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We've just seen a week of pivotal games in the SHL. Last week Ripley solidified their hold on the Big School lead, while the Small School suddenly became a horse race between not two, but three teams. Fairfield and Whiteoak continues to surge as Peebles steps up their game to take the reigns in their division.


1. The Peebles Indians (12-1, 7-1) grab the top spot not just because they beat Manchester, but because they beat them by 24 points. The Indians led the whole game, and tied their second highest point total at 84. They move into a tie for the lead in Division 2. I get the feeling Coach Arey didn't have to work too hard to get them fired up for this one.

They have two easy ones this weekend against Fayetteville and Western Latham, but to win the division they have to get past Whiteoak on Tuesday.

2. The Ripley Blue Jays (12-1, 8-0) haven't been battle-tested weeks. It's been almost a month since they beat a team by less than ten points. This week they face Kentucky's Fleming County (11-8). Anyone have a scouting report on Fleming County? I'll be twiddling my thumbs until next week's matchup against Peebles.

3. The Manchester Greyhounds (12-3, 8-2) Stop saying the Greyhounds are collapsing. They had a bad week. Peebles did a good job shutting them down, and Whiteoak played them hard and kept Blevins in single digits. The worrisome thing is that Lynchburg-Clay was leading them for most of the contest Saturday, before the Hounds got the pound in order. This is still one of the best three teams in the SHL, but their schedule is VERY tough down the stretch.

They have a big game against Fairfield before facing Ironton and Ripley in their final week.

4. The Wildcats of Whiteoak (6-8, 5-3) are ranked beneath Manchester, even after dominating the Hounds. Why? I still think Manchester is the better team, even though the Wildcats are playing better ball. Michael stepped up and had a big game against the Hounds. One of the team's weaknesses this year has been consistency, especially in high pressure situations. Example: losing to North Adams and blowing their lead against Oak Hill. The boys are starting to fir eon all cylinders, and are ready to give the Indians all they can handle.

5. The Fairfield Lions (5-8, 4-4) just keep climbing the ladder of the SHL standings. This is a hungry, dangerous team that's finding their rhythm just in time for the tourney. Both impending games against Manchester should be great contests, and this weekend double header will be a treat for all SHL fans. Seniors Chris Cox and Blake Blevins will be facing off for the final time (unless they should meet in the tournament)...one for the books.

6. Eastern Brown (7-6, 2-6) went 1-1 last week, continuing their respectable rebuilding year. Their loss to Lynchburg Clay would be surprising, if all six of their losses hadn't come against SHL teams. I look for them to go 1-1 once again, as they face Ripley and West Union.

7. The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs (5-11, 4-5) assured their third-straight losing season last week, despite a strong win over Eastern Brown. They're one Ripley win away from being mathematically eliminated form league contention. However, they can easily pick up two more wins theis week as they rematch West Union and North Adams, two teams they've already beaten.

8. North Adams (4-9, 3-5) is trying to fight off their first consecutive losing seasons in more than a decade (trivia: when was the last time the Devils had two losing seasons in a row?). They face a surging Whiteoak team on Friday.

9. The Fayetteville Rockets (2-12, 1-8) face a (4-8) Batavia team on Tuesday. I don't know much about Batavia, but it would be nice to see the Rockets pick up a win. They have their hands full with Peebles on Friday.

10. The West Union Dragons (1-13, 0-9) have a great performing arts program at their school. For years their band, choir, and school musicals have been the envy of every small school in the Ohio Valley. This week their basketball team faces Big School opponents Lynchburg-Clay and Eastern Brown.


This week's BIG GAME: Peebles @ Whiteoak. If Peebles wins, the league is theirs.
This weeks BIGGERER GAME Fairfield vs. Manchester. Cats vs. Dogs...beware a cornered greyhound.


Your Games:

Tuesday, February 1st
*Peebles 61
Whiteoak 57

*Lynchburg-Clay 77
North Adams 67

Fayetteville 41
Batavia 53

Manchester 71
New Richmond 48

*West Union 39
Eastern Brown 48

Friday, February 4th
*Fayetteville 45
Peebles 96

*Fairfield 67
Manchester 68

*Eastern Brown 52
Ripley 59

*West Union 60
Lynchburg-Clay 69 OT

*North Adams
Whiteoak

Saturday, February 5th
Fairfield 92
Adena 64

Fleming County 59
Ripley 60

Peebles
Western Latham

Southern Hills League Standings

OVERALL:
Team - W/L - GB - SHL - STREAK - PCT.

