What We Saw: Football As It Was Meant To Be…Cannot Be Denied

Week 1 of the OHSAA playoffs turned out to be what it’s always been…the better teams proved to be significantly better.  And then there’s the business of money.

Years ago, when the OHSAA football tournament regions were increased from four to eight…then from eight to eventually sixteen…those who knew football best were public in their disdain for too much, too quickly.

Coaches, in particular, knew.  Sixteen teams per region simply didn’t compute for the sake of football, itself.  There’s a lot of pride inherent with the game, with those who’ve grown up with the game, and understand that the game is about execution and toughness.  That life lessons were learned through executing under the stress of pressure and competition.

And that in many cases there simply weren’t enough adolescent athletes available for there to be sixteen teams that could compete with that predisposition and maintain the competitive standards the game demanded.

One once wrote this about football, “that it’s a reflection, statistically, upon human nature, itself.”  Sort of like the United States Marines – a few good men!

And to those who still believe the above…that football is about the few, the proud…Week 1 of the playoffs turned out to be, once again, their justification.  The few, the proud, and the capable won in mostly convincing fashion to move on to face a bigger, better, tougher opponent in round 2.

We saw it in person, as did most media who covered last Friday’s games…in Portsmouth, in central Ohio, and in hosting communities so small you barely knew they existed.  But true to the slogan, the few and the proud exist, proportionately, no matter where you go.  The rest of the games are just the undercard for something better to come.

Games that are played for cash…the vocal and public criticism from those who made the most noise about the 16 teams per region introduced four years ago.

If there’s any question about the premise of this column, consider the weekend’s final scores.  In no particular order…..

St. Henry 42, Madison Plains 0

Versailles 38, Portsmouth West 7

Troy 42, Butler 6

Urbana 42, Clinton-Massie 3

Fort Recovery 48, Waynesfield-Goshen 14

Fort Loramie 43, Tri-County North 13

New Bremen 63, Ridgemont 13

Those were the local games, of seeds 5 through 12.  But a scan of games across the state were similarly reflective of the disparity in high school football.  And as one reader shared in a ‘Reader Speaks’ observation, “no different that it ever was…even when there were eight teams in the region.”

So where’s the value of the extra games, others ask?  And can anyone actually prove that kids benefit from the experience of getting hammered 63-13, just to say they played in the state football playoffs?

And for that matter, who can prove that the OHSAA actually benefits financially from a game that draws as few as twenty people to watch the team that scores 13 points, as we often witness from teams from the inner-city, or that have to drive long distances?

Wrote Scott from Groveport, “why are we asking schools who have always been better in other sports to play football just to make things bigger?”

The answer lies with what former Piqua, Bellefontaine, and Lehman Catholic coach Chuck Asher once said during the days of four teams per region.  For two years during my time hosting the Fifth Quarter scoreboard show at Piqua’s WPTW studios Asher appeared with us on Friday nights as an analyst.

“Football as it was meant to be cannot be denied,”  said Asher, who himself played college football at the University of Louisville.  His nickname as a Cardinal lineman was “Mr. Defense” and he served as team captain in 1951.

“The game was designed for a special type of person who needs that physical and competitive outlet…to prove your toughness and desire to overcome,”  he’d boldly say over the air.  “And let’s face it.  How many people are like that?”

Even friend and former Lehman coach Dick Roll still uses this explanation for why some kids play football, and others don’t.  “I like the hitting,”  he says.

I never forgot Asher’s words, particularly because of my own high school experience when Asher advised me as a sophomore at Piqua High School, “If I were you I’d stick to playing baseball.”

He was right.  He knew that well the difference in kids.  He had played the game, the well-used phrase.

Today, many of those that fervently argue to the contrary…that everyone deserves the experience to compete for a championship in football…never played the game, and never knew Chuck Asher, Steve Nolan, Ned Booher, Bob Heil, or Larrie Tisdale, all prominent coaches in the area from the Asher era.

But if he were here today Asher would look you in the eye, crack that familiar smile, and say, “Hey, it’s not for everybody.  And it was never meant to be.”

And yet, we argue.