremen
Covington at St. Henry: St. Henry
Fort Loramie at Minster: Fort Loramie
Lima Sr. at Toledo Bowsher: Lima Sr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor The 2021 high school football season is upon us and it brings with it the VW independent\u2019s weekly Pigskin Pick\u2019Em predictions. This will be the fifth season for Pigskin Pick\u2019Em. Each and every Thursday through the seven state championship games, I\u2019ll make weekly picks of area high school games and teams […]<\/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-144970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 00:49:01","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\/144970","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=144970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}