Ohio Post Season Rankings/Recap 2017

[Coletrain06]

***These rankings are mainly based on how teams are playing at the end of the season (including injuries), with whole body of work also taken into consideration***

Most of these teams are very close to each other, and all these teams could beat the others on any given night. 

# 1 Pick Central

Pick Central returned most of their team from last year's team that lost in the semi's to X on what their fans perceived to be a controversial call. They were a favorite to win it all in the preseason, and though they didn't look like the best in the middle of the season, by the end of the season they were firing on all cylinders. They boast one of the  most talented teams in the state. On offense They had a big OLine  that averaged 300 lbs and some nice RB's and WR's. Their true offensive weapon was Sophomore dual threat QB Demeatric Crenshaw. It may have taken him a few weeks to get going, but now he's an asbolute stud. On defense Pick Central was strong on the DL and Safeties. Their LB's and CB's were just ok. With the push of the massive OLine + the speed and skill of the QB and backfield, Pick Central was very tough to stop from moving the chains. Their defense could stuff the LOS and get pressure and were difficult to pass on when the safeties dropped back....Pick Central beat a bunch of good teams, and their only loss was to undefeated D3 champ Trotwood-Madison. 

# 2 Colerain

WHY #2 : By the end of the year this Colerain team was playing very well on both sides of the ball, and as good as some of the great Colerain teams. The defense was probably the best in the state this year, and by the playoffs, the offense had become unstoppable. In the 2 early losses to La Salle and St. X, Colerain had only played their best player and star FB/LB Ivan Pace Jr. on offense for a half... and against La Salle the QB Leyendecker was injured and didn't play the 2nd half. Once Colerain stuck with Pace at FB, and Leyendecker was healthy, Colerain's offense started rolling over opponents, including getting their revenge on St. X in the playoffs in a dominating performance .......Against Pick Central, Colerain turned it over 5 times in the 2nd half while Pick central had 0 turnovers (4 of the 5 on their own side of the field, and 3 of those 4 in the redzone.) Still Colerain kept answering every Pick Central score with a quick score of their own, but everytime the defense would get a big stop, Colerain kept turning the ball back over deep in their territory, and the Defense would have to go right back out on the field. The defense played as well as you could expect given the quality of opponent, and the amount of time on the field and situations they kept being put in. Turnovers were not a problem at all for the team on the season, and this was an isolated incident, of which Pick Central deserves credit too. 

HIGHER/LOWER? : While Hoban or Mentor could have a decent argument for the #2 spot, I simply don't think either could beat Colerain, especially not Mentor, unless Colerain had another -5 turnover game....... Without even a few of the turnovers, Colerain looked poised to take out Pick Central.

# 3 Hoban 

WHY #3: Hoban started the year with a 17-3 loss to Iggy. Throughout the season their Freshman QB improved and became a great QB by the end of the year. Nobody else came close to Hoban the rest of the way, and they had great performances against Barberton, Avon, and Winton Woods. Hoban had a big Line, a solid QB, and great skill players. They also had one of the best defenses in the state.

HIGHER/LOWER? : You could make a good case for Hoban for #1 or #2.....the reason I don't have Hoban in either spot is because: while they've dominated the D3 and D2 regular season and playoffs the past 2 years, they've only played 2 D1 teams in both seasons, 2016-St. Eds & 2017-Iggy,  and they lost to both of those teams. Running through the D1 regular season and playoffs is an entirely different animal. Hoban is good enough for a higher ranking, but they have to beat a good D1 team first for me to put them above the best D1 teams.......I have Hoban above Mentor because of how much better Hoban's Defense is. 

# 4 Mentor

WHY #4 : Mentor, similar to Hoban, started out the season with a loss to Iggy in week 2. But after that loss, Mentor wouldn't lose again until the Championship game though they had some high-scoring scares against Solon & Euclid. In the Playoffs, Mentor took out St. Edward and Iggy in back to back weeks. In the Championship game, Mentor came ready to play, and fought hard into the 3rd, but eventually Pick Central was just a bad matchup for Mentor and Pick Central was able to dominate. Mentor had a good Line that gave 3 year starting QB Tatarunas enough time to make throws and a great RB in McDougal, and a good WR corp led by Shea. Mentor, in typical fashion had a very mediocre defense.....Overall, I agree that Mentor had the best QB in Ohio and their offense could keep them in most games. They execute very precisely and effectively.

