Marion Local used its running game and Kyle Otte (above) to beat Kirtland 14-6 in the 2022 Division VI title game…one of the best OHSAA matchups in the past decade. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The recent OHSAA announcement about 12 teams per region for the playoffs has apparently inspired no one who’s concerned with the future of more competitive football. “And Marion Local is still in Division VII,” laments one.
If OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute and Media Director Tim Stried didn’t know it by now, let’s reinforce what every adult who’s voting age and who pays taxes knows all too well.
One, that giving your hard-earned income to the federal government is the original scam.
And two, there’s no pleasing anyone with how you divide up, configure, and seek to find competitive balance with high school football.
And for our purposes at Press Pros it didn’t take more than two weeks to discern that the OHSAA’s June 12 announcement that it would reduce the number of playoff football teams per region was hardly enough to satisfy the proletariat, or the bourgeoisie. The governing body of Ohio high school sports has sheared the number from sixteen to twelve for the 2025 season.
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Upon asking people, we’re hearing for the first time that many are more genuinely concerned with preserving the competitive qualities of football…than they are with doubling the number of teams for the sake of sharing the experience of being in the playoffs.
The concept was advanced four years ago on the heels of Covid 19, whereby some schools were limited in the number of regular season games lost because of concerns over spread of the Covid virus.
“For the last few years, we have been pleased that more schools experienced the football playoffs, and there were some lower seeds that won playoff games,” said Doug Ute in the official announcement on June 12. “But over the last year, we have received feedback from our schools, with a slight majority favoring 12 qualifiers per region, etc., etc.”
Some clarification with the original concept….
When the regions were expanded in 2021 Ohio high school football coaches overwhelmingly recommended expansion to twelve. The OHSAA, instead, considered the coaches’ suggestion, but increased the number to sixteen, anyway. If some is better, more is best.
And when we began canvasing through contacts following the state baseball tournament, those we found were again overwhelmingly in favor of a direction different from rewarding those who don’t earn post-season football.
“This was never good for the game, itself,” said a respondent from Hancock County. “With a game that’s as tough as football it’s always been the case that less is more. And there’s never been more than eight teams per region that’s consistently demonstrated that they’re capable of competing with the top seven teams in a given division across the state. And when has that ever proven not to be the case?”
On the other hand, there is that smaller minority of people who insist that even one #16 seed that beats a #1 or #2 once in twenty years is worth the effort…despite lopsided, running-clock outcomes for the sake of change and inclusion.
“Inclusion had nothing to do with it,” added Dean Burcham. “More teams, more games, mean more tickets sold and more revenue, regardless of how much they deny it. And why does it cost so much to attend a playoff football game?”
“I was perfectly happy with eight teams per region,” said a coach we spoke with from central Ohio. “And I still am. I support those athletes that are committed and take football seriously, because it is a tough game. Football is not for everyone, so let’s quit pretending that it is. Eight teams are enough.
Enough said, perhaps.
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Back in May the OHSAA also released its list of divisions and regions for the 2025 football season, and to those who had perhaps hoped for some movement…there was none to speak of.
Most notable, and it’s no surprise, is the reality that Division VII and 15-time state champion Marion Local is still in Division VII, still in Region 28, of course, and still the odds-on favorite to waltz through (someone else’s words, not ours) Division VII again in 2025 for their 16th title.
Some recent comments received….
“Obviously, the matter of enrollment is not making competitive balance a reality,” Jeff, from Summit County wrote.
Kirtland’s running game is relentless…their commitment to a winning standard no less than that of any team you find in the MAC.
Marion Local will be one of the biggest Division VII schools in the state again this year, in terms of enrollment.
And there was a time at the outset of talk about competitive balance when winning tradition was to be considered for the sake of balance, in Division VII. That, of course, was impossible to implement for a number of reasons, but it would have never been a popular move.
“How can you ask some small farm-community high school to play Lakewood St. Ed,” Doug Blankenship wrote recently from southern Ohio. “And how can you play at all if it doesn’t make sense financially to spend that much (for travel)? The only solution is for a team that good to play better competition in their own area from bigger divisions.”
But Marion Local has played Chaminade-Julienne (Div. III), Wapakoneta (Div. III) and Franklin (Div. III) for the past decade, and on their way to a record 64 consecutive wins. And the outcomes were Marion Local, 8…Division III, 0.
And, without actually consulting Marion coach Tim Goodwin I think he would be willing to play the likes of Division II and III schools on I-75 – bigger schools who are feasible as future non-league opponents. But try and find one willing to playing Marion. Most contend that a loss to the Flyers is a risk in lost playoff points that they cannot afford to take.
Tony Gano, from northeast Ohio, wrote this following the 2022 Division VI title classic between Marion and Kirtland (Marion won that, 14-6).
“Wow, what a football game. Marion and Kirtland should play every year.”
But be careful of what you ask for, given Coldwater’s 31-7 win over Kirtland last year in the Division VI state final, so it isn’t just Marion. Kirtland remains in Division VI for the 2025 season.
To your suggestion, Tony, write a check to cover the travel costs…and you might get what you wish.
If it’s worth that much to you!
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