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Post by fbfan on Feb 2, 2017 16:29:59 GMT -5
Copied from the Telegraph Forum newspaper:
MORRAL - Ridgedale superintendent Bob Britton and the district's school board put the rumors to rest Wednesday evening. "I want to make it crystal clear. We are playing football next year at Ridgedale," Britton said. "The rumors out there were that we were canning it and not having it, but we are going to be playing football." However, there is a caveat.
The Rockets will not be competing in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference in football. The school board voted unanimously to keep the program intact, but to play an independent schedule next fall. "We were just in a position where we were given a bylaw in the Northern 10 that (said) we had to declare by Feb. 1 whether or not we were going to play football in the fall in the league, which put us behind the 8-ball," Britton said.
Ridgedale finished the 2016 season winless, riding a 26-game losing streak. The Rockets also finished with just 18 healthy players on the roster, nine of them being seniors, according to Britton. With only three eighth grade football players moving up as freshmen in the fall, it put the school district in a bind with the league. "If we couldn't fulfill the obligation of an away game, we owed that school $2,500 for not showing up," Britton said. "The board of education said we still want to play football, but we don't think that is where we need to be." With five N10 road games scheduled for 2017, the district potentially could have lost $12,500. Instead, the board has tasked Athletic Director Greg Rossman to put together an independent schedule. The Rockets remain as members of the N10 in every other sport.
"This is the step we needed to take," Rossman said, as the Rockets haven't won a league game since 2014. "This was a recommendation that I had sent to the board with some research and data and information that we needed to make this step in order to rebuild the football program, get the numbers built back up, get competitive, get wins and get back on track and play in the Northern 10." Britton said they held three community meetings this winter to get input from district residents. Rossman said he held three meetings with prospective players for next year, getting anywhere from 18 to 25 saying they will play. "When you get to Aug. 1, it changes. They don't want to do this anymore. They get up for two-a-days in the first week and they say this is not for me and then they're done," Britton said.
According to Rossman, there are 725 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and about 225 in grades 9 to 12, so they have about 100 high school boys to pull from. He said the goal of most small schools is to get 25 percent participation in football, and that's what they are hoping to start with, knowing that is likely not the number they'll finish with because of injuries and attrition.
"I will tell everybody there are no guarantees, but I'll do everything I can to get this thing put together," Rossman said. "We're going to do what is best for the kids with safety in mind. But to get where we want to get, this is the right step." Rossman said he will build a schedule with similar-sized schools with similar-sized varsity teams, but nothing is off the table. The Rockets could play club teams like the Columbus Crusaders. They could play an eight-man football game if called for. They could play a junior varsity team on a Saturday night.
He is shooting to a full 10-game schedule, but admits it could be less. "I think the decision the board came to tonight is the correct decision and the one the majority of the community wanted," Britton said, adding, "There is still football at Ridgedale. We're still going to have a marching band and the cheerleaders and the Friday night lights. "Everything is going to remain the same. It's just that we're not going to be competing in a conference in football only. We're competing in the conference in everything else"
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Post by galion on Feb 3, 2017 4:37:45 GMT -5
Wow
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bigox
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Post by bigox on Feb 3, 2017 5:50:24 GMT -5
Seen the writing on the wall here. Numbers have been down the last few years progressively. Plus add in the fact they lost players in each class to Kenton and Marion Harding and it's a recipe for disaster for the program... The eighth grade class had 11 boys choose to only play basketball and not go out for football this year. Nor that it made the eighth grade basketball team better. But now it leaves the rest of the league scrambling for a non con game. Bummer
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Post by BellevueBuckeye on Feb 3, 2017 9:12:52 GMT -5
But now it leaves the rest of the league scrambling for a non con game. Bummer Yeah, poor timing, as I would imagine it's too late now to reorganize the league schedule into a normal 8 team configuration with everyone having their non-conference games in weeks 1-3. While this lack of Ridgedale will suck for the 2017 season, it should make things much easier schedule wise for 2018 and beyond, assuming the league stays at 8 football schools.
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Post by Willard Fillmore on Feb 3, 2017 15:34:35 GMT -5
That's what can happen in a league with 1 dominate football program, one larger school and the rest itsy bitsy schools.
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Post by mediamember on Feb 3, 2017 15:37:13 GMT -5
N10 will have a 7-game league schedule in Weeks 4-10 beginning in the 2018 season moving forward. Agreed to at today's meeting of ADs.
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Post by fbfan on Feb 3, 2017 16:20:59 GMT -5
That's what can happen in a league with 1 dominate football program, one larger school and the rest itsy bitsy schools. "1 dominate football program, one larger school" has nothing to do with Ridgedale's problems. They can't even compete with the "itsy bitsy schools". With 88 boys in their OHSAA count, Ridgedale has more than Buckeye Central's 82. CC at 103 and Wynford at 100, the N10's top two teams in recent years, are not that much higher given the difference in play. Something else must be going on.
