Year of the Ugly SEOAL

[ironman02]

This has played out exactly as I expected. Paladin asks a question that he already knows the answer to just to get people riled up. Then once they fire back at him, he insults several different schools, and SE Ohio in general. Despite already stating the answer to his question, he continues to ask for input so that he can continue to hurl insults. Seriously, are we done yet?

SE Ohio schools don't challenge themselves enough. Because of that, they rarely have playoff success. This will only end if these schools step up and challenge their kids by increasing schedule difficulty. The end.

[Ironman92]

I heard from a credible source that Jackson, Gallia Academy, Chillicothe, Portsmouth, Logan and Warren are leaving the SEOAL.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

that would end that league.

[el savior]

Report is that Logan is going to the Big Ten.. "to play better competition"

[noreply66]

thought we were to stay on the topic----RULES

[Ironman92]

Chicken armpits

[noreply66]

Report is that Logan is going to the Big Ten.. "to play better competition"

We might make it to the play offs with a 0/10 record

[moonshine]

I heard from a credible source that Jackson, Gallia Academy, Chillicothe, Portsmouth, Logan and Warren are leaving the SEOAL.

You might be just having fun, But Logan and Chillicothe will become members of the MSL within the next 3-5 years!

[warriorfrosh]

Colleges schedule strategically all the time to increase their chances of having a better record at the end of the year...look at OSU, they schedule several patsies and only maybe one marquee game out of conference....an average high school team should do the same....not everyone is going to advance....why start 0-4 every year then brag about your schedule....let the kids have some fun and thump on some patsies early on before they get to their conference schedule.....I don't think tougher competition throughout the necessarily hardens you for the playoffs....just beats you up physically and down mentally and can make you weaker if you lost key players....plus the in fighting starts between players and also from the 12th man and the coaching staff....we have several examples of this in the SEOAL this year.....

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

Colleges schedule strategically all the time to increase their chances of having a better record at the end of the year...look at OSU, they schedule several patsies and only maybe one marquee game out of conference....an average high school team should do the same....not everyone is going to advance....why start 0-4 every year then brag about your schedule....let the kids have some fun and thump on some patsies early on before they get to their conference schedule.....I don't think tougher competition throughout the necessarily hardens you for the playoffs....just beats you up physically and down mentally and can make you weaker if you lost key players....plus the in fighting starts between players and also from the 12th man and the coaching staff....we have several examples of this in the SEOAL this year.....

--------------------------------------you can't seriously be throwing the patsy flag on the buckeyes as a team are you, and have a west virginia logo on your avatar. the whole league is patsy. 15 yard penalty, and loss of brain cells temporarily.
why do you think everybody calls it the big least.

[WitnessProtection]

Colleges schedule strategically all the time to increase their chances of having a better record at the end of the year...look at OSU, they schedule several patsies and only maybe one marquee game out of conference....an average high school team should do the same....not everyone is going to advance....why start 0-4 every year then brag about your schedule....let the kids have some fun and thump on some patsies early on before they get to their conference schedule.....I don't think tougher competition throughout the necessarily hardens you for the playoffs....just beats you up physically and down mentally and can make you weaker if you lost key players....plus the in fighting starts between players and also from the 12th man and the coaching staff....we have several examples of this in the SEOAL this year.....

--------------------------------------you can't seriously be throwing the patsy flag on the buckeyes as a team are you, and have a west virginia logo on your avatar. the whole league is patsy. 15 yard penalty, and loss of brain cells temporarily.
why do you think everybody calls it the big least.

Sorry, warriorfrosh, YTB is right.
WVU's non-con sked includes Marshall (4-5), Norfolk St. (7-2, MEAC), Maryland (2-6), and Bowling Green (4-5). Big East sked UConn (3-5), 'Cuse (5-3), Rutgers (5-3).
OSU's non-cons are equally poor: Akron (1-7), Colorado (1-8), a crummy The U (4-4), and Toledo (5-4).
Big Ten trumps Big East every time. In-con opps for OSU: (15) Mich. State, (14) Nebraska, (19) Wisconsin. Illinois was ranked when OSU played them.
WVU's only ranked opponent: (1) LSU. Only one other ranked opponent on sked for the 'Eers: (23) Cincinnati.

