iced earth;1472364 wrote:I think Z is a below average X's and O's coach, and just a bad, in game manager.

But Waynedales current football woes don't have as much to do with him, as it does with just not having any football players in high school right now. It's that simple.

Waynedale has a fine football tradition, and it has always been built around good sized ugly guys in the trenches, blocking for big backs that cut towards contact, not away from it.

They currently have neither.

Louie would be a fine head coach...no doubt about it...but he sat down and made the decision a long time ago that his main project would be to build that wrestling program.

1486wd;1472671 wrote:A lot of good points here. Totally agree with knoitall - Norwayne the clear number 1 and Northwestern 2, both playoff teams IMO. After that it gets very murky. To me the top candidates for the postseason (but not to win the league) are Hillsdale, Dalton, Smithville. Hillsdale has developed into a program that looks to have some staying power. They lose a pile of guys, so I am not putting them as a favorite, but to discount them is folly. I haven't talked to my guy yet to find out my usual Dalton info, but looking from last season: Dalton returns nearly everyone, a lot of whom started as sophs (moyer is a big loss, though). Burke is putting in the work at QB and is looking to have a big year. They should have the horses in the backfield with raines, mcginty, mcfarren. No stars in that group, but some good hard runners and raines has speed. They should also have good TE's with Metzger, Clark, and Morehart all with good size. The key to their offense will be line depth, they do have murphy to build around who is one of the best linemen in the league, and finding some consistent recievers outside of the tight end. Likely candidates are Zach ryder (also the likely back up Qb) and j mann. I believe the D will be solid. Smithville has tons of questions with few seniors and returning starters, so I have a hard time putting them in the mix, although I like Brent B. I haven't heard enough about the others at this point to judge, but based off of last year's results, combined with a new coach or two - it looks tough for them I think.

REDRIDER555;1472805 wrote:As we wait for official practice to start, here is somethingto stir the Wayne co pot. If Orrville's renewalgoes down, you might see athletics cutin Orrville. I don't know the strength of Rittman or Waynedale's teams, butwith open enrolment I would bet you would see a class of Juniors and Seniorsheading to one of those two schools, with sharing the same superintendent, Iwould think that would be easy to make happen. I would think that would improve a team roster in a hurry, not that Orrvilleis loaded, but Zook, Summers, Brown, Ritchie, Coleman aren't bad players, I amsure there would be others too. This isa lot of what ifs, and not saying it changes the ranking of the WCL, but kindof interesting to think about.

WCALfootballfan;1474075 wrote:With the 2 Norwayne boys making early commitments I'm surprised that the Rittman boy hasn't accepted that offer to Akron

WCALfootballfan;1474608 wrote:I was kidding. I think we all know the offer isn't real.

I am with ya on the Friday Nights though. Trying to decide which game to watch in week 1. Does anyone know who Northwestern opens with?

dontcare;1474648 wrote:Norwayne will probably go 10-0 again. I highly doubt they will be challenged in the WCAL. They will go 2 maybe 3 rounds into the post season. Another good year for the Cats.

dontcare;1474648 wrote:Norwayne will probably go 10-0 again. I highly doubt they will be challenged in the WCAL. They will go 2 maybe 3 rounds into the post season. Another good year for the Cats.

no name;1474913 wrote:I am vey impressed how hard the norwayne kids are working. Finally, a program that seems to be building stability. The freshman class is loaded, with skilled kids all over the place and the leadership Weinman is displaying by cutting 35 lbs to get to 235 to play the middle is awesome . Nice to see a kid realize the need for the team and be willing to take on the challenge. You will be surprised how well he moves this fall. O- line should be strong with Weinman, Scruggs, Steiner. All back along with Murray they have one spot to fill. Should average 6'1. 230. The summer program is brutal, those Rick training days are almost over!

Burk;1475687 wrote:I'm just confused as to why everyone is just expecting Northwestern is just going to get killed by norwayne.

Burk;1475693 wrote:Okay my bad not everyone but it seems that as I looked through this thread a large majority are favoring norwayne by a lot but maybe I'm just seeing things

Burk;1475710 wrote:True killed is an exaggeration it just has been catching me off gaurd. I think that northwestern will come out on top personally with an all senior line and a back field like nolletti, smith, and Swysgood with a couple receivers that can make plays. Plus northwestern has essentially an all senior offense and defense this year with 16 or 17 seniors then you have young talent like Derek Koch to fill in the gaps. Don't get me wrong I think that it will be an insane week 10 showdown (this time the huskies will come to play since they'll be looking for revenge after a bad week 10 and a really close week 11 loss to their rivals) but I think norwayne will be feeling some growing pains after losing Berger, Smith, Kneriem, Zimmerly and some really good lineman and more as well. One of the things teams had to account for with norwayne last year is they had to defend a great run and pass offense now it seems run will just maybe be something but not even close to what it was. They become more one dimensional. Plus that line backing core from last year was incredible and if I'm not mistaken they were all seniors. So overall I think northwestern gets better from last year but norwayne goes down some but not a huge amount. No small schools like this league can continually pump out great teams eventually they will hit a slump and I think norwayne's is beginning this year and northwestern will peak this year and then fall dramatically after this year.