{"id":160395,"date":"2022-11-22T04:40:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T09:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=160395"},"modified":"2022-11-22T04:40:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T09:40:27","slug":"random-thoughts-football-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/11\/22\/random-thoughts-football-basketball\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: football, basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This pre-Thanksgiving installment of Random Thoughts centers around Saturday\u2019s huge rivalry game, Black Friday football, Division VI and IV semifinal matchups, public vs. private, and Van Wert boys basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OSU vs. TTUN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the matchup people envisioned before the season even started \u2013 11-0 Ohio St. vs. 11-0 Michigan, No. 2 vs. No. 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan is dealing with some injury problems right now but then again, so is Ohio St. This is going to be a tough one, perhaps tougher than many people realize. I\u2019m calling a final margin of seven or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Friday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve really come to like Black Friday \u2013 not for the shopping but for a day full of college football. Some of the games on this Friday\u2019s slate include Baylor\/Texas, Nebraska\/Iowa and Florida\/Florida St. In all, 13 games are on the schedule Friday. Hopefully you\u2019ll get to enjoy some of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Division VI semifinals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Columbus Grove and No. 1 Marion Local will meet in the Division VI state semifinals in Lima on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bulldogs have a chance to even their postseason record against the Flyers. Columbus Grove defeated Marion Local 28-26 for the 2003 Division VI state championship. The other two games in the series have gone to Marion Local.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Marion Local is considered an overwhelming favorite in the game. Columbus Grove has a shot to send shockwaves throughout the region and really, all of Ohio. We\u2019ll see how it turns out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Steubenville (12-2) vs. Wyoming (14-0) intrigues me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Steubenville\u2019s 18th state tournament appearance. The school has won four state titles and finished as the runner-up five other times and has qualified for the playoffs every year since 2001. Another fun fact \u2013 Steubenville hasn\u2019t lost to a team from Ohio this year. The two losses have come to Linsly, West Virginia (28-27), and Rock Creek Christian, Maryland (36-20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Wyoming\u2019s eight state tournament appearance. The Cowboys won one title (1975), but this edition might be the best of all the teams in school history. The defense has allowed 35 total points in 14 games, or 2.5 points per game. Wyoming is the first school to record 10 shutouts in a season in the playoff era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something has to give on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massillon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massillon Washington has a legendary history, claiming two dozen Associated Press poll championships and nine mythical national championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing the school doesn\u2019t have is an on the field championship. That\u2019s right \u2013 since the playoffs began in 1972, the Tigers haven\u2019t won a state championship. They have six runner-up finishes, including 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this the year? They have a chance, but they\u2019ll need to get by Akron Hoban this Friday, then Toledo Central Catholic or Kings in the title game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public vs. private<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re keeping track, 28 schools are in the state semifinals in Divisions I-VII. 20 of those are public schools, eight are private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cougar hoops<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The start of Van Wert\u2019s boys basketball season has been pushed back to December 9, when the Cougars open at home against Celina, then Kalida the following night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Friday\u2019s planned season opener against Crestview is now the season finale, February 18, while next weekend\u2019s games against Parkway and Lima Central Catholic have been pushed to January 10 (LCC) and 24 (Parkway).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the new breakdown \u2013 seven games in December, 10 in January and five in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above topics, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>. In the meantime, have a happy Thanksgiving holiday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor This pre-Thanksgiving installment of Random Thoughts centers around Saturday\u2019s huge rivalry game, Black Friday football, Division VI and IV semifinal matchups, public vs. private, and Van Wert boys basketball. OSU vs. TTUN It\u2019s the matchup people envisioned before the season even started \u2013 11-0 Ohio St. vs. 11-0 Michigan, No. 2 vs. […]<\/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-160395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 23:34:29","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\/160395","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=160395"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160409,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160395\/revisions\/160409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}