Wayne County Athletic League 2021-22

 
Dalton has to be considered the favorites going into the season considering they are aiming for their third straight league title. Dalton is only returning one starter from last year's team, but the top of their roster is really tough to match up with. Not many small schools have backcourts going 6'4'', 6'6'', and 6'2''. Norwayne, Chippewa, and Smithville should all be trying to knock Dalton off. Nice slate of games this Friday with Norwayne at Dalton and Smithville at Chippewa.
 
^^ agreed 187xovr. I did hear that there was some turmoil this summer with the Dalton team and a few guys are not playing because of it. But still a good team.
Norwayne- does not have the size they have had but have talent.
Chippewa- have some guys that can score it.
Smithville- has two nice guards that can score.

Should be entertaining in the WCAL.
 
The_Wizard said:
^^ agreed 187xovr. I did hear that there was some turmoil this summer with the Dalton team and a few guys are not playing because of it. But still a good team.
Norwayne- does not have the size they have had but have talent.
Chippewa- have some guys that can score it.
Smithville- has two nice guards that can score.

Should be entertaining in the WCAL.
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That is too bad. That will surely harm Dalton's depth. I saw Dalton's non league schedule. Holy cow!! Lutheran East, Mentor, St Xavier, Rhodes, University School, Revere, Hiland, and Tuslaw. There is not one gimme in the bunch with those teams.
 
Dalton starters will be hard to beat, but as has been mentioned, with 3 or so guys not returning, they will not be deep (and they would have been). I saw them Friday, they were pretty disjointed on offense (not surprising with only a few practices together). Defense needs to play at a more consistent intensity as well. That being said, they still beat a very good Chippewa team on the road. That Gasser kid for the chipps is really outstanding - what a finisher!
 
Should be an interesting week or so for Dalton coming up. Over a 9 day stretch here between the 10th-18th it looks like they play Norwayne-Tuslaw-Lutheran East-Smithville-Mentor with the Tuslaw & Mentor games coming on the second night of back-to-backs. I know these are young kids, but that sounds like about as exhausting of a stretch of games imaginable for a WCAL team.
 
Stark Sports said:
Should be an interesting week or so for Dalton coming up. Over a 9 day stretch here between the 10th-18th it looks like they play Norwayne-Tuslaw-Lutheran East-Smithville-Mentor with the Tuslaw & Mentor games coming on the second night of back-to-backs. I know these are young kids, but that sounds like about as exhausting of a stretch of games imaginable for a WCAL team.
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Yes. We will see what Dalton is made of over those 9 days. A brutal stretch of games for a small school.
 
Dalton @ Smithville may be an interesting game. The two Smithie guards have been playing well, Dalton I know is the favorite for the league title but still could be a good game.
 
The_Wizard said:
Dalton @ Smithville may be an interesting game. The two Smithie guards have been playing well, Dalton I know is the favorite for the league title but still could be a good game.
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I agree. Smithville has been completely dominating teams since their opening game. Dalton is undefeated, but has won three relatively close games. Dalton has the two best wins between the two teams, as Smithville has not beat anybody as good as Norwayne or Tuslaw. Smithville could really shake up the league with a win over Dalton. Dalton will have a huge leg up after three games if they hold wins over Norwayne and Smithville this early. There is no doubt that Smithville belongs in any conversation about the top 2-3 teams in the league.
 
Pretty good stretch the last two weeks for Dalton with wins over Norwayne, Tuslaw, Smithville - and taking Mentor to the wire. Also seeing some depth developing to at least give the starters a few breaks
 
Yea Dalton with some big wins already early in season. A friend of mine went to the Dalton/Smithville game, he said Smithville plays hard but no depth, they ran out of gas down the stretch. And Dalton has some talented kids, a couple of their players just need to play the game and not run their mouth. Game was close until about mid-way through the 4th, then Dalton pulled away hit some big shots a couple by role players. They will be tough to beat.
 
Yea, there was talking going on - one of Dalton’s best players didn’t play in the 4th quarter because of it, coaches decision (and the first quarter of the next game). Although in all honesty, the one Smithville guard was talking just about as much.
 
^^ Not surprising that kids were both talking, seems to be the norm now. I am guessing they sit and watch the NBA and all the talking going on there and they think that is okay.
 
Well after tonight the boys will be halfway through the WCAL schedule for the most part other than a couple make up games.

WCAL Record:
Dalton-5-0
Smithvile-5-1
Norwayne 4-2
Northwestern-3-3
Waynedale-2-4
Chippewa-2-4
Rittman-1-3
Hillsdale-0-5

It looks that Dalton is in control at this point with some very good talent. Surprised a little that the Smithies are right behind them, but their two guards are very good. Norwayne has a nice team and could see them upsetting one if not both Dalton & Smithville next time around. Should be a fun 2nd half. Dalton has Norwayne Jan 21st and then the Smithies Jan. 28th that will tell us a lot after those two weekends.
 
The_Wizard said:
Well after tonight the boys will be halfway through the WCAL schedule for the most part other than a couple make up games.

WCAL Record:
Dalton-5-0
Smithvile-5-1
Norwayne 4-2
Northwestern-3-3
Waynedale-2-4
Chippewa-2-4
Rittman-1-3
Hillsdale-0-5

It looks that Dalton is in control at this point with some very good talent. Surprised a little that the Smithies are right behind them, but their two guards are very good. Norwayne has a nice team and could see them upsetting one if not both Dalton & Smithville next time around. Should be a fun 2nd half. Dalton has Norwayne Jan 21st and then the Smithies Jan. 28th that will tell us a lot after those two weekends.
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Norwayne (Chippewa, Northwestern) & Smithville (Rittman, Norwayne, Hillsdale) were both able to pull out some close wins to stay in the hunt for the league title. Both get their shots at Dalton the next couple of weeks. Dalton with a tough stretch of 3 games in 4 days...........Chippewa on Tuesday, at Lutheran East on Wednesday, and then at Norwayne on Friday. Seems like that would tilt things in Norwayne’s favor a little bit. Although their game with Smithville was very tight for 3+ quarters, Dalton has not had a league game closer than 15 points since the first Norwayne game.
 
