Well.....what does it look like for next year in the TVC Ohio
Are they keeping the same staff that they had last year
I haven't heard any rumblings about getting a new one yet. If they do, Coach Larry Blackstone is avaliable, now that he has resigned at Millersport....
He was there as the assistant when I was in School from 73-75 and as the head coach at Wellston in the 90's.
What's the old saying three times a charm.
How's the weight room numbers look like this winter
I was suprised to see that Wellston scheduled Waverly and Gallia Academy. You would think that a program that was trying to rebuild; might try to look for more equal opponents. It seems as though they are stacking the deck against the current staff.
Apollo Creed wrote:I was suprised to see that Wellston scheduled Waverly and Gallia Academy. You would think that a program that was trying to rebuild; might try to look for more equal opponents. It seems as though they are stacking the deck against the current staff.
Apollo Creed,
I know
I like Wellston playing against there former SEOAL foes again, those teams bring back memories, but would have rather seen the AD pick up a few teams that they may be able to compete against as you stated.
Did you know that Wellston has had seven head coaches in 17 years? Do the math, there is no longevity or stabalization at Wellston to get a program really started.
Apollo, when they do get a decent coach they usually run him off or the coach leaves for a bigger or better school to coach at. One coach who was at Wellston when I was in school helped heal our program after we had a coach the previous year that went 0-10 in the 72-73 season. Likewise our B-Ball Program went 0-18 that season too. The coach Wellston hired was Jody Michaels who was a Jackson Alum. He brought assistants, Larry Blackstone a Bloom Carroll alum, Fairmont State, WV alum and Vietnam Army Veteran. Blackstone was a first team NAIA All-American. His Fairmont Teams record went in 67;
1967 Fairmont State "Falcons" (11-0)
9/16 West Virginia Tech W, 42-7 9/23 Bluefield State W, 52-13 9/30 Salem W, 21-13 10/7 West Virginia Wesleyan W, 48-0 10/14 Glenville State W, 21-0 10/21 West Liberty State W, 20-0 11/4 Waynesburg W, 7-0 11/11 Central State (OH) W, 8-0 11/18 Concord W, 23-20 11/25 Northern Michigan W, 21-7 (NAIA Playoffs) 12/9 Eastern Washington W, 28-21 (NAIA Champions Bowl)
Larry also was the head coach at Jackson and Wellston later on. If memory serves me right he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the old AFL but got sent to Vietnam.
Also Coach Michaels brought Coach Bill Fyffe, another Jackson Alum, O.U. Alum and USMC Veteran with him. Coach Fyffe would also serve as Head Coach at Wellston later on and defeated Coach Larry Blackstones Jackson Ironmen Team. We also had Steve West a Wellston Alum as an Assistant. The first 4 years Coach Michaels was at Wellston they went 3-6-1 tied Jackson 8-8 in 73-74 season, then 5-5, 6-4 and 7-3. Later on Wellston would have Coaches Jenkins, Tustin, and others Michaels would bring and they did a complete turn around in Wellston Sports, that would get the kids excited and know they could compete in the SEOAL. That was a total change fom the 69-70 / 70-71 / 71-72 / 72-73 seasons at Wellston in the SEOAL. I believe he left after the 79 or 80 season?
Certain folks in Wellston ran off one coach simply because he couldn't beat Jackson (or Waverly in two years). The 8-2 records and first back-back TVC-Ohio titles EVER should be considered two of the best seasons in school history. However, eight wins and TVC titles were not good enough for some people. Sad...just sad. That coach returned to where he came from and continues to win OVC championships in Football.
The next coach had the Rockets in the playoffs back to back and he left.
The sad part is, this team could go 0-10 next year too. I pray not. The kids on the Golden Rocket squad were for the most part made up of sophomores this year. Some feel they won't be that much better next year. Just a year older. This was an 0-10 team that wasn't much competitive in there games they played this past season with the exception of the Belpre and Alexander game. What's sad is, most of their games were clearly n the bag at the half. Well techincally they were 1-9. From our understanding Nelsonville-York had to forfiet it's game with Wellston and River Valley due to an in-eligible player in those games played against our Golden Rockets and the Raiders in 2007. Thus, N-Y lost it's TVC Ohio Division Co-Championship in Football with Belpre. Making Belpre become sole TVC Ohio 2007 Football Champs. Some blame is probably on the play, but there staff is too.
