{"id":182733,"date":"2024-08-21T21:43:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T02:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=182733"},"modified":"2024-08-23T07:16:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T12:16:49","slug":"2024-pigskin-pickem-week-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/08\/21\/2024-pigskin-pickem-week-no-1\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Pigskin Pick’Em: Week No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Pigskin Pick\u2019Em is back for its eighth season on the Sports page of the VW independent<\/em>. Each Thursday during the 2024 high school football season, predictions will be made for games involving Western Buckeye League, Northwest Conference, Green Meadows Conference and Midwest Athletic Conference teams, along with Lima Sr. As always, predictions will be broken down into two categories \u2013 \u201cGames of the Week\u201d and Best of the Rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My goal each season is to pick 80 percent of games correctly. During the regular season and playoffs last season, I managed to go 212-46, or 82.1 percent. As in past years, I\u2019ll tabulate and share the results each Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without further delay, here are picks for the opening weekend of the high school football season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Pandora-Gilboa at Columbus Grove<\/strong> (Thursday)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a way to kick off the 2024 season. These two teams hooked up in a dandy last year and the Rockets scored with one second left to claim a 25-22 win. Both teams have a good number of starters back and this should be a very good game. A big factor in my pick \u2013 the game is at Clymer Stadium, where the Bulldogs have won 19 straight, including playoff games and by my count, 24 straight regular season games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Columbus Grove<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Henry at St. Marys Memorial<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two teams played in the season opener last year and the Redskins won 17-0. The Roughriders got off to an 0-4 start then suddenly became one of the hottest teams in the area, winning seven straight before falling to Perkins in the playoffs. It should be noted that St. Marys Memorial gave the heavily favored Pirates a run for their money in that game. I think the Roughriders are a true contender for the WBL title this year and I\u2019ll be shocked if they start 0-4. Riders roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: St. Marys Memorial<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valley View at Coldwater<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who remembers that Valley View made it to the Division V state semifinals last year, losing to Liberty Center and finishing 13-2? Coldwater also had a fine season, going 12-2 before losing to the same Liberty Center team in the regional championship game. Now, Valley View and Coldwater will knock heads in the season opener. Valley View is replacing Kenton on Coldwater\u2019s non-conference schedule and this should be a good one. I usually don\u2019t pick against MAC teams at home and I\u2019m not changing course here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Coldwater<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

After a 2-2 start last year, Parkway lost seven straight, including an opening round playoff game to Paint Valley. The Panthers have a new head coach in Brian Schmidt, the former head coach of the Billings, Montana Outlaws professional indoor team. Crestview has a number of starters back, especially on defense. I think the Knights will get off to a fast start in this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Both teams suffered heavy graduation losses, especially Van Wert. There\u2019s also the unknown factor, because Bryan has a new head coach in Scott Staten, who was last year\u2019s offensive coordinator. Still, it\u2019s a new regime. One could easily argue this game is a toss-up and one could also argue that Bryan is actually the favorite. Fun fact: Van Wert hasn\u2019t lost to a team that was .500 or below since 2017. Bryan was 5-5 last year, 5-6 with a playoff loss. How does that translate to this game? I\u2019m not sure, but I\u2019m giving a slight edge to the Cougars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Anna at Indian Lake: Anna<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Bluffton at Benjamin Logan: Bluffton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cincinnati North College Hill at Delphos Jefferson (Thursday): College Hill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Columbus South at Celina: Celina<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defiance at Napoleon: Defiance<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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

Elida at Toledo Rogers: Elida<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hicksville at Patrick Henry: Patrick Henry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lehman Catholic at Delphos St. John’s: Delphos St. John’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberty-Benton at Ottawa-Glandorf: Liberty-Benton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marion Local at Linton-Stockton (IN): Marion Local<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milton-Union at Versailles: Versailles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minster at Fort Loramie: Minster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulding at Swanton: Paulding<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piqua at Lima Sr.: Lima Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ridgemont at Spencerville: Spencerville<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shawnee at Lima Central Catholic (Thursday): LCC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tinora at Liberty Center: Liberty Center<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toledo Scott at Allen East: Allen East<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toledo St. John\u2019s at Wapakoneta: Wapakoneta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Wayne Trace at Fort Recovery: Fort Recovery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Pigskin Pick\u2019Em is back for its eighth season on the Sports page of the VW independent. Each Thursday during the 2024 high school football season, predictions will be made for games involving Western Buckeye League, Northwest Conference, Green Meadows Conference and Midwest Athletic Conference teams, along with Lima Sr. As always, predictions will […]<\/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-182733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 05:14:04","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\/182733","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=182733"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182838,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182733\/revisions\/182838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}