Minford vs. Oak Hill game CANCELLED

[longball]

The big question is what has happened to athletics in oak hill? Why can’t they get enough kids anymore. Just a few years ago the varsity basketball team had 20+ kids, now they’re lucky to have enough to even have a team. Not to mention all teams struggle to even be competitive. The answer to this is easy, if you don’t have parents in the school system or a certain last name in oak hill you’re not given equal chances so kids don’t even bother anymore. Starts with biddy league. Sadly it probably won’t ever change.

Rec league sports unfortunately hadn’t been in Oak Hill for a long time until recently

Maybe not football but, I played rec league sports in oak hill when I was a kid 30 years ago..

[MisterGalliaGuy2016]

Oak Hill moving to the big SOC division is killing them in football. Biggest mistake of this programs history was agreeing to move up. They need a new home or else they may kill their program.

Swap Oak Hill and Gallia. OVC has schools significantly closer to Oak Hill's size and with Ironton leaving, there isn't one clear cut dominant program in football. Fairland will still probably run the league in basketball, but it wouldn't be the murderer's row of Waverly, West, and Wheelersburg every year. Either that, or the Oaks need to try for the TVC because the odds of them having success against any of the three I just mentioned is about zero for the foreseeable future.

[LoyalOak]

The big question is what has happened to athletics in oak hill? Why can’t they get enough kids anymore. Just a few years ago the varsity basketball team had 20+ kids, now they’re lucky to have enough to even have a team. Not to mention all teams struggle to even be competitive. The answer to this is easy, if you don’t have parents in the school system or a certain last name in oak hill you’re not given equal chances so kids don’t even bother anymore. Starts with biddy league. Sadly it probably won’t ever change.

Rec league sports unfortunately hadn’t been in Oak Hill for a long time until recently

Maybe not football but, I played rec league sports in oak hill when I was a kid 30 years ago..

There was when I was a kid as well but they’d gotten rid of it at some point. It didn’t come back until a couple years ago.

[greygoose]

Just a question, how were Oak Hill’s numbers when they were in the SOC I and winning championships or competing? The SOC has a problem but can an incoming school trust the conference? That is also a good question.

Oak Hill when they were in SOC1 had between 45-55 kids once they got it going and they were the one going against teams having 17-21 kids out there. Competing in SOC1, they were making a mockery of the other teams in football, basically winning the league every year. Case in point 2018 season was the Oaks final season in SOC1 play they finished 8-2 and won the league, in league play they scored 290 points in 6 games while giving up 37 points, 2017 they finished 7-2 and Green had to cancel final game due to injuries won the league yet again scoring 209 points in 5 games while giving up 53 points on the year beating a 9-3 P. East team 36-12 for the league. 2016 they lost the league to East 27-26 who finished 10-0 on the season, Oak Hill went 5-5 and in league scored 252 in 6 games while giving up 69 points.

I won't go back any farther as 2015 was much of the same beat downs and a league title so you kind of get the picture. So in the 3 year span I gave you we see Oak Hill scoring a total of 752 points or 44 ppg, while giving up 159 points or 9.3ppg. So yeah they were absolutely killing all of the SOC1 teams and that's why it was time to go, their first year in SOC2 they won 3 league games but have gone downward since. I've long since been in favor of Oak Hill applying to the TVC just seems to make sense.

[Valley91]

Huge blow for both teams and very sad for the oak hill program. My opinion is if you don’t have a certain number of athletes you shouldn’t be able to compete in that sport. At least not against schools bigger than your numbers allow. Example, oak hill D5, must have 32-35 plus kids out to field a team. If not, start up soccer. Most D5 teams should be in the 40s if I had to guess. The top tier teams have 60-70 kids. You can’t expect to make it through a 10 week season and you’re putting the younger players at risk of injury just to field a team and satisfy others.

That comment tells me how much you know about sports. FYI soccer also has 11 players on the field for each team just like football has 11 players for each team. So how is low numbers numbers going to help if they start up soccer? Just wondering

[Valley91]

Huge blow for both teams and very sad for the oak hill program. My opinion is if you don’t have a certain number of athletes you shouldn’t be able to compete in that sport. At least not against schools bigger than your numbers allow. Example, oak hill D5, must have 32-35 plus kids out to field a team. If not, start up soccer. Most D5 teams should be in the 40s if I had to guess. The top tier teams have 60-70 kids. You can’t expect to make it through a 10 week season and you’re putting the younger players at risk of injury just to field a team and satisfy others.

[greygoose]

Huge blow for both teams and very sad for the oak hill program. My opinion is if you don’t have a certain number of athletes you shouldn’t be able to compete in that sport. At least not against schools bigger than your numbers allow. Example, oak hill D5, must have 32-35 plus kids out to field a team. If not, start up soccer. Most D5 teams should be in the 40s if I had to guess. The top tier teams have 60-70 kids. You can’t expect to make it through a 10 week season and you’re putting the younger players at risk of injury just to field a team and satisfy others.