Dalton over Chippewa by 55 tonight. Chipps played them tough the first time…not so tonight. Now Lutheran East and Norwayne tomorrow and Friday.
 
^^ I did see Dalton rolled big time over Chippewa. Also, Smithville and Norwayne won convincingly to setup Dalton/Norwayne this Friday and Smithville/Dalton next Friday to see where the league will be after that. Hopefully some good games moving forward.
 
If Kyrie Gaut keeps shooting like he is, Dalton will be hard to beat. He is taking some pressure off of Jalen and Braylon. When you have 3 players putting up 50 to 60 points that is really hard to beat.
 
Wow is right, what it even more wow, it was at LE, now if they just can nock off Richmond Hts in the tournament
 
Saw that the Bobcats won Friday night, this makes the county race really fun now. Big one this Friday night Smithville @ Dalton.
 
The Smithville vs Dalton game was already going to have first place on the line even if Dalton beat Norwayne. Norwayne is now right back in the picture with their win on Friday. It would be irresponsible to bill the Smithville vs Dalton game as the league championship with so many games to play, but it is a mammoth game when it comes to the league any way you want to look at it.
 
^^ Agreed, loser is going to be on the outside and the winner will have inside track for WCAL title. I think if Dalton wins Friday, they will take county. If Smithville wins then the Smithville/Norwayne game will be even a bigger game as far as county goes.
 
Great game Friday night at Dalton, with the bulldogs winning at the buzzer over Smithville. The younger Wenger for Dalton and Piatt for Smithville dueled each other till the end. Easy for me to say now, but Smithville had the ball with gamed tied with 15 or so sec to go, not sure why they were passing the ball around (which led to the turnover for Dalton to get it for last shot) should have keep ball in Piatt's hand to attack the hoop IMO. That way you either win it or go to over time. But either way great game.
 
The_Wizard said:
Great game Friday night at Dalton, with the bulldogs winning at the buzzer over Smithville. The younger Wenger for Dalton and Piatt for Smithville dueled each other till the end. Easy for me to say now, but Smithville had the ball with gamed tied with 15 or so sec to go, not sure why they were passing the ball around (which led to the turnover for Dalton to get it for last shot) should have keep ball in Piatt's hand to attack the hoop IMO. That way you either win it or go to over time. But either way great game.
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Hindsight is always 20/20 when it comes to that last possession. Obviously, anything is better than a turnover in that situation. While Carter Piatt had a great game, most of his damage was done in transition or by off the ball movement in their half court offense. I do not recall him just going one on one in clear out situations much that night. I have watched him play 8-10 times the last few years, and going one on one does not really seem like it is his game. That probably factored into Smithville's strategy on the final possession.

Smithville was very impressive in the second half of that game. Dalton seemed like they were ready to run away with that game for pretty much the first three quarters, but Smithville kept chipping away. They almost pulled it off. Both teams graduate some huge pieces to their team this year, but this game should set the stage for two good matchups between the two teams next year.
 
The game in Creston on Friday should be a good one. Both Norwayne and Smithville have been playing well. The game is likely for second place in the league, but that will not deter from the competition taking place. I expect both teams to be getting after it. Obviously Dalton could still lose and give the winner of this game a share of the league title as well.

I still cannot quite figure out Smithville's motivation for choosing to get in Lutheran East's bracket in the Richmond Heights district instead of playing in the Wooster district with Norwayne. Maybe they did not want to have to face Fairview in the district semifinals? Still does not make sense to me as Lutheran East is clearly the best team in the two districts. If Smithville did not want to face Fairview in the district semifinals, then maybe they should have jumped onto Norwayne's side of the bracket.......especially considering they have already beat Norwayne once. Beating Lutheran East at Richmond Heights will be a monumental task for a team who has never really traveled for a game like that.....against a coach and team that has had incredible tournament success the last 5 years or so. The game would pretty much be a home game for Lutheran East.
 
187xovr said:
The game in Creston on Friday should be a good one. Both Norwayne and Smithville have been playing well. The game is likely for second place in the league, but that will not deter from the competition taking place. I expect both teams to be getting after it. Obviously Dalton could still lose and give the winner of this game a share of the league title as well.

I still cannot quite figure out Smithville's motivation for choosing to get in Lutheran East's bracket in the Richmond Heights district instead of playing in the Wooster district with Norwayne. Maybe they did not want to have to face Fairview in the district semifinals? Still does not make sense to me as Lutheran East is clearly the best team in the two districts. If Smithville did not want to face Fairview in the district semifinals, then maybe they should have jumped onto Norwayne's side of the bracket.......especially considering they have already beat Norwayne once. Beating Lutheran East at Richmond Heights will be a monumental task for a team who has never really traveled for a game like that.....against a coach and team that has had incredible tournament success the last 5 years or so. The game would pretty much be a home game for Lutheran East.
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My understanding is Smithville wanted to go where they would have a bye the first round. Because they have a game Friday Feb.18th and then a make-up game Saturday Feb.19th. They did not want to turn around and play Tuesday night first round after a double weekend. If that is correct, looking at the bracket it looks like they went to the only spot (as far as byes) on the board that makes sense IMO. You will have to play Richmond Heights sooner or later (baring an upset) anyways. So, does it really matter if you play them in the district semis or District final at that point?
 
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