PREP FOOTBALL

PREP FOOTBALL

Playoffs need
more parity

As I watched Friday’s playoff game unfold between the South Range Raiders and the Ursuline Irish, the Vindicator’s statement in Thursday’s playoff preview rang loud and clear: “The Raiders don’t have the size and athleticism of the Irish — frankly, no one in Div. V does.”

Despite that disadvantage, I knew South Range would come out and play hard. The Vindicator was also right in saying the team “won’t be intimidated”. As a South Range football alumnus, I knew Dan Yeagley and his staff would not let that happen.

The second half proved that point as the Raiders blanked the Irish and scored once, while just missing two other scoring opportunities. Despite the loss, the South Range community should once again be very proud of its public school football program.

I opened today’s Vindicator sports section this morning and read the article entitled “Irish do flash dance.” Irish coach Dan Reardon is quoted saying, “They’ve been hearing in the media from virtually everybody about the things that South Range was better than us at. Our kids took great exception to that and I don’t blame them.”

I have followed the articles in The Vindicator and find the contrary. Thursday’s “Pigskin Pick’em” resulted in eight of 10 [on the panel] picking the Irish.

The “Football Insider” article by Joe Scalzo, states “Most people aren’t giving South Range much of a chance on Friday against Ursuline. They have more Division I talent, they’ve got a tougher schedule, and on paper, look like a State Championship team” Yes, Scalzo goes on to give South Range some nice comments, but the bottom line is that David is not going to beat Goliath this time around

Coach Reardon emphasized in today’s Vindicator how South Range was given accolades on their heart, work ethic, fine coaching staff, etc. He wanted people to know his athletes and staff had the same virtues.

My observation over the years has been when teams get to this level of play, it is not by accident. Virtually all teams share the same football and life virtues. South Range just happened to get the exposure. The real “down to brass tacks” issue is the difference in the athletes themselves. The reality is Division I-caliber players on the whole will out perform lower-division caliber players. It is rare in college football to see a YSU team beat Ohio State or, in this case it happened, Appalachian State beating Michigan.

In South Range’s history, we have had very few Division I prospects. Do we care? Not really. We just love watching our young people, band members and athletes, perform what they enjoy doing. That is success.

The Irish coach’s comments on the virtues issue ironically points to the major difference between public and private school athletic programs in our Valley. It appears more Division I prospects for athletics are concentrated in two private schools, Mooney and Ursuline. That’s OK. The youth get a fine education that is spiritually-grounded and have an opportunity to pursue an athletic career with more choices.

For the public schools, however, there is a disadvantage when it comes to parity of athletes. It would seem to be the right course to have an OHSAA system that allows for more parity. We need to move toward a separate private/public athletic system.

Richard Lotze

North Lima

STEELHOUNDS

Team deserves
more coverage

Fanfare:

I am honestly perplexed about the lack of articles regarding the SteelHounds’ performance thus far this year.

It seems to me that with a 9-01 record, completely on the road (amassing 5,446.82 miles at the time of this writing), the ’Hounds own local paper would be featuring the team in some fashion or another.

For Pete’s sake, they’ve had positive recognition from countless articles on the Internet and in other newspapers and magazines throughout the U.S. and Canada — why not The Vindy?

I know, I know, we get the odd blurb, maybe a couple of stories, and of course — a following about the possibility of us switching leagues. But where’s the love?

Look, these guys represent the city of Youngstown. How about making them feel good about that? They are here from all of the world and they’ve persevered in unbelievable circumstances with this travel schedule. They have left loved ones behind for a record 27 days (who are exhausted, by the way) and it would be oh-so-nice if they could open the paper sometime and see some kind of respectable coverage.

If you should be so bold as to print this — I’d like to add that our home opener is Nov. 23rd. Come out and see the boys and give them the praise they so deserve. Go ’Hounds!

Megan Kaminski

Poland