Union County Fan
Well-known member
What a crazy night. Both O-G and Kenton go down and Wapak takes St. Marys right down to the wire. Got to love high school football!
Just because it's all over FB does not mean it's true.Get your news from another source.
I think the 2012 Ottawa Glandorf team may have been the most dominant team of the 2010's. Went 10-0 that season and lost in the 3rd round to Bishop Hartley (41-31), who under the current system would not be d4, Averaged 44 points per game in the regular season and gave up an average of 13, with 4 of those games being played in monsoon conditions. Fall 2012 was an awful weather year in October.
WTF have kids in Defiance been doing for the last 20 years? I know the adult softball leagues, little kids’ baseball fields, and public tennis courts have disappeared over time, and GM is a shell of its former self, but these societal changes haven’t been affecting everyone else like this. Until 2003 (exactly when the football glory years ended), Defiance had the most WBL All-Sports trophies, and still is tied for second most. That accomplishment is a pipe dream at this point.
Poor Kline. He injected some excitement into Edgerton and Bryan after years of bad teams – programs that still show signs of life and have been very good in some years - only to come to this dumpster fire. With Bath and Elida showing good fight this week, it looks probable for a winless season.
A lot of things have happened in Defiance last 20 years, but I agree with dhsgog06 it is mainly the loss of the middle class. In 1997 when we won State FB we graduated over 250. Now we are graduating around 175. The entire 75 lost is in the middle class. We still have the same number of kids in the lower demographic classes. Before complaining too much DHS has 5 State Championships in recent years (3- baseball, 1- Basketball, 1- Cross Country). No other WBL school can say that. I agree mostly with Nash, but Defiance still has baseball fields that are being used. The numbers may be down some, but Defiance still has a fairly good youth baseball program. Defiance suffers because 2 other school districts (Tinora and Ayersville) have areas inside the city, which kind of land locks Defiance. They could and should be better in Football. They currently are just terrible. I have never liked the way the youth (5th & 6th grade) program has been run with very poor coaching. I think it actually drives kids away from playing as they get older. I think the HS coaching staff needs to take part of the blame. They are good people and work hard. Recent teams have been penalty and turnover prone which is a sign of lack of discipline and toughness. Sure the talent level has been down, but you can still play the game right with discipline and toughness. One of the things I worry about most is apathy. We have been bad for so long that very few even care any more. It will be an uphill battle to turn this around.WTF have kids in Defiance been doing for the last 20 years? I know the adult softball leagues, little kids’ baseball fields, and public tennis courts have disappeared over time, and GM is a shell of its former self, but these societal changes haven’t been affecting everyone else like this. Until 2003 (exactly when the football glory years ended), Defiance had the most WBL All-Sports trophies, and still is tied for second most. That accomplishment is a pipe dream at this point.
Poor Kline. He injected some excitement into Edgerton and Bryan after years of bad teams – programs that still show signs of life and have been very good in some years - only to come to this dumpster fire. With Bath and Elida showing good fight this week, it looks probable for a winless season.
A lot of things have happened in Defiance last 20 years, but I agree with dhsgog06 it is mainly the loss of the middle class. In 1997 when we won State FB we graduated over 250. Now we are graduating around 175. The entire 75 lost is in the middle class. We still have the same number of kids in the lower demographic classes. Before complaining too much DHS has 5 State Championships in recent years (3- baseball, 1- Basketball, 1- Cross Country). No other WBL school can say that. I agree mostly with Nash, but Defiance still has baseball fields that are being used. The numbers may be down some, but Defiance still has a fairly good youth baseball program. Defiance suffers because 2 other school districts (Tinora and Ayersville) have areas inside the city, which kind of land locks Defiance. They could and should be better in Football. They currently are just terrible. I have never liked the way the youth (5th & 6th grade) program has been run with very poor coaching. I think it actually drives kids away from playing as they get older. I think the HS coaching staff needs to take part of the blame. They are good people and work hard. Recent teams have been penalty and turnover prone which is a sign of lack of discipline and toughness. Sure the talent level has been down, but you can still play the game right with discipline and toughness. One of the things I worry about most is apathy. We have been bad for so long that very few even care any more. It will be an uphill battle to turn this around.
The demographic stuff has been talked about a lot before. I guess I'll defer on that. The enrollment is down but as I mentioned, why has that not mattered in other WBL schools? I'm actually glad the enrollment has gone down because it means we stay away from Division I in other sports. I just wish the kids were better and had more motivation, whatever. No one plays tennis anymore, girls never golf until they join the team in high school, and hell, whenever we've had really good swimmers in the past they've transferred. Aren't there only 6 Little/Boys League teams now? I think 6 teams made one division of the Little League when I played. Varsity baseball has had its worst 3-year stretch since the 80s. The state title point is a good one, and I still wouldn't trade Defiance's overall athletic history for anyone else in the WBL, or most other places as well. I just wish the football team could make or get close to the playoffs every few years instead of being mostly awful for 50 years now.
^ Like Nash was asking, why is Defiance football in particular struggling so much worse with it than other schools in the exact same situation?
Baseball and football can co exist if the coaches work together.That's a point I don't think anyone realizes. They see the late 90s and early 2000s success and assume great program, but really from the time we were voted out of the NWOAL until Buti came to town were just 35 years in the wilderness. The mid 60s were ok, and there was the random 1985 where we weren't terrible, but a program has to be truly terrible to win 59 games combined over 2 decades.
