September 29, 2023 Oak Hill - Wheelersburg

[Jason Vorhees]

Pikeville (Ky.) has an open date this week and is looking for a game. Burg and Pikeville played during the COVID year. Would be a really good football game.

This team can’t compete with pikeville. Would be another burg loss. Would finish 5-5 or 6-4. Worst season since?

Wheelersburg has no less than a 5-5 regular season record every year since the 1964 season. However, here’s the 5-5 seasons that they’ve had since then:
1967: 5-5
1969: 5-5
1971: 5-5
2000: 5-5
2002: 5-5

In 59 years, those are the 5-5 seasons. That means 54 years of at least 6 wins in those 59 consecutive seasons. That means that they’re going to have to win 2 out of their last 3 games to keep that streak alive.

[Jason Vorhees]

Numbers and talent are low because there was no rec/youth sports in Oak Hill for a long time. Hard to be handed a ball years after your opponents and think you’ll be good enough to compete. Numbers are bigger in JR high because they had youth football and other sports to play in late elementary school (talent isn’t great with that group but the numbers are trending up). Anything else is bs. If someone claims to know about some last name stuff then they were either a parent of a kid who didn’t get what they think they deserved or the kid themselves. Yes names matter in all sports but only to a certain extent and definitely don’t matter when they just need kids to show up to begin with.

Something else to be very frank about is that from 2007-2019 was arguably the best stretch in athletic history at Oak Hill.

Football team went 91-48 with 8 SOC1 Championships and 6 playoff appearances.

Basketball won 5 district championships, 2 SOC2 Championships, 1 Regional Championship, and 1 State Championship.

Baseball also won at least 1 district championship in that stretch.

That’s a hard comparison to now. However, I don’t remember if I saw so few on a Oak Hill sideline for a football team. I don’t think that it’s coaching at all. Community? Maybe. I also think that 30 total kids for the start of the season and blaming politics is a bit of a stretch. Every small community has a small yet powerful influence but those individuals probably wouldn’t sacrifice wins for playing time and any coach who would do so has zero ethics. I don’t know exactly what the answer to the problem is but the current course needs to change. You can’t coach people who aren’t willing to show up.

The hardest part of all of this is that overall and unfortunately, I know how the community will handle this and it’s not in a good way. I really believe that if given time, their current head coach will start producing better results. Or, they can be the Oak Hill of old. Does anyone ever wonder, with the exception of one coach, maybe two, why coaches leave Oak Hill once they start having success?

[greygoose]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is this clique or inner circle in Oak Hill, everyone who’s not in it knows about it and everyone who is in it pretends it doesn’t exist. Oak Hill will not be able to get their numbers up until something shifts in the village and they start treating kids outside of the circle the same. Why even go out for a team if you know you’re not going to be given a chance because you don’t have the right last name or family in the school system? They have run a lot of talented kids out of town.

I don't buy this at all, so when OH was in SOC1 play and had 40-50 kids on the team there was no existence of this "clique"? Had a couple new coaches, had assistance leave, new coach brought in you really think the guy is part of some "inner circle" that's going to keep kids away because they don't believe they'll get playing time on a team of 25?? COME ON. Only thing that's running kids out of town as you say would be the inability to win, talented kids want to go where they have a shot at winning. To act like they've ran talented kids out of town because they wouldn't play them is nonsense and sounds more like someone with an ax to grind quiet frankly.

Believe what you want, but I know for a fact that it’s definitely a factor in the low numbers.

OH, I'm sure you do know for a fact it's why I said sounds like an ax to grind. There's always some reason that 2-3 kids won't come out but let's sit here and kid ourselves over a 20 kid drop, now mind you there's a lot of teams that are lower in numbers as well, and act like it's politics all of a sudden. I know that for a fact because you guys haven't established a base over the last several years so obviously it's not that. Again I'll give you 2-3 kids maybe claiming they don't like this or that so they don't play.

[ohbuckeye2]

Ouch, glad the Burg is picking up some level 2 points for us this week.

[VetteMan]

I think that Oak Hill did start the season with about 30 boys, of which 15 were Freshman. I think that they finished last season with 18-20 boys. I'm not sure what has happened, but it's not just the football team that is having problems. Boys and Girls both seem to be having number problems for the past few years in Basketball as well. The only sport that seems to be doing well has been the baseball team. I think the Baseball coach may have resigned, so I may have spoken too soon. I don't believe that some of the things that have been posted is accurate, but that's just my opinion.

[RBH23]

very good post

That sounds great and I agree but this team is arguably worse now than they were in week 1. This team is just not competing to the point where they can beat good teams. You can feel it in the stands, the fans and team just expect to lose. Burg make playoffs at 5~5?