HIGHER/LOWER? : I originally had Mentor ahead of Hoban, because not only were they able to avenge their prior loss to Iggy, but they also beat Ed's in back to back weeks.....However, Mentor's defense struggles against a good offense, and Hoban's defense is far superior.....I have Mentor ahead of Iggy because Mentor was able to beat Iggy recently in the playoffs, and Iggy has a bad loss. 

# 5 St. Ignatius

WHY #5 : Iggy started off the year strong, looking like they were on a mission to finish the job from last year. They were beating good teams and rolling...until they played Moeller and inexplicably lost by 3 scores. After this weird loss, Iggy bounced back and beat some more good teams. Iggy eventually lost to Mentor in the Regional final after beating them earlier in the year. Along the way, Iggy grabbed wins against Hoban, Mentor, St. X, St. Edward, Elder, and Euclid (2x's). Ignatius had their usual Huge OLine along with RB Bobinski. Iggy's QB played well at times, but struggled at other times. On defense Iggy was strong at times, and at other times were gashed for big yards.

HIGHER/LOWER? : I think this is a very fair spot for Iggy. They could be much higher if they didn't have the inexplicable loss to Moeller. Moeller was one of the worst teams I saw in person this year. That game seems to be an aberration, though. Iggy has a great collection of wins and shouldn't be any lower than this, but are not higher because of inconsistency.

# 6 St. X

WHY #6 : After St. X's miracle run last year, they were among the favorites to take the title again, because they brought back a lot of players including one of the best QB's in Ohio in Chase Wolf, and a very good WR corps. They looked the part, with X going undefeated up until they played Iggy in week 9. They collected some good wins along the way. They played Iggy in week 9, but Chase Wolf had a bad game, and the Bombers lost. They bounced back, but were taken out by Colerain in the regional finals. The St. X offense was very hard to stop when Wolf was on his game, and the X defense was among the best in the state.

HIGHER/LOWER? : St. X was a very good team this year, but their biggest weakness was lack of a run game. They leaned too heavily on Chase WOlf. As most teams don't have the ability to cover X in the secondary and get a good pass rush, + score a few times on the X defense, I understand the gameplan. Colerain was just able to do all of those things in the playoff game. I don't see X above any of the teams ahead of them...and honestly don't think any of the teams below them would beat them.  

# 7 Trotwood-Madison

WHY #7 : T-M played in the D3 title game last year against Hoban and got smoked 30-0. They were on a mission this year. They brought back a lot of their players, including RB Hargrove, and dual threat QB Stephens-Peppers, with an big OLine to run behind. They also had a very good defense. They won all their games along the way with a few scares, including beating D1 champ Pick Central. 

HIGHER/LOWER? : T-M has a legitimate argument to be as high as #1, because they went undefeated and beat Pick Central....but that is only one piece of the puzzle. That is the only game T-M played all year against one of Ohio's top teams, and most of the rest of their schedule is terrible. In fact just one week before, T-M narrowly escaped a terrible Piqua team 42-35. There's only 4 teams that they played that I would even consider better than average, and all of those games were dogfights.....T-M barely escaped a down Wayne 14-7, only beat a down TCC 16-7, and were able to come from behind to win the title 27-19 against Tri Valley. Anybody who watched T-M down the stretch realized that T-M would struggle mightily with alot of the D1 teams and some of the D2 teams.

# 8 St. Edward

WHY #8 : St. Edward was a preseason favorite among Ohioans, and for good reason. They returned a good amount of talent and had a very talented underclass. This proved to be accurate as Ed's was handling good teams......all the way up until they had numerous signifcant injuries derail their season. They lost their QB, a couple of their WR's and some other players. Their offense started to sputter and they lost their week 10 game against Iggy. In the playoffs they again struggled to get the offense going, and eventually succumbed to turnovers and controversial calls against Mentor. Along the way St. Ed picked up numerous good wins. 

HIGHER/LOWER? : Healthy Ed's is probably #1 or 2. Unfortunately the end of year Ed's was not playing near the same level. Still I can't see Ed's lower than this.

# 9 Winton Woods

WHY #9 : This was considered to probably be WW's best team ever. They had strength on the Lines, a great LB corps, a great dual threat QB in Kenny Mayberry, some good WR's and one of the best RB's in the state in Miyan Williams. Winton Woods played a tough schedule picking up good wins. They lost to Elder in OT on a missed XP. WW has been kinda similar to past Glenville teams......with tons of talent, but little discipline, dumb mistakes, and poor special teams....WW fixed their special teams issues this year, and had slightly better discipline, but still they were their own worst enemy this year. Against Hoban, even though Hoban was clearly better, WW continuously made mistakes that put them in very bad spots. 

