{"id":147158,"date":"2021-10-14T04:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T09:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=147158"},"modified":"2021-10-14T04:01:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T09:01:00","slug":"pigskin-pickem-week-no-9-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2021\/10\/14\/pigskin-pickem-week-no-9-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Pigskin Pick’Em: Week No. 9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Week No. 9 of the high school football season features a number of intriguing matchups, some against teams vying for conference or league championships, teams vying for playoff spots and others who have struggled but are still playing hard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Columbus Grove, Marion Local and Tinora can clinch at least a share of Northwest Conference, Midwest Athletic Conference and Green Meadows Conference titles with wins on Friday night. On paper, it appears the WBL race will extend into Week No. 10 and very well could have co-champions, Van Wert and Wapakoneta. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week I went 19-1 with the only miss being the Crestview\/Spencerville game, a contest that came down to a failed two point conversion attempt late in the game. Overall, my season record is 150-32, or 82.4 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On to this week\u2019s games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Ada (1-7) at Crestview (5-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Homecoming in Convoy and it\u2019s the week the Knights have the opportunity to shake off back-to-back losses and clinch a winning record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all due respect to Ada, I firmly believe Crestview wins this game, setting the stage for a big Week No. 10 game against Leipsic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Crestview <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen East (6-2) at Leipsic (5-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s lots of intrigue surrounding this game. Allen East\u2019s losses have come to Elmwood and Columbus Grove, two teams with a combined record of 14-1. Leipsic has lost to Liberty-Benton, Tinora and Columbus Grove, three teams with a combined record of 21-2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first instinct was to pick Leipsic at home but after some thought, I\u2019m leaning toward the Mustangs, but this game could easily go either way. Having said that, I\u2019m going with Allen East on the road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Allen East <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coldwater (7-1) at Marion Local (8-0)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big question might be how big will the 50-50 jackpot be? Will it top $15,000 in this matchup of the No. 3 team in Division VI and the No. 1 team in Division VII?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as the game itself, this is a tough one to pick. It\u2019s hard to see Marion Local losing at home but it\u2019s also hard to imagine Coldwater with a pair of losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

After some back and forth, I\u2019ve decided home field advantage has to be worth something here, even if the schools are only about 12 miles apart. I\u2019m going with the Flyers in a relatively low scoring game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Marion Local <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delphos Jefferson (3-5) at Bluffton (4-4)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year\u2019s game was won by Bluffton 62-56 and it won\u2019t be shocking to see another high-scoring affair between these two teams unless the rainy weather that’s forecast has an effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both teams still have playoff aspirations and both can still make it to Week No. 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to say the Pirates win and get a slight boost in computer playoff points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Paulding (0-8) at Wayne Trace (2-6)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Black Swamp Bowl. It still seems weird playing this game in Week No. 9 instead of Week No. 1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne Trace still has playoff hopes. If the Raiders win this game and next Friday\u2019s game against Edgerton, they very well may qualify for the Division VI, Region 22 playoffs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne Trace won last year\u2019s game 22-14 and I expect this year\u2019s game to be somewhat similar. The Panthers will put up a fight but I think the Raiders will win the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Wayne Trace <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert (7-1) at Elida (4-4)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a classic matchup of offense vs. defense – Van Wert\u2019s high-scoring offense against the rather stingy defense of Elida and if a rainy weather forecast holds up, that could be a factor as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given Elida\u2019s struggles on offense this season it\u2019s game the Cougars should win, which would set up a Week No. 10 showdown with much-improved Bath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Best of the Rest<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WBL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bath at St. Marys Memorial: St. Marys Memorial<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celina at Wapakoneta: Wapakoneta <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defiance at Ottawa-Glandorf: Ottawa-Glandorf <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shawnee at Kenton: Shawnee <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NWC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencerville at Columbus Grove: Columbus Grove<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GMC <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edgerton at Antwerp: Antwerp <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fairview at Ayersville: Ayersville<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hicksville at Tinora: Tinora <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAC <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna at Minster: Anna <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delphos St. John\u2019s at Fort Recovery <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Bremen at Parkway: New Bremen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Versailles at St. Henry: Versailles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lima Central Catholic at Galion: Lima Central Catholic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toledo St. Francis at Lima Sr.: Lima Sr. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor  Week No. 9 of the high school football season features a number of intriguing matchups, some against teams vying for conference or league championships, teams vying for playoff spots and others who have struggled but are still playing hard.  Columbus Grove, Marion Local and Tinora can clinch at least a share of […]<\/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-147158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 15:19:23","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\/147158","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=147158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}