Playoffs and the OVC

[14U]

I'm sure Burg misses the competition and Harbin points they were getting from beating 1 to 3 win Portsmouth teams every year. They are all about strengthening their schedules and were probably about to drop us anyway.

Burg didn’t like the beatdowns they got from Ironton , Bishop Hartley and Jackson . They’ll drop those teams soon as they can.

Burg will always play Ironton and Jackson but Hartly is gone only 2 year deal. Burg will play anybody and that shows by who they schedule. It’s everybody else that will not play burg. That’s why burg played Hartley could find anyone else to schedule. I ran into the AD and he struggles finding teams close by. Does anybody know who burg picked up in Hartley place?

[14U]

Head to head records of SOC versus OVC has been posted here. SOC is a consistently much better in football.

I always said they needed a SOC vs OVC challenge in football and basketball. What do you think? Best team on best team in each conference. That would give a strength to their schedules.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I like the OVC the way it is.

me too boss. if you're not competing , get better.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

If Portsmouth wanted to strengthen their non conference schedule maybe they shouldn’t have dropped Wheelersburg

if rock hill wanted to see what wheelersburg is like, then they should schedule them. fact is burg gains absolutely nothing by scheduling rock hill. I lived in the rock hill district for 32 years. I loved the people there, and coached youth football there. but it makes no sense for a flailing program to make fun of a team they don't play. and a team that is a perennial playoff team with 2 state titles, so don't go tossin stones you can't get back. Portsmouth and burg should always play, I agree. but for a rock hill fan to make fun of Portsmouth's football program makes about as much sense as walkin up to a sleepin grizzley and hittin it with a shovel to see if it's asleep.

[THEbuckeyes]

That’s the good thing about the OVC. Even if it’s a down year for the league, three teams make the playoffs

The playoffs are watered down I think it should go back to the way it was when only 4 teams made the playoffs from each region

Over 20 teams lower than a 4 seed won the first weekend and normally one of those make the state final 4 so I think they have the number right. If some of the games are blowouts use it as a tune up for the next week but don't sleep on the lower seeds sometimes they will get you.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

What I’m hearing
1. Totally agree with changes to the pee wee systems max kids involved. I wish Portsmouth would play in an all Portsmouth league at Pee wee level. Or at least go back to 3 or 4 all Portsmouth teams like we used too.

2. A lot seem to comment that there is success in other sports around the league, and I agree. I also think this is a basketball first league. I’m just wanting to see an improvement across the board I’m football.

3. Greenup county although they normally do not win a lot of games, is a good point game for Portsmouth with being an out of state that would be a D3 in Ohio.

4. West and Portsmouth is a pretty even series, In fact they are 5-5 in the last 10 meetings.

5. Although Portsmouth has ran up against very good teams the last few years, going 8-2 or 9-1 as gallia was should earn you a better spot in the post season if you have any strength to the schedule at all.

Waverly a D 4 school playing in a mostly D5 league still got a home game and beat up on the OVCs Gallia, why? Strength of schedule, SOC opponents Minford and Burg gave them good point opportunities and made them more battle tested, then the strength of a non schedule win vs Amanda Clearcreek.
We all need to strengthen non league schedule, and somehow figure out how to compete with them.
What is the difference in our D5, schools and the SOCs D5 schools. Burg excluded( who Ironton seems to be closing the gap on) but why are minford and West of the world( I know down year) more competitive in the post season then the OVC?

I feel that Waverly did a good job of scheduling good non league competition in D3 Athens and D3 Unioto also. I believe those non league games helped better prepare D4 Waverly for playoff competition.

I agree, Waverly did a perfect job of scheduling, to get points and prepare for the playoffs.

[14U]

Cut the league into half like East and West then you play 6 league and 4 non league. Would you play burg, Ashland, Chillicothe etc or win against teams you blowout like River Valley, rock hill, south point etc! My point is play hard teams and loss it’s no different than playing a easy team and winning with running clock to a 0-10 or 1-9 team. But if you win you got great points and getting ready for the tougher teams in playoffs. I know you play some I mention in league play just examples of bad teams. With 2-3 bad teams in league got to beef up non conference. Also OVC has more teams in league than SOC and only 3 non conference you can schedule. .

