RedRider1;1333239 wrote:Says the guy who can't spell the head coach's name right.

Lets stick to content of the post and discuss that, OK?

I wouldn't mind the WCAL, but not holding my breath on getting approval from the existing members of the league.

I spelled his name wrong one time and it was because I was driving in car while using phone to comment.

I think this would be a decent league. Manchester, tuslaw, fairless, Northwest, West Holmes, Triway, Orrville. Yeah I know it resembles the old AOL or AOC. but it would be travel friendly and we could compete with those teams every year.

It was more than once, but again...lets focus on content of the post and not worry too much about perfect grammar because we all make mistakes.

Troll King;1333832 wrote:I think this would be a decent league. Manchester, tuslaw, fairless, Northwest, West Holmes, Triway, Orrville. Yeah I know it resembles the old AOL or AOC. but it would be travel friendly and we could compete with those teams every year.

Other than Orrville/Northwest, are any of the other teams mentioned even looking for a new league?

1_beast;1333850 wrote:Other than Orrville/Northwest, are any of the other teams mentioned even looking for a new league?

I don't believe so, its just my idea of a nice league .

RedRider1;1333834 wrote:It was more than once, but again...lets focus on content of the post and not worry too much about perfect grammar because we all make mistakes.

Still stuck on that spelling thing huh. I thought I was sticking to the content this time.

Troll King;1333937 wrote:Still stuck on that spelling thing huh. I thought I was sticking to the content this time.

Starting now...

All these alternative conference ideas are entertaining. The problem is we seem to want the perfect situation, a conference with similar size schools with a few being larger and close in distance. The old AOL/AOC idea seems pretty close to filling the bill, but it didn't work the other times, and it no longer exists, so the possibility of a reincarnation is remote.

Looking at existing conferences, the problems with the OCC are travel & competition, which would eliminate thoughts of the all D1/D2 Suburban league.
The PAC would have some travel issues but the competition factor gets solved.
The WCAL solves both problems but many see it as lowering ourselves and they probably like the 8 team format that have.
Not sure there are too many other realistic possibilities.

The one I like best is the WCAL. Now hold on before you guys start killing me with the WCAL remarks and consider my reasoning,

If we are forward thinking, it's the best fit. I remember when the Suburban schools were our size, now they are all huge compared to us.
The same thing (on a smaller & slower scale) will probably happen with the county schools that border the Suburban schools. Northwestern & Norwayne are already close in size to us and neither can be called a pushover on the athletic front. Chippewa is also going to get nothing but bigger, maybe they will someday roll out something close to a football team. These 3 school systems may end up getting bigger than us.
If we could get into the WCAL, it would probably mean Triway coming in as well and they would be another size and competition fit.

I know this hurts alot of the "We're too good for that league" peoples feelings and a bunch of others will say playing the big boys made us. All of that is worthy of debate. I'm just saying that the future may hold the WCAL as being the best option.

I don't think it's as foreign a concept as it used to be.

I think having orrville and triway in the wcal makes a lot of sense. Most of the teams in the wcal already play triway or orrville at least once already in there season. As a Norwayne guy I now for years we have played them in basketball, track, baseball, golf, volleyball and we normally will see at least one of them once in a invitational wrestling meet. Why not they are in our county and not out of reason for size comparison.

The reason we scheduled a Cleveland team is two fold. A lot of computer points and they'll come here. The reason they would come here is we share the gate and its a lot more than their home gate without them incurring expenses at home. We usually feed them also.

The Wizard of Crown Hill;1334048 wrote:All these alternative conference ideas are entertaining. The problem is we seem to want the perfect situation, a conference with similar size schools with a few being larger and close in distance. The old AOL/AOC idea seems pretty close to filling the bill, but it didn't work the other times, and it no longer exists, so the possibility of a reincarnation is remote.

