Division 5 Region 18

H

Hulk Armstrong

Member
Regions 17 & 20 have threads already... but region 18 is loaded, at least as history would suggest..

A lot of movement in 18 with teams coming up from D6 and down from D4
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Do we see anybody that can knock off Coldwater?

Should get a good idea of the region power rankings very early with some great NWOAL vs NBC and NBC vs SBC Bay matchups in the non-conference. Not to mention O-G v Eastwood wk1. Those matchups will go a long way in determining who gets in at the bottom of the region and who earns home field advantage at the top.

My early impression is that the NBC and NWOAL as leagues will be slightly down compared to last year.. and that the SBC Bay will be better overall, but not likely to produce a single team as strong as 2021 PC.. am I way off base?

What else are you curious about?
 
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Coldwater is the favorite, but I would never count out the likes of OG, Eastwood, Archbold, Liberty Center, or even Tinora. Not sure what Port Clinton has back, but they won a really good R14 so they could be right there.

This region is brutal. Definitely no 2-8 Pleasant sneaking into the playoffs this year. It wouldn't shock me if even at 16 teams, a winning team or 2 was left out.
 
Hulk Armstrong said:
Regions 17 & 20 have threads already... but region 18 is loaded, at least as history would suggest..

A lot of movement in 18 with teams coming up from D6 and down from D4
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Do we see anybody that can knock off Coldwater?

Should get a good idea of the region power rankings very early with some great NWOAL vs NBC and NBC vs SBC Bay matchups in the non-conference. Not to mention O-G v Eastwood wk1. Those matchups will go a long way in determining who gets in at the bottom of the region and who earns home field advantage at the top.

My early impression is that the NBC and NWOAL as leagues will be slightly down compared to last year.. and that the SBC Bay will be better overall, but not likely to produce a single team as strong as 2021 PC.. am I way off base?

What else are you curious about?
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I'd love to see Coldwater play someone new for a change. Personally for me I'm looking forward to Coldwater playing Ottawa Glandorf because we used to be in the same league once upon a time.
 
dhsdog06 said:
Coldwater is the favorite, but I would never count out the likes of OG, Eastwood, Archbold, Liberty Center, or even Tinora. Not sure what Port Clinton has back, but they won a really good R14 so they could be right there.

This region is brutal. Definitely no 2-8 Pleasant sneaking into the playoffs this year. It wouldn't shock me if even at 16 teams, a winning team or 2 was left out.
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What’s the background on Tinora? That’s a little far west for my radar..

Also how did LC and Archbold play to such different results in their two matchups last season? Is one returning more than the other this year?

Port Clinton lost a lot of seniors, but also return some premium players at QB, TE and NT. Their OL was the story in last years playoff run though and they have some holes to fill there as well as the skill spots. Biggest story might be that they lost their HC. Although the replacement comes from Wapak, so I assume they’ll still know how to run it in November.
 
Archbold is my favorite followed by Tinora and Elmwood. Coldwater appears to be slipping. Clearview and Swanton are at the bottom again.
 
Hulk Armstrong said:
What’s the background on Tinora? That’s a little far west for my radar..

Also how did LC and Archbold play to such different results in their two matchups last season? Is one returning more than the other this year?

Port Clinton lost a lot of seniors, but also return some premium players at QB, TE and NT. Their OL was the story in last years playoff run though and they have some holes to fill there as well as the skill spots. Biggest story might be that they lost their HC. Although the replacement comes from Wapak, so I assume they’ll still know how to run it in November.
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Believe Tinora has a lot back from a 10-2 team who's losses were by 2 to LC and then to state champion Carey. Their conference isn't the strongest, but they dominated it last year and test themselves well non league with LC, Wauseon, and last year Leipsic, this year LCC.

Their playoff history is spotty, but includes a Final Four run where they almost beat state champ Minster.

I'd put them a step behind the top teams, but they'll be in the mix.


Archbold-LC last year.....Archbold was a finesse team who didn't handle the bad weather well. LC punched them in the mouth in the cold. Archbold I'm pretty sure loses their all region QB, so they may take a small step back.
 
StateChampion2012 said:
That is true. It was also hard to win being the smallest school in the league
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OG is by far the smallest school in the WBL. Over the last 25 or so years under the current head coach Ken Schriner, you could argue they’ve been the best team in the league.

Over the last 10 years, Wapak has clearly been the best team in the WBL and I’d say OG has probably been the second best. In the last 5 years it’s been Van Wert, but not by much. At least head to head OGand VW have been very close

Wapak is about twice as big as OG.

