2020 Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC) Predictions

Kaden Holmes is an excellent player. On a completely unrelated note, will any of the private schools need a quarterback next year?
 
That is the beauty of Fremont and moreso Findlay. No massive poaching.

That game last night was fun to watch. Been several of those this year in the TRAC. I did notice SJ was without their best offensive player (Zsiros) and their best defensive player (Barnes). I hope both kids are not seriously injured.

Does anyone know what the protocol is when a kid on a team is exposed or tests positive for Covid-19? My point is SJ looked like they had not practiced in two weeks. They tackled more awful that usual. Maybe that had more to do with the skill of Holmes, Price, Hammer?

On a side note, Findlay freshman played at Clay Friday night under the lights. Clay has 18 kids on their freshman team and Findlay has 55.

Here comes my rant -

I have slowly watched the deterioration of baseball in this area which is also obviously a microcosm of America. Years would pass and the crazy dad culture started kids playing "travel" ball younger and younger. First 11U, then 10U, 9U and now 8U. Yes, at 8 years old, what used to be relegated to tee-ball where kids sign up through school and get assigned to the red, blue, yellow, etc. team you now have "travel" baseball. Kids that can barely throw a ball over the plate. It is an awful product. Even worse, and since baseball is a skill game, these crazy dads bottlenecked their community baseball pool in the f#$%ing 2nd grade. Baseball has now become like hockey, where only kids whose parents have money and push them into baseball play and rec. programs across the country have suffered.

Today, the same thing is starting to happen with football. I will use Oregon, OH as an example. Oregon used to have, not long ago, 120 kids playing pee-wee football per grade 5th and 6th respectively. They had two 4 team leagues and everyone played each other twice for a 6 game season. That meant that you had at least 8 QB's, 16 RB's, 16 WR's, 8 TE's - you get the picture. Not long ago, maybe ten years ago, these brilliant fathers started up a travel football team for 3rd graders which has essentially killed the old Oregon Rec. program. So, today, you have pigeon holed your community talent to whoever plays QB in the 3rd grade, on 1 team, will be your HS QB down the line. Kids whose parents do not have the same interest to allow their kid to play in the 3rd grade fall behind and are scared to come out later for fear of being so behind. I can think of countless kids, who went on to have nice HS and college careers who would never play today because they simply signed up to flag football in the 3rd grade because their buddies were doing it and actually became good HS players. They no longer play today. I can also think of numerous 5th - 8th grade all-stars who never played a down of HS football because kids grow at such different rates. The fully developed 5'8 145lbs. RB and 6' 175lbs. OT studs in the 7th grade will never help your varsity team win a game. You want numbers. On the flip side there are short pudgy kids in the 7th grade who will grow to be 6'3 250lbs. Communities are losing those kids today. Instead of having 120 kids playing football per class you now have 20-25 and the result of this bottleneck at such a young age is 18 kids on your freshman team. And this problem is not specific to Oregon, Ohio, it is happening everywhere.

The crazy dad culture must be fought at every stop in order to stop what is happening to all sports. Taxpayer funded recreation programs need to push back against early "travel" ball at every step. HS coaches need to take a far more vested interest in their youth programs.

Rant over - Carry on. ;)
 
irish_buffalo said:
That is the beauty of Fremont and moreso Findlay. No massive poaching.

That game last night was fun to watch. Been several of those this year in the TRAC. I did notice SJ was without their best offensive player (Zsiros) and their best defensive player (Barnes). I hope both kids are not seriously injured.

Does anyone know what the protocol is when a kid on a team is exposed or tests positive for Covid-19? My point is SJ looked like they had not practiced in two weeks. They tackled more awful that usual. Maybe that had more to do with the skill of Holmes, Price, Hammer?

On a side note, Findlay freshman played at Clay Friday night under the lights. Clay has 18 kids on their freshman team and Findlay has 55.

Here comes my rant -

I have slowly watched the deterioration of baseball in this area which is also obviously a microcosm of America. Years would pass and the crazy dad culture started kids playing "travel" ball younger and younger. First 11U, then 10U, 9U and now 8U. Yes, at 8 years old, what used to be relegated to tee-ball where kids sign up through school and get assigned to the red, blue, yellow, etc. team you now have "travel" baseball. Kids that can barely throw a ball over the plate. It is an awful product. Even worse, and since baseball is a skill game, these crazy dads bottlenecked their community baseball pool in the f#$%ing 2nd grade. Baseball has now become like hockey, where only kids whose parents have money and push them into baseball play and rec. programs across the country have suffered.

