{"id":185474,"date":"2024-10-28T21:02:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T02:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=185474"},"modified":"2024-10-28T21:02:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T02:02:22","slug":"random-thoughts-cc-playoffs-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/10\/28\/random-thoughts-cc-playoffs-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: CC, playoffs, more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The latest installment of Random Thoughts includes best wishes, Division VII, Region 28, how many is too many, an obvious observation, and a Buckeye scare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running to state<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow. What a tremendous showing by local cross country runners during Saturday\u2019s regional competition. Just outstanding performances by Van Wert, Crestview and Lincolnview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tiffin regional is brutal, yet these runners, many of them underclassmen, found a way to shine. All of them have a chance to do it again this Saturday at Fortress Obetz. Best of luck to all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decline x3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now you\u2019ve heard what happened in Division VII, Region 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The No. 16 seed, Lockland (2-7), opted out of the playoffs, meaning the Panthers won\u2019t face No. 1 seed Marion Local in the opening round of the playoffs. The school cited injuries and not enough available players. The next two schools in line \u2013 Cedarville (4-6) and New Miami (3-6) also said thanks, but no thanks, and declined to play Marion Local. Original No. 19 seed, Fort Recovery (2-8), accepted the bid and will face the Flyers again. The two teams played in Week No. 7 and Marion Local won 62-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to criticize here, because school officials did what they thought was best, but I do think it\u2019s a little odd. If a school really doesn\u2019t have enough healthy players that\u2019s one thing, but to have three schools who fought for that final playoff spot decline because they\u2019d have to play one of the best teams in Ohio? What kind of message is being sent here? Again, I understand player safety is No. 1 here but still\u2026what is going on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a thought \u2013 16 playoff teams per region was a bad idea, especially in the smaller divisions. I\u2019m not the only one who thinks that. Honestly, when you look at past results, there were years that eight teams per region seemed like too many, but it was still a fairly reasonable number. No one was clamoring to double the number of playoff teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s literally no chance the OHSAA will go back to eight teams per region, or even 12 teams, which was the orignal agreement with the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association three years ago. It\u2019s a shame, because this should serve as a wakeup call that this was a bad decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

It\u2019s not just the smaller schools being affected by the expanded playoffs. 10 teams in Division I are 2-8 or 1-9 and are in the postseason. Let\u2019s be honest here \u2013 none of them have any real chance of winning. Harsh? Perhaps, but it\u2019s also true. I suppose the positive is these schools are getting an extra week of practice, which helps build a program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

My alma mater plays in Division III in a different part of the state \u2013 I know there was serious discussion that if the school had to play No. 1 seed Toledo Central Catholic in the opening round, they would opt out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve stated before \u2013 playoff buzz is exciting and yes, I realize football is the only sport where every team doesn\u2019t get in the OHSAA playoffs, but football isn\u2019t like every other sport. 16 teams per region is simply too many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elementary my dear Winston<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realize it was just one game but one game is all it took to realize what the real issue has been with Cleveland\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to Sunday\u2019s game against Baltimore, Cleveland\u2019s offense looked like Big Bird caught in quicksand. Insert a quarterback who was somehow the No. 3 quarterback the previous game (Jameis Winston) and the offense comes alive and looks like an actual NFL offense. It\u2019s the second year in a row this has happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not saying Winston is the long term answer but at some point, the Browns front office is going to have to just admit they goofed with DeShaun Watson and move on. Yes, there\u2019s the salary cap hit and it\u2019s going to hurt, but at this point, there is no other real option. It\u2019s just best for all concerned, including Watson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OSU<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a frustrating game on Saturday but in the end, the Buckeyes got the win and that\u2019s all that matters. Despite the beatdown by Indiana in the previous game, the Cornhuskers are still a pretty good team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On to Penn State. Hopefully the issues that plaqued the Buckeyes on Saturday are fixed. I understand there\u2019s no quick fix to the offensive line right now but here\u2019s hoping the coaching staff and plug the holes for this game.<\/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>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports The latest installment of Random Thoughts includes best wishes, Division VII, Region 28, how many is too many, an obvious observation, and a Buckeye scare. Running to state Wow. What a tremendous showing by local cross country runners during Saturday\u2019s regional competition. Just outstanding performances by Van Wert, Crestview and Lincolnview. The […]<\/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-185474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-27 12:19:32","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\/185474","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=185474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185475,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185474\/revisions\/185475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}