NY Football Trivia - The SEOAL Years

[NYBuckeye96]

My NY football trivia this week involves the SEOAL Years, which includes the '67, '68, and '69 football seasons - the first three years of NY football. The Nelsonville Greyhounds were in the SEOAL from its founding in 1925 until the last year before consolidation - the '66-'67 school year. NY left the SEOAL in the summer of 1970 to join a new, upcoming conference that had formed the previous year - the Tri Valley Conference. These questions all revolve around those first three years of Buckeye football.

Here are 16 trivia questions involving the NY Buckeyes time in the SEOAL in the late '60's......

1. What was the Buckeyes overall SEOAL league record in football?
1-19

2. Who was the very first opponent NY faced in Week 1 of the very first season of football after consolidation and what was the final score?
NY 22 Warren 6

3. Who was the first SEOAL league opponent NY faced in the first season of Buckeye football and what was the final score?
Logan 22 NY 0

4. Who was the first SEOAL league opponent NY defeated and what was the final score?
NY 22 Wellston 0

5. Rank the current (2009) SEOAL schools in order in terms of number of games played against the Buckeyes all-time (both league and non-league games included).
1. Logan - 27 games
2. Warren - 19 games
3. Jackson - 6 games
4. Ironton - 4 games
5. Gallia Academy - 3 games
6. Portsmouth - 1 game
7T. Chillicothe - No games played
7T. Marietta - No games played

6. Rank the former SEOAL schools in order in terms of number of games played against the Buckeyes all-time (both league and non-league games included).
1. Wellston - 36 games
2T. Athens - 29 games
2T. Meigs - 29 games
4. River Valley - 5 games
5T. NY has never played - Zanesville, Point Pleasant, or Waverly

7. What four teams did NY play non-league in football during the three years the Buckeyes were in the SEOAL?
1. Warren - 3 games
2. Vinton County - 3 games
3. Fort Frye - 2 games
4. Southern - 1 game

8. What team joined the SEOAL during NY's three year stint? Why was there an opening in the league for a new team to join?
Ironton. The consolidation of league members Pomeroy and Middleport created an opening in the SEOAL league schedule that was filled with the addition of Ironton. Ironton couldn't schedule all SEOAL schools in '67, so they didn't join until '68.

9. What team replaced NY in the SEOAL when NY left in 1970?
Waverly

10. Why did NY stay in the Nelsonville Greyhounds old league and not join the York Bruins old league?
York had no league affiliation and played as an independant.

11. What reasons were listed in the Athens Messenger throughout the '69-'70 school year as to why NY was leaving the SEOAL? Was it a controversial move at the time?
Size disparity was the number one reason. For the most part, it was not controversial.

12. How big was the Nelsonville-York City School District at the time of consolidation? (Total number of students K-12).
2,100 students.

13. How did NY sports teams become the Buckeyes and where did the school colors come from?
School board decided on Buckeyes as a peace keeping move after tension from both Nelsonville and York, who could not agree on a team name and colors.

14. Before the school board decided on the Buckeye team name and colors, what other team names and colors were considered?
Trojans - green and white; Patriots - red, white and blue; Rebels - blue and grey.

15. What Division/Class was NY in during its first season of football?
Class AA

16. Who was the last SEOAL league opponent NY faced in '69 and what was the final score?
Gallia Academy 50 NY 6

[Run Bubba Run]

#3 NY faced Logan on Sept 22 and lost 22-0

#4 NY beat Wellston on Sept 29 by the same 22-0 score

[boilermaker]

#9 Waverly

[crebman1]

#14. How about Green/White with Trojans as a mascot and Red/White/Blue with Patriots as a mascot. I think maybe also a choice of Blue/Gray as colors with maybe Rebels a mascot.

#15. AA when the Divisions were AAA - largest, AA - Medium, A- Smallest.

# 8. How about Ironton?

#13. I know that originally, there were I think 3 color/mascot choices that the students were to vote on with the highest voted total becoming the colors/mascot combination. The vote was taken.........it was announced that the new colors/mascot would be Brown/White with Buckeyes as mascot. This color combination and mascot choice WAS NOT any of the choices that the students had voted on. Side note: In the early years after consolidation, the use of Orange in the color scheme was a problem for some.......obviously, those wanting to include orange won out, but the original uniforms didn't have any orange in them.

#2. The team would have probably been either Chauncy/Dover or The Plains......I'm guessing Chauncy/Dover. Also, I think that the very first year of consolidation, the team wasn't too bad, maybe 4 - 5 that year, so - probably something like 50 - 0 with the brand new Buckeyes winning.

[NYBuckeye96]

#3 NY faced Logan on Sept 22 and lost 22-0

#4 NY beat Wellston on Sept 29 by the same 22-0 score

You are correct on both counts.