I expect them to most likely keep the present coach for another year. Many feel that the numbers in and out of the program and weight room could drop....from around 40 that they had 9-12 last year!!! I hope not.
Who knows what the outcome will be at Wellston. I will always support my alma mater but you got to feel for them.
GO Golden Rockets
Last edited by Army on Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Here are a few things I see (and Army already touched upon some of these).....
1. Lack of consistency in coaching - you need a coach to be your coach for a long time and not a few years. This helps to establish a program and style of play within that program. You have to give a head coach enough time for these changes to happen in the program and this could take five years or more to build a program at all levels from the ground up. You have to give that coach a chance to do this, and it could mean a few years of bad records, but that is just the growing pains you need to go through to achieve the end goal of a successful program from the ground up.
2. The non-league schedule is too hard for a program rebuilding itself. Jackson, Waverly, and Gallia Academy are all tough, established programs. If you are trying to rebuild a program, these are not the nonleague games you should be scheduling. You need to schedule games you at least have a realistic chance of winning in order to build confidence among team players as they move into league play later in the season. When you are rebuilding, you want your players to be confident when league play starts, and if they have a couple wins under their belt before league play begins, they should have more confidence starting league play then they would have if they were 0-3 and starting league play. I think Meigs recently figured this out, as they dropped the longtime rivalry with Gallia Academy after several years of losing this game. I think Meigs has started 1-0 every season since dropping Gallia, and that 1-0 start is a huge psychological advantage over the 0-1 start they had playing Gallia. Even though Meigs has not won the TVC this decade, they at least are in a position to be confident and believe they have a shot at the title. And sometimes that is all a team needs in order to play well. I think Wellston should schedule teams like Trimble or Federal Hocking which would be competative games in most years for all involved. The Jackson-Wellston series has just got out of hand. It's ok to break old ties. NY finally quit playing Logan. Meigs finally quit playing Gallia. There is no sense in holding onto tradition if it hurts the end goal of your entire football program.
3. And this sort of ties into my first point - your biddy league and junior high programs need to improve to the point they consistently win more games than they loose. If these kids enter high school KNOWING they can beat NY, Meigs, or whoever because they beat them growing up, that is a HUGE psychological advantage! You can't just expect your varsity team to win if they have never won as reserves, in junior high, or in biddy league. Football is truly a "build from the ground up" sport, especially when talking about high school athletics.
4. You have to have community support! Do your fans travel well to away games? Do your local businesses show support for your teams? I am not familiar with the answer to these questions concerning Wellston, but I can tell you that at NY these are both big factors concerning our football team. Lots of fans at away games and businesses who support the teams through donations and putting up Go Bucks! signs and stuff like that. The teams need to know that you are behind them 110%!
So that is my unbiased opinion concerning what I see from Wellston. Take it or leave it!
That is one of the best post I have seen on here to date. Great insight and outstanding review of certain key points for a team to rebound. I especially agree about cutting ties wth old rivals that are no-longer needed. I may not agree with some NY posters but you are always respectful and have a civil attitude to talk real football. That's refreshing to see on here. Look at your example. Nelsonville was terrible in FB, when they consolidated, things began to change slowly, but look at the N-Y Buckeye program now. Just like Amanda Clearcreek, Crooksville, Wheelersburg, Ironton and Newark Catholic. All have changed for the better and have a program built in, from the biddy league all the way to the Varsity. I would like to see my alma mater Wellston drop Jackson and maybe start off with a Portsmouth East or Federal Hocking or even Oak Hill. Then play a SVC school like Zane Trace or a Unioto. And pick up a Berne Union or Hillsboro and then play a Eastern or Southern Meigs, or River Valley. 4 straight or 3 wins and 1 loss is a whole lot better to start off than 0-4 before Conference play.