OG has been in the playoffs 13 of the last 17 years and the 2014 team which did not get in went 8-2 in a stacked region similar to this one.

That said, I have no doubt that Coldwater has been better than OG and would have dominated the WBL in that same time frame.

No shame in admitting that!
 
Fully agree.. in an average year the WBL’s finest sits behind the MAC but out ranks the rest of this region.

But what’s the scouting report on OG/WBL this year?
GoTitans said:
OG is by far the smallest school in the WBL. Over the last 25 or so years under the current head coach Ken Schriner, you could argue they’ve been the best team in the league.

Over the last 10 years, Wapak has clearly been the best team in the WBL and I’d say OG has probably been the second best. In the last 5 years it’s been Van Wert, but not by much. At least head to head OGand VW have been very close

Wapak is about twice as big as OG.

OG has been in the playoffs 13 of the last 17 years and the 2014 team which did not get in went 8-2 in a stacked region similar to this one.

That said, I have no doubt that Coldwater has been better than OG and would have dominated the WBL in that same time frame.

No shame in admitting that!
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Most of the talk here is about the western teams. Below is what i have heard about the teams out East. This region is so stacked. You might need 6 wins to get in

Huron- return a very good qb Hohler. He is one of the better players in the region. They also return several other good athletes. They should be a playoff team and can go deep.

Edison- They had a sophomore qb play a lot last year and return several key pieces. They also were very competitive in the playoffs knocking off Bellevue. I see them as a playoff team

Port Clinton- some big losses from their state final 4 team,including their coach. They do return a few key guys including their QB and a few massive offensive linemen. Alot of uncertainty, but you can’t overlook them

Oak Harbor- don’t know much about them but heard they were young last year and some think they can be a contender

Keystone- returns Purdue commit Ryne Shackelford and qb Konnor Rodick, who was 3rd team all Ohio. They have a couple other track athletes that will be good. Should be in the mix for a top 12 seed, but might have issues in the trenches and replacing key losses.

Clearview- last year was a disaster. Played Freshman and Sophomores and had about 10-15 guys out due to covid/injury most weeks. Return 20 starters. They won’t go winless in 2022 and should be in the mix in 2023
 
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Hulk Armstrong said:
What’s the background on Tinora? That’s a little far west for my radar..

Also how did LC and Archbold play to such different results in their two matchups last season? Is one returning more than the other this year?
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Tinora was blessed last year with very good depth, they lost almost their entire offense but return a lot of their defense so most of those players will be asked to go both ways. They always do a great job with their non-conference schedule as they usually only get 1 decent game from the GMC. They start @ Liberty Center, D4 Wauseon, @ Lima Central Catholic. They could be 0-3 and then run the table, if they were still in D6 I would have them as a top 4 in that region but I think bumping up to 5 will be tough on them when the playoffs roll around.

Week 5 Archbold beats Liberty Center 41-7.
LC was coming off 4 tough weeks in a row: Last second win over 10-2 Tinora, 38-7 win over D4 Napoleon, emotional 40-21 loss to 11-1 Otsego and a 34-28 OT win over D4 8-4 Wauseon. The signs were there in the Wauseon game as they had chances to put that game away but allowed Wauseon to stick around. LC opens the game with a squib onside kick and then scores two plays later before Newman and Archbold's O-Line put on a clinic and rattled off 41 straight points. Liberty Center actually moved the ball well but could not finish drives and Archbold had a lot of quick strike plays.
Fast forward 8 weeks and LC changed up their defensive approach putting more speed on the field to counter the run game and dared Archbold to throw the ball, going into the 4th quarter Newman had just over 100 yards passing. I remember hearing the WNDH announcers give the stat after the game that Newman had 7 or 8 plays of less than 3 yards and Dominique came into the game averaging 100 yards a game and averaged 4 inches per carry with no carries in the 2nd half. Archbold returns most of their line so might have to adjust to more of a run first scheme.
 
week 11 in this region will be tough. could have long road trips, Huron to Coldwater. A 1 - 16 matchup in this region could be a 10-0 and an 8-2. I think 7-3 could be the worst record in.
 
mountain view said:
week 11 in this region will be tough. could have long road trips, Huron to Coldwater. A 1 - 16 matchup in this region could be a 10-0 and an 8-2. I think 7-3 could be the worst record in.
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Huron to Coldwater would have nothing on Keystone to Coldwater. But I guess there was that one year Doylestown Chippewa went all the way to Coldwater and the year we went all the way to Wellington
 
SBClives said:
Last year they played Northwestern, Cloverleaf and Labrae. Keystone beat 3 win NW by 4, Cloverleaf canceled and got smoked by Labrae.
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Keystone plays Northwestern, Cloverleaf,Lutheran West this year. They usually struggle with Cloverleaf and Lutheran West will be tough this year
 
Wow great intel in this thread. Much appreciated everyone.

