2021 Three Rivers Athletic Conference...Who wins the title?

Who wins the 2021 Three Rivers Athletic Conference title?

  • Findlay

    Votes: 5 7.9%
  • Fremont Ross

    Votes: 2 3.2%
  • Lima Senior

    Votes: 9 14.3%
  • Oregon Clay

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Toledo Central Catholic

    Votes: 42 66.7%
  • Toledo St. Francis

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Toledo St. John's

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Toledo Whitmer

    Votes: 3 4.8%

  • Total voters
    63
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There are definitely some battles up and down the conference this year. Clay graduated the QB though didn't they? He was good. If Lima gets a good roster of players and Clay is able to put an even better team on the field, I can see both those teams involved in some round-robin wins and losses along with the rest of the league. Two teams into the final 8 would be a great year for this conference.
 
I realized I've yet to do a ranking.....

1 Central
2 Whitmer
3 Findlay
4 St. Francis
5 Ross
6 Johnnies
7 Sparty
8 Eagles not flying high

I think Whitmer is flaming mad and looking to redeem themselves. As I previously stated, I like the hiring on Bancroft. Last, I still don't trust the Purple and White although I hope Giant Country can prove me incorrect.
 
Is there any truth to this hearsay I’ve been hearing about regarding Gradkowski bringing in a college prospect QB from PA to Bancroft? Wondering out of pure curiosity.

Obligatory Ranking:

TCC
Findlay
Ross
SJJ
Whitmer
SFS
Lima Sr.
Clay
 
Adams reflects on past, looks to future as FHS coach
Dave Hanneman/davehanneman@thecourier.com
Jul 14, 2021 2:00 AM


Stefan Adams gave his Findlay High football players a bit of a break this month.
Truth be told, he could use one himself.
“Here’s how it went,” said Adams, sitting in the Findlay High football coaches' office with his infant son, Dax, on his lap.
“I got married in December, I was named (Findlay High) head coach in February, we had this little guy in April — April 21 to be exact — and two days later we closed on a house.

“Then, with everything else going on — schedules, getting the calendar down for the year, all the little things in between — with the OHSAA changes (eliminating the 10-day limitation coaches can have with their teams between June 1 and July 31), with kids going here and there for camps ....

“We’ve been at it, trying to install a new offense, new defense, new special teams, a new program culture. Not that anybody else’s was wrong or bad. It’s just that is what I do, what I’m about, and we’re trying to imprint that on kids who now have had three coaches in three years.
“So much was going on, but so much good was going on, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. June was a hectic month, though, so we cut it back a bit to give the kids time to be kids and not be around football so much, and for me to take some time and just be Stefan, just be a dad and a husband.”

A mid-summer break was a perfect time to learn more about Adams, a counselor in the Findlay school system who will be the 39th head coach in Findlay High history when the Trojans kickoff the 2021 season against Anthony Wayne in an Aug. 20 home opener at Donnell Stadium. No stranger to the local gridirons, he’s been an assistant coach at both the University of Findlay (2010-2014) and Findlay High (2017 and 2019), and was Riverdale’s head coach in 2020.

A three-sport standout at West Chester’s Henderson High School in Pennsylvania, Adams earned 11 varsity letters in football (4), basketball (3) and track and field (4), where he was a four-time state qualifier in the shot and discus. Recruited by Bloomsburg University alum and highly respected NBA official Ed Rush, Adams played for Danny Hale, a 2022 candidate for the College Football Hall of Fame, and was a fullback on Huskies’ teams that twice qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs, including a national runner-up finish in 2000.
Adams credits a strong family unit and the influential leadership he saw in coaches during his playing days for developing the coach the teacher and the man that he today.

“My dad was very fortunate to make it out of a very rough neighborhood in Philadelphia,” Adams said. “He was a communications major in college, but a professor said he needed to clean up his language, so he took English as a minor and ended up teaching English most of his career. Finally, his last few years he did get to do his mass-com, video production and all that stuff.
“He coached three sports, too. He lived a great life and left a left a legacy that will forever be impacted on that school district (Bayard Rustin), which named a wing of their school after him.

“I saw what my dad was doing. I saw what my mom, a first-grade teacher, was doing. I saw what my coaches like Joe Walsh (high school), Danny Hale and Ed Rush were doing ... From them I always had what I know now is a good perspective. I was just trying to live up to all the right things they gave me.”

Adams was an assistant at Bloomsburg while earning his masters degree. His studies, he says, weren’t limited to the classroom.
“When I got to Bloomsburg, that was probably the most impactful group of men I’ve been around,” Adams said.
“Danny Hall was a great people person, a great leader of men, coaches and players. I wanted to learn as much as I could, so I was always hanging around the coaches office. Granted, I studied the Xs and Os, but I watched all that other stuff, the way he captured a room, how he handled practice, the way he talked to players. I wasn’t that big socially as far as going out and doing all the things my peers were doing. I was just doing something I loved to do, something I thought might be my future one day.
“Those guys gave me the confidence that you can be whatever you want to be, you can take this to the next level, you can be as good as you want to be.”