Today, the same thing is starting to happen with football. I will use Oregon, OH as an example. Oregon used to have, not long ago, 120 kids playing pee-wee football per grade 5th and 6th respectively. They had two 4 team leagues and everyone played each other twice for a 6 game season. That meant that you had at least 8 QB's, 16 RB's, 16 WR's, 8 TE's - you get the picture. Not long ago, maybe ten years ago, these brilliant fathers started up a travel football team for 3rd graders which has essentially killed the old Oregon Rec. program. So, today, you have pigeon holed your community talent to whoever plays QB in the 3rd grade, on 1 team, will be your HS QB down the line. Kids whose parents do not have the same interest to allow their kid to play in the 3rd grade fall behind and are scared to come out later for fear of being so behind. I can think of countless kids, who went on to have nice HS and college careers who would never play today because they simply signed up to flag football in the 3rd grade because their buddies were doing it and actually became good HS players. They no longer play today. I can also think of numerous 5th - 8th grade all-stars who never played a down of HS football because kids grow at such different rates. The fully developed 5'8 145lbs. RB and 6' 175lbs. OT studs in the 7th grade will never help your varsity team win a game. You want numbers. On the flip side there are short pudgy kids in the 7th grade who will grow to be 6'3 250lbs. Communities are losing those kids today. Instead of having 120 kids playing football per class you now have 20-25 and the result of this bottleneck at such a young age is 18 kids on your freshman team. And this problem is not specific to Oregon, Ohio, it is happening everywhere.

The crazy dad culture must be fought at every stop in order to stop what is happening to all sports. Taxpayer funded recreation programs need to push back against early "travel" ball at every step. HS coaches need to take a far more vested interest in their youth programs.

Rant over - Carry on. ;)
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It’s a good rant. It’s really up to the HS varsity coach to shape the culture. The reason Avon has 100+ kids 10-12, two teams at the JV, freshman, 8th grade and 7th grade levels...as well as hundreds of kids in youth football...is because Coach Elder worked with the youth football folks from Day 1 to coordinate the program from top to bottom and create a program that emphasizes playing time and participation at every level. Rogue dads are dealt with as needed, but most parents buy in because they’ve seen the results over time.
 
cjb56 said:
It’s a good rant. It’s really up to the HS varsity coach to shape the culture. The reason Avon has 100+ kids 10-12, two teams at the JV, freshman, 8th grade and 7th grade levels...as well as hundreds of kids in youth football...is because Coach Elder worked with the youth football folks from Day 1 to coordinate the program from top to bottom and create a program that emphasizes playing time and participation at every level. Rogue dads are dealt with as needed, but most parents buy in because they’ve seen the results over time.
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Bingo.

Tough to build though. When you are a program that has spent some time in a basement the dad wearing the Cowboys jersey who believes his kid is going to play for the Buckeyes and moonlight for the Yankees does not buy in.

Avon is absolutely the gold standard model.
 
irish_buffalo said:
Bingo.

Tough to build though. When you are a program that has spent some time in a basement the dad wearing the Cowboys jersey who believes his kid is going to play for the Buckeyes and moonlight for the Yankees does not buy in.

Avon is absolutely the gold standard model.
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How is Anthony Wayne doing in reaching for that level of program? They seem like they should be on the way.

Nice touch with the dad wearing the Cowboys jersey - haha.
 
cjb56 said:
How is Anthony Wayne doing in reaching for that level of program? They seem like they should be on the way.

Nice touch with the dad wearing the Cowboys jersey - haha.
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;)

Brungard (HC) has done a fantastic job at recruiting his own district. I believe varsity has 90 boys out and roughly 125-130 in the program 9-12.
 
Fremont Ross hosting Parma Normandy in the first round. The Ross AD tweeted that out this morning. Looks like the Little Giants will get their first playoff win since 1983.
 
FremontKeith said:
Fremont Ross hosting Parma Normandy in the first round. The Ross AD tweeted that out this morning. Looks like the Little Giants will get their first playoff win since 1983.
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lol Keith you of all people should know don’t take anything for granted. Ross has a playoff curse and until it’s broken I’m not saying anything!
 
Maple_City_Fan said:
I guess I'm going to be the oddball. St. Francis means very little to me. Having a chance to do damage in postseason with Ross' history means everything.
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Well St. Francis IS in our region and they are a very respectable team. If Ross intends to do anything in the playoffs they need to prove they can beat a team like St. Francis.
 
irish_buffalo said:
That is the beauty of Fremont and moreso Findlay. No massive poaching.

That game last night was fun to watch. Been several of those this year in the TRAC. I did notice SJ was without their best offensive player (Zsiros) and their best defensive player (Barnes). I hope both kids are not seriously injured.

Does anyone know what the protocol is when a kid on a team is exposed or tests positive for Covid-19? My point is SJ looked like they had not practiced in two weeks. They tackled more awful that usual. Maybe that had more to do with the skill of Holmes, Price, Hammer?