[Chieftain]

Actually the "patsy" arguement isn't that. Its about $$$$$$$$$$$. Typically major colleges play former I-AA and lower D-I teams to come play them .......always AT HOME........ to give those teams PAYDAYS to come play while playing more home games and increasing the $$$$$$$$$$$ in their athletic budgets. You have a few that do that on the H.S. level........ Steubenville..... Massillon.... Harding..... McKinley.

H.S. is more home & home and SHOULD be about COMPETITIVE games, not beating someone by big scores 9 out of 10 years or more. That even goes against the ethics of amateur sports. We will soon witness the spectacle of the playoff where fakes and pretenders get butt whipped in the first game by real teams. Then the competition should be whittled down for better games until only the best teams who played superior schedules to hone their talent for runs at success. I fully reconzie that every corner of the state does that except for the SE section of Ohio. The greatest example of poor dumb reasoning is the MAC, where teams of smaller division schools play in cow country Western Ohio playing other farm town teams and many end up winning state championships. We'll see some people make it to the championship games from small town, rural teams and metro areas and the one common denominator will be superior schedules that prepped their kids for the run to the State. The rest of the state is light years ahead of you.

[fightingtigers45]

I heard from a credible source that Jackson, Gallia Academy, Chillicothe, Portsmouth, Logan and Warren are leaving the SEOAL.

Logan and Chillicothe have outs to MSL.

Gallia would be OVC bound if they needed to be.

Jackson and Portsmouth are flat out stuck.

I know nothing about Warren.

[Chieftain]

Oh and BTW, since Ohio now has 6 divisions, you really have no excuse for lack of success. A narrow range defines the number of kids in each division. Its the same for all in your division. The question becomes do you play good teams both in and above your division to measure your progress and improve your ability or do you seek out cheap wins that don't challenge your players ?

Look in the mirror.

Let me add, since I post on a number of sports boards, that I have purposely picked on a local team up here who makes a habit of playing weak sisters and then getting blown out in the playoffs. They are a D-II team and over the years they SEEK out D-IV teams, weak programs well established as losers, Canada teams and duck anyone good in the area if they aren't in the league where they would have to play them. Most up here ridicule them relentlessly. This years schedule was so bad had they instead lost one game while they went unbeaten, they wouldn't have made the playoffs. They purposely avoided a week 10 game and opted for a bye week becuase the two teams who would have played them were too good. Yet their fans like to thump their chest and brag about what I'm not sure. They are going nowhere in the playoffs.

[WitnessProtection]

FYI about the MAC ...
According to the MAC website, its members have won 20 OHSAA state football championships since the league was formed in 1973. All told, its schools have won nearly 100 state championships.
Combined population of the counties that encompass the MAC: 295,476 (as of 2010 U.S. Census).
Combined population of the TVC counties: 263,957.
Combined population of the SEOAL counties: 312,880.

[maniac66]

A schedule can make or break you I think we all agree on that.
If you have a system installed that not only teaches but also educates a program from grade school through JR.High into high school on what offence and defense is ran at the high school level that can and will give you a edge on who you should or shouldn't play in the future I would think.
And it depends on what the coach and systems seem important to do we play a weak schedule and win 7 games and a conference tittle and get lucky and make playoffs or play a schedule that may turn on us and demoralize our players and lose out on a winning season and conference tittle?
With 8 teams the odds of going 8-2 and some cases 7-3 and not making playoffs are rare does it happen yes but are rare to say the least.
Some schools are happy just winning and getting a conference tittle others are not because their fans come to expect more than that.
And the level of completion can help or hurt Ironton played a very tough schedule and went 6-4 and got rewarded by having to play on the road for the playoffs yes they had chances to win in those games but did not.
Will it make them better no one can say for sure but if it does then everyone can say they played up and it paid off.
Not every team in the region can take that gamble some are to spread out to run the system from lower to higher levels.
And some have to much in house fighting and instability in their system to do so.
But I do agree with one thing better competition can help prepare you for the playoffs but sometimes it can kill your programs psych starting off 0-3 is a hard hurdle to overcome for many teams so do you just want a winning season a conference tittle or do you want the playoffs and take a chance and lose every thing winning record included.
Depends on the program and what they want.

