{"id":211676,"date":"2026-10-26T22:16:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T03:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=211676"},"modified":"2026-10-26T22:16:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T03:16:58","slug":"random-thoughts-playoff-stats-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/10\/26\/random-thoughts-playoff-stats-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: playoff stats and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong><em>independent sports<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts included a sneak peak at a startling stat, No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 seed history, predictions vs. reality and a season wrap up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Landlocked<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Van Wert vs. Otsego game preview feature will appear on Wednesday\u2019s Sports page but here\u2019s an advance tidbit. The Knights have thrown the ball just 22 times all season. That\u2019s it. But they\u2019ve been incredibly efficient when they do pass. The ground game is the preferred method of ball advancement for Otsego. The Knights average over eight yards per carry and have scored 49 touchdowns on the ground this season. Check back Wednesday for more numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 seed rewind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Otsego is the No. 5 seed in Division IV, Region 14, while Van Wert is the No. 12 seed.&nbsp; How have No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 seed matchups gone in previous seasons across the board, 28 regions in seven different divisions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2025: No. 12 seed teams were 0-28 vs. No. 5 seeded teams<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2024: No. 12 seed teams were 2-26 vs. No. 5 seeded teams<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023: No. 12 seed teams were 6-22 vs. No. 5 seeded teams<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2022: No. 12 seed teams were 2-26 vs. No. 5 seeded teams<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2021: No. 12 seed teams were 0-28 vs. No. 5 seeded teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So No. 5 seeds are 130-10 vs. No. 12 seeds. Of course, there\u2019s no guarantee it will happen again this year, but history isn\u2019t exactly on the side of No. 12 seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prediction vs. reality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How did my preseason predictions match up to the final regular season standings? Not too bad in the NWC. This is how I predicted the NWC title race:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lima Central Catholic<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Columbus Grove<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bluffton<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Allen East<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crestview<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fort Loramie<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spencerville<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Delphos Jefferson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How they ended up:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lima Central Catholic<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Columbus Grove<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bluffton<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Allen East<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fort Loramie<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crestview<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Delphos Jefferson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spencerville<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I got the top four correct, 5-6 were flip-flopped, along with 7-8. Again, not too bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prediction vs. reality II<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How about the WBL. Well, let\u2019s just say I wasn\u2019t even close. In fairness, no one really predicted Ottawa-Glandorf would go from 0-10 to 10-0 or that Celina would go from 4-6 to 9-1. Still, it was a topsy-turvy year in the WBL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is how I predicted the WBL race:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Marys Memorial<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wapakoneta<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Wert<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bath<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Celina<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Defiance<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elida<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shawnee<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kenton<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ottawa-Glandorf<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How they ended up:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ottawa-Glandorf<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Celina<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wapakoneta<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Marys Memorial<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shawnee (T-5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Wert (T-5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bath<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kenton (T-8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elida (T-8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Defiance<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, it was a much different season than predicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crestview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crestview\u2019s season in review feature will appear on Wednesday\u2019s Sports page but here\u2019s a fun fact in advance \u2013 nine of Crestview\u2019s opponents are playoff teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above topics, feel free to email me at <a href=\"mailto:sports@thevwindependent.com\">sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts included a sneak peak at a startling stat, No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 seed history, predictions vs. reality and a season wrap up. Landlocked A Van Wert vs. Otsego game preview feature will appear on Wednesday\u2019s Sports page but here\u2019s an advance tidbit. The Knights [&hellip;]<\/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-211676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-11-03 03:47:51","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\/211676","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=211676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211677,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211676\/revisions\/211677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}