So really we had 1991-2008 where we ranged from decent to great. 18 years out of the last 65. Jerry Buti showed Defiance can win at football, and the city showed it will show up every week and support a winner. There's no reason it can't happen again, but at this point I have pittle hope. 47 bad years tend to outweigh 18 good ones, especially one coach was responsible for the good years and even he couldn't maintain it at the end.
We are and always will be a baseball town, but it's pathetic that with the talent we have roaming the halls we're just hoping to avoid running clocks and winless seasons. We went 6-4 through most of my high school years and that sucked. Right now I'd take it again.
Edit: Sometimes especially during this last decade I've wondered if the baseball program purposely pushes kids away from football. Look at all the great baseball kids, the ones who went to college and later pro. Did ANY of them play football, or if they did was it for more than a year or 2? Most played basketball. Whether it was because of the injury risk or just the spring season into ACME wore them out and they used the fall to recover, it just seemed fishy to me that those guys weren't playing. Those were some great athletes that would have helped out big time.
Baseball and football can co exist if the coaches work together.
I coached summer baseball for HS kids for nearly a decade where both programs are pretty decent.....
Come ACME tourny time, if our starting pitcher was a FB player the football coach would have him only be a spotter so he can be fresh to pitch. 7 on 7 and a tourny game? He would encourage them to play baseball. There were times they used the third strong QB in a 7 on 7. In turn, there were nights when football had something scheduled that we would not schedule anything to conflict. Heck, the football coach has been known to even throw some BP in the summer.
In contrast, at another school I coached that programs did not coexist on harmony it was a struggle and even got a nasty voicemail from the hoops coach because kids missed an open gym for a baseball game.
You should put Elida ahead of OG.....both teams have the same record and the bulldogs won the head to head matchup.WBL Power rankings
1. Van Wert
2. OG
3. Elida
4. St. Mary’s
5. Kenton
6. Bath
7. Wapak
8. Shawnee
9. Celina
10. Defiance
This has to be the first time Wapak has had the running clock against it.
Which is crazy because Van Wert beat Elida 55-20.From what I heard from folks at the OG-Elida game....it wasn't even as close as the final score. Elida manhandled OG on both sides of the ball. I honestly had very little hope that OG would beat SM. A this point, I think it's VW, Elida then everyone else.
I have noticed for quite a long time now that the Kenton Passing attack has become so much east/west and less north/south. Granted, I only see them once a year, sometimes twice, but it seems like the bulk of their passing game has been 5 yards or less, or 20+ downfield. I fthink if they focused a bulk on the 5-15 range it would be more effective, but hey, i dont know a thing.This was the first Friday I had free this season, so I watched bits of the Celina-Kenton live stream and listened to parts of the Van Wert-Wapak and OG-SM games.
Van Wert obviously the team to beat. VW puts a running clock on Wapak as their QB Owen Treece just lit the defense up. I believe the first 3 VW TD's were just Treece going up the middle on QB runs. Wapak had chances in this game as VW turned it over twice in the first half, and Wapak had at least 2 offensive possessions (maybe more, was switching between feeds) where they were 1st & Goal, and both times they came away empty handed with turnover on downs. We already know the Wapak offense is pretty uninspiring, but at one point that radio announcers said on a 4th & goal, Wapak passed it into the end zone where two Redskins both went to catch the ball, collided, and the ball fell to the ground. I guess that's what happens when they try to pass. At any rate, VW defense deserves credit for the shutout and their first win at Wapak since 2004.
Celina had an early lead on Kenton, but that didn't much matter. I was a bit surprised at Kenton's offense... their air raid isn't anywhere near as lethal as it has been in the past. I think I saw in some posts that their offense is breaking in a lot of new WR's. For the most part, it just looked like Kenton was screen passing Celina over and over... and it was working. I was also surprised to see Kenton actually do some HB runs out of the spread. I guess gone are the days Kenton solely throws 70 times a game? What isn't gone... is Kenton's special teams. They went 0-3 on 2 pt conversions, and missed a couple XP kicks, but made their last few. This game pretty much just got sloppy towards the end. Kenton clearly the better team over Celina.
The OG-SM game went about how most probably thought it would. OG held on to a 6-0 lead going into the 4th quarter, and an eventual 13-13 tie at the end of regulation. Credit SM for fighting back in this one. Roughriders had their first lead of the game in OT when they went up 20-13. The Titans had a miraculous TD pass on 4th & Goal in the first OT to extend the game. And then another TD pass in the 2nd OT on what I think was 3rd & Goal. OG defense held as SM turned it over on downs. Likely the game of the year in the WBL.
Elsewhere, from what I saw online, there was a pass interference call that Defiance faithful seemed to disagree with which set Shawnee up for the game's only score. However, Defiance had scoring chances and just blew them. Sounded like this was a pretty frustrating game for both teams, although I'm sure the defensive coaches loved it.
Elida's Kyle Harmon is absolutely coach of the year at this midway point. Their only loss was lopsided to a very dominant Van Wert squad. And they hold very impressive wins over O-G and now Bath. I think all of us were like... "what happened to OG?" when they lost to Elida, but another week and this time a 20-point win over a veteran Bath team. I'm surprised especially as this is Harmon's first year at Elida and they apparently have a lot of young guys, not as much depth, and a lack of size. Looks like Harmon is doing something right. Surprised to see Elida's youth beat Bath's vets as Bath, in their own right, has been playing well this season.
Pretty wild WBL season so far. It's a shame we're only getting 6 weeks of it.
How is 0-3 Wapak in front of 2-1 Shawnee and Celina, who beat them?WBL Power rankings
1. Van Wert
2. OG
3. Elida
4. St. Mary’s
5. Kenton
6. Bath
7. Wapak
8. Shawnee
9. Celina
10. Defiance