Playing only league games?

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wildcat71

Well-known member
Sounds ok unless your 1. Not in a league. 2. Your league only has 4 schools so you only play 3 games like the Portage trail county division. Don't know how those schools are expected to have a season.
 
 
Not sure what this solves. Our league games are quite far. Not all leagues are playing their next door neighbors.
 
Playing only league games is a strategy currently being employed by many college conferences in order to give the appearance they have a plan and that the season will go forward. There are conference games that are farther away then non conference games. Or conference schools in a "hot spot" while non conference schools may be in an area where cases are trending down. Cancelling non conference games is all for show
 
GCLFan99 said:
Playing only league games is a strategy currently being employed by many college conferences in order to give the appearance they have a plan and that the season will go forward. There are conference games that are farther away then non conference games. Or conference schools in a "hot spot" while non conference schools may be in an area where cases are trending down. Cancelling non conference games is all for show
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This is spot on. Same applies to Ohio high schools stating they will only play league games. It is completely nonsensical. We are finding out just how inept our elected and non-elected officials are at all levels of government across the board regardless of political party or ideology.
 
GCLFan99 said:
Playing only league games is a strategy currently being employed by many college conferences in order to give the appearance they have a plan and that the season will go forward. There are conference games that are farther away then non conference games. Or conference schools in a "hot spot" while non conference schools may be in an area where cases are trending down. Cancelling non conference games is all for show
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We'll see how it works out.
 
This was just an easy way out, stolen from the college game. Essentially, it is a way to push back the start of the season without saying they are pushing back the season.
In college it was more pronounced as most play multiple games before their first conference matchup.
 
Defiance would be giving up their biggest rival and only road trip within 45 minutes for 9 schools 45 minutes away or more, all but one not even from a bordering county.

The county only approach is even worse, considering small population areas have very few schools. Paulding County has 3. Van Wert has 2. Vinton has 1!

If they're truly worried about minimizing travel, you do district play. Break everyone back into AAA, AA, and A and then break into districts of 6-8 teams. You play a district schedule. Playoffs can be decided from there, but there's no reason we can't still have 7 playoff divisions from there.
 
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Mogadore has Mogadore Field as home opener. Schools 4 miles apart. 3 league games are all home games this year.2 away games are far, Lima Catholic and Byesville Meadowbrook. Doubt those games will be played. Also Hudson Western Reserve Academy and Wooster Triway are home. Could be interesting what is decided.
 
It's not like they're spreading more coronavirus the further they drive. It's limiting the number of teams it can spread to.

If you only play your 7 conference opponents and one has an outbreak and it spreads because of a game, the maximum number of communities or schools affected is 8.

If you play non-conference games in all different sports and one school gets an outbreak suddenly its every team already scheduled in every sport that school just played. The number of possible transmissions go up compared to only the 8 schools in a conference.

Regardless how long the drive is. Assuming they're not stopping the team bus every twenty minutes to cough on everyone.
 
Entirely possible that 2020 "season" will look more like a Saturday afternoon community basketball court - "who's got next?" Figuring out who has open dates, what schools can play/field a team, etc on a week to week basis.

Since OHSAA doesn't seem capable of making a decision or plan before the 11th hour, we'll assume we have a season. RIGHT NOW, they need to mandate a "call it" day so that if a school cannot field a team due to quarantine, they have to announce that by ___ day of the week. Right now if a team forfeits/cancels a game it's an oddball event. This fall it could be all over. Why not let the schools then reschedule?

I know that sounds INSANE, but football did exist before there was 24/7 film sessions and nose tackles scouting opposing guard's finger movements. Play on Friday, but not know who you're playing until Weds? Considering all the limitations based on the OHSFCA recommendations, this year is really going to be all about who has the talent vs week to week scheming anyhow.

Might even lead to some neutral site games - think JV Friday night - Lucas & Mogadore put their shoes & pants on at home, ride a bus to Wooster for the game, then go home.

There will be a lot of questions and situations, but we will all need to ask ourselves what the most important thing is? To me - it's giving the kids a chance to play. Not generating revenue, not playoff points, not crowning a state champ, not any of that stuff. If kids are allowed to show up at a field and play the game they love and their parents get a chance to watch them a few more times before they leave for college, the service or just plain move out then that's what's important.

(steps down off soapbox)
 
What would makes sense to me would be to play league only with built in off weeks

Weeks 1 & 2 - play, [off week 3] play weeks 4 & 5, [off week 6,] play week 7 & 8, [off week 9], play week 10 ... that gives you 7 games (league) and if there is a problem, the flexibility to fix it ... just one man’s opinion.
 
joesports said:
What would makes sense to me would be to play league only with built in off weeks

Weeks 1 & 2 - play, [off week 3] play weeks 4 & 5, [off week 6,] play week 7 & 8, [off week 9], play week 10 ... that gives you 7 games (league) and if there is a problem, the flexibility to fix it ... just one man’s opinion.
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I hope they have several plans so they'll have some options available and can "go with the flow".
 
Colleges doing conference only can make sense as it give the league to control of attendance, access, locker room setup, as well as other safety measures. High school leagues doing this make little sense as many leagues span out over 4-5 counties and each county has different demands/requirements.
 
Realistically IF there was a requirement to play only league or local games I think it could be done. Boardman, for instance really has no football league but neither do Harding, Fitch, Howland, and Canfield. Mooney, Ursuline, East and Chaney are in a similar limited position w/ their conference/affiliation. Between those 8 I think it would be possible to fill out schedules w/ some home and homes.
 
Everybody needs to acknowledge that there will not be football this fall. I love high school and college football so much, but check in with the reality of this year's demise of sports in this coming fall.
 
Whizzer King said:
Covid spreads more rapidly for non-league contests, regardless of distance traveled.
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Ok so imagine Defiance going to Wapakoneta. Wapak, at the time, is handling things well. So is St. Marys, Minster, New Bremen, Cridersville, etc. ONE asymptomatic Defiance player brings it with him. Multiple Wapak players get it. They spread it around the team, and then through close contact at stores it spreads county wide.

It's going to spread regardless. I get the idea that league only means there's only a certain number of teams playing each other, and given a perfect world where teenagers are smart enough to isolate otherwise and quarantine if sick/positive that's less exposure.

But wouldn't it STILL be better if, for this year, Defiance didn't have to go an hour and a half to Wapakoneta when Napoleon, Bryan, etc are right up the road and already socializing with each other?

Think Dover and Marietta REALLY encounter each other often? They would with a league only football schedule.

Districts are the way to go this year, if we can save the season at all.
 
Would it make more sense to make it county only if people are concerned about having multiple counties traveled for the "conference only"? I know the argument will be about number of schools in county, competitiveness, etc.
 
It is more about limiting the number of times to possible exposure. If you only play league games, you have reduced the number of times you exposed the kids to someone who may have the virus and still were able to play some games.
 
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