Season Openers

Communities around the area packed high school stadiums Friday night for season-opening games and it was great to see another year kick off.
Here are some random thoughts on the morning after:
n Many people thought there would be improvement for most of the teams in the Wayne County Athletic League this season and Friday certainly showed that. The league went 5-3 and one of those losses was a 14-7 Smithville loss to Manchester.
I can’t recall a team more thoroughly dominating a game than Smithville did and losing.
n On the flip side, the Ohio Cardinal Conference went just 3-5. The league just doesn’t appear to have much depth this year after the top few teams.
n The Principals Athletic Conference (aka PAC-7) was an impressive 6-2. Now that Indian Valley has joined the league, should it be referred to as the PAC-8? We’ll have to find a league official to comment. The Big Ten did not change to the Big Eleven when Penn State was added. These are the random types of questions that can keep sports reporters up at night.
n I would have ranked Waynedale (55-7 win over Tusky Valley) and Orrville (34-13 loss at Northwest) as the area’s best teams entering the season and will keep that opinion after Week 1.
Unfortunately, the two teams don’t play each other but games the next two weeks will serve as good gauges of who’s who in the area.
Orrville will host Triway (14-7 winner over West Holmes) this Friday, which is a great chance for the Titans to make a statement of their own. Waynedale will entertain Danville and then take on the Titans themselves in Week 3, so we’ll be able to compare how the Riders and Bears both match up with Triway. It’s obviously not as good as a head-to-head game, but at least it provides some common ground.
n We don’t think Hillsdale coach Tom Williams’ middle name is “Woody,” but he would have made the former Ohio State coach proud as the Falcons ran for 377 yards and passed for zero in a 43-28 rout of Mapleton. The Falcons should again be a force in the WCAL.
n Finally, hats off to Dalton (42-26 win at Garaway) and Tuslaw (29-28 win at North Lima South Range) for what we considered upsets. We kept hearing how much experience Garaway had back, but Dalton’s speedy rushing attack produced three 100-yard gainers and a whopping 426 yards on the ground. And the Mustangs ran (238 yards) and passed (128) their way to a rare regular-season loss for South Range.
It just so happens Dalton will host Tuslaw this Friday in what should be a donnybrook.