HIGHER/LOWER? : Winton Woods is clearly the number 2 team in D2. I think they are appropriately placed in this list. I could see them swapped with Pick North. 

# 10 Pick North : 

WHY #10: Pick North ended up being A very good team whom I was liking more and more as the season went on. Pick North had a very good QB Jimmy Wieirck whom was leading his team down the stretch. In addition to a solid offense, Pick North had a pretty good defense. Pick North let the Centerville game get away from them, and Pick North simply dropped a game winning TD against Pick Central in the regular season. In the Regional Final game Pick North had 4 turnovers and Pick Central had  none, and this was too much to overcome. 

HIGHER/LOWER? : IMO Pick North has a good case to be higher. They were playing very well at the end of the year, handled some good teams, and pushed Pick Central. 

# 11 La Salle

WHY #11 : La Salle had to replace some good players in the offseason, but haretunred some good players. Most importantly they returned one of the best LB corps in the state. La Salle was very stout against the run. They had QB Merritt back along with their big TE/WR Whyle. La Salle struggled to find an offense most of the year, but their defense kept them in most games. La Salle opened with a win over Colerain, and won games against Moeeller, Elder, SVSM, and Scott County KY. 

HIGHER/LOWER? : La Salle's struggle on offense keeps them from being any higher than this.

# 12 Hilliard Bradley

WHY #12 : Bradley went undefeated playing mostly crap teams until their playoff game with Pick Central. They were a mystery team, but they were decently competitive with Pick Central. Not sure how other teams would have been competitive with Pick Central at that time. 

HIGHER/LOWER? : Can't see them any higher than this.......possibly lower, but they dominated every team they played besides  Pick Central and were competitive in that game. 

[Omaha Vol]

That’s identical to my top 10 for OH. I’m glad I was on the same page as you for once. OH is tough to rank. Lol

[Coletrain06]

16 minutes ago, Omaha Vol said:

That’s identical to my top 10 for OH. I’m glad I was on the same page as you for once. OH is tough to rank. Lol

Yes it is. I think I differ with you where they fit in nationally tho..........mainly in comparison to alot of the non-power states

I have both Colerain and Hoban around the top 25. 

 

[alsime1]

ABH 1, TM 2, PC 3 and then the big boy schools from up north, Mentor, Iggy and Ed's followed by a few big boy schools in the south, CC, X and then a few Columbus D1 staples plus a Whitmer and Lasalle could fight it out to round out the top 10.  ABH loss to St. E two years ago saw them dominate, and I mean dominate for 3 out of the four quarters.  Even HC Lombardo said it was their toughest game of the year.  The loss to Iggy this year was early on and Kyle also commented on ABH being as physical and skilled a team that he saw up until they played Ed's.  ABH has to be 1.  No brainer to put TM at 2 because they beat PC at PC.  I hate putting Mentor at 4 because both Ed's and Iggy outplayed Mentor and would probably beat them 8 out of 10 times but for the same reason I'm putting TM ahead of PC I have to put the Cardinals in front of the Saints. 

[golfaddict1]

Well done. Nice read Coletrain.  

[hardhit1]

Ok here's my take

PC, Colerain & AH all interchangeable

PC won the big one D1 the last guy to stand wins my vote

now Colerain & AH

Colerain had 3 losses including one to LaSalle who lost to Winton Woods twice

now Akron Hoban

AH stomped a mud hole in Winton Woods who some here claimed being the best team in Ohio prior to this game. WW was averaging over 50'points per playoff game until their O only scored 7 against AH and only 14 total losing- getting mud stomped 42-14

now AH only blemish the first game of the year losing to a good St Iggy team 17-7 starting a freshman QB. 

And the freshman grew to a seasoned cool collective veteran in the playoffs.

all 3 are close and interchangeable but my top 3 are:

PC

Akron Hoban 

Colerain

[alsime1]

ABH 1, TM 2, PC 3 and then the big boy schools from up north, Mentor, Iggy and Ed's followed by a few big boy schools in the south, CC, X and then a few Columbus D1 staples plus a Whitmer and Lasalle could fight it out to round out the top 10.  ABH loss to St. E two years ago saw them dominate, and I mean dominate for 3 out of the four quarters.  Even HC Lombardo said it was their toughest game of the year.  The loss to Iggy this year was early on and Kyle also commented on ABH being as physical and skilled a team that he saw up until they played Ed's.  ABH has to be 1.  No brainer to put TM at 2 because they beat PC at PC.  I hate putting Mentor at 4 because both Ed's and Iggy outplayed Mentor and would probably beat them 8 out of 10 times but for the same reason I'm putting TM ahead of PC I have to put the Cardinals in front of the Saints. 

