{"id":199655,"date":"2025-11-19T21:44:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T02:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=199655"},"modified":"2025-11-19T21:44:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T02:44:06","slug":"pigskin-pickem-week-no-14-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/11\/19\/pigskin-pickem-week-no-14-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Pigskin Pick’Em: Week No. 14"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This won\u2019t take long, as just three games involving area teams are on this week\u2019s Pigskin Pick\u2019Em list. One of them is Putnam County vs. Putnam County, while the remaining two are MAC vs. MAC. The winners of those games will be crowned regional champions and will move on to next Friday\u2019s state semi-final round.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Last week I went 7-1 (87.5 percent), with the only misstep being the Columbus Grove vs. Lima Central Catholic game. I picked the Thunderbirds to win but Columbus Grove, for all intents and purposes, put the game away early. My apologies to the Bulldogs. My playoff record is now 27-4 (87 percent) and my overall season record is 198-40 (83.1 percent). Onto this week\u2019s games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Division VI Region 24<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coldwater (9-4) vs. Anna (10-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not the records you usually see in a regional title game but there\u2019s an explanation for it this time \u2013 both teams, of course, play in the powerful MAC. Coldwater\u2019s losses have come to Anna (14-7 in Week No. 4), New Bremen (16-7), Marion Local (7-6), and perennial power Clinton-Massie 14-7 in a Week No. 2 non-conference game. Notice the theme? In those four losses, the Cavaliers scored one touchdown. Anna\u2019s losses have come to Minster (24-14), St. Henry (28-7) and Marion Local (28-27, two overtimes). This game should be close and one can make a case for either team winning it. My first instinct was to go with Coldwater, but I can also see Anna winning this game. I also have a tough time seeing the defending state champions getting ousted in the regional finals but it very well could happen. As I\u2019ve said before, rematches can be tricky and this is no exception. Time to make a choice \u2013 I\u2019m going with the Cavaliers, knowing full well it\u2019s probably a 50-50 game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Division VII Region 26<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Columbus Grove (9-3) vs. Leipsic (11-1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Putnam County vs. Putnam County game. The series between these two games stretches back to 1924, but there\u2019s a pretty noticeable gap in there. The two teams didn\u2019t play from 1964 until 2015. The last three games in the series were played when both were members of the Northwest Conference. History is on the side of Columbus Grove, as the Bulldogs lead the all-time series 31-12-1. For our younger readers, yes, there were ties back in the day. If the score was even at the end of the fourth quarter, that was it \u2013 the game was over and everyone went home. Leipsic\u2019s only loss game to Liberty-Benton (52-0) in Week No. 8. However, I believe the Vikings are the underdog in this game. I like Columbus Grove\u2019s current nine game winning streak and the program\u2019s playoff history. I believe Columbus Grove is going back to the state semifinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Division VII Region 28<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marion Local (12-0) vs. St. Henry (11-1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s all be honest \u2013 we knew this would be the regional championship game. Why wouldn\u2019t we think that? Marion Local has won 76 straight games, while St. Henry\u2019s only loss came to the Flyers, 21-14 in Week No. 3. It\u2019s another MAC vs. MAC rematch in the regional finals and it means that two MAC teams will be in the state semifinals in two different divisions. There are those who say this is actually the Division VII state championship game and I wouldn\u2019t argue with them. Yes, there are some nice teams left in Division VII, but these two are 1-2 in every sense of the word. As for this game, I won\u2019t beat around the bush. I think the Flyers are the favorite but I\u2019m not sure what kind of game it\u2019s going to be. Could it be a 14-7 game? Possibly, or could it be one of those games where Marion Local gets on a roll early and cruises to a win? They tend to do that in a lot of big games. Regardless, I\u2019m picking the four time defending state champions to win again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pick: Marion Local<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports This won\u2019t take long, as just three games involving area teams are on this week\u2019s Pigskin Pick\u2019Em list. One of them is Putnam County vs. Putnam County, while the remaining two are MAC vs. MAC. The winners of those games will be crowned regional champions and will move on to next Friday\u2019s […]<\/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-199655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 00:08:57","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\/199655","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=199655"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199692,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199655\/revisions\/199692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}