PEB / 15-1 / - / 9-1 / W11 / .937
RIP / 14-1 / .5 / 9-0 / W12 / .933
MN / 14-3 / 1.5 / 9-2 / W3 / .823
ESB /8-7 / 6.5 / 3-7 / W2 / .533
FRD / 6-9 / 8.5 / 4-5 / W1 / .400
LYN / 7-11 / 9 / 6-5 / W2 / .389
WHK / 6-10 / 9 / 5-5 / L2 / .375
NAD / 5-10 / 9.5 / 4-6 / W1 / .333
FAY / 2-14 / 12 / 1-9 / L13 / .125
WU / 1-15 / 14 / 0-11 / L13 / .062


DIVISION 1
Team - SHL - PCT. - GB - W/L - PCT. - STREAK

RIP / 9-0 / 1.000 / - / 14-1 / .933 / W12
LYN / 6-5 / .545 / 4 / 7-11 / .352 / W2
ESB / 3-7 / .300 / 6.5 / 8-7 / .533 / L1
NA / 4-6 / .400 / 5.5 / 5-10 / .333 / W1
WU / 0-11 / .000 / 10 / 1-15 / .062 / L13


DIVISION 2
Team - SHL - PCT. - GB - W/L - PCT. - STREAK

PEB / 9-1 / .900 / - / 15-1 / .937 / W11
MN / 9-2 / .818 / .5 / 14-3 / .823 / W3
WHK / 5-5 / .500 / 4 / 7-8 / .467 / L1
FRD / 4-5 / .444 / 4.5 / 6-9 / .400 / W1
FAY / 1-9 / .100 / 8 / 2-14 / .125 / L13

*League Game.
+Awaiting Scores

Nice analysis chitwood...was looking for this earlier in the day and glad it made its way on here tonight. The Peebles/Whiteoak game will be a fun matchup to watch this week, that's for sure. Manchester and Fairfield play Friday, but actually don't play again until the following Tuesday, Feb. 8. Checked on a website and Fairfield has a home game against Adena Saturday night between the two Manchester games.

pitchfork wrote:Nice analysis chitwood...was looking for this earlier in the day and glad it made its way on here tonight. The Peebles/Whiteoak game will be a fun matchup to watch this week, that's for sure. Manchester and Fairfield play Friday, but actually don't play again until the following Tuesday, Feb. 8. Checked on a website and Fairfield has a home game against Adena Saturday night between the two Manchester games.

Cool! Good to know. The site I checked had them double-booked, so I assumed they cancelled the Adena game. Thanks for the update; I'll fix it now.

as for fleming county they are a pretty good team..listened to them play in florida against some good teams and beat few of em..id say fleming county by 5 or less..ill take peebles by 20+ over ripley...ripley will have no answer for justice

do manchester and peebles only play ripley once?

eaglesorfalcons wrote:do manchester and peebles only play ripley once?

yep just once because Ripley is in the big school division 1 in the SHL and Peebles and Manchester are in the small school division 2 of the SHL. Jchitwood has the divison breakdowns in his above posting.

my bad. i thought that since there were only 10 teams in the shl that they would play each team 2x. also, is evey team in the big school division D3 or bigger?

eaglesorfalcons wrote:my bad. i thought that since there were only 10 teams in the shl that they would play each team 2x. also, is evey team in the big school division D3 or bigger?

Yeah all teams in big schools are DIII, and small schools am mixed bag of DIII & DIV. Peebles has been a DIV team in the past "99" I know of and are I believe at the bottom of DIII enrollment. They I believe re-align the divisions periodically. I think It was roughly 10 to 15 years years ago I think that they split the SHL up into two divisions. Not sure if I am completely accurate on this however. Help me out on this Jchitwood???

the peebles schedule makers had to know that this year's team was going to be very good and they have to play 8 league games against d4 teams. then why would they schedule other small schools like latham and st patrick? this does not get them battle tested for the competition they are going to run into in a very strong d3 se district. i know non league schedules are usually made a year or two in advance and if you are going to be strong you schedule stronger and if you are going to be weak you look for some easy or possible wins.
over the years i have seen schools go 20-0 including weak non league opponents and get beat in the first or second round of the tournament. all coaches should have some say in the scheduling process because they are the ones who bite the bullet when they don't win enough games.

Agreed sparky, our non-league schedule is less than helpfull this year but I don't know the schedule specifics well enough so I can't place blame on anyone. I do think it is hard to predict another programs future success/potential when it is hard enough to predict our own. I do think schedules are set atleast 2 years ahead with home/away games. Also Peebles has a firtst year head coach and I would bet he had little input in that area.

sparky wrote:the peebles schedule makers had to know that this year's team was going to be very good and they have to play 8 league games against d4 teams. then why would they schedule other small schools like latham and st patrick? this does not get them battle tested for the competition they are going to run into in a very strong d3 se district. i know non league schedules are usually made a year or two in advance and if you are going to be strong you schedule stronger and if you are going to be weak you look for some easy or possible wins.
over the years i have seen schools go 20-0 including weak non league opponents and get beat in the first or second round of the tournament. all coaches should have some say in the scheduling process because they are the ones who bite the bullet when they don't win enough games.