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Post by Willard Fillmore on Feb 3, 2017 22:25:28 GMT -5
The "something else" could happen at any itsy bitsy school, that is being dominated year after year, in an itsy bitsy league. If this was a league with 200 boys in the top 3 grades, "something else" wouldn't be happening, no one would be dropping out of their league football schedule.
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Post by fbfan on Feb 3, 2017 23:10:12 GMT -5
The "something else" could happen at any itsy bitsy school, that is being dominated year after year, in an itsy bitsy league . If this was a league with 200 boys in the top 3 grades, "something else" wouldn't be happening, no one would be dropping out of their league football schedule. Your statement doesn't make sense. Ridgedale was 2-28 in three years in the N10. They were 2-28 in the previous three years in the MOAC. Their problem is not any particular league (the N10) or schools in that league (Wynford and Upper), as alluded to in your original post.
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Post by Willard Fillmore on Feb 3, 2017 23:19:24 GMT -5
When an itys bitsy school gets dominated in football, even in an itsy bitsy league, numbers out for football can become a real issue. If a school that has 200 boys gets dominated in football their numbers will go down, but not so low that they must drop out of their league's football schedule. That 200 boy school can look for a new league as a panacia. But when a school is playing in an itsy bitsy league, they can't find a league with smaller schools. Thus their only recourse is to drop their league schedule and search all over Ohio for teeny schools, play JV squads or horrors of horrors talk someone into playing an 8-man football game.
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Post by GHS 1999 on Feb 4, 2017 9:47:18 GMT -5
My guess is the other N10 schools could see the handwriting on the wall considering Willard really wanted in and they didn't want them. To me this is the ideal set up for this league and even better is the schools will bow be available for weeks 2 and 3.
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bigox
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Post by bigox on Feb 4, 2017 10:40:59 GMT -5
Ridgedale's problems are more than enrollment size and league size. The past three years they have lost 4-6 athletes per class to surrounding schools for football reasons. From biddy football through freshman year kids see the drubbing the varsity takes by teams. Itsy bitsy? Really? Certain that Ontario was quite happy winning/ padding the stats and record books playing in that league of tiny schools. But that's for another thread or different topic. 😎😎
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Post by fbfan on Feb 5, 2017 9:44:04 GMT -5
Good luck to the remaining football players. A tough road to travel for sure. If they do have to play some eight man games I hope they will play one on a Saturday night, would be interesting to go watch.
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Post by Willard Fillmore on Feb 5, 2017 20:38:29 GMT -5
Ridgedale's problems are more than enrollment size and league size. The past three years they have lost 4-6 athletes per class to surrounding schools for football reasons. From biddy football through freshman year kids see the drubbing the varsity takes by teams. Itsy bitsy? Really? Certain that Ontario was quite happy winning/ padding the stats and record books playing in that league of tiny schools. But that's for another thread or different topic. 😎😎 I can't take credit for "itsy bitsy". That's what Vogel called the schools that left the NCC to start the N-10. I've continued to use the phrase in his memory.
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Post by BellevueBuckeye on Aug 20, 2017 12:56:04 GMT -5
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2112
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Post by 2112 on Aug 27, 2017 23:26:46 GMT -5
Not sure how this was a good idea... if Ridgedale is so bad they are riding a 26-game losing streak, all going independent will do is make scheduling & travel a problem. Ask Vermilion about that.
Is this the first sign of an N10 implosion? Will Ridgedale's move taken together with the competitive imbalance Willard pointed out cause Mohawk & Seneca East jump to the SBC sooner rather than later?
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Hagen
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Post by Hagen on Aug 28, 2017 12:37:16 GMT -5
Not sure how this was a good idea... if Ridgedale is so bad they are riding a 26-game losing streak, all going independent will do is make scheduling & travel a problem. Ask Vermilion about that. Is this the first sign of an N10 implosion? Will Ridgedale's move taken together with the competitive imbalance Willard pointed out cause Mohawk & Seneca East jump to the SBC sooner rather than later? Ridgedale won 12-7 over Ridgemont on Friday. From what I've heard, it sounds like the fans partied all weekend celebrating a win. Several other small schools have endured 2+ seasons of losses before making playoffs the same decade. It's the story of small-town sports. If Ridgedale's coach can get the kids interested and to buy-in, then maybe he goes .500 in a year or two playing the independent schedule. If they can't draw interest, then the program dies. With football's potential to make money in Ohio vs. the other sports, I can't fault them for trying to salvage its program. It's better to go 3-7 against an independent schedule than 1-9, or 0-10 in the N10 (like the previous two seasons). Regarding scheduling, they filled 10 games, so not an issue. Probably not easy, but it's done. Comparing some schedules, I think they picked up some of St. Wendelin's opponents from last year. Why is travel an issue if they have seven home games? Two of the three away games are Crestline and Lakota. Not exactly two-hour drives. Not sure what next year brings, or if home-away contracts. If decent numbers, maybe it returns to the N10. Ridgedale shutting down it's school would actually make the N10 more stable in my opinion. An 8-team conference is easier to schedule for football season than a 9-team one (assuming they re-align the schedule so teams don't have random bye-weeks due to Ridgedale's absence). If Ridgedale drops, then that takes away the southernmost team, which would benefit Mohawk and Seneca East. They also can schedule SBC teams as their non-conference. Not seeing how Ridgedale's falling off would hurt the N10. I think the conference would be better off if it left from a competition/travel standpoint.