Adams graduated from Bloomsburg with no guarantees. He did, though, have some connections.
“When you’re looking for a full-time gig, it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you,” Adams said.
Bloomsburg plays in the East Division of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Slippery Rock is in the PSAC West. Current University of Findlay head coach Rob Keys and former UF assistant Thomas Howard (now at North Carolina A&T) were at Slippery Rock when Adams was an assistant at Bloomsburg. After a few back-and-forth phone calls, Adams was headed for Findlay, Ohio.

“We were talking football. We were talking about life. They said if I didn’t have anything going on, to come on out,” Adams said.
“It was kind of a leap of faith because I wasn’t guaranteed a job-job. It was kind of on a volunteer basis. I knew — fingers crossed — I had to go out and try to get a job in the school district. But I felt in order for me to take the next step to being a coach and increasing my knowledge of the game, I had to get away. I knew I had to expand my boundaries and my horizons and I’ll tell you, the guys here — Troy Rothenbuhler, Kory Allen, Coach Keys — they really, really, really took the Xs and Os and running a program to the next level.”

Hired as a counselor for the Findlay school system, Adams was an assistant for Findlay High in 2017. In 2018, though, he decided to return to West Chester as Henderson’s High’s head coach in what for him became a transformative and personally solidifying period of his life.
“Walking out on that field, head coach of your old high school, under the Friday night lights,” Adams recalled. “It’s what you dream of, right? I loved every second of it. It was a great opportunity.”

Adams came to realize, though, that the dream might have been misinterpreted.
“I never really told anybody this out loud,” Adams said. “I don’t defend myself — ever. I make decisions and I live by those decisions. But when my father passed away, I made the decision to go back home. Looking back on it, I was trying to connect with him again. I was trying to make that connection or maybe get that closure I needed from an emotional or spiritual standpoint to connect with my best friend, the guy I looked up to, the guy who was my absolute hero.

“My dad made it out of north Philadelphia, came to West Chester and created his legacy there. I need to let his legacy be there. What I realized is that sometimes you find your match, but don’t realize it until you leave. Everything was great (in West Chester) but I just felt that everything I had started here (in Findlay) I didn’t get a chance to finish.

“I started here, and now it was time for me to finish my legacy here, and me doing that would be carrying on his legacy, too.”
 
5/6 of our first games are away, and I mean AWAY. smh.

Might as well start trying to find games to see.

Michigan seems off the table. Dublin Jerome coming in for PBurg and Whitmer at home. Central starts with three good ones. Anyone seeing any OOC in the smaller schools that might be worth seeing?
 
Based on last night, my Irish are taking on way more than they’ll be ready for. Hopefully it’s not as bad as the Whitmer loss in ‘11….
As a CC season ticket holder, I was dumbfounded when I saw the OoC schedule......No reason for Dempsey to schedule this way. We could easily start the year 0-3 and to schedule this way in a year with no proven QB and so little experience is absurd IMO.
 
As a CC season ticket holder, I was dumbfounded when I saw the OoC schedule......No reason for Dempsey to schedule this way. We could easily start the year 0-3 and to schedule this way in a year with no proven QB and so little experience is absurd IMO.

and still get into play-offs with a home game, get the level of competition and coaching experience they need in order to prepare for play-offs and get some decent exposure for their players.

If your competition for state is in Cleveland, Cinci and Columbus, is it really dumbfounding to schedule the competition level those teams play instead of the level convenient? Every year regardless how good the local team, they're having to adjust in play-offs on the fly to the bigger and faster and quicker players and coaching that their competition has been playing all season. I think there is an argument for this schedule. This isnt just about the players. It's also about the coaches having a chance to see how the best are doing it. They're going to have to match up against those staffs. Whitmer and SJJ should have scheduled likewise.

I think for once they did the right thing as far as scheduling. This type of scheduling is why you get 6-4 Cinci teams in state championship games.

Wait, you have season ticket holders? You cant just walk up and buy a ticket? Never seen close to a sell-out in that stadium. Do you get concessions preference, cuz if you don't get to cut-in-line, what's the point?
 
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If they didn't expand the playoffs I'd have Central missing. Tbh I wouldn't be shocked if Ross wins it this year, they look really strong with Whitmer and Findlay
 
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Ross has potential on offense. Any reason to believe they'll stop top teams from scoring? Last year's defense wasn't stifling.
 
