{"id":168069,"date":"2023-07-18T03:49:12","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T08:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=168069"},"modified":"2023-07-18T03:49:13","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T08:49:13","slug":"random-thoughts-race-football-nwc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/07\/18\/random-thoughts-race-football-nwc\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: race, football, NWC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts includes the Van Wert 4-Mile, Fall sports, high school football in Ohio, Lima Central Catholic, and the Northwest Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4-Mile<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was sorry to see this year\u2019s Van Wert 4-Mile race canceled. It was scheduled for this past Saturday, July 15, but was called off due to unforeseen circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a great race that attracted a lot of people. Here\u2019s hoping it returns in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall sports<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, practices for fall sports begin in less than two weeks, July 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where has the summer gone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said it last year and I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 as much as I love football, I don\u2019t like the earlier start and expanded playoffs. If I\u2019ve softened my stance at all, maybe it\u2019s the expanded playoffs, but I also think eight teams per region was fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early start (third Friday in August for most teams) means 30 percent of the regular season schedule will be done before Labor Day. That just doesn\u2019t seem right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is what it is though and the expanded format is here to stay. It\u2019s tough to change something like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lima Central Catholic\u2019s 2023 football schedule is out and it\u2019s interesting to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Of the 10 regular season games, just five will be played on Friday night. The Thunderbirds will open the season on Thursday night, August 17, at Shawnee. Game No. 2 will be a Saturday afternoon game, August 26, at Delphos St. John\u2019s, followed by a trip to Carey on Friday, September 1. The first home game of the season will be Saturday, September 8, vs. Columbus Bishop Ready, followed by a Week No. 5 game at Columbus Bishop Hartley. After that, it\u2019s five straight home games vs. Elmwood, Lucas, Richmond Heights, Cardinal Stritch and Fort Loramie. The Elmwood, Cardinal Stritch and Fort Loramie games are Saturday games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the life of a non-conference team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

There\u2019s still nothing new on Delphos St. John\u2019s and the Northwest Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a tough decision all around and either way it\u2019s one that will leave some people upset. It\u2019s truly a case of not being able to please everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delphos St. John\u2019s officials are considering a move from the MAC to the NWC and they\u2019re not rushing into a decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless if they join or not, it\u2019ll be interesting to see what the conference\u2019s next move will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts includes the Van Wert 4-Mile, Fall sports, high school football in Ohio, Lima Central Catholic, and the Northwest Conference. 4-Mile I was sorry to see this year\u2019s Van Wert 4-Mile race canceled. It was scheduled for this past Saturday, July 15, but was called off due […]<\/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-168069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 18:34:21","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\/168069","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=168069"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168072,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168069\/revisions\/168072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}