Wellston drops Jackson starting in 2020

[Otto]

Wellston is just adopting Portsmouth's philosophy: "If you can't beat 'em, run away with your tail between your legs".

[ravensfan09]

I think Jackson should look to schedule Upper Arlington or Pickerington Central. Cicinnati Colerain or St. X would be good, too! That would be a good opener. What do you Ironmen guys think?

[Ironman92]

I think Jackson should look to schedule Upper Arlington or Pickerington Central. Cicinnati Colerain or St. X would be good, too! That would be a good opener. What do you Ironmen guys think?

What’s your comparison? Please say D1 to D3

I know one thing....as many Wellston players have shown on twitter, they work their tails off and cherish the chance to knock Jackson off. Jackson would never beat those teams but our kids would love to go up against a team like that. Any team should.....but I feel your comparison is very bad.

[ravensfan09]

Why is that bad? Why don't you guys open your season for 50 years playing a school that doubles your enrollment. I agree you wouldn't ever beat them, so I guess you guys are looking to adopt the Portsmouth philosophy, and run from them with your tails between your legs?

Jackson is a nice program, but who are your tough games? I'll give you DIVISION 5 Wheelersburg and Chillicothe, but then who??? You all need to adopt your philosophy and cherish the opportunity to play someone good! Playing a guaranteed 8 win schedule isn't good for one of the biggest schools in the area.

[Ironman92]

That was an Ironton/Portsmouth poster who made that statement.

I’ve already spoken that Wellston kids aren’t running from this game....they wanna play it from all I’ve read.

To answer your “who we play?” I answered it above when talking to Licking County Fan.

The D1 to D3 isn’t equal to D3 to D5

Jackson has 75% more boys than Wellston per OHSAA enrollment numbers. St Xavier has 400% more boys than Jackson. The difference between Jackson boys and Wellston boys is a small D6 school....The differ nice between St Xavier and Jackson is a huge D1 school and nearly 1,000 boys. I believe you could add Jackson + Wellston+ Oak Hill all together and St Xavier still has more than double the boys and the difference would still be a D1 school.

[ravensfan09]

So to prove my point, you should at Cincinnati LaSalle, Akron Hoban, Canal Winchester, Massillon Washington, or Winton Woods.

That should be your new opener. That's about the same disparity between Wellston and Jackson. Lets face it...Jackson doesnt play anyone besides DIVISION 5 Burg and Chillicothe and unfortunately they lose those games.

Chillicothe plays Teays Valley, Hartley, Marion Franklin, and scrimmages Burg. Jackson plays no one like that. They need to schedule some real competition and really try to grow their program so they can win some big games. The 8 wins they take so much pride in are all games they should win.

[Ironman92]

So to prove my point, you should at Cincinnati LaSalle, Akron Hoban, Canal Winchester, Massillon Washington, or Winton Woods.

That should be your new opener. That's about the same disparity between Wellston and Jackson. Lets face it...Jackson doesnt play anyone besides DIVISION 5 Burg and Chillicothe and unfortunately they lose those games.

Chillicothe plays Teays Valley, Hartley, Marion Franklin, and scrimmages Burg. Jackson plays no one like that. They need to schedule some real competition and really try to grow their program so they can win some big games. The 8 wins they take so much pride in are all games they should win.

That’s fine, at least this post isn’t laden with exaggerations. Your “double the enrollment” comment was well off as well. You do realize that the equality of this rivalry sucked for decades before their was a big difference in enrollment.

I’m not sure I understand your problem with winning 80% of your games and going to the playoffs. The playoff point system calls for a schedule of enough difficulty to garnish enough points to make the postseason. I think Jackson ‘s schedule is pretty close. Wellston’s not quite as favorable but most of these recent years beating an Oak Hill or whoever instea of losing to Jackson wouldn’t get you to the playoffs either. Of course scheduling to reach the playoffs isn’t the end all in the SE District. Travel and gate are definitely weighted in there.

[ravensfan09]

Look Ironman92...I'm not from Wellston or Jackson, but I will say this, the "You do realize that the equality of this rivalry sucked for decades before their was a big difference in enrollment," comment is laughable.

You want to beat your chest about beating up on school half your size? Why don't you have a streak against the other D5 school on your schedule?

You made the statement that kids relish the opportunity to knock off the bigger schools and the tough teams. I agree with you 100 percent. My question is wht doesn't Jackson give their kids that opportunity?