Seeding is going to be very very important I believe. With the parity expected after Coldwater and OG, a 90+ minute bus trip on a Friday after school could determine most of your first and second round winners.
 
Spark1357 said:
Most of the talk here is about the western teams. Below is what i have heard about the teams out East. This region is so stacked. You might need 6 wins to get in

Huron- return a very good qb Hohler. He is one of the better players in the region. They also return several other good athletes. They should be a playoff team and can go deep.

Edison- They had a sophomore qb play a lot last year and return several key pieces. They also were very competitive in the playoffs knocking off Bellevue. I see them as a playoff team

Port Clinton- some big losses from their state final 4 team,including their coach. They do return a few key guys including their QB and a few massive offensive linemen. Alot of uncertainty, but you can’t overlook them

Oak Harbor- don’t know much about them but heard they were young last year and some think they can be a contender

Keystone- returns Purdue commit Ryne Shackelford and qb Konnor Rodick, who was 3rd team all Ohio. They have a couple other track athletes that will be good. Should be in the mix for a top 12 seed, but might have issues in the trenches and replacing key losses.

Clearview- last year was a disaster. Played Freshman and Sophomores and had about 10-15 guys out due to covid/injury most weeks. Return 20 starters. They won’t go winless in 2022 and should be in the mix in 2023
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Good stuff. I catch a lot of SBC action too..

Huron has size/physicality issues imo. Wouldn’t want to play them in August or September though as the skill is definitely there.. maybe the coaches and this crop of kids can figure out how to stop the run.

Edison really wasn’t special last year but the triple option offense is tough on a one week prep if you don’t see it during the season. Same will be true this year. Big fan of the QB as well. They usually make noise when they have experience in that spot.

PC is a wild card. Gotta imagine they are more one dimensional this year (running) even with the Sr QB. They also lose most of their defense. Very interested to see what impact the new staff has.. hard not to predict a step back from Carmen, which is no slight and may still be enough to win the conference.

OH is really interesting. Missed the playoffs last year but had some superb young talent and a dominant freshman team. Last year in the league before jumping ship to the NBC too.

Add it all up and it could be the best year in the history of the SBC Bay in terms of competition. At least one of these teams is likely to get left out though because Vermilion and Willard traditionally provide ~0 pts. Non conference matchups with the NBC loom large.

Also saw Keystone twice last year... Not many other D1 skill players in the region so you gotta fear Shackleford, but I think they will really miss Lampron on both sides as well as the locker room. No doubt they’ll get in with their schedule, but that’s a team you’d gladly travel east to visit imo.
 
Not much talk about Eastwood or Elmwood. Both return a bunch of talent and will be battle tested with good non-league opponents and a tough conference.
 
Who are the key returners for Elmwood besides their RB?

Is Eastwood expected to be back in the wingT?

Is Otsego no longer a contender in the NBC?
 
Hulk Armstrong said:
Who are the key returners for Elmwood besides their RB?

Is Eastwood expected to be back in the wingT?

Is Otsego no longer a contender in the NBC?
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Otsego loses a ton of talent and experience, and have a new HC. They will be good just not sure they will be as good as Eastwood or Elmwood. Eastwood has the Boos kid back, their RB, all state LB, and quite a few along the OL. Elmwood returns almost everyone I believe. RB, QB, WR's, DB's, and pieces of both OL/DL.
 
Hulk Armstrong said:
Who are the key returners for Elmwood besides their RB?

Is Eastwood expected to be back in the wingT?

Is Otsego no longer a contender in the NBC?
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Eastwood's OL has a ton back. Basically return 5 starters. One of the linemen had to sit 2nd half of season due to transferring back in from district. They just graduated one kid (DeWese).

Skill guys will be plentiful at Eastwood - Boos, Koprowski-Kistner, Hesselbart, Oliver, Lewis' x2. Jaleel Rayford will be a guy to watch too. TE/DL who's about 6'3, 225 and athletic. Going to be a senior and could have a big year.
 
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