MOAC 2022

[GHS 1999]

Might as well get a thread started. Thoughts on the upcoming season? Shelby has dominated in the 3 seasons since joining the MOAC, but the lose over 20 seniors. River Valley and Harding should improve can they make a run at it? Clear Fork is always solid will they be back in the conversation? Galion was disappointing last year, will they improve? Highland is new to the league, what’s their chances? Pleasant and Ontario were at the bottom, will they improve?

[GHS 1999]

Galion now has a week 1 opponent. McComb will be traveling to Galion to take on the Tigers on a 1 year contract. Galion begins a 2 year contract with Wynford in 2023 for week 1. Carey and Upper Sandusky are locked in both through 2023.

[4]

Harding will be interesting. Athletes as always, have some key seniors to replace.

Galion will be improved big time. Rid of the headache Hanif, return a ton of starters and a very good will be junior class. A lot of OL and defense, playmakers are will be juniors. Could compete for MOAC in 2 years.

Pleasant step forward obviously.

[galionfan13]

Since Galion has all the pieces back...I see them winning the MOAC in the next five years and they will win the state in two years...soon Galion will be a football powerhouse for years to come

[sbclives]

Those 7th graders in Galion have a lot of confidence.

[GHS 1999]

Galion does indeed have a very talented junior class coming back this year. After what I’ve seen from the coaching staff the last 2 years I’m not optimistic that their talent will get realized. Coach Dick’s job performance since becoming an administrator has been disappointing to say the least. Last year’s offensive coordinator has been let go, so he became the fall guy. All I know is there have been too many boys playing out of position. Too much concern about certain boys playing time especially seniors who aren’t good enough or don’t care enough. Too many boys out of shape to even play the sport. This was an issue much of last year. The play calling was not good either. Until some of this changes, I’m not sure how much improvement there will be.

[pirate80]

As Clear Fork's current freshman come of age at the varsity level, they will make noise. I believe that class has never lost in 7th thru 9th grade in MOAC play.

[richrod]

To me clear fork might be the early favorite. They bring a lot back and I thought they had a good year last year.

I think Marion Harding is also on the upswing and will be tough this year.

After that I think RV, Shelby, and Galion will slug it out in the middle.

Highland IMO will be having to play a step up in competition and will struggle.

Then Ontario and pleasant will battle it out in the bottom part of the conference.

[dude]

Jan 10, 2022 9:57:30 GMT -5 pirate80 said:

As Clear Fork's current freshman come of age at the varsity level, they will make noise. I believe that class has never lost in 7th thru 9th grade in MOAC play.

I'm asking because I do not know, how does the rest of the MOAC in that class stack up? Is the CF class that dominate or is the MOAC below average for that grade? I did see the CF freshman play 1 game and they won big but it was against a team that won 1 game all season.

[crosscliff]

In no particular order

Clearfork - brings a lot back from a very competitive squad; they will challenge for league championship
RV - brings a lot back as well, including a QB that makes a lot happen
Galion - played a lot of young kids last year and will be very competitive this season but might be two years away from competing for league championship
Shelby - although they graduated a lot; until someone knocks them off they are the team to beat.
Marion Harding - graduated a lot but Coach Ross has things going in the right direction.
Ontario - seem to be in a tough spot right now from a competitive standpoint but their kids have a lot of pride and will not be an easy out.
Pleasant - much like Ontario; the tradition at Pleasant will go a long way each Friday night to keep this group competitive; They will have a handful of freshmen that could see action on Friday nights.
Highland - new to the league so a lot of unknowns about where they will fit in; on the other hand, Coach Stover will have his kids ready to compete

Overall, should be a fun 2022 season in the MOAC!

[pirate80]

Jan 14, 2022 9:09:05 GMT -5 dude said:

Jan 10, 2022 9:57:30 GMT -5 pirate80 said:

As Clear Fork's current freshman come of age at the varsity level, they will make noise. I believe that class has never lost in 7th thru 9th grade in MOAC play.

I'm asking because I do not know, how does the rest of the MOAC in that class stack up? Is the CF class that dominate or is the MOAC below average for that grade? I did see the CF freshman play 1 game and they won big but it was against a team that won 1 game all season.

I don't know enough about the other squads. Just have a nephew in that class. Only have seen him once, and they blew out Pleasant in 8th grade at the Tundra. They were pretty huge.

[GHS 1999]

Non conference schedules for MOAC schools:

Shelby:
8/19 Madison
8/26 @ Lexington
9/2 Bellevue

River Valley:
8/19 Upper Sandusky
8/26 @ Madison
9/2 @ Tiffin Columbian

Marion Harding:
8/19 Mount Vernon
8/26 Ashland
9/2 @ Newark

Pleasant:
8/19 @ North Union
8/26 Wynford
9/2 Whitehall-Yearling

Highland:
8/19 Fredericktown
8/26 @ Wooster Triway
9/2 @ Ashland Crestview

Clear Fork:
8/19 @ Lucas
8/26 @ Granville
9/2 Lexington

Ontario:
8/19 Lexington
8/26 Norwalk St. Paul
9/2 @ Madison

Galion:
8/19 McComb
8/26 @ Carey
9/2 @ Upper Sandusky

[maplecityjake]

hmmm, St.Paul not playing SJCC anymore on Week 2?

I like the Clear Fork-Lucas matchup. Nice backyard game

[wetsu]

We might have a chance to see how good the Galion unit is in the season opener vs McComb. McComb lost to Marion Local 10-0 in game two last year and to Hopewell-Louden 28-20 in week fourteen. They lost a few wooly mammoths but Coach Alge usually finds a way to field a pretty representative team despite graduation losses.