The Buckeyes lost their first ever SEOAL contest to the Logan Chieftans 22-0. The game was played at Polley Field in the Nelsonville City Park, which is where all Nelsonville Greyhounds and Nelsonville-York Buckeyes games were played until the early 1980's.

The following week, the Buckeyes defeated the Wellston Golden Rockets 22-0 in Wellston to pick up their first SEOAL league win.

[NYBuckeye96]

#9 Waverly

You are right. When Nelsonville-York left for the TVC in 1970, Waverly was voted into the SEOAL to take the Buckeyes place. Waverly assumed NY's place in the SEOAL schedule, meaning that Waverly played each SEOAL school the exact same weeks that the Buckeyes would have played them had they not left the league. At the time, the SEOAL schedule was rotating each year by one week. Meaning if you played a league team in week 8 one season, you played them in week 9 the next year and week 10 the year after and then that team would be the first league game the year after that, and so on.

[NYBuckeye96]

1. 1-19

You are correct. Nelsonville-York went 1-19 in SEOAL league play, as part of an overall record of 7-22 (only 9 games in '67). NY went 6-3 in non-league games during it's first three seasons as members of the SEOAL.

The final season in the SEOAL in '69, NY experienced its only 0-10 season in school history. The move to the TVC did not automatically make NY better either. In it's first year in the TVC in '70, NY had an overall record of 2-8 and 1-3 in the TVC. It would be a couple more years before NY would turn around its football program, and then it never looked back after that.

[NYBuckeye96]

#14. How about Green/White with Trojans as a mascot and Red/White/Blue with Patriots as a mascot. I think maybe also a choice of Blue/Gray as colors with maybe Rebels a mascot.

#15. AA when the Divisions were AAA - largest, AA - Medium, A- Smallest.

# 8. How about Ironton?

#13. I know that originally, there were I think 3 color/mascot choices that the students were to vote on with the highest voted total becoming the colors/mascot combination. The vote was taken.........it was announced that the new colors/mascot would be Brown/White with Buckeyes as mascot. This color combination and mascot choice WAS NOT any of the choices that the students had voted on. Side note: In the early years after consolidation, the use of Orange in the color scheme was a problem for some.......obviously, those wanting to include orange won out, but the original uniforms didn't have any orange in them.

#2. The team would have probably been either Chauncy/Dover or The Plains......I'm guessing Chauncy/Dover. Also, I think that the very first year of consolidation, the team wasn't too bad, maybe 4 - 5 that year, so - probably something like 50 - 0 with the brand new Buckeyes winning.

You are correct on 3 out of the 4 answers you provided. #2 is incorrect. Nelsonville-York never played The Plains or Chauncey-Dover. The reason being that Nelsonville and York consolidated in the same year that Athens, The Plains, and Chauncey-Dover consolidated. Also, Pomeroy, Middleport, and Rutland all consolidated that same year as well. So the NY Buckeyes, Meigs Marauders, and Athens Bulldogs as we know them today all consolidated in the fall of '67.

The rivalries with The Plains Indians and Chauncey-Dover Blue Devils died with the Nelsonville Greyhounds. 1967 was a big year for consolidations!

Concerning #13 and #14, you answered what I thought was the hardest question I asked on here! This all happened over a decade before I was even born, but here is how I understand it....

When Nelsonville and York were consolidated, each school wanted to keep their own team nicknames and colors. Nelsonville citizens wanted to keep Greyhounds and colors scarlet and grey. York citizens wanted to keep Bruins and colors blue and yellow. Consolidation was a double-edged sword at the time. The state said that if voters didn't approve the consolidation, both schools would lose their charters. While voters approved the consolidation, there was mistrust on both sides. The newly formed school board decided that the only option was to have a brand new mascot and brand new colors and students would vote on what they preferred. The options were:

1. Nelsonville-York Trojans (colors green and white)
2. Nelsonville-York Patriots (colors red, white, and blue)
3. Nelsonville-York Rebels (colors blue and grey) - blue from the Bruins and Grey from the Greyhounds

The student body at Nelsonville High School decided to go with NY Patriots. The student body at York High School decided to go with NY Rebels. Neither school wanted to go with the other because it wasn't what the respective home school had wanted. This was a major conflict within the district and their was already mistrust on both sides because of the forced consolidation that voters might have approved, but only with the threat that the state would revoke the charters of both schools if the voters turned it down.

To play peacekeeper, the school board decided to go with Buckeyes because it is the State Nickname and namesake of Ohio State. From what I can tell, all sides were happy with this. Team colors were chosen to be brown and white. So the NY Buckeyes were formed with team colors of brown and white. In the early 70's, some people felt that brown and white by themselves were too dull and the students wanted to add orange as a color. The school board then passed a resolution officially adding orange as a school color. I think this happened in 1972.

