2019 Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC)

It is that time of year. Football is right around the corner.

Here is my updated All-TRAC team since the league's inception in 2011.

QB - Nick Holley - Whitmer - 6' 175 (Kent State - LA Rams)
QB - Deshone Kizer - CCHS - 6'4 215 (Notre Dame - Green Bay Packer ACTIVE)
RB - Jody Webb - Whitmer - 5'9 170 (Toledo/YSU)
RB - Michael Warren - CCHS - 5'11 205 (Cincinnati ACTIVE)
WR - Jase Bowen - CCHS - 6' 180 (MSU - opted for Pittsburgh Pirates ACTIVE)
WR - Nick Witcher - Whitmer - 6'3 200 (Independence JC)
WR - Ruben Flowers - Lima Sr. - 6'4 195 (Pitt/Independence JC ACTIVE)
TE - Keith Towbridge - CCHS - 6'5 255 (Louisville - Buffalo Bills ACTIVE)
OL - Storm Norton - Whitmer - 6'8 305 (Toledo - Minnesota Vikings ACTIVE)
OL - Ramone Miles - CCHS - 6'4 275 (Toledo)
OL - Zach Harmon - CCHS - 6'4 270 (Duke)
OL - Austin Beier - St. Johns - 6'4 275 (Minnesota ACTIVE)
OL - Mitch Berg - St. Johns - 6'6 300 (Toledo ACTIVE)

DL - Chris Wormley - Whitmer - 6'6 285 - (Michigan - Baltimore Ravens ACTIVE)
DL - Marquise Moore - Whitmer - 6'1 290 (Toledo)
DL - James Hudson - CCHS - 6'5 280 - (Michigan/Cincinnati - ACTIVE)
DL - DeMarko Craig - CCHS - 6'1 275 (YSU - ACTIVE)
DL - Cavon Butler - Whitmer - 6'3 285 (Kentucky ACTIVE)
LB - Kent Kern - St. Johns - 6'1 215 (Miami OH)
LB - Chris Green - CCHS - 6'1 230 (Toledo/Ohio Dominican ACTIVE)
LB - Zach Sandwisch - CCHS - 6'2 225 (West Virginia ACTIVE)
LB - Jaylen Thomas - Lima Sr. - 6'1 220 (Ball State ACTIVE)
LB - Jack Linch - Whitmer - 6' 210 (Toledo)
LB - Nate Holley - Whitmer - 6'1 195 (Kent State - LA Rams/Calgary Stampeders ACTIVE)
LB - Dallas Gant - St. Johns - 6'4 210 (OSU ACTIVE)
DB - Leroy Alexander - Whitmer - 6'2 195 (Nebraska/YSU - XFL ACTIVE)
DB - Mark Meyers - Whitmer - 6'1 185 (MSU)
DB - Kyle Nunn - Findlay - 6'4 200 (Pitt ACTIVE)
DB - Marcus Elliott - Whitmer - 6'1 190 (Kent State)
DB - Jayme Thompson - CCHS - 6'1 195 (OSU/Independence JC/Indiana)
DB - Jarron Hampton - Fremont Ross - 5'11 185 (Ohio U. ACTIVE)
DB - Pete McIntrye - St. Johns - 6'2 215 (Northwestern ACTIVE)

P - Joe Davidson - Findlay - 6'7 200 (BGSU)
K - Grant McKinniss - Findlay - 6'2 215 (Kentucky ACTIVE)

Honorable Mention

QB - Brogan Roback - SJ - EMU (Browns)/Marcus Winters - CCHS - Trine (DB)/Paul Casiano - Findlay - Findlay/Chase Bodeman - Whitmer - Robert Morris (ACTIVE)/Riley Keller - Whitmer (ACTIVE) - (BGSU)/Brady Lichtenberg - St. Johns (ACTIVE)/Tyler Wolfe - Fremont Ross - Tiffin/Jalen Slick - Fremont Ross - college?

