Playoffs and the OVC

[REDMEN95]

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.

Really?? Was not making fun just making a statement...flailing program?? Get a life!!

[svac83]

I think it is way too ealry to make this kind of statement. For starters lets leave ironton sort of out of the subject here. Because they have had a great state level program for a long time even though they haven't been s good in recent years. Lets look at gallia academy even when they were is SEOAL they do not have a great history of playoff success but for the last several years has not had a lot of success. 3 coaches in 4 years for some kids. 4 coaches in like 6 years. There were kids leaving left and right and no one wanted to even play football.

To be where they are at 3 years later is quite a accomplishment. Going forward if they dont improve the schedule you are correct. maybe then they need to be criticized. i mean if in next 10 years we are lucky enough to make playoofs 5 times and we get blown out in first round every time criticize the heck out of it.

Portsmouth look at where they were for 10 years before last 2 years. now that they are having success generating excitement they should begin to expect more. Now lets look at bottom of conference, look at where south point has been forever. Do you not think that school should be trying to schedule a couple of wins so that team can taste some kind of success and so on.

I think if we are still where we are at in 5 to 7 years this is a conversation to have right now i think it is a little crazy.

Comparing it to a conference that has had strong football conference for a long time is not the same. ironton, gallia and portsmouth hasnt even been members here 5 years yet. so almost 40% of conference really just getting settled in.

[Rosco]

AD’s and coaches should examine the Chesapeake basketball scheduling philosophy during the Norm Persin era. It is the perfect example of what happens when a good program fails to challenge itself out of conference. Great regular season records but folded year after year in the district or regional tournament when faced with a tough opponent. Panthers cost themselves some trips to Columbus by refusing to schedule up.

[MisterGalliaGuy2016]

Gallia
Jackson
Logan
Ironton
Point Pleasant (football only)
Chilly
Athens

[MisterGalliaGuy2016]

I think it is way too ealry to make this kind of statement. For starters lets leave ironton sort of out of the subject here. Because they have had a great state level program for a long time even though they haven't been s good in recent years. Lets look at gallia academy even when they were is SEOAL they do not have a great history of playoff success but for the last several years has not had a lot of success. 3 coaches in 4 years for some kids. 4 coaches in like 6 years. There were kids leaving left and right and no one wanted to even play football.

To be where they are at 3 years later is quite a accomplishment. Going forward if they dont improve the schedule you are correct. maybe then they need to be criticized. i mean if in next 10 years we are lucky enough to make playoofs 5 times and we get blown out in first round every time criticize the heck out of it.

Portsmouth look at where they were for 10 years before last 2 years. now that they are having success generating excitement they should begin to expect more. Now lets look at bottom of conference, look at where south point has been forever. Do you not think that school should be trying to schedule a couple of wins so that team can taste some kind of success and so on.

I think if we are still where we are at in 5 to 7 years this is a conversation to have right now i think it is a little crazy.

Comparing it to a conference that has had strong football conference for a long time is not the same. ironton, gallia and portsmouth hasnt even been members here 5 years yet. so almost 40% of conference really just getting settled in.

And those three teams will likely win the conference probably 85-90% of the time.

That legendary Coal Grove team from 2017 didn't particularly dominate a 5-5 Blue Devil team.

2018
Gallia
Portsmouth
Ironton
....everyone else.

2019
Ironton
Gallia
Portsmouth
....everyone else

Sure, Gallia could use a beefier nonconference schedule.

But why not run a gauntlet of a league instead? Competitive, all out wars on a football field, week in and week out.

Bring back the SEOAL.

OVC schools should be irate with the newcomers creating a new order in the conference.

[portsmouth_98]

Let's see what Portsmouth does without their all time leading rusher first. I think Kalb was a good hire and the cupboard isn't empty but we've been playing football since the 1890s and I believe the only trophy in the case might be from our first stint in the SEOAL. We have had good teams for sure, but we haven't had near the success as a d5 school as what we had when we were a larger school.

[greygoose]

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.

Not a bad idea but not a way to start the season out at first. To see something like this and see other teams and how they matchup I'd rather look at it from a jamboree type setup first. I remember years ago Coal Grove hosting a jamboree where there was like 3 or 4 games played in 1 evening/slash night, I can't remember if they played a full game or if each team was allotted 2 quarters, not for sure. I remember there was a bunch of people there though, had to be a huge gate for that night. You could do something like that and split it into 2 nights and love the idea of doing it at Spartan Stadium pack the place again. Just food for thought

[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.