Looking at existing conferences, the problems with the OCC are travel & competition, which would eliminate thoughts of the all D1/D2 Suburban league.
The PAC would have some travel issues but the competition factor gets solved.
The WCAL solves both problems but many see it as lowering ourselves and they probably like the 8 team format that have.
Not sure there are too many other realistic possibilities.

The one I like best is the WCAL. Now hold on before you guys start killing me with the WCAL remarks and consider my reasoning,

If we are forward thinking, it's the best fit. I remember when the Suburban schools were our size, now they are all huge compared to us.
The same thing (on a smaller & slower scale) will probably happen with the county schools that border the Suburban schools. Northwestern & Norwayne are already close in size to us and neither can be called a pushover on the athletic front. Chippewa is also going to get nothing but bigger, maybe they will someday roll out something close to a football team. These 3 school systems may end up getting bigger than us.
If we could get into the WCAL, it would probably mean Triway coming in as well and they would be another size and competition fit.

I know this hurts alot of the "We're too good for that league" peoples feelings and a bunch of others will say playing the big boys made us. All of that is worthy of debate. I'm just saying that the future may hold the WCAL as being the best option.

I am not asking this to be smart...Why is Chippewa going to grow?

I am in that group you talk about in your last paragraph "playing the big boys made us"

After growing up during the 80s and 90s, it amazes me that Orrville people are considering the ramifications of joining the WCAL. That said, I don't think most of the schools would vote to let them in the league. Orrville would've probably won 8 league football titles in the past 10 years and a large percentage of basketball titles also. Orrville has had two very subpar basketball teams win the WCAL D3 district tournament in Wooster the past two years. The strength of the Orrville sports programs right now seems to be their girls' teams. They would be very dominant in the WCAL also IMO.

rrfan;1335461 wrote:I am not asking this to be smart...Why is Chippewa going to grow?

Isn't it obvious? All those Smucker employees that work in Orrville need somewhere to live.

RedRider1;1335528 wrote:Isn't it obvious? All those Smucker employees that work in Orrville need somewhere to live.

Right...what was I thinking?

rrfan,
I think Chippewa will continue to grow because of it's proximity to a large urban area (Akron) and it's ease of access to the 76 interstate via route 21. Although it isn't a huge district area wise (maybe 3/4 of Chippewa township) it has all the hallmarks of a place destined for urban sprawl.


I won't even argue the "playing the big boys boys made us" belief. I also believe it.


What worries me is the old saying, "that which makes you, also breaks you". I'm starting to believe we're going to break ourselves sticking to this line of thinking. Here is my reasoning,


*times have changed, just about everyone has increased their focus on stronger sports teams. There seems to be camps for every position in every sport these days. More parents see sports as a way to scholarship money and invest in extra instruction for Little Johnny. Same with the districts & boosters, I hear Norwayne and West Holmes hire a pro trainer to push kids in the offseason <<<< I don't know this as fact, just rumor.


*the playoffs are getting bigger and another division is being added. We don't need to play D1 schools to get into the playoffs anymore. The WCAL got 2 D4 teams into the playoffs with Rittman, Chippewa, Dalton & Waynedale on their schedules.


*Learn from programs that play such a challenging schedule in higher divisions, they can't win enough games to make the playoffs in their own division. Mooney & Ursuline come to mind. I am not comparing us to them, I just think we are in danger of falling into that trap.

187xovr;1335465 wrote:After growing up during the 80s and 90s, it amazes me that Orrville people are considering the ramifications of joining the WCAL.

I can't believe I am considering it, but I am

187xovr;1335465 wrote: That said, I don't think most of the schools would vote to let them in the league.

I agree with this and we may even find out someday

187xovr;1335465 wrote: would've probably won 8 league football titles in the past 10 years and a large percentage of basketball titles also. Orrville has had two very subpar basketball teams win the WCAL D3 district tournament in Wooster the past two years.