As far as winning 8 games a year...thats great, but if you always play teams that are inferior what have you really accomplished? Yeah you won 8 games and that's great, but if your kids are never challenged because you won't play anybody I guarantee you you won't win in the playoffs. Playing your schedule and then playing a good D3 school will always set your kids up to fail.

I understand you play Wheelersburg and they are very good, but they have 200 boys and you have 305. If your program I'd elite in D3...you should at least be in the game, or win, against a D5.

[Ironman92]

Look Ironman92...I'm not from Wellston or Jackson, but I will say this, the "You do realize that the equality of this rivalry sucked for decades before their was a big difference in enrollment," comment is laughable.

You want to beat your chest about beating up on school half your size? Why don't you have a streak against the other D5 school on your schedule?

You made the statement that kids relish the opportunity to knock off the bigger schools and the tough teams. I agree with you 100 percent. My question is wht doesn't Jackson give their kids that opportunity?

As far as winning 8 games a year...thats great, but if you always play teams that are inferior what have you really accomplished? Yeah you won 8 games and that's great, but if your kids are never challenged because you won't play anybody I guarantee you you won't win in the playoffs. Playing your schedule and then playing a good D3 school will always set your kids up to fail.

I understand you play Wheelersburg and they are very good, but they have 200 boys and you have 305. If your program I'd elite in D3...you should at least be in the game, or win, against a D5.

5 league games and 5 open. Of the 5 open I’d prefer 3 good teams and 2 should be wins. The years Jackson has won in the playoffs we didn’t have really any different kind of schedule but what we did have was exceptionally talented players those years. 3-3 against the very good D3 playoffs teams while opening up with Wellston last 4 years.

The double the size comment continues to be an exaggeration but just keep saying it if you must. It’s not the size in this rivalry as these two were nearly same size for a long long time. Like everyone knows...Wheelersburg is a superior program than Jackson who is much bigger. We’re always way bigger and they are almost always better.

You may not be from Jackson or Wellston but you sure do care a lot about this topic.

Hopefully all this works out for Wellston football.

[Ironman92]

My thoughts have been posted. In the end this is the decision that has been made. I don’t completely agree with it but I trust Jackson will find a good replacement and hopefully Wellston can pull in Oak Hill to open every year. I wish Coach Lucas and the Wellston kids the best of luck and congrats on your power lifting successes.

[juicebox]

I agree ravensfan09,spot on!

[Proud_Pirate63]

OHSAA enrollments

Jackson 289
Wellston 165. 43% smaller
Wheelersburg 175. 39% smaller

[Proud_Pirate63]

I was just curious about the actual numbers.

[Ol' Bud]

Glad to see this happen. This was an useless game that resulted in countless injuries over the years. I believe there were around 530 injuries in 54 all-time meetings.

[Ed Ott]

Wellston Week 1 Opponents

2020 Ironton Saint Joe
2021 South Webster
2022 Western Pike
2023 Ravenswood Castle Maintenance Staff Prep
2024 Eastern Meigs JV
2025 Hamden
2026 Zaleski
2027 Pedro
2028 Ewing Christian (Hocking County)
2029 Cuga
2030 Ilesboro Wind Chime Prep Academy

[Raider6309]

OHSAA enrollments

Jackson 289
Wellston 165. 43% smaller
Wheelersburg 175. 39% smaller

You can’t compare Wheelersburg and Wellston. Wheelersburg is just an all star team. The last time Wellston beat Jackson, Jackson recruited Wellston’s QB.

[Shane Falco]

Has the athletic department planned for the loss in revenue? I would assume a lot more fundraising will have to occur.

[Proud_Pirate63]

OHSAA enrollments

Jackson 289
Wellston 165. 43% smaller
Wheelersburg 175. 39% smaller

You can’t compare Wheelersburg and Wellston. Wheelersburg is just an all star team. The last time Wellston beat Jackson, Jackson recruited Wellston’s QB.

I’m not comparing Wheelersburg and Wellston. I included Burg’s enrollment only because of the previous posts.

[countywide35]

hate to see this game go

[NYBuckeye96]

This is probably for the best of everyone involved. This doesn't mean they will never play again, it just means the game is taking a break for awhile.

Wellston had too many games on their schedule that in most years are automatic losses.