Wellston will not drop Jackson , I would like to see it but it will never happen.
Tiger bait not sure of the order of the schedule, but here are the teams .
Jackson-H
Minford-H
Waverly-A
Gallia Academy-A
N-Y -H
Belpre-A
Vinton Co.-H
Alexander -H
Athens -A
Meigs-A
I'm with you. I also would like to see the Jackson-Wellston series end. Outside of money, I don't think either team gains much from playing the game. Sometimes people need to look past money and examine the entire picture.
Good luck to the Rockets next season, except in Week 1, of course. The Rockets have a very difficult schedule but I'm sure they will be much improved from last season.
NY96...That was a very intelligent post. You won't find me agreeing very often with anyone from your program. But' you were very neutral in your views. I've said all along that you can't turn your kids over to average biddy league coaches for 6-7 years(they also coach Jr. High) before they get to the high school level. Too many chances for a kid to be lost in the program because of favoritism, negative parent involvement, etc. In this situation, only a small group of kids are actually being taught the true importance of fundamentals in the game. Certain kids are being told that they're the man (when they're clearly average in the whole scheme of things) and the other kids hear this constantly. They get sick of hearing about how great lil Johnnie is and develop a bad attitude towards Lil Johnnie therefore not wanting to be a teammate of Lil Johnnie. This brings a total negative' cancer situation to the psyche of the whole team.. for several years. Several players have quit altogether knowing that the TEAM really only consists of the 4 or 5 players that are actually being COACHED. If you only win (on average) 1-3 games a year in Jr. High, you don't know HOW to win when you get to the varsity level! If I was the Wellston AD, the first thing I would ask a perspective coach is "are you from Wellston?" If the answer is YES, I would refuse to hire him/her. Wellston has no winning tradition(now or previously). How can someone from here and/or played here teach/coach winning? Simple....they can't. It's time to end the expectations of mediocrity!!
Wellston has never had success against Jackson.The Rockets have won a total of 26 games . There was a time they had its glory in the mid-50s and early 60s I believe Wellston had some pretty good teams.They even had Woody Hayes come to watch the Rockets not sure what year in the 60s I think.He was recruiting Terry Ervin. Wellston by the way lost that game only loss of the year ,to Jackson to rub salt in the wound.The 70s had its good teams too 74 (I think Army will know) They battled powerhouse Ironton but lost 8-6 I think.For their only loss? The 80s werent so good ,left the league we helped get started right there on the West End of Wellston in 1925. The 90s were up and down scared by a 0-10 season as does the 70s and 2007seasons. This decade has been competeitive so far with the exception of last years team. I am hope that the young grew up and are ready to step up like I know they can and play ball.When this group decides to play as a team they will be pretty good.IMO
boilermaker wrote:Wellston has never had success against Jackson.The Rockets have won a total of 26 games . There was a time they had its glory in the mid-50s and early 60s I believe Wellston had some pretty good teams.They even had Woody Hayes come to watch the Rockets not sure what year in the 60s I think.He was recruiting Terry Ervin. Wellston by the way lost that game only loss of the year ,to Jackson to rub salt in the wound.The 70s had its good teams too 74 (I think Army will know) They battled powerhouse Ironton but lost 8-6 I think.For their only loss? The 80s werent so good ,left the league we helped get started right there on the West End of Wellston in 1925. The 90s were up and down scared by a 0-10 season as does the 70s and 2007seasons. This decade has been competeitive so far with the exception of last years team. I am hope that the young grew up and are ready to step up like I know they can and play ball.When this group decides to play as a team they will be pretty good.IMO
Boilermaker,
HC Conger
1. 1969-1970 season, the Wellston Golden Rockets went 4-6. They were 3-0 in Non-League Play. They defeated McArthur Vinton County and Oak Hill. If memory serves me right, they defeated Portsmouth East from the SOC. In the SEOAL they defeated Nelsonville-York at Wellston by a score of 34-14. This was Nelsonville-Yorks last season in the SEOAL.
