{"id":210369,"date":"2026-09-21T20:29:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=210369"},"modified":"2026-09-21T20:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:29:38","slug":"random-thoughts-playoffs-proposal-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/09\/21\/random-thoughts-playoffs-proposal-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts; playoffs, proposal, more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around the NWC and the playoffs, an important stretch of games, public\/private, and Lincoln Keinholz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NWC and the playoffs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WKSD\u2019s Shawn Gerber brought this up with me and he\u2019s right \u2013 there seems to be an execellent chance that six of the eight NWC teams will qualify for the playoffs this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those teams are Lima Central Catholic, Columbus Grove, Bluffton, Fort Loramie, Allen East and Delphos Jefferson. For a couple of them it\u2019s not yet set in stone but it\u2019s close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three week stretch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we can all agree that Ottawa-Glandorf is the surprise team of the area this year and at least on paper, it appears, the Titans and Celina could be playing for an outright WBL championship when they meet in Week No. 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O-G has an interesting three game stretch coming up before that \u2013 at St. Marys Memorial and Bath, then home against Van Wert. One could argue they\u2019ll be considered the favorites in all three games, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ll be easy games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celina survived a scare by Shawnee \u2013 the Indians led 13-0 before the Bullodgs rallied for a 28-13 win. Celina\u2019s next three games are at Kenton and Elida, then home against Bath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public\/private<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news came out last week that the Suburban League in northeast Ohio wants to place a referendum before OHSAA member schools next spring, which would allow the schools to vote on a proposed public\/private split.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It feels like this came out of nowhere and from what I\u2019ve heard, member school reception to the idea has been lukewarm at best. That could be an understatement. In the end, Suburban League administrators need 75 schools from around Ohio to sign petitions and if everything checks out, it would likely go to a vote by OHSAA member schools in May. Based on early feedback, I\u2019m really wondering if they\u2019ll get the required number of signatures or if this thing will flame out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it\u2019s possible that it will get to a vote and I suppose it\u2019s possible it could pass, but I doubt it. Actually, I think there\u2019s very little chance of it becoming reality. It failed twice before, years ago, and there have been rumblings here and there over the years about similar attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I wrote last week, it seems like a bad idea and now there\u2019s word that if it did somehow pass, a number of private\/parochial schools would leave the OHSAA and form their own association. If there\u2019s a problem now, it could potentially be much worse since they wouldn\u2019t have to abide by OHSAA rules. There\u2019s also open enrollment but I won\u2019t go into that again here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, I could be wrong here but something tells me the people behind this push didn\u2019t seem to realize there\u2019s not really a big call for this from other schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincoln Keinholz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Ohio State fans are grumbling that perhaps the better quarterback got away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julian Sayin, of course, is fully entrenched as Ohio State\u2019s starting quarterback. I have no issue with it. For the most part, he\u2019s very accurate but like other fans, I do wish he was a bit more mobile. However, he seems to fit what the Buckeyes want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Lincoln Keinholz is putting up big numbers through the air and on the ground at Louisville, leading people to wonder if he was the one that \u201cgot away.\u201d It\u2019s kind of funny though, because many of those same people were fine when he left via the transfer portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I liked him when he was at Ohio State and I refer to my comments from the April 7, 2025 installment of Random Thoughts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOhio State head coach Ryan Day said Julian Sayin and Lincoln Keinholz are neck-and-neck in the quarterback race. What else is he going to say? Any mention that one is ahead of the other will likely send the one who\u2019s not ahead to the transfer portal. Remember, he did the same thing with Kyle McCord and Devin Brown two years ago. A lot of coaches do it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPersonally, I\u2019m very intrigued by Keinholz. To me, even with very little game prep or reps, he looked light years ahead of Devin Brown in the ill-fated Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri in 2024. I know, OSU scored a grand total of three points in the game. He still showed some encouraging flashes. It won\u2019t be a shock, at least to me, if he eventually wins the QB battle.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keinholz obviously didn\u2019t win the quarterback battle and eventually left for Louisville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suppose decisions like these are never easy for coaches. In some ways, it\u2019s like Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow. Regardless, I\u2019m rooting for both quarterbacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you have thoughts 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 This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around the NWC and the playoffs, an important stretch of games, public\/private, and Lincoln Keinholz. NWC and the playoffs WKSD\u2019s Shawn Gerber brought this up with me and he\u2019s right \u2013 there seems to be an execellent chance that six of the eight NWC teams […]<\/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-210369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-04 05:44:59","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\/210369","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=210369"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210374,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210369\/revisions\/210374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}