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Post by fbfan on Aug 28, 2017 15:21:10 GMT -5
Not sure how this was a good idea... if Ridgedale is so bad they are riding a 26-game losing streak, all going independent will do is make scheduling & travel a problem. Ask Vermilion about that. Is this the first sign of an N10 implosion? Will Ridgedale's move taken together with the competitive imbalance Willard pointed out cause Mohawk & Seneca East jump to the SBC sooner rather than later? Ridgedale won 12-7 over Ridgemont on Friday. From what I've heard, it sounds like the fans partied all weekend celebrating a win. Several other small schools have endured 2+ seasons of losses before making playoffs the same decade. It's the story of small-town sports. If Ridgedale's coach can get the kids interested and to buy-in, then maybe he goes .500 in a year or two playing the independent schedule. If they can't draw interest, then the program dies. With football's potential to make money in Ohio vs. the other sports, I can't fault them for trying to salvage its program. It's better to go 3-7 against an independent schedule than 1-9, or 0-10 in the N10 (like the previous two seasons). Regarding scheduling, they filled 10 games, so not an issue. Probably not easy, but it's done. Comparing some schedules, I think they picked up some of St. Wendelin's opponents from last year. Why is travel an issue if they have seven home games? Two of the three away games are Crestline and Lakota. Not exactly two-hour drives. Not sure what next year brings, or if home-away contracts. If decent numbers, maybe it returns to the N10. Ridgedale shutting down it's school would actually make the N10 more stable in my opinion. An 8-team conference is easier to schedule for football season than a 9-team one (assuming they re-align the schedule so teams don't have random bye-weeks due to Ridgedale's absence). If Ridgedale drops, then that takes away the southernmost team, which would benefit Mohawk and Seneca East. They also can schedule SBC teams as their non-conference. Not seeing how Ridgedale's falling off would hurt the N10. I think the conference would be better off if it left from a competition/travel standpoint. Agree with you hagen 100%. Additionally, I don't see any concern with any "competitive balance" with Mohawk & Seneca East. In the three years they have been in the N10, Mohawk is 17-13, Seneca East is 18-12. Not the best, but far from the worst. I actually see SE challenging for the title this year.
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2112
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Post by 2112 on Aug 28, 2017 22:47:58 GMT -5
Is this the first sign of an N10 implosion? Will Ridgedale's move taken together with the competitive imbalance Willard pointed out cause Mohawk & Seneca East jump to the SBC sooner rather than later? Maybe the SBC could help their own situation by absorbing the N10 when they bring in Ross, Genoa, Woodmore & Firelands... although this messes with the 5-county footprint some... Lake: Sandusky, Perkins, Norwalk, Clyde, Bellevue, TC, Upper, Ross (maybe Galion instead) Bay: PC, OH, Vermilion, Huron, Edison, Bucyrus, Genoa, Firelands River: Calvert, SJCC, SMCC, Danbury, Gibby, Margaretta, Woodmore, Lakota Creek: Buckeye Central, Carey, Colonel Crawford, Wynford, HL, Seneca East, Mohawk, Willard There you go... a nice tidy 8-8-8-8. Though I must admit that the River & Creek are more assigned geographically than strictly by size. And I don't know how enrollments stack up for Upper & Firelands (and Galion). Even so, this alignment would keep Willard & Margaretta in with smalls, pull the bigs out of the N10, keep Bay teams from having to move up to the Lake, tighten geography for the smalls, and stabilize the whole shebang. Everybody's happy. And of course we can make a nice, easy transition to 8-8-8-8-8 when the SBC folds in the FC en-masse as the Stream Division. ;-)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2017 22:56:55 GMT -5
Interesting thoughts but I could see the southern school in the Creek being a problem. And I doubt Upper would be good with the Lake.
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Post by topdawg on Aug 29, 2017 9:00:40 GMT -5
Nice idea may work if they let Upper in the creek division, no way they want to play schools of equal size.