The Golden Rockets lost to Logan, Gallipolis, Ironton, Pomeroy Meigs, The Plains Athens, Jackson. I may have been incorrect on the Portsmouth East game, not sure.
HC Coach Conger
2. The 1970-1971 season, the Wellston Golden Rockets, I believe went 2-8. They defeated Oak Hill who was in the OVC then, McArthur Vinton County from the TVC. In the SEOAL the Golden Rockets were defeated by Logan, Waverly, Gallipolis Gallia Academy, Ironton, The Palins Athens Pomeroy Meigs and Jackson.
Dual HC's Tom Baker and Mullins
3. The 1971-1972 season, the Wellston Golden Rockets went 1-9 The only game they won was a 72-6 victory at home over McArthur Vinton County.
HC Stemen, assistants Hootman, Sheets, Baker
4. 1972-73 season Wellston went 0-10. In Non-League play, Wellston went 0-3. That was the first victory over us by a McArthur Vinton County Viking Team. They defeated us 7-0 at McArthur. We also lost to Oak Hill and Portsmouth Notre Dame. In SEOAL play Wellston lost to Waverly, The Plains Athens, Pomeroy Meigs, Ironton, Gallipolis, Logan and Jackson. Kenny Valentine who is now the offensive Coordinator for the Chillicothe CAVS was Jackson's TB and he ran all over Wellston that night on what is now called CH Jones Field.
HC Jody Michaels, assitants Larry Blackstone, Bill Fyffe, Steve West
5. The 1973-74 season the Wellston Golden Rockets went 3-6-1. In Non-League play, Wellston defeated Oak Hill and Vinton County. Lost to Wheelersburg. In SEOAL play Wellston defeated Waverly, tied Jackson 8-8 at Jackson.
HC Jody Micheals assistants Larry Blackstone, Bill Fyffe, Steve West, Bill Duncan
6. The 1974-75 season the Wellston Golden Rockets went 5-5. In non-League play, Wellston lost to Wheelersburg and Washington C.H. they defeated McArthur Vinton County. In SEOAL play, Wellston defeated Logan, The Plains Athens, Waverly and Pomeroy Meigs.
HC Jody Michaels, assitants Steve West, Bill Duncan, Jenkins, Tustin,
7. In the 1975-76 season the Wellston Golden Rockets went 7-3. In non-league play, the Golden Rockets defeated Nelsonville-York, Stewart Federal Hocking and McArthur Vinton County. In SEOAL Play Wellston defeated Gallipolis Gallia Academy, Pomeroy Meigs, The Plains Athens and Waverly. Wellston lost to Logan, (Ironton), who I might add beat us 12-8. Ritche Arthurs our QB fumbled the football with 1:27 left on the clock in the 4th quarter on the 1 yard line.
It was a Heartbreak loss. Especially that they had Kenny Fritz on there team who later played for Ohio State Buckeyes. Lutz and his coaching staff were laughing at our size as they walked by our Golden Rockets as we were warming up prior to the game. We almost beat them. Wellston gave them a run for the money that night on Wellston's field. We were crushed that last game at Jackson by the Ironmen.
HC Jody Michaels, assitants Steve West, Bill Duncan, Rick Perdue, Tustin
8. In the 1976-77 season the Wellston the Golden Rockets I think were 5-5? I was already out of school. In Non-League the Golden Rockets defeated McArthur Vinton County, Stewart Federal Hocking, and lost to Nelsonville-York. In SEOAL Play they defeated Waverly, The Plains Athens, Pomeroy Meigs. They lost to Gallipolis Gallia Academy, Ironton, Logan and Jackson. I may be in-correct, they may have 1 or 2 more wins. I am not sure.
HC Jody Michaels
9. In the 1977-1978 season. Check with Captain Jack? He may remember?
HC Jody Michaels
10. In the 1978-1979 season?
Last edited by Army on Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
Army, Wellston beat NY in '68 and '69 in SEOAL play, and NY's only SEOAL win in the three seasons the Buckeyes were in the league came against Wellston in '67.