[dude]

Any MOAC teams looking for a football coach? 

[richrod]

Ontario elevating Eckert to HC as Miller becomes an assistant principal.

[Willard Fillmore]

Principal, not assistant, he had been an assistant principal before taking the Head football job. He resigned his asst. principal job when he got the HC job. The Principal job opened when the Principle got the Superintendent job. He's been "ghosting" with the current Superintendent, who's retiring. 

This has been in the works for some time. It's been known for 6 months that there was going to be a new Superintendent AND who it was. When a head coaching job opens, it must be posted in the school. Even if not seeking someone from the outside. That process must be completed before someone can be "elevated". 

[GHS 1999]

Is this Aaron Eckert, the former Bucyrus head coach?

[Willard Fillmore]

Social Studies teacher at Ontario. Came to Ontario in 2019 from Bucyrus.

[dude]

Mar 3, 2022 20:38:03 GMT -5 richrod said:

Ontario elevating Eckert to HC as Miller becomes an assistant principal.

Miller was already the assistant principal. He will now be the Principal of the middle school. He came to Ontario as the AD and took over the football job a year or two later. Then a year or two into his head coaching, he took the assistant principal job at the HS and been there since. 

[richrod]

Mar 4, 2022 8:53:00 GMT -5 Willard Fillmore said:

Social Studies teacher at Ontario. Came to Ontario in 2019 from Bucyrus.

What was his record at Bucyrus? It was abysmal if I remember. The Bucyrus to Ontario connection is strong. Didn't fisher also come from Bucyrus coach baseball for a few years, then slide into the admin?

[Willard Fillmore]

I have no idea, as there is no equivalent of "North Central Ohio Basketball" for football, as far as I know. But I'm sure abysmal is close, as every head coach at Bucyrus over the past 40 years had an "abysmal" record, except for a year here and there. The same holds true for basketball. Eckert did keep trying for 7 years, before he made the move to Ontario for more money, in a better district to teach in.

There is a pipeline from Bucyrus to Ontario, it goes back long before recent history. AND Fish had 2 sons that were good athletes and students, that he wanted to get out of Bucyrus

[maplecityjake]

I believe Doug Frye was the only one in 40 year timeframe that did "well" at Buckyrus." Of course, he went on to WBL schools St Mary's Memorial and Wapakoneta and back to Memorial

[Willard Fillmore]

Didn't he get in trouble for abusing players?

[wetsu]

Mar 7, 2022 13:04:25 GMT -5 Willard Fillmore said:

Didn't he get in trouble for abusing players?

I have a coaching connection in the WBL that explained it as essentially the difference between towns. Coach Frye has some decidedly old school tendencies regarding effort and discipline. Apparently he has a talent for using the f-bomb as an adjective when he thinks things are lacking and has been known to grab a players' face mask when in close up discussions. St. Marys is a town that has a higher tolerance for such behavior (to an extent) than does Wapakoneta. Wapak was struggling when Frye came onto the scene but I know for a fact that it is a very cliquey town so it came as no surprise to me that there were factions in the town that pounced on that. Jim Elshire was HC for a long time and did a lot of good things but finally had enough of the atmosphere and got out. It's my belief that Kevin Fell knew that Wapak was a sleeping giant and took the job but didn't last long, perhaps because he could read the room. Coach Frye can also read the room but simply doesn't care what people think.

I don't know how prevalent swearing and face mask grabbing are nowadays but I do know that it occurs less and less. If you hire Doug Frye you will very likely win but many administrators are hesitant to take on the phone calls and complaints.

[GHS 1999]

Back to the topic, I know for a fact that Aaron Eckert is a good guy and hope for nothing but the best for him at Ontario. It’s a tough situation to go into as their football program has struggled a lot like Bucyrus.

[dude]

Mar 8, 2022 0:45:08 GMT -5 GHS 1999 said:

Back to the topic, I know for a fact that Aaron Eckert is a good guy and hope for nothing but the best for him at Ontario. It’s a tough situation to go into as their football program has struggled a lot like Bucyrus.

Since leaving the comforts of the NCC, Ontario has gone 34-56 in football, with only 2 winning seasons in 9 years. This will not attract many quality candidates. 

[Willard Fillmore]

After leaving the NCC Ontario played in the NOL for 4 years. I can play this game....The same can be said for Lex. It took 9 years for Lex for win 34 games, one more year than it took Ontario to win the same number. AND in 4 of those years they had Ohio's Mr. Football on the roster. Under 4 head coaches in those 9 years,  one of them twice, who quit again. Who's their next coach, its been 6 weeks?

[dude]

Nice article in the paper about the New Ontario coach. It says he was their 7 seasons and that he went 4-6 in his first year, 5-5 in the next and 7-3 in his third. it doesn't mention in his last 4 years he went 2-8, 1-9, 2-8 and 3-7. Football can be a tough sport to build a program if the community is not football committed, the athletes aren't top shelf and schedule are not beneficial. Bucyrus is probably lacking all three.

[colt449]

Clear fork does bring back numbers. I wish success for them:
. I would love nothing more that a 13 win season for them. However, from my knowledge and understanding , they recently
hired most of the 1-39 Madison staff which even they wouldn’t keep. I don’t know that is a decision which breeds confidence in my opinion
. At this point in time, like 2010, talent will overcome coaching for a MOAC conference championship.

This upcoming class is competitive, hungry, and angry. However, then you throw in a coaching staff that is hard up, and has a history of failure at Madison in the OCC, and I don’t know it’ll translate into success.

Sure, I hear antidotes about success, however it does not translate into actual wins. I hope it does.