{"id":210643,"date":"2026-09-28T20:27:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T01:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=210643"},"modified":"2026-09-28T20:27:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T01:27:06","slug":"random-thoughts-hammons-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/09\/28\/random-thoughts-hammons-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: Hammons and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts centers around an impressive feat by a local coach, WBL football standings, a Week No. 8 matchup, a possible GMC title game, Marion Local, Ohio State and a sign the world may be coming to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champs and honors x2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many coaches can claim they led two teams in different sports to conference championships and earned Coach of the Year honors in both sports in the same calendar year? Just one that I know of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Hammons led Lincolnview to an NWC boys basketball championship this past February and he was named NWC Coach of the Year. Now, Hammons has led the Lancer boys golf team to an NWC championship and garnered Coach of the Year honors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to Coach Hammons and the Lancers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WBL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This surprises me a little. In the Western Buckeye League standings, just three teams have overall winning records, 6-0 Celina, 6-0 Ottawa-Glandorf and 4-2 Van Wert. Three other teams are 3-3 \u2013 Shawnee, Wapakoneta and St. Marys Memorial, while the remaining four are under .500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll say this \u2013 Wapakoneta is the best 3-3 team you\u2019ll see this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week No. 8<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WBL football fans are peeking ahead to Week No. 9, when Ottawa-Glandorf hosts Celina. On paper, it looks like the WBL championship game and know knows, it very well may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the week before, the Titans will host Van Wert. Realistically, the Cougars are out of the WBL title race (3-2 WBL), but Van Wert could have a say in who wins the league championship. Plus, let\u2019s not forget that over the last eight seasons, seven of the games between the Cougars and Titans have been close, competitive games, regardless of records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GMC title game?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Green Meadows Conference title game could be this Friday night, as Fairview (5-1, 3-0 GMC) hosts defending champion Paulding (5-1, 3-0 GMC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The two teams are tied for first. After Friday, Paulding has games left against Edgerton (0-6), Hicksville (0-6) and Tinora (2-4). In fairness, Tinora has played a brutal schedule. Fairview has Antwerp (3-3), Edgerton (0-6) and Wayne Trace (4-2) left after Friday. Don\u2019t count out the Raiders \u2013 they could have a say-so in the GMC title race. However, this Friday\u2019s winner between Paulding and Fairview will be in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marion Local<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Flyers will close the regular season with games against Minster (6-0) and Coldwater (5-1), and Marion Local will almost certainly be the No. 1 seed in Division VII, Region 28, which means an opening round bye. With all due respect to all the other teams in the region, Marion Local\u2019s first playoff game or two could seem like a breather after playing in a balanced MAC and closing the season with two powerhouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

While watching Saturday\u2019s game against Illinois, I reached this conclusion, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not alone \u2013 right now, Ohio State is a good, maybe a very good team, but not a great team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On offense, outside of Jeremiah Smith, who\u2019s the home run threat? Could it be Legend Bey? Maybe, but for whatever reason, he\u2019s not playing. I thought Chris Henry Jr. would play a much bigger role at wideout but that\u2019s not happening, at least right now. On defense, the line and linebackers aren\u2019t special. They\u2019re average to slightly above average but that\u2019s about it. Obviously, the defense from the past two seasons was special, so it\u2019s not fair to compare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iowa, Indiana and USC are on tap in October. Those will be three big challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NFL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the apocolpyse here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Las Vegas Raiders are 3-0. The Cleveland Browns are 2-1. The Minnesota Vikings, who were expected to stuggle this year, are 3-0, while the LA Chargers are 0-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a long season, but no one expected any of that.<\/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 edition of Random Thoughts centers around an impressive feat by a local coach, WBL football standings, a Week No. 8 matchup, a possible GMC title game, Marion Local, Ohio State and a sign the world may be coming to an end. Champs and honors x2 How many coaches can claim […]<\/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-210643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-07 14:41:19","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\/210643","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=210643"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210646,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210643\/revisions\/210646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}