[PTrojan59]

Portsmouth before joining the OVC I believe, even a few while still in the OVC has played every SOC 2 team in the last 10 years except Oak Hill, who’s new to the league. Series with Valley is going on like 6 seasons or so maybe, they’ll always play West, played Burg up until just a few seasons ago, had a 2 year series with Minford maybe 6 or so years ago, and ended the season with Waverly in maybe 2015. I believe it was the last season before Gallia joined the OVC, Portsmouth played Valley, West, Burg and Waverly the first 4 games of the season. So I’d welcome an OVC vs. SOC challenge, think it would be fun. As far as basketball goes, Portsmouth has Burg and West on the schedule for this year. They usually play Burg, have played South Webster a lot. So I think some sort of challenge would be awesome. When talking about this, it just points to the fact that Portsmouth should be in the SOC, they play them, they are in the same county as 4 of the schools, Gates would be nice, travel would be nice...but it makes too much sense and that’s a whole different discussion. Lol

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

As for PHS Burg, I think it was a horrible idea to drop them as well. I also agree it was a horrible idea when Burg wanted the game moved from the 10th week. Burg at the time wanted to put more concentration on SOC and playoffs and not have to worry about Portsmouth week 10 after 4 straight loses and 2 very close games prior to that from 97-2002. That is when Burgs dominance began, sure there were a few close games still but PHS has 1 win since it moved from the week 10 showdown.

As for the OVC, I’m happy with close travel and competition within the league I just wish we were all more competitive outside the league.

OVC SOC KICKOFF, would be a great idea in my opinion. Have it every year to kick off the season at Spartan in Portsmouth for a neutral field,

Week 1 Friday
5:30 kickoff
Northwest (from soc1) south point
8:30 kickoff
Symess Valley vs Chesapeake

Saturday 5:30 kickoff
PHS vs West
8:30 kickoff
Burg vs Ironton

Week 2
Minford vs fairland
Oak hill vs Rock hill

Saturday
Valley vs coal grove
Waverly vs Gallia academy

Make for 2 fun weeks of football and get some higher level ball played at Spartan, schools get a cut, and use the rest for up keep on the most historic stadium around. Win Win in my book, plus I think these would be fairly competitive most years with the games divided up this way. Down side ND would have to start away from home for 2 weeks.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

Portsmouth before joining the OVC I believe, even a few while still in the OVC has played every SOC 2 team in the last 10 years except Oak Hill, who’s new to the league. Series with Valley is going on like 6 seasons or so maybe, they’ll always play West, played Burg up until just a few seasons ago, had a 2 year series with Minford maybe 6 or so years ago, and ended the season with Waverly in maybe 2015. I believe it was the last season before Gallia joined the OVC, Portsmouth played Valley, West, Burg and Waverly the first 4 games of the season. So I’d welcome an OVC vs. SOC challenge, think it would be fun. As far as basketball goes, Portsmouth has Burg and West on the schedule for this year. They usually play Burg, have played South Webster a lot. So I think some sort of challenge would be awesome. When talking about this, it just points to the fact that Portsmouth should be in the SOC, they play them, they are in the same county as 4 of the schools, Gates would be nice, travel would be nice...but it makes too much sense and that’s a whole different discussion. Lol

SOC and Portsmouth will never happen. Years and years ago the SOC talked about Portsmouth joining, Portsmouth scoffed at the idea at the time as they were far too big of a school. SOC got offended and years later when all were similar in size and PHS was with out a league the majority blackballed the Trojans from the SOC. Now with oak hill moving up, and northwest eventually having to come back as well the SOC would end up with too few non conference games to schedule up and down depending on talent of each team.

[BuckeyeBlood]

As for PHS Burg, I think it was a horrible idea to drop them as well. I also agree it was a horrible idea when Burg wanted the game moved from the 10th week. Burg at the time wanted to put more concentration on SOC and playoffs and not have to worry about Portsmouth week 10 after 4 straight loses and 2 very close games prior to that from 97-2002. That is when Burgs dominance began, sure there were a few close games still but PHS has 1 win since it moved from the week 10 showdown.

As for the OVC, I’m happy with close travel and competition within the league I just wish we were all more competitive outside the league.