[LucasJackson]

FYI about the MAC ...
According to the MAC website, its members have won 20 OHSAA state football championships since the league was formed in 1973. All told, its schools have won nearly 100 state championships.
Combined population of the counties that encompass the MAC: 295,476 (as of 2010 U.S. Census).
Combined population of the TVC counties: 263,957.
Combined population of the SEOAL counties: 312,880.

Many were won by parochial powerhouses. There are no such private schools in Southeast ohio

[FANOSPORTS]

Oh and BTW, since Ohio now has 6 divisions, you really have no excuse for lack of success. A narrow range defines the number of kids in each division. Its the same for all in your division. The question becomes do you play good teams both in and above your division to measure your progress and improve your ability or do you seek out cheap wins that don't challenge your players ?

Look in the mirror.

Let me add, since I post on a number of sports boards, that I have purposely picked on a local team up here who makes a habit of playing weak sisters and then getting blown out in the playoffs. They are a D-II team and over the years they SEEK out D-IV teams, weak programs well established as losers, Canada teams and duck anyone good in the area if they aren't in the league where they would have to play them. Most up here ridicule them relentlessly. This years schedule was so bad had they instead lost one game while they went unbeaten, they wouldn't have made the playoffs. They purposely avoided a week 10 game and opted for a bye week becuase the two teams who would have played them were too good. Yet their fans like to thump their chest and brag about what I'm not sure. They are going nowhere in the playoffs.

Ah, Paladin it must be those invincible W.H. Tigers you speak of. Well they do have the same school colors and mascot as Ironton and win a lot of games every year but for sure they don't play the schedule. They'll be gone next week for sure.

[fbfever9]

Paladin,
While I tend to agree with your arguement/point on a broad spectrum, some of your 'facts' to proove your arguement are not correct. I'll get to that in a minute.
Let me start off by saying that I LOVE SEO football. HOWEVER, scheduling as a whole is rather poor. I understand the socioeconomic factors. I understand school district issues with money. But, to think that those same issues aren't a factor EVERYWHERE across the state is very naive as well. Yes, I know there are exceptions with some private schools. The problem is that some people think that if you play 5 or 10 "perennial powers" in a 2 decade stretch, you are playing good competition. Yes, there are less schools nearby to choose from, but there are some leagues that have teams who are 3+ hours from each other. How is a non-league trip to Cincinnati or Columbus area any different?

Now that I have said my piece on that, let me move on to Paladin's "proof".

I currently live around Columbus. I used to live in the Dayton area and briefly in NE Ohio (not too far from St. Ed's). I have gotten to see lots of "big schools" play on a weekily basis for 15 years now. Saying that 'no one in SEO could have competed/beaten' these teams is a stretch at the minimum and flat out laughable on the other end of the spectrum. Lancaster and Reynoldsburg are just not that good this year.

Reynoldsburg's 6 wins came against opponents with a combined win total of 16 (5 of those wins came from Lancaster). That averages out to 2.6667 wins each.

Lancaster's win average is only marginally better. Their 5 wins came against opponents with a combined win total of 14 (7 of those against a solid Mason team).

Furthermore, Pick North's only win against a team with a "winning" record was.... you guessed it.... REYNOLDSBURG. However, I do feel that PN was the best of three. They played Pick. Central EXTREMELY well.

Just because you "know" more about the teams above I-70, doesn't make them better. You are going to have good and bad teams in each region of the state.

[C-Bolt]

I saw Reynoldsburg and Lancaster this year in person and can confidently say nobody around here would have beaten them,Jackson maybe could have played them competitive but probably not win, their depth was just too much, over 80 players for Reynoldsburg, thats hard to compete with for teams around here with just 40 players or less,The way I see it Logan only played 2 maybe 3 bad teams all year and combined with injuries and discipline problems they were destined for a lousy record.....