Kirtland vs Versailles

[Tri_State79]

Both teams.

No pushing after plays. No Woofin. Help each other up all game. Just a beautiful display by both programs. Can't say enough good things. Great football. Great kids.

[muskiefan11]

31-7 Kirtland with 3 mins to go. Talk about an absolute machine of a program.

[Tri_State79]

J.O.B.S., and income the footprint of that conference all ranks in the top 3rd in Ohio in personal income, household income, and low unemployment.

Culture...culture...culture.

[Steely Dan]

I've watched Kirtland multiple times now over the years, they are a very impressive program. Extremely well-prepared, coached, play disciplined, and are fundamentally sound. And it was nice to watch a game with no jawing, posing, and showing off. They played a great game today.

[fbnut]

I've watched Kirtland multiple times now over the years, they are a very impressive program. Extremely well-prepared, coached, play disciplined, and are fundamentally sound. And it was nice to watch a game with no jawing, posing, and showing off. They played a great game today.

I agree. They play like I think you should and it’s enjoyable to watch. Their run the last 10-15 yrs is amazing. State title game in 13 of last 14 or something silly like that.

[fbnut]

Nothing fancy. About 4 to 5 basic plays over and over.

I’m not sure but I doubt they have had many D1 kids over the yrs

[Outoftowner]

The MAC is nothing short of excellence from top to bottom. Here’s just for State Championships for football:

Minster: 1989, 2014, and 2017

Coldwater: 2005, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2020

Marion Local: 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022

St. Henry: 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2004, and 2006

Versailles: 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2003, and 2021

Delphos St. John’s: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2008, and 2010

New Bremen: 2020 and 2022

Fort Recovery: 2015

Anna: 2019

If my math is correct, that’s 46 State Championships just in football and they’ve only been a conference since 1973. That’s almost a State Championship per year since the founding of the conference. They might be the only conference in North American football history to have 3 teams win a state championship in the same year in separate divisions.

No doubt. Unbelievable the success.

That said, Versailles won most of those titles before joining the MAC. But given that all of these schools are in the same geographical area, the question is: what happened around 1990 that started this winning trend? Also, what happened around 2000 to take this trend to a whole new level?

Pre-1990, these schools were good; Versailles and Burg has some epic battles. But they weren’t nearly as good as Ironton and on par with Burg. Now, they are on a different level.

So again, what changed at these schools to cause that shift?

Economics. Support. That area, like our school district in Indiana is heavily German Catholic as a base. The neighborhoods are neat and the kids learn early from parents the importance of working hard for goal attainment. Our school has won football, basketball, baseball and golf state championships in spite of not often having the best athletes. Kids work hard and play smart and from time to time magic happens. The unemployment rate in our county hovers around 2% and I’m sure the counties associated with the MAC are low as well. There’s something to be said for simply taking good, hard working, smart kids and providing them with the support system for success. The thing I notice most is the attendance at games. Families bring their children and those kids see the success and support provided at all levels and decide early they want to be part of that.

[Outoftowner]

That being said. There is an unusually heavy pressure on the kids to succeed. A few years back we had a rash of student suicides that drew some national level attention and required some outside professional assistance. We had a senior quarterback, best athlete in the school with lots of D1 offers, handsome, 4.0 honor student and class president inexplicably take his dad’s shotgun out behind his house and end his own life. Shook our town to the core. The winning and success culture is great to a point but has to be tempered with the reminder that these are still mentally immature and undeveloped 14-18 year olds. The suicides have ceased thank goodness but the pressures in successful communities still exist. There’s a balance but it’s not always easy to attain. I grew up in the Ironton area with its 15% unemployment rate at the time. Moving here was certainly a cultural shock for me. No trashy properties, unmowed lawns, etc. it’s very nice but the pressures affect all generations, mostly for the good I feel

[fbnut]

The MAC is nothing short of excellence from top to bottom. Here’s just for State Championships for football:

Minster: 1989, 2014, and 2017

Coldwater: 2005, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2020

Marion Local: 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022

St. Henry: 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2004, and 2006

Versailles: 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2003, and 2021

Delphos St. John’s: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2008, and 2010

New Bremen: 2020 and 2022

Fort Recovery: 2015

Anna: 2019

If my math is correct, that’s 46 State Championships just in football and they’ve only been a conference since 1973. That’s almost a State Championship per year since the founding of the conference. They might be the only conference in North American football history to have 3 teams win a state championship in the same year in separate divisions.

No doubt. Unbelievable the success.

That said, Versailles won most of those titles before joining the MAC. But given that all of these schools are in the same geographical area, the question is: what happened around 1990 that started this winning trend? Also, what happened around 2000 to take this trend to a whole new level?

Pre-1990, these schools were good; Versailles and Burg has some epic battles. But they weren’t nearly as good as Ironton and on par with Burg. Now, they are on a different level.

So again, what changed at these schools to cause that shift?

Economics. Support. That area, like our school district in Indiana is heavily German Catholic as a base. The neighborhoods are neat and the kids learn early from parents the importance of working hard for goal attainment. Our school has won football, basketball, baseball and golf state championships in spite of not often having the best athletes. Kids work hard and play smart and from time to time magic happens. The unemployment rate in our county hovers around 2% and I’m sure the counties associated with the MAC are low as well. There’s something to be said for simply taking good, hard working, smart kids and providing them with the support system for success. The thing I notice most is the attendance at games. Families bring their children and those kids see the success and support provided at all levels and decide early they want to be part of that.

