#5 Waverly @ #1 Marietta

[soccerfanatic]

Before the district games were played at Valley High School, Athens had to travel over 2 hours to New Boston to play, yet all of our opponents back then only had to drive at most 30 minutes. The two years we had to play there we won districts. It's not about how far you travel, it's about how you play. It doesn't make it easy, but it's part of living in a rural part of the state. In DII, our district is everything south of Columbus and east of Cincinnati. It's a big district and somebody is going to have to travel a long distance. There's really nothing to do in order to fix this, it's just the way it has to be.

[socvwatcher#1]

Marietta played a very good game against Waverly. Their midfield was strong and physical. Waverly kept up with them on the first half and the goal was not offsides. It was a very well placed pass by #21(Bevens) to #16(Wiget) who was given the opportunity to use his speed and out run Marietta's defense to finish the goal. If Waverly's offensive midfield had given more long balls, their strikers would have had more opportunities to score. In saying that, Waverly gave a good effort and it will be exciting to see what they will be able to do next year. Waverly was a young team in comparison to Marietta's mostly based senior team.

[drrabbit]

Before the district games were played at Valley High School, Athens had to travel over 2 hours to New Boston to play, yet all of our opponents back then only had to drive at most 30 minutes. The two years we had to play there we won districts. It's not about how far you travel, it's about how you play. It doesn't make it easy, but it's part of living in a rural part of the state. In DII, our district is everything south of Columbus and east of Cincinnati. It's a big district and somebody is going to have to travel a long distance. There's really nothing to do in order to fix this, it's just the way it has to be.

Those years that Athens drove to New Boston and won districts was the early 1990's. They won--not in spite of distance--but rather because of size. There were only two division then. Athens was one of the largest division II teams in the state. In fact, they moved on up to Division I after that. Yes they drove two hours but it was to beat up New Boston where they had a population advantage in boys of about 8-1 (today it is closer to 10-1.) They could defeat South Webster where they had a 3-1 advantage. They had a 2-1 advantage on Valley, Minford and Wheelersburg and a near 2-1 advantage on Alexander. Northwest was the closest in size but they still had about 120 less boys in their school than Athens.

Today, I beat that Athens could drive 10 hours and beat New Boston. On the other hand, they couldn't drive two hours this year and beat South Webster. But this is, hands down, South Webster's best team ever.

[soccerfanatic]

Before the district games were played at Valley High School, Athens had to travel over 2 hours to New Boston to play, yet all of our opponents back then only had to drive at most 30 minutes. The two years we had to play there we won districts. It's not about how far you travel, it's about how you play. It doesn't make it easy, but it's part of living in a rural part of the state. In DII, our district is everything south of Columbus and east of Cincinnati. It's a big district and somebody is going to have to travel a long distance. There's really nothing to do in order to fix this, it's just the way it has to be.

Those years that Athens drove to New Boston and won districts was the early 1990's. They won--not in spite of distance--but rather because of size. There were only two division then. Athens was one of the largest division II teams in the state. In fact, they moved on up to Division I after that. Yes they drove two hours but it was to beat up New Boston where they had a population advantage in boys of about 8-1 (today it is closer to 10-1.) They could defeat South Webster where they had a 3-1 advantage. They had a 2-1 advantage on Valley, Minford and Wheelersburg and a near 2-1 advantage on Alexander. Northwest was the closest in size but they still had about 120 less boys in their school than Athens.

Today, I beat that Athens could drive 10 hours and beat New Boston. On the other hand, they couldn't drive two hours this year and beat South Webster. But this is, hands down, South Webster's best team ever.

When Athens drove to New Boston, in which they did not play New Boston, but teams like Waverly, Northwest, Fairfield Union, and others at districts was in 2001 and 2002. I know this because I went to those games. Athens was in DII two years in the early 1990's and we won one district championship, but we were not one of the largest DII teams in the state. Jackson, Warren and Athens have been and still are close in size. I was a player in the mid 1990's and we were up in DI playing the likes of Marietta, who was much bigger than us back then. When the three divisions were created, Athens became DII again for the first time in almost a decade and we started out playing our district semis and finals at New Boston (neutral site) before they switched to the district games to Valley High School in 2003. New Boston was and is in DIII, so they weren't playing there, they were just the host site. We, however, had the one of the longest drives of anyone there. Athens won the DII Southeast districts from 2001-2004 after making the move to DII beating schools of the same or relative size (teams like Jackson in 2004).

In other words, they won because of talent, not size. These were the same teams that only lost to DeSales and Bexley by 2-1 scorelines in 2001 and 2002 in the Regional Semis. They made the elite 8 in 2003, before being beaten down by DeSales, and were tied 1-1 with the eventual state champions Watkins Memorial with 15 minutes to go before losing the plot at the end in 2004.

So, your information was off, and I'm not sure where the anti-Athens rant came from (some small school chip on your shoulder apparently)... however, ultimately, we're both saying the same thing. It's not how far you drive, but how good you are.

[socman]

Marietta has a very good team and they were too much for Waverly on Saturday. Their size and depth really hurt Waverly in the middle of the field. Waverly was able to hang with them for most of the 1st half but they were worn out by not having many subs able to play. Once Marietta adjusted to Wiget's speed up top Waverly had trouble generating possession and creating scoring chances. All credit goes to Marietta on a well played game. They had 4 or 5 players that are outstanding and can score from anywhere inside 40yds. Waverly loses some very important pieces from their championship season but also return 6 starters and have a great young group of kids coming up.

[rxburgfan]

waverly has a good thing going on. developing a good youth program makes for a good high school program. keep up the good work and see you next season.