Thank you both for the kind words. Not to be a contrarian to your latest point, but with Burg's core of younger guys, you have to think about the future development of the program as well. It's a delicate balancing act. Some Wheelersburg fans are losing sight of the fact that you're starting or giving significant playing time to quite a few sophomores. Other teams are too, this isn't an excuse. But this goes into my next point: Wheelersburg has the numbers to compete and sub as needed on the lines. The only way the program can assess where it is at and grow is by fire; in this case, playing a tough schedule. They are doing that and I appreciate the approach.

As some (BTWNTHE is correct on this and others) have alluded too on here, the population across the Tri-State Area is really only growing in one 20-mile area (Barboursville/Hurricane/Teays Valley), the rest of the areas are losing population, so the talent pool is not as diverse/wide as it used to be. It's going to be tough to have amazing teams season after season. That's the way it is for any area that suffers a population loss.

Not saying that success shouldn't be the standard, but when things go south, it's important to be realistic as well. The run that Wheelersburg had from 2014 to 2018 is extremely rare for any program to have in the area right now. It was the right mix of an excellent coaching staff with kids who were great talents and mainly football-centric. During that time (outside of the 14-15 school year), boys soccer was down in both success and numbers as the transition from one good coach to another took place. Boys soccer has been fantastic the last five seasons for Wheelersburg and looks to only be getting better.

You have a great head coach who has won 154 career games (just 19 off the school record). Patience is the key to virtue.

Us Burg fans do realize that this is a young team, but we also realize that Burg is going to lose at least 4 games this year. This will be the third year in a row with at least four losses, and the 4th time in five years that Burg has lost 4 games in a season. Last Burg coach to have this bad of a run at Burg? Jack Pelligrinon from 1967 to 1971!

And to add insult to injury this year, the team has shown no improvement. Making the same mistakes against HP that they made against IHS. Should eventually see improvement from the young team, or are signs of improvement to much to expect from these coaches? Just accept four loss seasons every year and forget about ever beating IHS, Jackson, or HP again? Hope to win the SOC on occasions? Is that the new standard?

I’m not asking for 2013 to 2018 runs. Just asking for Burg football that we have seen after 1971 and before the past four years. To perform to the standard that so many have worked hard to create and maintain over the years.

[gator81]

What a sad state of affairs for Oak Hill, they should of never pressured Paul Carver to leave, he had the program at least stable. Be careful what you wish for. Oak Hill will play Valley, then be suddenly "injured" again only to recover just in time to play Northwest.

NO pressure on Carver to leave. It was His decision to leave!!!

[gator81]

Gotcha. I agree, if you have to cancel because of injuries/numbers, then just go ahead and cancel the rest of the season. I'm not sure how many they started with, but things aren't looking good in oak hill. I wonder what their youth programs look like.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is this clique or inner circle in Oak Hill, everyone who’s not in it knows about it and everyone who is in it pretends it doesn’t exist. Oak Hill will not be able to get their numbers up until something shifts in the village and they start treating kids outside of the circle the same. Why even go out for a team if you know you’re not going to be given a chance because you don’t have the right last name or family in the school system? They have run a lot of talented kids out of town.

False!! Oak Hill has gotten kids from Wellston Jackson, Gallia county and Lawrence Co. That stayed with the program and played.

[Oldtimer55]

As stated in previous posts, this is the season of turnovers! Hold on to the ball once inside the opponent’s 20 yard line and convert to touchdowns and Burg is possibly undefeated or
5-1. If this is not corrected, they could very well lose the next 3

[SPelf]

so i take it talks of replacing this game with another fell thru??? very sad

[fbnut]

so i take it talks of replacing this game with another fell thru??? very sad

Burg never wanted to replace the game. A buy is better than a loss, computer points wise. This team needs the time to try to get things worked out and reinvent themselves as a tough disciplined football team if possible. If not roll out the round ball boys

[Oldtimer55]

No Burg football tonight and no Ohio State Saturday… that combo might be a first in my 56 years!

[522Pirate]

Some of you guys need to step back from the ledge…did you think we were state championship material this year? If these are the down years for Burg football then I’ll take it.

[RBH23]

Some of you guys need to step back from the ledge…did you think we were state championship material this year? If these are the down years for Burg football then I’ll take it.

“Step back from the ledge?”

We are watching something negative happen that hasn’t occurred in over 50 years. Didn’t expect a state title, or even a regional title, but also didn’t expect to make history in a bad way.

The program was trending up under Woodward for a number of years. Obviously peaked in 2017, and has been trending downwards ever since.

A coach once told me “winning and losing have one thing in common. They are habit forming.” Burg football is in the habit of losing. Clearly a number of fans are as well.