Sweet speculation on the football prediction. I would agree 100% 3 years ago. Now I wonder.
The Smithville teams of the early 2000's would have given us problems, same with Northwestern in 2005 and Waynedale in 2006 & 7. I don't even want to think about Norwayne in the last few years. I guess what I'm saying is, now that Orrville has been on the field with a county school. Things may not have gone our way as much as some of us would like to think.

Basketball, we would have won our share IMO, but Hillsdale & Northwestern have walked off the court celebrating after playing us lately. Smithville had a couple monster teams that couldn't have been overlooked.

Now if we go clear back to the 70's, 80's & 90's, it's all Orrville, all the time IMO.

Greata points Mr. Wizard! If you look at the old AOL we dominated that conference all but two of the years in it (if memory serves me correctly). I was a little young but remember a lot of talks people would have about the days of the AOL. I have a hard time with the idea from a pride standpoint (and I don't mean that in a negative way), Orrville has worked to be in the discussion of small school powerhouses in sports. A lot of that has come from so many teams we have beat in the past that we weren't given a chance against. Most of that happened when we had an independant schedule? BUT times change and so does monitary funding, it may be time to consider joining up with the WCAL or something? IDK, I kind of feel like we are all hitting the panic button a little early but most of you are much closer to it than I am. I am not a resident as many of you are. If not the WCAL then what? If we can't have a 500 season with the conference we are in without a pretty strong team what do we do? The only answer in this case seems to be independent? Or just suck it up and get through this difficult couple years and know its a part of the even flow and move on? I have not lost faith in my old town, community or its coaches and teachers. Of course I am a little nieve? I do agree that sometimes you can break yourself on something that made you... Different times, different kids, different parents.... different different different....

I will keep a close eye on the growing Chippewa...sorry I just don't buy that. Many of the points are good. One thing we are talking little about is that just because we would/might want in a league does not mean you get in. I think that may be a bigger issue than we know. No inside info on that just a gut feeling.

This is sad that we are discussing Orrville in the Wayne County athletic league-really sad! Come on guys there is tradition in Orrville and it sure the hell wasn't established by playing teams like Dalton and Rittman no disrespect to those programs! A different league maybe but the WCAL? No way guys come on!

Red Rider Nation;1335753 wrote:This is sad that we are discussing Orrville in the Wayne County athletic league-really sad! Come on guys there is tradition in Orrville and it sure the hell wasn't established by playing teams like Dalton and Rittman no disrespect to those programs! A different league maybe but the WCAL? No way guys come on!

Last year everyone in the area thought the same thing until the end of the Norwayne game.........

99bobcatdb;1335788 wrote:Last year everyone in the area thought the same thing until the end of the Norwayne game.........

:laugh: exactly

99bobcatdb;1335788 wrote:Last year everyone in the area thought the same thing until the end of the Norwayne game.........

Much like alot in the Norwayne area had confident thoughts until the end of the St. Clairsville game. Is Orrville not allowed to have a bad season? This is high school sports...it's bound to happen. I don't feel our league is too overwhelming as far as the competition goes. As far as football goes, Ashland has been the only consistent thorn in our side. Everyone else, we have not only competed with, but for the most part have dominated through the years. I can understand a new conference financially but not because we can't compete in the conference we're in. That's a copout if you ask me.

AllOhio;1336110 wrote:Much like alot in the Norwayne area had confident thoughts until the end of the St. Clairsville game. Is Orrville not allowed to have a bad season? This is high school sports...it's bound to happen. I don't feel our league is too overwhelming as far as the competition goes. As far as football goes, Ashland has been the only consistent thorn in our side. Everyone else, we have not only competed with, but for the most part have dominated through the years. I can understand a new conference financially but not because we can't compete in the conference we're in. That's a copout if you ask me.

Great Post. Thank you for that because we all need to get off the ledge.

Don't mean to harp on it but over the past 5 seasons (excluding 2012), our conference record is something like 26-9. This does not indicate us being in over our heads from a competition standpoint.