RB - Lamar Carswell - St. Francis - Trine/Vance Settlemire - Findlay - Ashland/Emanuel Mogalu - Findlay - Ashland/Amir Edwards - CCHS - Wayne St./Malik Moore - Whitmer - Ohio Dominican (ACTIVE)/Jalen Walker - Lima Sr. - Grand Valley State/Treyvon Wade - CCHS - EMU/Deonte Rivers - CCHS, Julian Lyles - Lima Sr., Malachi Wyse - St. Francis

WR - Jeremiah Braswell - CCHS - YSU (ACTIVE)/Chris Boykin - Whitmer - Ashland/Jeffery Barnett - Fremont Ross - Trine/Dylan Blunk - Findlay - Findlay/Jimmy Orwick - Findlay - Notre Dame (baseball)/Max McCormick - St. Johns - Cornell/Tyler Palka - Saginaw Valley State-Gannon - (Steelers/Columbus Indoor ACTIVE)/Andrew Bonfiglio - St. Francis - Mount Union-Trine/Jesean Rader - Whitmer - Cincinnati Christian (ACTIVE)/Patrick Mappe - Whitmer - BGSU/Tiffin, Deirich Weiland - CCHS - Toledo/Liam Allen - St. Johns - Toledo/Dimitri Mitsolpolous - St. Johns (ACTIVE), Kyle Row - Clay - Miami (OH), Austin Niswander - Findlay - Toledo, Nigel Hayes - Whitmer - Wisconsin(basketball - Clippers ACTIVE), Demontay Lyles - Lima Sr. - Trine

TE - Keaton Upshaw - Lima Sr. - Kentucky (ACTIVE), Luke Ketterman - St. Francis - Wayne State/Luke Brodbeck - St. Johns - Wayne State/Josh Close - Whitmer - Findlay (ACTIVE)/Pat Carroll - St. Francis - BGSU (ACTIVE), Nick Longenbarger - Whitmer - Findlay

OL - Vinnie Klemper - CCHS - Air Force/Kobe Houghtlen - Whitmer - Toledo/Eric Hart - Whitmer/Sean Rattay - St. Johns - Navy (ACTIVE)/Jeff Dew - CCHS - Wayne State/Tate Parker - Whitmer (ACTIVE) - Indiana State/Brian Dooley - St. Johns - EMU (ACTIVE), Sam Iliff - Findlay - Noah Routson - Findlay - Findlay-Trine/Neamiah Cannon - CCHS - Indiana State (ACTIVE), Matt Miller - St. Johns - Wisconsin/Troy Favorite - St. Johns - Toledo/Nate Pearson - St. Johns - Toledo (baseball)

DL - Dominique Kimble - CCHS - Ashland (ACTIVE)/Phil Hoskins - Whitmer - Highland JC-Kentucky (ACTIVE), Romelle Grier - Whitmer (ACTIVE) - Texas State, Jacoby Crowell - CCHS (ACTIVE), Joenathan Mays - Whitmer - Highland JC, Christian Ward - CCHS, Brandon Taylor - Lima Sr. (ACTIVE), Miles Ashleman - St. Johns - Ashland/Ian Meachum - CCHS - Mount Union, Jon Perrin - CCHS, Kyle Walsh - Whitmer, Shaun Newsome - Fremont Ross, Jarrett Gary - Oregon Clay

LB - Paul Moses - CCHS - Miami (OH)/ Dallas Fields - CCHS - Miami (OH)/Devin Dennard - Findlay, Caleb Wood - Fremont Ross - Tiffin (ACTIVE), Garrett Schneider - Fremont Ross/Devin Thomas - Whitmer - Defiance/Justin Scheits - CCHS - BGSU(ACTIVE), Jim Johnston - CCHS, Logan Hillshein - St. Johns

DB - Tycen Anderson - St. Johns - Toledo (ACTIVE), Peshaun Wimberly - Whitmer - BGSU(ACTIVE)/Shaun Veasley - St. Johns - Ashland/Shawn Blue - CCHS - Ashland(ACTIVE), Sam Stickels - Whitmer - Toledo/Derek Branyan - CCHS - Hillsdale (ACTIVE), Tony Harper - St. Johns - Pitt, Tejuan James - CCHS, Collin Kaucher - CCHS - Ohio Dominican (baseball), Todd Bumphis - St. Francis (ACTIVE) - Cincinnati

K/P - Chase Wilcox - Findlay/Patrick Rusher - Fremont Ross - Findlay/Thomas Cluckey - Oregon Clay - Toledo/Eric Filby - Whitmer/Noah Hotz - Fremont Ross/and I'm missing like 3-4 good CCHS kickers/punters...

Tough to draw a line in the sand at some positions. As a league we have been blessed with talent. Obviously CCHS and Whitmer stick out and of course those two schools are the only ones to have won championships so rightfully so. SJ has had some guys but never seem to put it all together and you'd have to go back 16 years to the last time the Titan's beat CCHS and Whitmer in the same season.

I'm also sure I missed a few.
 