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Post by deathfromabove on Aug 29, 2017 18:03:11 GMT -5
2112, nice try but neither Galion, Bucyrus, or Upper would want to go into the Lake Division. No way, No how, they left the N.O.L. because according to them, it was to long of a drive for them. So we can scrap that plan down the porcelain throng.
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2112
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Post by 2112 on Aug 29, 2017 18:53:21 GMT -5
2112, nice try but neither Galion, Bucyrus, or Upper would want to go into the Lake Division. No way, No how, they left the N.O.L. because according to them, it was to long of a drive for them. So we can scrap that plan down the porcelain throng. lolol
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2017 19:40:07 GMT -5
People complain that the new SBC is currently too big and you want to add more schools? Horrible idea
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2112
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Post by 2112 on Aug 29, 2017 21:29:29 GMT -5
People complain that the new SBC is currently too big and you want to add more schools? Horrible idea No matter what we do, people will complain. This is the most immutable law of the universe. If we did nothing everytime someone complained, we would never go anywhere and never get anything done.
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Post by mikey123 on Aug 30, 2017 0:55:23 GMT -5
Upper will be lucky to go 5-5
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2017 20:40:58 GMT -5
People complain that the new SBC is currently too big and you want to add more schools? Horrible idea No matter what we do, people will complain. This is the most immutable law of the universe. If we did nothing everytime someone complained, we would never go anywhere and never get anything done. Ok I'll just say that I think it's a horrible idea
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Post by greenman on Aug 31, 2017 0:18:06 GMT -5
Is this the first sign of an N10 implosion? Will Ridgedale's move taken together with the competitive imbalance Willard pointed out cause Mohawk & Seneca East jump to the SBC sooner rather than later? Maybe the SBC could help their own situation by absorbing the N10 when they bring in Ross, Genoa, Woodmore & Firelands... although this messes with the 5-county footprint some... Lake: Sandusky, Perkins, Norwalk, Clyde, Bellevue, TC, Upper, Ross (maybe Galion instead) Bay: PC, OH, Vermilion, Huron, Edison, Bucyrus, Genoa, Firelands River: Calvert, SJCC, SMCC, Danbury, Gibby, Margaretta, Woodmore, Lakota Creek: Buckeye Central, Carey, Colonel Crawford, Wynford, HL, Seneca East, Mohawk, Willard There you go... a nice tidy 8-8-8-8. Though I must admit that the River & Creek are more assigned geographically than strictly by size. And I don't know how enrollments stack up for Upper & Firelands (and Galion). Even so, this alignment would keep Willard & Margaretta in with smalls, pull the bigs out of the N10, keep Bay teams from having to move up to the Lake, tighten geography for the smalls, and stabilize the whole shebang. Everybody's happy. And of course we can make a nice, easy transition to 8-8-8-8-8 when the SBC folds in the FC en-masse as the Stream Division. ;-) I don't foresee any FC schools getting excited about joining the SBC. Wasn't there talk at Western, though, about jumping to the SBC some years ago, or was that just gossip about gossip? Calling them the "Stream" division won't cut it, I think. Maybe "Soda Spill" or "Wet Sneeze."
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Post by deathfromabove on Aug 31, 2017 16:30:02 GMT -5
1221, That is what we call CATCH 22. Damned if you do and Damned if you don't.
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Post by Willard Fillmore on Sept 1, 2017 0:19:58 GMT -5
Is this the first sign of an N10 implosion? Will Ridgedale's move taken together with the competitive imbalance Willard pointed out cause Mohawk & Seneca East jump to the SBC sooner rather than later? Maybe the SBC could help their own situation by absorbing the N10 when they bring in Ross, Genoa, Woodmore & Firelands... although this messes with the 5-county footprint some... Lake: Sandusky, Perkins, Norwalk, Clyde, Bellevue, TC, Upper, Ross (maybe Galion instead) Bay: PC, OH, Vermilion, Huron, Edison, Bucyrus, Genoa, Firelands River: Calvert, SJCC, SMCC, Danbury, Gibby, Margaretta, Woodmore, Lakota Creek: Buckeye Central, Carey, Colonel Crawford, Wynford, HL, Seneca East, Mohawk, Willard There you go... a nice tidy 8-8-8-8. Though I must admit that the River & Creek are more assigned geographically than strictly by size. And I don't know how enrollments stack up for Upper & Firelands (and Galion). Even so, this alignment would keep Willard & Margaretta in with smalls, pull the bigs out of the N10, keep Bay teams from having to move up to the Lake, tighten geography for the smalls, and stabilize the whole shebang. Everybody's happy. And of course we can make a nice, easy transition to 8-8-8-8-8 when the SBC folds in the FC en-masse as the Stream Division. ;-) Maybe the SBC should suck up the OCC, and the MOAC, then look at the TRAC, why not the MAC? The the SBC could have 9 division. What the heck, take in all of Northwest Ohio and have 25 divisions.
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