As a CC season ticket holder, I was dumbfounded when I saw the OoC schedule......No reason for Dempsey to schedule this way. We could easily start the year 0-3 and to schedule this way in a year with no proven QB and so little experience is absurd IMO.
I love the schedule, this year might not be the best year to do it, but with 16 making it in, clearly the right decision. I mean would you rather take the pu$$y way out and schedule Waite?
 
5/6 of our first games are away, and I mean AWAY. smh.

Might as well start trying to find games to see.

Michigan seems off the table. Dublin Jerome coming in for PBurg and Whitmer at home. Central starts with three good ones. Anyone seeing any OOC in the smaller schools that might be worth seeing?
I believe Whitmer is at Jerome.
 
Every post you make says don't send a kid to Central.
He had to take a jab at St. Johns.

Whitmer realized their folly and dropped Waite.

Not to belabor the CC schedule but they should have been doing this for some time. Over the last 5-6 years or so the Irish have essentially walked through the TRAC, gotten complacent, and lost to a team they should not have (Avon Lake, Avon, Clyde) because they had not been battle tested outside of MAYBE two games on their 10 game regular season schedule.
 
Am told Whitmer took it to Perrysburg Friday. Hopefully the Panthers can get back to their winning ways which should be a tad easier in a league that is way down in terms of numbers.

Whitmer has 65 kids (10-12). CCHS has 85. SJ has 55-60. I see Clay HS has 50 kids (10-12) and 22 seniors. That means they have 28 kids between their sophomore and junior classes which is absolutely pathetic for a suburban school of their size. This is what happens when you abandon a successful in-house youth program that saw 100+ kids per class playing in favor of 3rd and 4th grade tackle football with 20 kids playing per class. Turf Tuff at 8U! Bottlenecking your talent in the 3rd grade is not the idea but you can never tell that to the doucheb@g dad crowd that believes they are making future NFL stars at 8 years old.

To put things into perspective just 10 years ago all of these teams had anywhere from 80-100+ kids on their rosters (10-12) and had freshman teams in the 40-50+ range...for the most part.
 
Am told Whitmer took it to Perrysburg Friday. Hopefully the Panthers can get back to their winning ways which should be a tad easier in a league that is way down in terms of numbers.

Whitmer has 65 kids (10-12). CCHS has 85. SJ has 55-60. I see Clay HS has 50 kids (10-12) and 22 seniors. That means they have 28 kids between their sophomore and junior classes which is absolutely pathetic for a suburban school of their size. This is what happens when you abandon a successful in-house youth program that saw 100+ kids per class playing in favor of 3rd and 4th grade tackle football with 20 kids playing per class. Turf Tuff at 8U! Bottlenecking your talent in the 3rd grade is not the idea but you can never tell that to the doucheb@g dad crowd that believes they are making future NFL stars at 8 years old.

To put things into perspective just 10 years ago all of these teams had anywhere from 80-100+ kids on their rosters (10-12) and had freshman teams in the 40-50+ range...for the most part.
When I student taught at Bowsher in '03 I coached frosh ball at Woodward. I remember getting off the bus at Waite and seeing 50+ kids on the Waite 9th grade team. Heck, even at Woodward back then we had over 30 freshman out that season.
 
IB, do you really think the football coaches at P’Burg and AW know what their getting themselves into? I can see in a few years they’ll be fighting for 3rd, 4th or 5th in the new NLL, will that help with numbers? Heck no it won’t. I do hope CCHS and Whitmer continue to play each other, Whitmer about to springboard back to football prominence in NW Ohio.
 
He had to take a jab at St. Johns.

Whitmer realized their folly and dropped Waite.

Not to belabor the CC schedule but they should have been doing this for some time. Over the last 5-6 years or so the Irish have essentially walked through the TRAC, gotten complacent, and lost to a team they should not have (Avon Lake, Avon, Clyde) because they had not been battle tested outside of MAYBE two games on their 10 game regular season schedule.
I understand your overall point, but Avon has met TCC three times in playoff games and is 2-1 vs the Irish, so I’m not sure any game they face Avon is a “should win” for them.

I was intrigued by the idea of TCC, St Francis and St John’s joining the Detroit Catholic league. That would seem to be a move to strongly consider if there is interest from the league itself.
 
I understand your overall point, but Avon has met TCC three times in playoff games and is 2-1 vs the Irish, so I’m not sure any game they face Avon is a “should win” for them.

I was intrigued by the idea of TCC, St Francis and St John’s joining the Detroit Catholic league. That would seem to be a move to strongly consider if there is interest from the league itself.
I know you are an Avon guy, and I am taking NOTHING away from Avon at all. Avon has talent and is well coached (as is AL). However, those CC teams should not have lost when it comes to the talent on the field.

The DCL is very intriguing but things have sort of stalled due to the differing OHSAA and MHSAA rules AND I believe the DCL is a tad spoiled and traveling 50+ miles to the South 2-3 times a year is not something they necessarily want to do.
 
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