OVC SOC KICKOFF, would be a great idea in my opinion. Have it every year to kick off the season at Spartan in Portsmouth for a neutral field,

Week 1 Friday
5:30 kickoff
Northwest (from soc1) south point
8:30 kickoff
Symess Valley vs Chesapeake

Saturday 5:30 kickoff
PHS vs West
8:30 kickoff
Burg vs Ironton

Week 2
Minford vs fairland
Oak hill vs Rock hill

Saturday
Valley vs coal grove
Waverly vs Gallia academy

Make for 2 fun weeks of football and get some higher level ball played at Spartan, schools get a cut, and use the rest for up keep on the most historic stadium around. Win Win in my book, plus I think these would be fairly competitive most years with the games divided up this way. Down side ND would have to start away from home for 2 weeks.

I like the idea, except those Friday 5:30 kickoffs would mean schools would have to let out early. Schools like South Point and Fairland, that’s about an hour bus ride to Portsmouth. So they would have to let out of school early, not to mention I think there would be a lot of unhappy fans if their school and Ohio States games clashed on Saturday’s.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

As for PHS Burg, I think it was a horrible idea to drop them as well. I also agree it was a horrible idea when Burg wanted the game moved from the 10th week. Burg at the time wanted to put more concentration on SOC and playoffs and not have to worry about Portsmouth week 10 after 4 straight loses and 2 very close games prior to that from 97-2002. That is when Burgs dominance began, sure there were a few close games still but PHS has 1 win since it moved from the week 10 showdown.

As for the OVC, I’m happy with close travel and competition within the league I just wish we were all more competitive outside the league.

OVC SOC KICKOFF, would be a great idea in my opinion. Have it every year to kick off the season at Spartan in Portsmouth for a neutral field,

Week 1 Friday
5:30 kickoff
Northwest (from soc1) south point
8:30 kickoff
Symess Valley vs Chesapeake

Saturday 5:30 kickoff
PHS vs West
8:30 kickoff
Burg vs Ironton

Week 2
Minford vs fairland
Oak hill vs Rock hill

Saturday
Valley vs coal grove
Waverly vs Gallia academy

Make for 2 fun weeks of football and get some higher level ball played at Spartan, schools get a cut, and use the rest for up keep on the most historic stadium around. Win Win in my book, plus I think these would be fairly competitive most years with the games divided up this way. Down side ND would have to start away from home for 2 weeks.

I like the idea, except those Friday 5:30 kickoffs would mean schools would have to let out early. Schools like South Point and Fairland, that’s about an hour bus ride to Portsmouth. So they would have to let out of school early, not to mention I think there would be a lot of unhappy fans if their school and Ohio States games clashed on Saturday’s.

Agreed, but I would worry about starting later and getting 2 games in. Would like to do 3 games on Saturdays but worry about the heat too. Idk lot of things would have to be worked out for it to work but just an idea, would produce some big crowds I think.

[TrojanTru]

If Portsmouth wanted to strengthen their non conference schedule maybe they shouldn’t have dropped Wheelersburg

I'm sure Burg misses the competition and Harbin points they were getting from beating 1 to 3 win Portsmouth teams every year. They are all about strengthening their schedules and were probably about to drop us anyway.

Originally that was the story I got as to why we weren’t playing Burg anymore. I specifically remember seeing a post on my kids’ social media from a Burg football player saying something to the tune of “Ain’t nobody trying to keep beating y’all bums and not getting points for it!” I believe that was the year the Lowry kid transferred there.

Portsmouth is rebuilding the program it seems and I watched a peewee show down with two solid Portsmouth teams, and I’m hoping that’s a glance into our future and the numbers stay up. I miss the days of Freshman football at PHS!

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I think the travel, the school sizes and rivalries in the ovc are great esp. with the addition of ironton, gahs, and Portsmouth. and anybody that has been on here knows I was dead set against it in the beginning. I didn't want anything to do with it. but now I see how much sense it makes, sizewise, travel wise. we just have a few programs that need to improve to have a competitive league overall. but something we fail to think about is all the other sports involved. it's a lot of difference coming home after a basketball or baseball game or volleyball match. when you drive back from say Chesapeake as opposed to Marietta, Zanesville, or logan on a school night.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

I hope everyone knows that I’m not trying to bash the OVC it a great league size wise travel wise, and rivalry wise. Great for other sports too, football is just a small part of being in a conference. I’m thrilled our kids get an opportunity to do something I never did as we were independent and play for conference titles and honors.