No offense here but this simply doesn't make any sense, you want to punish the let's say 25 kids who came out to play football because they couldn't hit some magic number?? It's nothing for several of the DVII schools in the area to field a team of 17-21 kids, with numbers dwindling across the board the notion of putting some magic number to have a season would NEVER EVER work. Some classes come through they don't have that many athletes that will play Minford last year had 4 seniors on the team, L. Valley this season has 1 or 2 seniors on the team, Piketon this season has 60 plus players on the team and only has 6 seniors on the team. So you're not going to punish the ones who want to play and scheduling would be an absolute nightmare never knowing from year to year if a team hits this magical number.

IF the adults who run things want to fix things across the board then leagues like SVC, SOC and OVC need to sit their butts down at a table stop being childish of I want this we want to do that and actually create leagues or divisions where teams are more evenly matched up based on numbers over say a 4-5 year span vs number of boys in the school and go off the % of those in the school vs those playing. This can be fixed is it a long term solution one will never know that as you can see from Oak Hill going from 50 kids while in SOC1 to low 20s I'm guessing this year.

[dirt_cinders]

Yes...would be nice to create the 3 conferences as suggested before. Soc1,2 and 3. The current setup of only 2 makes it hard for the tweeners when going up and others when they go down.

[TigerBob]

At the end of the day, a conference of South Point, Coal Grove, Rock Hill, Oak Hill, Chesapeake, Northwest, and perhaps Valley & Minford would make a lot of sense. Not sure if we get there, but that’s a good football league where everyone would have a chance to win it.

[LoyalOak]

Huge blow for both teams and very sad for the oak hill program. My opinion is if you don’t have a certain number of athletes you shouldn’t be able to compete in that sport. At least not against schools bigger than your numbers allow. Example, oak hill D5, must have 32-35 plus kids out to field a team. If not, start up soccer. Most D5 teams should be in the 40s if I had to guess. The top tier teams have 60-70 kids. You can’t expect to make it through a 10 week season and you’re putting the younger players at risk of injury just to field a team and satisfy others.

No offense here but this simply doesn't make any sense, you want to punish the let's say 25 kids who came out to play football because they couldn't hit some magic number?? It's nothing for several of the DVII schools in the area to field a team of 17-21 kids, with numbers dwindling across the board the notion of putting some magic number to have a season would NEVER EVER work. Some classes come through they don't have that many athletes that will play Minford last year had 4 seniors on the team, L. Valley this season has 1 or 2 seniors on the team, Piketon this season has 60 plus players on the team and only has 6 seniors on the team. So you're not going to punish the ones who want to play and scheduling would be an absolute nightmare never knowing from year to year if a team hits this magical number.

IF the adults who run things want to fix things across the board then leagues like SVC, SOC and OVC need to sit their butts down at a table stop being childish of I want this we want to do that and actually create leagues or divisions where teams are more evenly matched up based on numbers over say a 4-5 year span vs number of boys in the school and go off the % of those in the school vs those playing. This can be fixed is it a long term solution one will never know that as you can see from Oak Hill going from 50 kids while in SOC1 to low 20s I'm guessing this year.

Makes more sense for schools like Oak Hill that are up and down. Had an extremely athletic group over a decade ago and now look at the school. It’s not going to get any better for the next 4-5 years and it’s not fair to those kids in the meantime just because eventually another big talented group will show up.

[Jason Vorhees]

Success breeds success. Oak Hill had no business in the SOC1 those last years. However, where was that argument from 1992-2008? When they were finishing 2nd fiddle or sometimes 3rd fiddle, nobody made that argument. However, they truly don’t belong in the SOC1 it SOC2. They’re what I would constitute as a tweener. Too big to belong in the SOC1 but not competitive enough to be in the SOC2. Do I know what league they truly need to be in? No, I don’t. I’m not sure what is the best fit for Oak Hill but I know what league is not in the best interest for football. The SOC2. They don’t matchup well with those schools consistently. I’m not saying that they need to be in a league that they dominate but consistency is definitely key. You have to have a sound and solid number of kids/athletes out year in and year out for any school to be competitive and quite honestly, there’s no excuse or reason for a school of Oak Hill’s size to have so few out. I don’t think that it’s coaching, either. There was more kids out for an 0-10 team in the SOC1 in 2005 than currently. As an alum of promoter of high school football in general, this is unacceptable in general. D6 or D5, it shouldn’t matter. You’re a large enough to school to get kids out to play. Period. If an 0-10 team can get 50+ out, then this team should have enough. Oak Hill went 1-9 last year. 1-9 in 2021. 3-5 in 2020. This is not good on the current trend. Honestly and openly, there’s been many a good coaches ran off in the past 50 years so keep the good ones and the kids will come out. When the Conroy’s and Bartholomew’s was there, this was NEVER an issue.

[ValleyStrong]

Yes...would be nice to create the 3 conferences as suggested before. Soc1,2 and 3. The current setup of only 2 makes it hard for the tweeners when going up and others when they go down.

3 conferences are definitely needed, sooner rather than later. Football being the exception of all sports for alignment. Every other sport that is not as brutal as football can hold alignments even in bad years, football is not that way. Football needs to be reviewed every 3 to 5 with adjustments made accordingly. Schools or students will begin to leave the SOC or their home schools in Football, and possibly other sports if adjustments do not start happening.