[NYBuckeye96]

Concerning #15, Nelsonville-York was in fact a member of Class AA upon consolidation. Prior to that, both Nelsonville and York were Class A programs.

Concerning #8, Ironton was added to the SEOAL during the Buckeyes time in the league. Ironton was added in 1968, so the Buckeyes had 2 league games against Ironton and 3 league games against Athens, Logan, Jackson, Gallia Academy, Wellston, and Meigs.

The second part of my question asked what created the opening in the SEOAL that allowed for the addition of Ironton. I'll see if anyone can answer that part.

[NYBuckeye96]

I have bolded all unanswered questions in the original post on this thread. This should make it easier for people to know what questions have not been guessed correctly yet.

[crebman1]

96 - How about the opening was created due to Pomeroy & Middleport consolidating along with Rutland reducing the # of schools in the SEOAL by 1 team.

#2. 2nd guess - Vinton County 26 - 0???

#4. How about maybe Warren Local, Belpre, Vinton and..........?????

#10. Buchtel's league would have been thought to have been made up of schools too small for the new NY.

#11. I don't think the move from the SEOAL to TVC was too controversial. NY was coming off an 0 - 10 football season and an 0 - 20 basketball season. Even with consolidation, NY was if not the smallest school, certainly close to the smallest school in the SEOAL. I imagine reasons listed in the paper would have been school size disparity and less travel costs. The same reasons schools give for SEOAL problems now.

[NYBuckeye96]

96 - How about the opening was created due to Pomeroy & Middleport consolidating along with Rutland reducing the # of schools in the SEOAL by 1 team.

#2. 2nd guess - Vinton County 26 - 0???

#4. How about maybe Warren Local, Belpre, Vinton and..........?????

You are correct on the second part to #8. Nelsonville-York consolidation did not create an opening in the SEOAL because only Nelsonville was a league member. Athens, The Plains, and Chauncey-Dover consolidating did not create an opening in the SEOAL because only Athens was a league member. HOWEVER, the consolidation of league members Pomeroy and Middleport (along with Rutland) posed a hole in the SEOAL schedule because one school - Meigs - was created from two league members - Pomeroy and Middleport.

With the opening, Ironton decided to re-join the SEOAL. At the time, there was much excitement in the SEOAL because the smallest league schools had consolidated to become larger schools to make them more close in size to the rest of the SEOAL schools. Ironton could not join in '67 because there was not enough time to schedule a full SEOAL league schedule in time for the '67 season, so Ironton joined the following year in '68. Despite the fact that consolidations helped smaller league schools become larger in size, Nelsonville-York, along with Wellston, were still smaller than the other SEOAL schools even after the NY consolidation, despite the fact that NY back then was much larger than it is today in student population. At the time, the Meigs student population was much larger, as they competed in Class AAA.


You are incorrect on #2. Vinton County was Week 2 and the score was NY 50 VC 8. NY defeated another team the previous week. Keep the guesses coming!

Concerning #4, you are partially right. In the three SEOAL years, NY played Warren and Vinton County three times each as non-league games. NY did not play Belpre until their first season in the TVC in 1970. There are still two teams left to be named.

[NYBuckeye96]

#10. Buchtel's league would have been thought to have been made up of schools too small for the new NY.

#11. I don't think the move from the SEOAL to TVC was too controversial. NY was coming off an 0 - 10 football season and an 0 - 20 basketball season. Even with consolidation, NY was if not the smallest school, certainly close to the smallest school in the SEOAL. I imagine reasons listed in the paper would have been school size disparity and less travel costs. The same reasons schools give for SEOAL problems now.

#10 is incorrect. It's kind of a trick question!

#11 is mostly correct. By far, the number one reason given was size disparity. The Nelsonville Greyhounds were always one of the smallest schools in the SEOAL. Even though it nearly doubled in size as Nelsonville-York, it was still on the small side because most of the other SEOAL schools were consolidating as well. The Meigs consolidation at the time really made it a huge school. Logan was consolidating with all of Hocking County. Athens got much larger with The Plains and Chauncey. The Nelsonville and York consolidation was still too great of a disparity to make up for these moves.

I don't remember reading anything about travel costs. At the time, travel was to Athens, Wellston, Meigs, Logan, Jackson, Gallia, and the new road trip to Ironton. That new trip would have been the only long haul game.

The TVC was just forming and was hungry for new members. Nelsonville-York was the first expansion team to join the original 4 founding members of Warren, Belpre, Vinton County, and Federal Hocking. It was thought that future expansion would see teams join more in line with NY size-wise. Also, by only having 4 league games, it created a scenerio where NY could schedule 6 non-league games against more similar sized schools. At the time, Warren and Vinton County were still the larger TVC schools and Belpre was slightly larger than NY at the time, but still pretty close. Federal Hocking was the smallest school, but was also still pretty close in size to Belpre and NY. Keep in mind that back then all three schools - Belpre, NY, and FH were much larger than they are today in terms of total student population, but that is the case with most schools in southeastern Ohio.