I just feel that with the exception of Ironton we are all happy to sit back and rest on our laurels and be happy with 1 and done playoff teams and losing to the SOC. Idk maybe I’m wrong and I’m missing something, but I want improvement across the board. I want us to take offense to being the second best local conference, I want us to take offense to being the knocked out of the playoffs early. Only way that happens is we start expecting more.
Rant over lol

[avalanche]

I think you would have seen a completely different OVC had Portsmouth, Ironton, and Gallia joined back in the 90's or early 2000's. Chesapeake was very good in the late 90's to mid-2000's, and having all three of the others, would have made the OVC as good a conference as you'd find in the area. Those 10-0 and 8-2 Peake teams would have been probably the third of fourth best team in the OVC, and the quality of the conference would have made it tough to complete with.

I remember 99 Chesapeake was 10-0, won their first round game, and ran into state champion Amanda, who blasted everyone remaining in the playoffs. In 2000 Chesapeake went 8-2, with two losses coming by a combined three points to playoff bound Minford and State Runner-Up Wayne in WV AA. Chesapeake for some odd reason got moved to region 20, and missed the playoffs by .02, and missed that year. Came back the next three years and went to the first round, regional finals, and first round again.

[portsmouth_98]

I'd say we are 20 years or so from PHS being able to get into the SOC 2. As far as travel, competition across most sports , and school size it makes perfect sense. That has never been the reason we couldn't get in though. I alsp don't think it has anything to do with a AAA Portsmouth not wanting to play single A schools 50 years ago.

[Proud_Pirate63]

I'm sure Burg misses the competition and Harbin points they were getting from beating 1 to 3 win Portsmouth teams every year. They are all about strengthening their schedules and were probably about to drop us anyway.

Burg didn’t like the beatdowns they got from Ironton , Bishop Hartley and Jackson . They’ll drop those teams soon as they can.

Burg will always play Ironton and Jackson but Hartly is gone only 2 year deal. Burg will play anybody and that shows by who they schedule. It’s everybody else that will not play burg. That’s why burg played Hartley could find anyone else to schedule. I ran into the AD and he struggles finding teams close by. Does anybody know who burg picked up in Hartley place?

They picked up Chillicothe.

[greygoose]

I'm sure Burg misses the competition and Harbin points they were getting from beating 1 to 3 win Portsmouth teams every year. They are all about strengthening their schedules and were probably about to drop us anyway.

Burg didn’t like the beatdowns they got from Ironton , Bishop Hartley and Jackson . They’ll drop those teams soon as they can.

Burg will always play Ironton and Jackson but Hartly is gone only 2 year deal. Burg will play anybody and that shows by who they schedule. It’s everybody else that will not play burg. That’s why burg played Hartley could find anyone else to schedule. I ran into the AD and he struggles finding teams close by. Does anybody know who burg picked up in Hartley place?

I'm always curious when the statement is made that it's everybody else that will not play burg, seems like there's a lot of factors involved open weeks matching up being a big one and exactly how close by are they looking?? Obviously the other SOC teams are out and from I've seen over the years most SVC schools won't travel to far outside of their comfort zone, last few years Unioto is about the only one to really schedule up. SVC though is handcuffed by only having 3 open dates to fill as well. So in terms of proximity let's say 30-45 min. drive that leaves the OVC teams and KY teams. To find good matchups Burg, Ironton, Trojans teams along the river simply don't have the luxury to find a really good matchup without driving 60-90 minutes.

[greygoose]

I'm sure Burg misses the competition and Harbin points they were getting from beating 1 to 3 win Portsmouth teams every year. They are all about strengthening their schedules and were probably about to drop us anyway.

Burg didn’t like the beatdowns they got from Ironton , Bishop Hartley and Jackson . They’ll drop those teams soon as they can.

They've been playing Ironton and Jackson for quite sometime those games are not going anywhere. They've matched up well over the years, now Jackson for the next few years could make things very difficult for Burg but those cycles always hit within a series. You get a competitive game in both cases, good gate money, drive times are good, pretty much a win all the way around having those 2 teams on Burgs schedule.