How’s the girls sports?

[Outoftowner]

Strong. Excellent volleyball, basketball and soccer programs. My granddaughter was just awarded a scholarship for college soccer. Overall sports are basically strong in all sports regardless of gender. Swimming, tennis and wrestling programs also make deep advances at state yearly. That being said our school (approximately 1500 students) is just large enough that we have to compete against schools with upwards of 5000 students at the state level. Sports such as cross country, swimming, wrestling, etc. are still single class in Indiana. Makes it tough on the smaller schools. Basketball was single class up through the 90’s and finally changed

[Outoftowner]

No doubt. Unbelievable the success.

That said, Versailles won most of those titles before joining the MAC. But given that all of these schools are in the same geographical area, the question is: what happened around 1990 that started this winning trend? Also, what happened around 2000 to take this trend to a whole new level?

Pre-1990, these schools were good; Versailles and Burg has some epic battles. But they weren’t nearly as good as Ironton and on par with Burg. Now, they are on a different level.

So again, what changed at these schools to cause that shift?

Economics. Support. That area, like our school district in Indiana is heavily German Catholic as a base. The neighborhoods are neat and the kids learn early from parents the importance of working hard for goal attainment. Our school has won football, basketball, baseball and golf state championships in spite of not often having the best athletes. Kids work hard and play smart and from time to time magic happens. The unemployment rate in our county hovers around 2% and I’m sure the counties associated with the MAC are low as well. There’s something to be said for simply taking good, hard working, smart kids and providing them with the support system for success. The thing I notice most is the attendance at games. Families bring their children and those kids see the success and support provided at all levels and decide early they want to be part of that.

How’s the girls sports?

Oddly enough the best female athletes at our school are the cheerleaders. They’ve got a trophy case full from state and national competitions.

[RBH23]

J.O.B.S., and income the footprint of that conference all ranks in the top 3rd in Ohio in personal income, household income, and low unemployment.

Culture...culture...culture.

Kirtland is coaching, coaching, coaching. No playoff wins before Tiger took over.

[RBH23]

J.O.B.S., and income the footprint of that conference all ranks in the top 3rd in Ohio in personal income, household income, and low unemployment.

If it was just about income and jobs, Indian Hill would dominate Ohio football.

[fbnut]

J.O.B.S., and income the footprint of that conference all ranks in the top 3rd in Ohio in personal income, household income, and low unemployment.

If it was just about income and jobs, Indian Hill would dominate Ohio football.

drop

[Oldtimer55]

Economics. Support. That area, like our school district in Indiana is heavily German Catholic as a base. The neighborhoods are neat and the kids learn early from parents the importance of working hard for goal attainment. Our school has won football, basketball, baseball and golf state championships in spite of not often having the best athletes. Kids work hard and play smart and from time to time magic happens. The unemployment rate in our county hovers around 2% and I’m sure the counties associated with the MAC are low as well. There’s something to be said for simply taking good, hard working, smart kids and providing them with the support system for success. The thing I notice most is the attendance at games. Families bring their children and those kids see the success and support provided at all levels and decide early they want to be part of that.

How’s the girls sports?

Oddly enough the best female athletes at our school are the cheerleaders. They’ve got a trophy case full from state and national competitions.

If you don’t mind me asking, what school district are you in? I have family in the Center Grove district and they seem to be dominant in all sports

[Outoftowner]

How’s the girls sports?

Oddly enough the best female athletes at our school are the cheerleaders. They’ve got a trophy case full from state and national competitions.

If you don’t mind me asking, what school district are you in? I have family in the Center Grove district and they seem to be dominant in all sports

Jasper. South Central Indiana. Center Grove has outstanding programs. Jasper beat Center Grove for one of their 6 baseball state championships. Carmel is the most dominant overall. They have so many state championships in all sports they’ve probably lost count. Jasper has outstanding men’s and women’s tennis programs. They’ve been undefeated more times than I care to count and lost to Carmel in the state finals. Indianapolis area teams dominate most sports but a few non Indy schools sneak in and steal a championship from time to time

[Tri_State79]

J.O.B.S., and income the footprint of that conference all ranks in the top 3rd in Ohio in personal income, household income, and low unemployment.

If it was just about income and jobs, Indian Hill would dominate Ohio football.

Yup. It's a combo of coaching & culture.

[Tri_State79]

J.O.B.S., and income the footprint of that conference all ranks in the top 3rd in Ohio in personal income, household income, and low unemployment.

Culture...culture...culture.

Kirtland is coaching, coaching, coaching. No playoff wins before Tiger took over.

Coaching + Culture. Nothing in life is ever just one absolute. Everything is nuanced. It's a combo of both coaching & culture.

[RBH23]

Culture...culture...culture.

Kirtland is coaching, coaching, coaching. No playoff wins before Tiger took over.

Coaching + Culture. Nothing in life is ever just one absolute. Everything is nuanced. It's a combo of both coaching & culture.

Coaches create the culture. If not, Kirtland and ML would have won titles before their current coaches took control.

[Tri_State79]

Kirtland is coaching, coaching, coaching. No playoff wins before Tiger took over.

Coaching + Culture. Nothing in life is ever just one absolute. Everything is nuanced. It's a combo of both coaching & culture.

Coaches create the culture. If not, Kirtland and ML would have won titles before their current coaches took control.

Coaches & community. Gotta have the ongoing community support & THE right coach. The support can't waver. Good or bad coach. Has to be consistent.