This is not Burg football.

[Ironmen98]

Some of you guys need to step back from the ledge…did you think we were state championship material this year? If these are the down years for Burg football then I’ll take it.

“Step back from the ledge?”

We are watching something negative happen that hasn’t occurred in over 50 years. Didn’t expect a state title, or even a regional title, but also didn’t expect to make history in a bad way.

The program was trending up under Woodward for a number of years. Obviously peaked in 2017, and has been trending downwards ever since.

A coach once told me “winning and losing have one thing in common. They are habit forming.” Burg football is in the habit of losing. Clearly a number of fans are as well.

This is not Burg football.

What are your yearly expectations ?

[522Pirate]

Uh yeah…step back from the ledge. Not sure if you’ve noticed but the non conference schedule has been upgraded quite a bit and ironton and Jackson have greatly improved. Instead of playing bad North College Hill, Bishop Watterson, Fairland squads we’re now playing serious regional contenders in ironton, and prep…played Pikeville a couple years ago in one of the four loss seasons. You’re putting too much emphasis on the W-L record. I get it…I love seeing us win every game as well but I’d rather be battle tested going into the playoffs. We’ve been competitive in every game thus far…battled back against prep when that one looked like it could get out of hand. Not too shabby for a team breaking in a sophomore QB surrounded by several other sophomores in my opinion.

[522Pirate]

Some of you guys need to step back from the ledge…did you think we were state championship material this year? If these are the down years for Burg football then I’ll take it.

“Step back from the ledge?”

We are watching something negative happen that hasn’t occurred in over 50 years. Didn’t expect a state title, or even a regional title, but also didn’t expect to make history in a bad way.

The program was trending up under Woodward for a number of years. Obviously peaked in 2017, and has been trending downwards ever since.

A coach once told me “winning and losing have one thing in common. They are habit forming.” Burg football is in the habit of losing. Clearly a number of fans are as well.

This is not Burg football.

What are your yearly expectations ?

Exactly

[RBH23]

Some of you guys need to step back from the ledge…did you think we were state championship material this year? If these are the down years for Burg football then I’ll take it.

“Step back from the ledge?”

We are watching something negative happen that hasn’t occurred in over 50 years. Didn’t expect a state title, or even a regional title, but also didn’t expect to make history in a bad way.

The program was trending up under Woodward for a number of years. Obviously peaked in 2017, and has been trending downwards ever since.

A coach once told me “winning and losing have one thing in common. They are habit forming.” Burg football is in the habit of losing. Clearly a number of fans are as well.

This is not Burg football.

What are your yearly expectations ?

Average year: 8-2 with SOC title, couple wins in the playoffs. So 10-3 is what should be expected. This is where I expected this year’s team to be; same with last year’s team.

Below average year (occur once every 4 to 6 years): 7-3 without SOC title. One to two playoff wins. 8-4 on a bad year.

Above average year (occur once every four years): 9-1 with SOC title. Make it to regional final. 12-2 final record.

Regional title once every eight years.

State title once every 25-30 years.

Problem is that four losses is becoming the norm.

[Ironmen98]

“Step back from the ledge?”

We are watching something negative happen that hasn’t occurred in over 50 years. Didn’t expect a state title, or even a regional title, but also didn’t expect to make history in a bad way.

The program was trending up under Woodward for a number of years. Obviously peaked in 2017, and has been trending downwards ever since.

A coach once told me “winning and losing have one thing in common. They are habit forming.” Burg football is in the habit of losing. Clearly a number of fans are as well.

This is not Burg football.

What are your yearly expectations ?

Average year: 8-2 with SOC title, couple wins in the playoffs. So 10-3 is what should be expected. This is where I expected this year’s team to be; same with last year’s team.

Below average year (occur once every 4 to 6 years): 7-3 without SOC title. One to two playoff wins. 8-4 on a bad year.

Above average year (occur once every four years): 9-1 with SOC title. Make it to regional final. 12-2 final record.

Regional title once every eight years.

State title once every 25-30 years.

Problem is that four losses is becoming the norm.

You will NOT beat Ironton and Jackson on a yearly basis. The series will go back and forth but you won’t dominate those series. So now you have to win every league game , that’s just not feasible. You’ll win the SOC 6/7 times a decade but not every year.

[522Pirate]

I just don’t see the honor in going 10-3 every year by playing nobody in the non conference schedule. This is small school high school football…I would much rather have my sons playing in tough games and learning those lessons about striving in hard endeavors, learning to rely on your teammates, and not quitting when the going gets tough win or lose. Sure, I want to win them all but what are you learning by beating 0-10, 2-8, 5-5 teams by 35 points.