BobcatQB wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 9:35 am
enigmaax wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 11:55 am
Tow Head wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:28 am
Maybe Warren should put BC on the schedule then, since talent and physicality shouldn't stop them. Just sayin.
Warren has virtually always played a challenging schedule. Despite winning about 8 games in 8 years, they signed up for the ECOL with Dover & New Philly. Have played Point Pleasant, John Marshall, and Fort Frye in their best seasons. Were overmatched several times this season since we basically had a JV roster. Warren has left two conferences at the height of their own league success to try and upgrade the schedule. So, yeah, you aren’t going to make a good point on that one.
Let's don't forget included in that "challenging schedule" was Crooksville, Morgan, Union Local, Belpre, Beallsville..yes, Beallsville. They absolutely did not join the ECOL to upgrade their football schedule. Out of conference games are what you need to look at in regards to upgrades. I think "average" is a better description of your out of conference schedule instead of "challenging".
I didn’t say that is why we joined the ECOL. The fact is that the ECOL was way above Warren’s competitive level in football when we signed up. To my point that Warren has never been afraid of competition.
The Warren program started in 1960 and joined the PVL (PVC). From 1963-65, they won their last 16 league games and 3 straight titles. Left the league they were dominating because it was smaller schools (though it was the most “local” they were ever going to get). Warren helped start the TVC and then was on a nice run with three 9-win seasons from 1981-85. The 85 team was 9-1 and 86 had the opportunity to be just as good/better (ended up 8-2). The TVC had been adding smaller and smaller schools (Miller) and Warren went to the SEOAL with schools more similar in enrollment.
As for the more recent schedule, ECOL notwithstanding, yes there were some smaller programs. When a lot of those games were scheduled, Warren may have literally been the worst team/program in the state - there were two different streaks of 20+ losses and in one season Warren scored 35 points on the entire season. There was no “scheduling wins” because you couldn’t assume they’d beat ANYONE. Scheduling a few competitive games, there’s nothing wrong with that and it doesn’t make anything about what I said earlier false - relative to what was going on, virtually every game was a challenge but Warren also took on teams they “had no business being on the field with” (to the original point about playoff games/mismatches).
Warren was independent and there’s a little more difficulty finding games when you have to find 10. Also, there’s a bit of the reverse Fort Frye effect; schools challenging for playoff spots don’t necessarily want to add a team that could realistically never give them a single second level point. That doesn’t mean Warren wouldn’t agree to play anyone.
So I’ll stand by my statement that Warren has never run away from competition or even from a proper beating. Go back and look at the context of the conversation and it will make more sense why I even brought it up (someone else avoided my general question with some irrelevant statement about Warren’s schedule).