{"id":148114,"date":"2021-11-09T04:50:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T09:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=148114"},"modified":"2021-11-09T04:50:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T09:50:54","slug":"random-thoughts-game-sites-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2021\/11\/09\/random-thoughts-game-sites-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: game sites and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around playoff football sites, site changes, Division IV games, lower seeds, a possible all-MAC volleyball final, OBJ and Ohio State game times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neutral site vs. halfway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before it was announced that Van Wert and Clyde will play at Napoleon instead of Millbury Lake, a lot of people were unhappy with Lake being chosen as the original site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief complaint was that it\u2019s not halfway between the two schools and there were complaints that it wasn\u2019t a neutral site because it was closer to Clyde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neutral site doesn\u2019t always mean halfway. Sometimes halfway sites aren\u2019t available. You can\u2019t force a school to host a game so sometimes it\u2019s necessary to go off the beaten path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having said all of that, Van Wert\u2019s drive for Friday\u2019s game is now about 55 minutes while Clyde will have to allow about an hour and 20 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other site changes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other games, both in Division I, Region 2 will now be played at different sites. In fact, they swapped sites that were announced on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marysville and Toledo Whitmer will now play at Spartan Stadium in Lima while Springfield and Findlay will play at Bellefontaine AcuSport Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, it\u2019s not perfect but those locations make much more sense geographically than the original ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Division IV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert and Clyde should be an entertaining game but there are a couple of others to keep an eye on in Division IV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

They don\u2019t have eye-popping records but in Region 13, Youngstown Ursuline (8-3) will take on Glenville (9-3). Ursuline was ranked in the Top 10 for a decent part of the season and Glenville is a former Division I power. I\u2019m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that they\u2019re now a Division IV team. The Tarblooders lost their first three games and haven\u2019t lost since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Region 16, No. 1 Cincinnati Wyoming will face No. 4 Clinton-Massie. Wyoming won last year\u2019s playoff matchup 28-9, then lost to Van Wert a week later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too many?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it\u2019s too early to say and that\u2019s fair enough, but the question remains – is 16 playoff teams per region too many?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of 448 teams that qualified for the postseason, just three that were seeded ninth or lower remain alive in the playoffs. I\u2019m guessing by the time this weekend is over, there may be one left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s revisit this question in a week or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All-MAC final?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s entirely possible we may see an all-MAC Division IV volleyball final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019ll happen if St. Henry beats Monroeville and New Knoxville beats South Webster. Both matches will be played Thursday at Wright State University. The winners will meet for the state title on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better or not?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a debate out there \u2013 are the Cleveland Browns better without Odell Beckham Jr.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the answer is a clear yes and a review of games he\u2019s played vs. games he hasn\u2019t shows it. He\u2019s talented but just never seemed to be a good fit in Cleveland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Van Wert coaches Cole Harting and Bryce Crea said to me last week \u2013 the idea of Odell Beckham Jr. was better than actually having him on the team. Bingo guys. That\u2019s a spot on assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game time<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio State and Michigan State has been set for a noon kickoff in Columbus and it seems like a number of people were disappointed by that. It appears a lot of fans were hoping for a night game. What\u2019s your favorite Ohio State game time: noon, 3:30 p.m. or a night game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you have thoughts or comments 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 editor This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around playoff football sites, site changes, Division IV games, lower seeds, a possible all-MAC volleyball final, OBJ and Ohio State game times. Neutral site vs. halfway Before it was announced that Van Wert and Clyde will play at Napoleon instead of Millbury Lake, a lot of people […]<\/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-148114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 11:31:26","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\/148114","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=148114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}