On a side note, Findlay freshman played at Clay Friday night under the lights. Clay has 18 kids on their freshman team and Findlay has 55.

Here comes my rant -

I have slowly watched the deterioration of baseball in this area which is also obviously a microcosm of America. Years would pass and the crazy dad culture started kids playing "travel" ball younger and younger. First 11U, then 10U, 9U and now 8U. Yes, at 8 years old, what used to be relegated to tee-ball where kids sign up through school and get assigned to the red, blue, yellow, etc. team you now have "travel" baseball. Kids that can barely throw a ball over the plate. It is an awful product. Even worse, and since baseball is a skill game, these crazy dads bottlenecked their community baseball pool in the f#$%ing 2nd grade. Baseball has now become like hockey, where only kids whose parents have money and push them into baseball play and rec. programs across the country have suffered.

Today, the same thing is starting to happen with football. I will use Oregon, OH as an example. Oregon used to have, not long ago, 120 kids playing pee-wee football per grade 5th and 6th respectively. They had two 4 team leagues and everyone played each other twice for a 6 game season. That meant that you had at least 8 QB's, 16 RB's, 16 WR's, 8 TE's - you get the picture. Not long ago, maybe ten years ago, these brilliant fathers started up a travel football team for 3rd graders which has essentially killed the old Oregon Rec. program. So, today, you have pigeon holed your community talent to whoever plays QB in the 3rd grade, on 1 team, will be your HS QB down the line. Kids whose parents do not have the same interest to allow their kid to play in the 3rd grade fall behind and are scared to come out later for fear of being so behind. I can think of countless kids, who went on to have nice HS and college careers who would never play today because they simply signed up to flag football in the 3rd grade because their buddies were doing it and actually became good HS players. They no longer play today. I can also think of numerous 5th - 8th grade all-stars who never played a down of HS football because kids grow at such different rates. The fully developed 5'8 145lbs. RB and 6' 175lbs. OT studs in the 7th grade will never help your varsity team win a game. You want numbers. On the flip side there are short pudgy kids in the 7th grade who will grow to be 6'3 250lbs. Communities are losing those kids today. Instead of having 120 kids playing football per class you now have 20-25 and the result of this bottleneck at such a young age is 18 kids on your freshman team. And this problem is not specific to Oregon, Ohio, it is happening everywhere.

The crazy dad culture must be fought at every stop in order to stop what is happening to all sports. Taxpayer funded recreation programs need to push back against early "travel" ball at every step. HS coaches need to take a far more vested interest in their youth programs.

Rant over - Carry on. ;)
Click to expand...
The only practice time SJJ missed was where to pick up jocks in Holmes pocket, or the flats. Those Little Giants have more juking moves than some of your better dancing clubs. To Johnnies credit, they adjusted better as game went along and got the dub.
 
SMH

Do these Fremont people NOT understand curses? First the announcers curse them TWICE during the game and the team starts committing all kinds of boo-boos. Now they get cursed before play-offs even start.

sigh
 
eastisbest said:
SMH

Do these Fremont people NOT understand curses? First the announcers curse them TWICE during the game and the team starts committing all kinds of boo-boos. Now they get cursed before play-offs even start.

sigh
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Forgive me, I was at game. What did announcers state?
 
I believe that Springboro will beat Findlay which doesn't really bother me considering the "prize" for winning will be Dublin Coffman. :oops:
 
St. John's was without their stud WR Zsairos who I saw in street clothes on the sidelines (hope he's okay), which could indicate why the game was so close and why it took some time for the SJJ offense to get rolling.
 
buccaneers2002 said:
St. John's was without their stud WR Zsairos who I saw in street clothes on the sidelines (hope he's okay), which could indicate why the game was so close and why it took some time for the SJJ offense to get rolling.
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Their offense has never been an issue. They need to shore up the D. Barberton can put up points assuming they win their first round game. Having to win shootouts every week won’t hold up very long in the playoffs.
 
Still at question how strong the area is. With no cross-state competition and a history of generally not being as strong,.. SJJ hasn't exactly over powered anyone even with their stars. Barberton has been competitive even with the losses. I give the edge to NE Ohio until I see otherwise. For our area, I guess it's how one goes they all go. Is Perrysburg in the same category?
 
eastisbest said:
Still at question how strong the area is. With no cross-state competition and a history of generally not being as strong,.. SJJ hasn't exactly over powered anyone even with their stars. Barberton has been competitive even with the losses. I give the edge to NE Ohio until I see otherwise. For our area, I guess it's how one goes they all go. Is Perrysburg in the same category?
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Area is down. With that said I believe that CCHS, SJ, Napoleon, and BG have a shot at winning some games.

Perrysburg is not a DI top ten team. Not even close actually.
 
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