Agreed, I would have liked this team to have played some stronger competition even if it did result in an extra loss or two. Still wish we could have added Mason County.

sparky wrote:the peebles schedule makers had to know that this year's team was going to be very good and they have to play 8 league games against d4 teams. then why would they schedule other small schools like latham and st patrick? this does not get them battle tested for the competition they are going to run into in a very strong d3 se district. i know non league schedules are usually made a year or two in advance and if you are going to be strong you schedule stronger and if you are going to be weak you look for some easy or possible wins.
over the years i have seen schools go 20-0 including weak non league opponents and get beat in the first or second round of the tournament. all coaches should have some say in the scheduling process because they are the ones who bite the bullet when they don't win enough games.

you're preaching to the choir...I'm jealous of the schedule that Whiteoak, Manchester, and Fairfield get to play. It would be greta if PHS could be in the Beasts of the Southeast.

I would like to see some games against powerhouses that we would rarely, if ever, see. I think a games against Berlin Hiland, Garaway, Mason County, Zanesville, Glen Este, and Jamestown Greeneview(just to name a few) would be interesting.

u dont wanna play mason county

streetballer wrote:u dont wanna play mason county

Yeah I do.

Blake is at 1938pts at the moment with 6 games left in the regular season plus any tourny games.

streetballer wrote:u dont wanna play mason county

yeah we do.

Peebles over Whiteoak 61 to 57....very close, physical game.

Also Lynchburg-Clay over North Adams 77-67....

An update on the race for the SHL title:

Contenders:
Ripley (8-0)
02-04-11 EASTERN
02-08-11 WHITEOAK
02-11-11 NORTH ADAMS
02-12-11 PEEBLES
02-18-11 MANCHESTER

Still have their most challenging games ahead of them, against Whiteoak, Peebles, and Manchester. Still, the Blue Jays are two wins away from clinching the Big School. Prediction: 12-1.

Peebles (8-1)
02-04-11 FAYETTEVILLE
02-12-11 RIPLEY
02-15-11 NORTH ADAMS
02-18-11 LYNCHBURG-CLAY

Tonight's win against Whiteoak was huge. Mathematically the division is still close, but the Indians are looking pretty hard to unseat. They should easily win 3 of their last 4. Prediction: 12-1.

Manchester (8-2)
02-04-11 FAIRFIELD
02-08-11 FAIRFIELD
02-18-11 RIPLEY

Manchester is only half a game back, but they need to run the table and hope Peebles falls to Ripley and gets blindsided by one of their "gimme" games. If rival North Adams can take one away from the Tribe, or dark horse Lynchburg-Clay catches them on a bad night, the Hounds have a shot. Otherwise, I think Manchester will drop one, probably two, of their remaining games. Prediction: 9-4

In the Hunt:

Lynchburg-Clay (5-5)
02-04-11 WEST UNION
02-11-11 EASTERN
02-18-11 PEEBLES

The Fat Lady's not singing, Mustangs, but she's warming up. If Ripley falls apart in a major way these ponies could close the gap...but it's not likely. Prediction: 7-6

Whiteoak (5-4)
02-04-11 NORTH ADAMS
02-08-11 RIPLEY
02-11-11 FAYETTEVILLE
02-18-11 WEST UNION

The Wildcats probably fell just a few points shy of their hopes of a league title tonight. Still, this is a dangerous team right now that will probably win 3 out of their final 4. They're two losses away from a losing season, something I know these players don't want. They'll give Ripley all they can handle. Prediction: 8-5

Longshots:

North Adams (3-6)
02-04-11 WHITEOAK
02-11-11 RIPLEY
02-15-11 PEEBLES
02-18-11 FAYETTEVILLE

The Green Devils fall to 5.5 games back tonight, meaning they're eliminated. Prediction: 4-9

Fairfield (4-4)
02-04-11 MANCHESTER
02-08-11 MANCHESTER
02-09-11 FAYETTEVILLE
02-11-11 WEST UNION
02-18-11 EASTERN

Still technically in the race, but they've got a lot of ground to gain to catch Peebles. They need to go 5-2 in their final stretch to avoid a losing season. They can do it, with rivals Manchester (x2) and Hillsboro standing in their way. Prediction: 8-5.