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Great list as always IB, great group of LB'S for sure. One of my fave's Paul Moses was a mention on your HM team, Paul had a great 3-year varsity career at CCHS and then started at RB as a true frosh at Miami game 1 at UM. Paul eventually ended his career at LB at Miami and the best part of the story his got his Masters from Miami.
 
irish_buffalo said:
From Scott to CC sandbagger. Jamie Johnson (WR) will certainly help alleviate the pain of losing Bowen not that Randy Williams is bad either.
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Sandbagger again? I guess I just missed that one. I'd much rather have a full season starting stud transfer RB than a 5 game WR. Hope things go well for both kids and all kids starting soon prepping for TRAC football.
 
Will the Johnson kid have to sit 5 games? Change of custody? Why make the move if so?

I wish the OHSAA would simply drop all transfer BS. If a kid wants to better himself then so be it. Just my opinion.
 
cchs1983 said:
Great list as always IB, great group of LB'S for sure. One of my fave's Paul Moses was a mention on your HM team, Paul had a great 3-year varsity career at CCHS and then started at RB as a true frosh at Miami game 1 at UM. Paul eventually ended his career at LB at Miami and the best part of the story his got his Masters from Miami.
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Masters? Awesome.

As I said earlier, really tough to draw a line somewhere. I thought about swiping him out for Green since Chris only played 2 seasons but he was simply a man-child. I remember watching him simply walk through offensive linemen as if they were not even there.

One guy I forgot would be Simeon Washington who played QB and of course LB at Trine.
 
irish_buffalo said:
Masters? Awesome.

As I said earlier, really tough to draw a line somewhere. I thought about swiping him out for Green since Chris only played 2 seasons but he was simply a man-child. I remember watching him simply walk through offensive linemen as if they were not even there.

One guy I forgot would be Simeon Washington who played QB and of course LB at Trine.
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Speaking of Trine, am I missing Marcus Winters on the list? Maybe under ‘football player’? Chris Hedden told me he thought Marcus had a chance to play on Sunday’s as a dime and special teams player, time will tell.
 
cchs1983 said:
St John's are the clear favorite for the 2019 league championship with the best set of skill kids that NW Ohio has seen in recent memory. Whitmer, St Francis and Central Catholic will battle for second place.
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I want a redo. I pick Whitmer first, with college players at QB, RB and WR. Can you imagine college kids having the ball in their hands 90% of the snaps?
SJJ
SFS
CCHS
Findlay
Lima
Clay
Fremont
 
Should Ross finish last place, does it intensify more talk/interest to SBC Lake, especially since there could be resuffling due to handful River Schools on life support and 1 already to 8-man football?
 
Fremont might rightfully see is as a step down but I really wish City League could afford Fremont. Not just for the revenues but to inspire more effort in the non-revenues. That and at least one trip every other year to Tackle Box. Tiffin already practically a member, I wonder if this year's scheduling is a look see?
 
eastisbest said:
Fremont might rightfully see is as a step down but I really wish City League could afford Fremont. Not just for the revenues but to inspire more effort in the non-revenues. That and at least one trip every other year to Tackle Box. Tiffin already practically a member, I wonder if this year's scheduling is a look see?
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Lima Senior is in a similar situation IMO. Spartans have way more in common with Start, Bowsher and Waite than they do the other members of the TRAC. Outside of boys basketball, track, maybe girls bball and football Lima has a difficult time competing in everything else as a whole. Especially in the girls sports.
 
scbuckeye99 said:
Lima Senior is in a similar situation IMO. Spartans have way more in common with Start, Bowsher and Waite than they do the other members of the TRAC. Outside of boys basketball, track, maybe girls bball and football Lima has a difficult time competing in everything else as a whole. Especially in the girls sports.
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I can see budget peoples' heads exploding. Fremont is far as it is. And can you imagine the response to a poorly performing district pulling kids out of class even more to travel to Lima or Findlay? It would be nice if the TPS schools made a habit that at least one of their schools would schedule Lima (and Fremont and Findlay...) each year but that's probably up to individual schools.
 
scbuckeye99 said:
Lima Senior is in a similar situation IMO. Spartans have way more in common with Start, Bowsher and Waite than they do the other members of the TRAC. Outside of boys basketball, track, maybe girls bball and football Lima has a difficult time competing in everything else as a whole. Especially in the girls sports.
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I wish that Lima Senior would join the WBL. They would compete much better in the WBL than in the TRAC, not to mention the drive would not be nearly as brutal. It would also provide the WBL with more competition. OG in girls and boys basketball, Wapak and St. Mary’s would see athletes before the playoffs. The WBL would have to add another team to make the conference balanced, they could possibly even create two divisions. There aren’t really any schools around this area that would make sense, however. Anna, Indian Lake and LCC seem like the most likely choices.
 
