{"id":208756,"date":"2026-08-10T22:02:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T03:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=208756"},"modified":"2026-08-10T22:03:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T03:03:00","slug":"monday-mailbag-picks-vanlue-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/08\/10\/monday-mailbag-picks-vanlue-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mailbag: picks, Vanlue, more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around Friday\u2019s football scrimmage, preseason predictions, Vanlue football and the Monday Mailbag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scrimmage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you plan on going to Friday\u2019s Crestview at Van Wert scrimmage, keep in mind it will start at 6 p.m. at Eggerss Stadium. The first half will be treated like an actual varsity game, with two full quarters of action. After that, the junior varsity teams will play and will likely alternate 10-play series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preseason predictions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve received a couple of questions about my WBL preseason football predictions and both are valid questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a nutshell, one reader said as defending champion, Wapakoneta should have been picked as the favorite to win yet another WBL crown. I tend to lean toward that mindset, but there are exceptions. One of those exceptions is graduation losses. If a team wins the title and returns most of those players, it\u2019s a pretty easy call. But what if a staggering number of key senior players graduate? That\u2019s the case with Wapakoneta. As I said in my predictions, I don\u2019t expect the Redskins to plummet in the standings, but losing those players to graduation will\/should have some kind of effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the flip side, another reader asked why I picked Wapak so high, given all the graduation losses. Did I pick them to finish second, based solely on the name, was the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes and no. It\u2019s hard to pick against a problem that has enjoyed so much success, especially in recent years. Plus, you have to remember that while many starters and lettermen are gone, a number of the returning players saw significant varsity action last year. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t think Wapak will plunge in the standings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanlue has scheduled a special school board meeting for tonight (Tuesday) and it doesn\u2019t sound good. The public meeting has been planned to discuss the status of football for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanlue is believed to be the smallest school in the state that offers 11-man football. Numbers have always been a challenge there and I have to admit \u2013 I\u2019ve always rooted for them to succeed. Unfortunately, the Wildcats have posted a 2-46 record over the last five seasons, and the program\u2019s struggles date back many years before that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

If the season is canceled, it would join at least two other programs that have done the same \u2013 Loveland (near Cincinnati) and Oberlin, in Lorain County. I don\u2019t know much about Loveland\u2019s program, but I know Oberlin\u2019s football program has struggled for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s probably too late for this season, but schools like these and others may want to consider transitioning to the 8-man game, which is now a recognized sport in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday Mailbag<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last topic today is the Monday Mailbag, a feature that in previous years ran each Monday during the high school football season. The last two or three seasons, questions and comments sent to the Monday Mailbag were hit-or-miss \u2013 some weeks there would be a lot of questions, other weeks very few, which makes me wonder if the feature has run its course. I will note that some of the questions that were sent in were not suitable to be published. The VW independent will not publish entries that are disparaging to high school athletes or coaches. This isn\u2019t major college or the pros \u2013 these are high school kids and coaches we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you would like to see the feature continue, please drop me a line and let me know \u2013 sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>, and if you have a sports comment or question at any point during the high school football season, don\u2019t be shy, send it in. It doesn\u2019t have to about high school football \u2013 it can be about any sport, boys or girls, at any level. Again, negative comments about high school athletics will not be published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll see what the response is. If it\u2019s good, we\u2019ll keep going. If there\u2019s little or no response, then it\u2019s time to end the Monday Mailbag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around Friday\u2019s football scrimmage, preseason predictions, Vanlue football and the Monday Mailbag. Scrimmage If you plan on going to Friday\u2019s Crestview at Van Wert scrimmage, keep in mind it will start at 6 p.m. at Eggerss Stadium. The first half will be treated like an […]<\/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-208756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-20 08:14:20","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\/208756","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=208756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208757,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208756\/revisions\/208757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}