Really?? Was not making fun just making a statement...flailing program?? Get a life!!

of course you were poking fun, and I have a life. perhaps flailing was a wrong word choice. let's insert struggling mightily. you forget I lived there 32 years. I loved the people there. coached the young'uns. and volunteered to help anyway I could. I stand by my post though. it makes little sense to poke fun at a team against a perennial state power. when the team you follow has not played them. everybody knew what you meant, I just said something about it. I love hammer lutz, his family. and I hope he brings the redmen back to top level competition. rock hill has been a struggling football team for decades. I wish them and south point the best of luck moving forward towards success.even though I only coached youth sports there. I know how hard it can be to coach in that district.

[trojandave]

Just remember that being in a conference means more than just football. The OVC is a great fit for Portsmouth enrollment wise, and there have been some good rivalries that have developed not only in football but most other sports. PHS doesn't have the enrollment, feeder system, competitive balance advantage, or participation numbers (only 43 players in football this year) to be dominant in anything, but will in most years field competitive teams. In the 5 years of OVC play, the Trojans still haven't won an outright conference title in football and only 1 in basketball, which is the sport that Portsmouth is best known for.

Speaking of participation numbers, for the first time that I can ever remember, Portsmouth will not field a freshman boys basketball team. The baseball team this past season barely had 15 players. The numbers just aren't there for PHS as they used to be. It's really puts the coaches in a tough spot. Even our band only has about 20 members, probably one of if not the smallest band in the OVC.....yet our band director does a great job for what he has to work with.

The days of Portsmouth being a consistent powerhouse in any sport are long gone, the metrics simply do not lend themselves to make that claim. That is not being a pessimist, it's being a realist. That doesn't mean Portsmouth HS can't field some really good teams in the future, because they will. To be consistently good is a tough thing to achieve, probably tougher than taking that one "dream team" to the promised land.

[peake71]

Rosco, you better check your records. Not playing up regular season how about in the last 10 years Cincinnati Anderson, West Jefferson, Chillocothe, Westerville North, Toledo Libby just to name a few.
Norm is gone Ryan is the coach, I know him well and he is a great coach. This should have been on basketball not football.

[avalanche]

AD’s and coaches should examine the Chesapeake basketball scheduling philosophy during the Norm Persin era. It is the perfect example of what happens when a good program fails to challenge itself out of conference. Great regular season records but folded year after year in the district or regional tournament when faced with a tough opponent. Panthers cost themselves some trips to Columbus by refusing to schedule up.

I always find this a bit amusing and not reality.

Who were they supposed to schedule? You play an OVC schedule, you go out and play teams in big classics (Scott Co, Runne Meade Ontario), and play the likes of Portsmouth, Gallia, Ironton, etc. Ironton was not good for years, not sure what else they were supposed to do about that? They'd go play the bigger teams in WV, and outside of the OJ Mayo days, the Huntington's and Cabell Midlands weren't good.

If anything, it was lack of having good teams in SEO outside of a handful (Wheelersburg, Chesapeake, Whit Oak, Courthouse).

I think it is comical when you go to like 8 or 9 regional finals in 15 years, which is an absolute benchmark for most programs outside of the very elite, and that equates to costing yourself a trip to Columbus.

I remember watching the 98 regional finals against Sparta Highland, Chesapeake was up 4 with less than a minute, and a kid hits a three and the foul to send it to OT. Absolute terrible luck. Sparta would go on to win it all.

Outside of Ironton, no one was going out and scheduling football powerhouses year in and out.

[avalanche]

Rosco, you better check your records. Not playing up regular season how about in the last 10 years Cincinnati Anderson, West Jefferson, Chillocothe, Westerville North, Toledo Libby just to name a few.
Norm is gone Ryan is the coach, I know him well and he is a great coach. This should have been on basketball not football.

How's that worked out for the Peake btw? No being snarky, but the Peake had a nice two year run under Davis, and he is a good coach, but the program is a shell of its self under Norm.

Take for instance 04 season, Ironton was #2 in the state and the Peake #3, they played in the regular season and in the regional semi-finals, what were they supposed to do? Go play Christian Hills with OJ Mayo to get them over the Ironton hump?

[Rosco]

Norm quit playing Wheelersburg in the regular season. Tom Barrick owned NJP. Ashland and Russell were right across the river. Don’t recall them on the Panthers schedule. Ryan Davis alway plays stiff competition. His scheduling philosophy and Norm’s are eons apart.

[BigChuck]

Norm quit playing Wheelersburg in the regular season. Tom Barrick owned NJP. Ashland and Russell were right across the river. Don’t recall them on the Panthers schedule. Ryan Davis alway plays stiff competition. His scheduling philosophy and Norm’s are eons apart.

Norm has a State Title .... Davis will NEVER Win A State Championship ... NEVER!