HighSchoolFB45 said:
I wish that Lima Senior would join the WBL. They would compete much better in the WBL than in the TRAC, not to mention the drive would not be nearly as brutal. It would also provide the WBL with more competition. OG in girls and boys basketball, Wapak and St. Mary’s would see athletes before the playoffs. The WBL would have to add another team to make the conference balanced, they could possibly even create two divisions. There aren’t really any schools around this area that would make sense, however. Anna, Indian Lake and LCC seem like the most likely choices.
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Lima does not bring enough fans is one reason the WBL does not want them. You can add BBall transfers to that list also. I completly agree for Lima it is their best option just don't see it happening.
 
eastisbest said:
I can see budget peoples' heads exploding. Fremont is far as it is. And can you imagine the response to a poorly performing district pulling kids out of class even more to travel to Lima or Findlay? It would be nice if the TPS schools made a habit that at least one of their schools would schedule Lima (and Fremont and Findlay...) each year but that's probably up to individual schools.
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I can't say without looking it up but historically Lima has played TPS schools in bball annually and a lot more recently in sports like baseball, soccer, etc... Grant it they're not playing every one of them in every sport so bringing Lima into the City League would "up the travel game". I get that. But Lima and TPS are definitely not strangers.
 
HighSchoolFB45 said:
I wish that Lima Senior would join the WBL. They would compete much better in the WBL than in the TRAC, not to mention the drive would not be nearly as brutal. It would also provide the WBL with more competition. OG in girls and boys basketball, Wapak and St. Mary’s would see athletes before the playoffs. The WBL would have to add another team to make the conference balanced, they could possibly even create two divisions. There aren’t really any schools around this area that would make sense, however. Anna, Indian Lake and LCC seem like the most likely choices.
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The old Lima / WBL discussion. Never gets old, well kinda. This situation will NEVER happen. The WBL is cool playing Lima in a variety of sports for sure but will never allow them to come on board as a conference / league member.
 
CC Track Fan said:
Lima does not bring enough fans is one reason the WBL does not want them. You can add BBall transfers to that list also. I completly agree for Lima it is their best option just don't see it happening.
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That MIGHT be true in football, in fact you're probably right. But you get teams like Elida, Shawnee, Celina on the bball court with Lima Senior and its a packed house. Can't speak for vball, baseball, softball, soccer, etc....
 
scbuckeye99 said:
The old Lima / WBL discussion. Never gets old, well kinda. This situation will NEVER happen. The WBL is cool playing Lima in a variety of sports for sure but will never allow them to come on board as a conference / league member.
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Why would this never happen? Not saying it will, i’m just wondering what your input is
 
Convince Perrysburg to the TRAC. There is not enough whiskey in Ireland...

Kregel confused having a couple special classes with him being a superior coach. After bolstering his schedule the past several years he learned the hard way what happens to a varsity team (10-12) with roughly 50-60 kids every year when they face a meat-grinder week in and out. Depth matters. Play a Whitmer or CCHS here or there is one thing. Facing off against them and SJ/SF/Findlay/Ross/Lima in successive weeks and you end with 40 kids playing varsity with a couple freshman mixed in.

Back to Woodward.
 
HighSchoolFB45 said:
Why would this never happen? Not saying it will, i’m just wondering what your input is
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The WBL has maintained a 10 team league since the mid-70s. The schools themselves have changed both before the mid-70s and after but that nice round even number remains. For Lima to be admitted, someone else would have to leave or be booted. The WBL schools have tremendous loyalty to each other so the notion of someone being given the boot is well not gonna happen.

"No One is leaving" - see above. the WBL has been comprised of the same 10 schools since the early 1980s. Difficult to find a league anywhere in the state with that level of consistency over that stretch of time.

Demographics - while everyone in west central Ohio has seen their school enrollments drop over the decades Lima Senior still remains the largest outside of Findlay. With barely over 1,000 students Lima still dwarfs Bath, Kenton, OG in school size which to some people is a concern still.

The Urban school - Lima is still viewed by some in Allen county and the surrounding area as the "Urban" school. Which it is. It's a racially diverse inner city school surrounded by predominantly white rural / suburban schools. And while some WBL fan bases don't care about being on the east side of Lima after dark, other fan bases do.
 
irish_buffalo said:
Convince Perrysburg to the TRAC. There is not enough whiskey in Ireland...