Here is a good example of why you need to give a coach a chance to implement changes in your program from top to bottom. NY's first coach, Dave Boston, Sr. is in the OHSAA Coaches Hall of Fame and turned NY's program around. However, he needed time to do this. Here are some numbers for you.........Boston's first year coaching was the final year of the Nelsonville Greyhounds in '66.
Here are wins for the Buckeyes the first few seasons.....
1971 is really the magic year for NY football. Since 1971, NY has only had three losing seasons, and in all 3 of those seasons, the Buckeyes went 4-6, so they were still pretty close to .500.
Now, can you imagine what might have happened to NY football had the administration fired Coach Boston in say 1970 after three seasons of 3-7, 0-10, and 2-8 records? But if you do the math in your head, Coach Boston came to Nelsonville in 1966 and then had to build a consolidated program in 1967, so between '67 and '71, the Buckeyes had to go through some growing pains while Coach Boston implemented his style of football into our program. So NY needed five years of growth time to turn the program into a winner.
So you need to give SOMEONE at Wellston a long enough tenure to turn around the program.
If I remember right, when I researched the '67 season it said Nelsonville went 4-6 in '66. That is what I remember seeing on the microfilm anyways, I didn't document it because I didn't research the Greyhounds, at least not yet.
Yes, Buchtel-York had football. I think they were in that league that had Chauncey, The Plains, Rutland, and those schools. All of those schools ceased to exist in the same year - 1967. I'm not 100% sure of this though.
The only thing I really know is that everyone hated that the schools were consolidated at that time. From what I hear, they fought over EVERYTHING! The state made them consolidate. The reason why we are the Buckeyes is because both schools fought over the nickname!!! And since we are the Buckeye State, the school went with Buckeyes, as it was the only nickname that both schools would agree on.
At first, both schools wanted to keep their nicknames and colors, but were told there would be a new nickname and school colors. Nelsonville High School voted for Nelsonville-York Patriots and colors of red, white, and blue. Buchtel-York voted for Nelsonville-York Rebels and picked one school color of Buchtel-York and one school color of Nelsonville as the colors, but I can't remember which combination of Greyhound scarlet and grey or Bruin blue and yellow they picked. I think it was grey and blue maybe.
NYBuckeye96 wrote:If I remember right, when I researched the '67 season it said Nelsonville went 4-6 in '66. That is what I remember seeing on the microfilm anyways, I didn't document it because I didn't research the Greyhounds, at least not yet.
Yes, Buchtel-York had football. I think they were in that league that had Chauncey, The Plains, Rutland, and those schools. All of those schools ceased to exist in the same year - 1967. I'm not 100% sure of this though.
The only thing I really know is that everyone hated that the schools were consolidated at that time. From what I hear, they fought over EVERYTHING! The state made them consolidate. The reason why we are the Buckeyes is because both schools fought over the nickname!!! And since we are the Buckeye State, the school went with Buckeyes, as it was the only nickname that both schools would agree on.
At first, both schools wanted to keep their nicknames and colors, but were told there would be a new nickname and school colors. Nelsonville High School voted for Nelsonville-York Patriots and colors of red, white, and blue. Buchtel-York voted for Nelsonville-York Rebels and picked one school color of Buchtel-York and one school color of Nelsonville as the colors, but I can't remember which combination of Greyhound scarlet and grey or Bruin blue and yellow they picked. I think it was grey and blue maybe.
That's kind of funny about the two schools arguing over school colors and mascot names. Good History.
I was in no way trying to disrespect the Rocket program. I agree that they have a history of good football. I simply believe that in their current state (a state of rebuilding) they need to look for more winnable games. Undoubtedly; if Jackson and Wellston continue the series; eventually Wellston will win the game; it's the law of large numbers; odds are it will eventually happen; but at what cost? I think that the AD would do his school a service by letting go of old rivalries; and really evaluating the talent of the teams he is placing on the schedule. Give your kids a chance to turn it around. I just looks like to me; that the Wellston Admin. is asleep at the wheel. I wish the Rockets the best of luck and a quick return.