[avalanche]

Norm quit playing Wheelersburg in the regular season. Tom Barrick owned NJP. Ashland and Russell were right across the river. Don’t recall them on the Panthers schedule. Ryan Davis alway plays stiff competition. His scheduling philosophy and Norm’s are eons apart.

So are their results.

[avalanche]

Norm quit playing Wheelersburg in the regular season. Tom Barrick owned NJP. Ashland and Russell were right across the river. Don’t recall them on the Panthers schedule. Ryan Davis alway plays stiff competition. His scheduling philosophy and Norm’s are eons apart.

Norm has a State Title .... Davis will NEVER Win A State Championship ... NEVER!

I'm not trying to turn this into a Davis is a bad coach thread, he is a good coach, but we are talking two different animals here. Norm is a HOF coach who ripped off 11 straight OVC titles at one point.

The Peake has had two or three good teams under Davis, Chesapeake was good every year under Norm.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

Outside of Ironton, no one was going out and scheduling football powerhouses year in and out.

Until the last 10-20 years Portsmouth was, had the constant Burg and Ironton. PHS was D4 most the time and some times even D3 then, so we have gotten smaller. But we regularly played the likes of D1 Chillicothe , Huntington High, Spring Valley, Ashland, Columbus, Cincinnati Dayton whoever’s.

I honestly think the SEOAL, at the time we joined was horrible for the Portsmouth program. Early 90s -2005 ish would have been a great fit. But when we got in with the exception of Basketball we were in over our heads. Too big too good of schools when we were shrinking and in a down turn of talent from where we had been loaded from late 90s through early 2000s. That in turn made kids not want to come out and commit to the program and “buy in” as they once did. OVC and weak non league has us winning games, and kids coming out again at least, I’d just hope we can continue to elevate play, would love to be able to schedule up to some of those old rivals again one day and be competitive.

I know I’m beating a dead horse, Hell there was a time when we scheduled the Middeltowns upper Arlingtons of the world too, but we shrank and times changed. I should probably stop living in the past lol

[peake71]

This time of year somebody always wants to rag on Ryan Davis, bring back Norm, the Peake dies schedule anybody. Some people are never satisfied.
Under Ryan Davis
2008 district semis
2009 district semis
2010 state semis
2011 regional final
2012 regional semis
2013 district semis
2014 district semis
2015 regional semis
2016 regional final
2017 sectional
2018 sectional
2019 district final
Looks like better than a 2 to 3 year run.
Norm never made it to state, won his at Oak Hill in div. 4.
As I have said before I like Norm friends with him but Ryan is the coach so people need to get over it.

[CatFoodFlambe]

I think you guys are needlessly beating yourselves up. The Southern Ohio schools are doing an excellent job of the most important matter – giving the kids the chance to play a sport on a regular basis, experiencing what it means to be part of a team – and having fun.
I grew up in a Southeast District school in the 60’s and 70’s in what would now be an annual coin flip between football D3/D4. We usually had competitive teams in most sports – what few we had. For the boys, we had four sports – football, basketball, track and baseball – plus golf in the fall for eight guys. It was easy to get 80 guys out for football, AND play full JV and freshman schedules.

Lady D’Friskies and I moved back to Ohio from Boston (Mass athletics do not remotely approach anything in Ohio) and landed in the South-Western City district in the Columbus area (Grove City, Westland, Franklin Heights). Here there were lots of kids and lots of programs, but not so different from my home school other than numbers. However, educationally, it was a hot mess. My younger kid went to four different schools in his first four years (we didn’t move) – and even got bussed between two buildings in the middle of three days of each week due to lack of facilities in rented space). We got fed up, and moved out of the district just before the first of two SWCS meltdowns in the late 90’s – those of you aware of the current state of SWCS athletics know that they never recovered.

We now live in another suburban C-bus district. You know the drill – multiple high schools, dozens of sports and arts programs, and typically half or more of the sports teams make the football playoffs or make serious tournament runs. The grossly unequal advantages many of the kids have is mind-boggling – at least half the kids in any given sport go the summer athletics camps or leagues, and/or get private training and condition specific to their sport for years. I know there is no way my old home district programs could have consistently competed against teams with this kind of advantage.

Let’s not even get into the potential advantage available to private schools (granted, not all privates can realize them).

Neither numbers (SWCS) nor heart (hometown) can completely offset this kind of thing on a regular basis, and OHSAA can’t regulate it. Pound for pound, the SE district does a lot with less, and should be proud of what they do accomplish.

[Beergogglebluez]

Ovc is fine. Portsmouth has 3 loses. 2 of the teams they lost to are now week 3 of the post season. Ridgewood just knocked burg off. Gallia made the post season. Having 2 teams week 3 deep makes Portsmouth’s losses look a lot better. They lost to really good teams.