Kregel confused having a couple special classes with him being a superior coach. After bolstering his schedule the past several years he learned the hard way what happens to a varsity team (10-12) with roughly 50-60 kids every year when they face a meat-grinder week in and out. Depth matters. Play a Whitmer or CCHS here or there is one thing. Facing off against them and SJ/SF/Findlay/Ross/Lima in successive weeks and you end with 40 kids playing varsity with a couple freshman mixed in.

Back to Woodward.
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Kregel graduating those classes was big but I think losing Brungard to AW may be the biggest hit to his program.
 
And further, Coach Kregel and his staff can coach. They have done a great job with the Yellow Jacket program. The problem some coaches run into is believing that a couple of really special years are mainly due to their X's & O's when in all reality has a lot to do with the Jimmy's and Joe's. Even in Coach Kregel's special run of 3-4 years the Jackets avoided the injury bug quite well.

It all has to do with numbers. Unless forced, why would the Jackets leave the NLL where they and AW are the two big boys on the block?

Coach Brungard gets the numbers game and at a place like AW that is easier but he recruits from within. You have to now-a-days. Any school that has 600-800 boys roaming the halls grades 10-12 should have 80-100+ kids out every year (grades 10-12) and a freshman team with anywhere between 35-60 kids. Numbers win.

The past couple years Perrysburg played good Dublin Coffman teams that have those kind of numbers plus some special D-I & D-II college talent. If Dublin Coffman has a starting offensive tackle go down it certainly hurts their team but not as bad when they can plug in another senior or underclassman who is just as big and even perhaps as good if not better but simply does not have the experience as the starter. I've seen the big D-I schools lose a 6'3 275lbs. senior only to replace him with a 6'4 250lbs. junior who would start at ANY school in NWOhio. Numbers and depth matter.

The past couple years Perrysburg, with their 55-60 kids 10-12 has had some key guys go down and they do not have the depth to sustain. Of course we live in the age of specialization and it is really difficult for a varsity coach to have a strong handle on his youth program but bottle necking kids at 8-9-10 years of age and saying these are my guys hurts a varsity program.

Not long ago schools like Whitmer, Oregon Clay, Fremont Ross, and Findlay had two or sometimes three 8th grade teams. Today they all have one team with roughly 25-30 kids. We've all seen the 6th grade all-star who never plays football beyond 8th grade as much as we've seen the smaller kid with two left feet hit puberty and become a 6'3 240lbs. manchild. Dads...oh well?

I digress. Perrysburg will never leave the NLL. They have it good and I don't blame em.
 
irish_buffalo said:
And further, Coach Kregel and his staff can coach. They have done a great job with the Yellow Jacket program. The problem some coaches run into is believing that a couple of really special years are mainly due to their X's & O's when in all reality has a lot to do with the Jimmy's and Joe's. Even in Coach Kregel's special run of 3-4 years the Jackets avoided the injury bug quite well.

It all has to do with numbers. Unless forced, why would the Jackets leave the NLL where they and AW are the two big boys on the block?

Coach Brungard gets the numbers game and at a place like AW that is easier but he recruits from within. You have to now-a-days. Any school that has 600-800 boys roaming the halls grades 10-12 should have 80-100+ kids out every year (grades 10-12) and a freshman team with anywhere between 35-60 kids. Numbers win.

The past couple years Perrysburg played good Dublin Coffman teams that have those kind of numbers plus some special D-I & D-II college talent. If Dublin Coffman has a starting offensive tackle go down it certainly hurts their team but not as bad when they can plug in another senior or underclassman who is just as big and even perhaps as good if not better but simply does not have the experience as the starter. I've seen the big D-I schools lose a 6'3 275lbs. senior only to replace him with a 6'4 250lbs. junior who would start at ANY school in NWOhio. Numbers and depth matter.

The past couple years Perrysburg, with their 55-60 kids 10-12 has had some key guys go down and they do not have the depth to sustain. Of course we live in the age of specialization and it is really difficult for a varsity coach to have a strong handle on his youth program but bottle necking kids at 8-9-10 years of age and saying these are my guys hurts a varsity program.

Not long ago schools like Whitmer, Oregon Clay, Fremont Ross, and Findlay had two or sometimes three 8th grade teams. Today they all have one team with roughly 25-30 kids. We've all seen the 6th grade all-star who never plays football beyond 8th grade as much as we've seen the smaller kid with two left feet hit puberty and become a 6'3 240lbs. manchild. Dads...oh well?

I digress. Perrysburg will never leave the NLL. They have it good and I don't blame em.
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Yep, in my day, Ross would have 50-55 on Frosh team, 2 Eighth grade teams, and 4 7th grade teams. Granted, those 4 played against each other. Carnival Night was a huge deal as well.
 
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