For the most part, the move was not controversial. There were some people who thought it was unheard of for Nelsonville-York to leave the SEOAL, since the league went over 40 years without any changes up until the consolidations. However, at least from what I've read in the Athens Messenger from back then, the majority of people thought it was a good move. Most of the school district supported it and the sports writers at The Messenger seemed to support it too for the most part. There were a few neysayers here and there, but you would have that with about any move like this I would think.

A few years later, NY turned around it's football program and that is what really united the school district. Anyone who grew up in the late 70's, '80s, '90s, or today might not realize it, but there was some serious tension between Nelsonville and York in the years leading up to consolidation. Mistrust on both sides. I think that success in football starting in the early '70s is basicly what united the school district.

[NYBuckeye96]

How long after consolidation was it before Dave Boston came onboard at N-Y?

Dave Boston, Sr. was the coach from the very beginning. His first season of coaching in Nelsonville was actually the last year of the Nelsonville Greyhounds in the fall of 1966. He then became coach of the consolidated Nelsonville-York until his final season of coaching in 1992.

[NYBuckeye96]

In most cases the new schools were formed out of former "hated" lol rivals, and I know first hand what you are talking about when you mention mistrust. In some ways in some areas it is still present and probably wont go entirely away until the generation alive when it happened pass off the scene.

I have a theory in my head that football success is what unites a school district in cases like this. Nelsonville-York and Trimble had football success not long after those consolidations and the mistrust died off quickly after the football success started in each district.

On the other hand, Federal Hocking has never really had a lot of success in football. Even today, there is still distrust between the people of Amesville, Stewart, and Coolville over 40 years after the Federal Hocking consolidation! The school board splits 3-2 on nearly every vote it seems like and that has been the case as far back as my memory can take me.

I really think that the success or lack of success of a football program has something to do with how fast consolidated communities unite.

[NYBuckeye96]

How long after consolidation was it before Dave Boston came onboard at N-Y?

Dave Boston, Sr. was the coach from the very beginning. His first season of coaching in Nelsonville was actually the last year of the Nelsonville Greyhounds in the fall of 1966. He then became coach of the consolidated Nelsonville-York until his final season of coaching in 1992.

This also helps to prove another theory I have.......if a school has a talented coach, the school should keep that coach, regardless of the record of that coach. Look at NY. Coach Boston was the coach for 7 years before he was able to take a hapless football team and turn it into a powerhouse. Coach Boston's records his first few years were.....

1966 4-5 (Greyhounds)
1967 4-5 (Buckeyes)
1968 3-7
1969 0-10
1970 2-8

Now I would imagine that after five losing seasons and a combined record of 2-18 in the fourth and fifth seasons, many schools would have fired their coach at that point and looked elsewhere. Yet, NY was committed to Coach Boston's style of coaching and the foundation that was being built from the ground up. By 1981, the Buckeyes were State Champions. Success does not come over night, it takes several years to turn around a program. Sometimes I feel like some schools give up too soon on their coaches in hopes of finding a quick fix. There are no quick fixes in football.

[91Buckeye]

#10. York was an independant

[NYBuckeye96]

#10. York was an independant

You are correct! York was independant and in fact only played about half of its football games against varsity teams. The other half was the York varsity team vs. the other schools junior varsity team. York's schedule in the mid-1960's included many teams that are now in the TVC Hocking, including Glouster, Racine, Reedsville, and also The Plains and Chauncey-Dover and then the junior varsity teams from schools like Athens and Marietta. (So it was York Varsity vs. Marietta Junior Varsity, for example).

York had no league affiliation, so it was only natural for the consolidated school to play in Nelsonville's league, the SEOAL. If York did have a league affiliation, I'm sure it would have been controversial as to what league the new school should be in because everything else seemed to be a big controversy back then!

[NYBuckeye96]

Any more guesses on the questions remaining?

2. Who was the very first opponent NY faced in Week 1 of the very first season of football after consolidation and what was the final score?

5. Rank the current (2009) SEOAL schools in order in terms of number of games played against the Buckeyes all-time (both league and non-league games included).

6. Rank the former SEOAL schools in order in terms of number of games played against the Buckeyes all-time (both league and non-league games included).

7. What four teams did NY play non-league in football during the three years the Buckeyes were in the SEOAL?
1. Warren - 3 games
2. Vinton County - 3 games
3.
4.

12. How big was the Nelsonville-York City School District at the time of consolidation? (Total number of students K-12).

16. Who was the last SEOAL league opponent NY faced in '69 and what was the final score?

[NYBuckeye96]

TTT

I'll give the answers tomorrow night if no one can guess them by then.