[alsime1]

HH1:  No love for TM in spite of W at, repeat AT, PC?

[hardhit1]

15 minutes ago, alsime1 said:

HH1:  No love for TM in spite of W at, repeat AT, PC?

Not in my top 3 

but like you said 8 teams are good and can compete

Colerain with no turn overs could win D1

Eds with a running clock on Elder and then Moeller after Moeller beat Iggy appeared to be odds on to win it all till injuries doomed them 

TM beat PC but PC had a poor performance against Lancaster, these things happen so I think PC beats them next time and more

TM also with lack luster win against Wayne and Trident says to me not top 3 in Ohio

[hardhit1]

4 minutes ago, GardenStateBaller said:

A few OH ADs told me AH and TM were interchangeable at 1/2. Glad you agree. 

Then you should do well in Ohio😂

[alsime1]

Fun to go 'round and 'round with this stuff.  I've been going 'round and 'round with GSB for 10 years over which state, NJ or OH, has better overall football talent and teams.  Re: Ed's this year, I'm biased for them but do believe once their two-QB rotation was put to an end by an injury, that ended their chance to prove they were the best team in Ohio.

[hardhit1]

12 minutes ago, alsime1 said:

Fun to go 'round and 'round with this stuff.  I've been going 'round and 'round with GSB for 10 years over which state, NJ or OH, has better overall football talent and teams.  Re: Ed's this year, I'm biased for them but do believe once their two-QB rotation was put to an end by an injury, that ended their chance to prove they were the best team in Ohio.

That certainly hurt but when 3 of you WR are either out or hobbled and you are throwing to the JV it makes it tough

not to mention down an O lineman shifting  3 players including s new center and Soph

then Celentia DT all Great Lakes first going down before the Mentor and staring another SOPH where Mentor took advantage. How many times was Fattahs  name called?

ObdCle and I mentioned that this would not be Eds year and next year will be better

[hardhit1]

16 minutes ago, GardenStateBaller said:

T-M was my top OH team in this week's poll! Had them at 22. 

You can't always be first every time 😩

[Coletrain06]

51 minutes ago, hardhit1 said:

Ok here's my take

PC, Colerain & AH all interchangeable

PC won the big one D1 the last guy to stand wins my vote

now Colerain & AH

Colerain had 3 losses including one to LaSalle who lost to Winton Woods twice

now Akron Hoban

AH stomped a mud hole in Winton Woods who some here claimed being the best team in Ohio prior to this game. WW was averaging over 50'points per playoff game until their O only scored 7 against AH and only 14 total losing- getting mud stomped 42-14

now AH only blemish the first game of the year losing to a good St Iggy team 17-7 starting a freshman QB. 

And the freshman grew to a seasoned cool collective veteran in the playoffs.

all 3 are close and interchangeable but my top 3 are:

PC

Akron Hoban 

Colerain

excellent take. 

Concerning Colerain's loss to La Salle........I agree, that Colerain team is not nearly as high........but, that offense only had Ivan Pace for a half, and lost the QB for the 2nd half.........With Pace they were on another level, because it made defenses key on him alone, and that left Colerain's other 3 options open.

I'm fine with Hoban being top, because I'm very impressed with what they did this year........but the fact still remains, they have played 2 D1 teams the last 2 years, neither of which were even semifinalists and they lost to both. Hard for me to put a team with 0 wins against D1 teams in 2 years as the #1 team.

I'm very much against T-M as a top 3 team because it requires you to suspend intellectual objectivity and look only at results on paper......and not at actual play on the field the last 6 weeks....because there's no way anybody could come to the conclusion after watching the last 6 weeks that T-M would hang with Pick Central.........or Hoban.......or Colerain. 

[Coletrain06]

29 minutes ago, hardhit1 said:

That certainly hurt but when 3 of you WR are either out or hobbled and you are throwing to the JV it makes it tough

not to mention down an O lineman shifting  3 players including s new center and Soph

then Celentia DT all Great Lakes first going down before the Mentor and staring another SOPH where Mentor took advantage. How many times was Fattahs  name called?

ObdCle and I mentioned that this would not be Eds year and next year will be better

haha, I kept telling all the Prepgridiron pollsters that Ed's was top 25 and maybe top 10..........then all the injuries happened.....dam

Next year is gonna be great. Ed's will be loaded, and Colerain also. Colerain brings back all  4 RB's, almost the entire OL, 3 LB's and 3 DB's, and K/P.