[VetteMan]

At the end of the day, a conference of South Point, Coal Grove, Rock Hill, Oak Hill, Chesapeake, Northwest, and perhaps Valley & Minford would make a lot of sense. Not sure if we get there, but that’s a good football league where everyone would have a chance to win it.

Quite a few years ago, Oak Hill was in the OVC with South Point, Coal Grove, Rock Hill, Chesapeake and Fairland.

[Dundas]

Since the TVC split in 1993, Oak is is 15-18 against current Ohio division teams. I think we know where they belong. They would fit well in a competitive sense and a geographical sense. Athens was struggling before coming to the TVC. Minus the burrow years, they have been in the mid to upper half of the conference. It’s been a good fit. Oak Hill would be in the same boat imo. They don’t have a program to compete in the SOC2 on a regular basis and they dominated the SOC1. The TVC Ohio is the right mix. D3 Athens to D6 NY with a mix of D4 and D5. It just makes to much sense.

[VetteMan]

At the end of the day, a conference of South Point, Coal Grove, Rock Hill, Oak Hill, Chesapeake, Northwest, and perhaps Valley & Minford would make a lot of sense. Not sure if we get there, but that’s a good football league where everyone would have a chance to win it.

Quite a few years ago, Oak Hill was in the OVC with South Point, Coal Grove, Rock Hill, Chesapeake and Fairland.

In some of those years that Oak Hill was in the OVC, some of their non league games were against Jackson, Wellston, Gallipolis, Wheelersburg and McArthur. ( Vinton County now.)

[Dundas]

All time against current TVC Ohio teams…

Alexander 8-1-1
Athens 2-6
Meigs 1-2
Nelsonville 1-4
River Valley 4-0
Vinton County 3-1
Wellston 24-43

Total 43-57-1

[MisterGalliaGuy2016]

Success breeds success. Oak Hill had no business in the SOC1 those last years. However, where was that argument from 1992-2008? When they were finishing 2nd fiddle or sometimes 3rd fiddle, nobody made that argument. However, they truly don’t belong in the SOC1 it SOC2. They’re what I would constitute as a tweener. Too big to belong in the SOC1 but not competitive enough to be in the SOC2. Do I know what league they truly need to be in? No, I don’t. I’m not sure what is the best fit for Oak Hill but I know what league is not in the best interest for football. The SOC2. They don’t matchup well with those schools consistently. I’m not saying that they need to be in a league that they dominate but consistency is definitely key. You have to have a sound and solid number of kids/athletes out year in and year out for any school to be competitive and quite honestly, there’s no excuse or reason for a school of Oak Hill’s size to have so few out. I don’t think that it’s coaching, either. There was more kids out for an 0-10 team in the SOC1 in 2005 than currently. As an alum of promoter of high school football in general, this is unacceptable in general. D6 or D5, it shouldn’t matter. You’re a large enough to school to get kids out to play. Period. If an 0-10 team can get 50+ out, then this team should have enough. Oak Hill went 1-9 last year. 1-9 in 2021. 3-5 in 2020. This is not good on the current trend. Honestly and openly, there’s been many a good coaches ran off in the past 50 years so keep the good ones and the kids will come out. When the Conroy’s and Bartholomew’s was there, this was NEVER an issue.

Bingo! Question is, what does a coach have to do to NOT get run off at Oak Hill? Because apparently, even an all state football alum can't get a real shot. In reference to that 2005 team.

[West Rowan Falcons]

Wheeling Park WV needs a game. 3 teams cancelled on them this week. Pittsburgh Perry, then Cleveland Shaw, then Sandusky Perkins.
Get on the phone now Minford.

[baseball16]

The big question is what has happened to athletics in oak hill? Why can’t they get enough kids anymore. Just a few years ago the varsity basketball team had 20+ kids, now they’re lucky to have enough to even have a team. Not to mention all teams struggle to even be competitive. The answer to this is easy, if you don’t have parents in the school system or a certain last name in oak hill you’re not given equal chances so kids don’t even bother anymore. Starts with biddy league. Sadly it probably won’t ever change.

Baseball has been pretty successful over the years.

Basketball was 15-20 kids strong last year.

[longball]

The big question is what has happened to athletics in oak hill? Why can’t they get enough kids anymore. Just a few years ago the varsity basketball team had 20+ kids, now they’re lucky to have enough to even have a team. Not to mention all teams struggle to even be competitive. The answer to this is easy, if you don’t have parents in the school system or a certain last name in oak hill you’re not given equal chances so kids don’t even bother anymore. Starts with biddy league. Sadly it probably won’t ever change.

Baseball has been pretty successful over the years.

Basketball was 15-20 kids strong last year.

I didn’t specify, but I was talking about girls basketball. I know girls sports really struggled the past couple years. I believe they were winless in volleyball and basketball last year. Softball maybe won a game or 2.

Baseball is probably the exception bc they have had a good coach.

The same baseball coach coached my kid one year in Jr high bball. Was the only year she felt treated fairly. Played a couple more years after then quit playing. Wasn’t a bad player either. I feel like this is what’s happening to a lot of kids and the part of the reason numbers are down.