99 replies to this topic

[Maltese Falcon]

The past number of years have been good ones in the PCL with some hard fought battles on a weekly basis andf teams like Continental, Kalida and Columbus Grove making trips to Columbus . This past season was a bit down and it showed as no team advanced past the district level in tournament. Some have proclaimed the league has been down recently, but I predict next season it will be at it's lowest point in years talent-wise. Let's take a quick look ahead at next year. Please share your predictions and I will bring them back up at various times next season.

1. Leipsic- Lose 2 good players in Ty Maag and Devin Mangas, but return quite a bit from a team that played 10+ players. Will finish higher in the PCL than BVC. Good coaching, I have them first mostly by default.

2. Columbus Grove- Lost the two all league guards Travis and Kohls and a couple of other seniors from a team that made it to the district finals. Reiman and Grothaus will have to step up. Had a good JV team to help fill some hoels left by graduation.

3. Kalida- THE senior class is gone, with, truthfully, not a whole lot to show for the hype the recieved coming up through the ranks. Dick will win games, but this Kalida team will not be as good as the past 5 wildcat season. Kalida plays a tough schedule and could win 5 or 6 games in the PCL and be a .500 team overall.

4. Miller City- Lost all league Brent Hermiller, but not much else. Returns PG and leading scorer Ross Kaufman, and not much else. IMO this team over-achieved last year due to a good coaching job by 1st year guy Brian Kuhlman. For some reason it sounds like numbers are continuing to dwindle. But the kids that stick around play hard. Schedule is the antithesis of Kalida. MC's schedule has been softened up so much the wildcats could win 14-15 games and go 4-3 in the PCL.

5. Continental- Kevin Homier returning will be worth a couple of wins, but the well is dry in Pirate land.

6. Ft. Jennings- Another team that showed great improvement will have to replace Cody Warnecke, who i think should have won POY in the PCL. John Von Sossan is a good coach and seems to have shaken off the 0' fer season 2 years ago. Will win and lose some head scratchers throughout the season. see 2012 win versus Kalida, losses to Perry, Continental.

7. Ottoville- Year 2 in what looks to be a long term rebuilding plan. No real talent coming up besides the Schimmie Bros. Should improve on last year's 3 win season, though.

8 Pandora Gilboa- Blech! Too bad because coach Josh Klear is a dedicated and knowledgeable coach, just not much to work with.

PCL teams in 2012-13 look to be average to well below average and individual talent looks to be in a down cycle. Some of the games next year are going to be tough to watch.

[Boom-14]

You are right to have Leipsic at the top but wrong in the sense that they lose Ty Maag and Brady Schroeder. Mangas will be back along with 9 other Juniors and a sophomore that all played significant minutes in a 16 win season

[Bobby]

Maltese Falcon, on 31 March 2012 - 04:16 PM, said:

5. Continental- Kevin Homier returning will be worth a couple of wins, but the well is dry in Pirate land.

When did this happen?

[von]

Bobby, a little early for your predictions. You prolly had OSU over Kansas. Unless you are a scouting expert at all levels, it maybe a little premature. Happy Holy Week.

[Bruno]

Maltese Falcon with Grove your right in mentioning Grothause and Rieman, but some big keys will be the continuing development of Will Vorhees whose potential keeps growing like his body. Another is having a healthy Dakota Vogt who couldn't play this past season till March. He's a very talented athletic wing but will have to shake off the rust from his shoulder injury. I think Grove will have a good 5-7 players, my main concern is post depth behind Rieman, Shafer, and Vorhees. I imagine the coaches would like to play Vorhees more on the wing if they can. Next year the PCL will be more top heavy than this past year.

[Bobby]

von, on 31 March 2012 - 11:38 PM, said:

Bobby, a little early for your predictions. You prolly had OSU over Kansas. Unless you are a scouting expert at all levels, it maybe a little premature. Happy Holy Week.

Huh?? I was just asking about the statement that Kevin Homier was going back to Continental.

[slice slice baby]

Victorian, on 20 March 2012 - 08:48 PM, said:

Kevin's comin back.

slice slice baby, on 20 March 2012 - 08:55 PM, said:

http://rocketcorner....pic=20367&st=40

[caldwell]

slice slice baby, on 02 April 2012 - 07:42 PM, said:

http://rocketcorner....pic=20367&st=40

Good coach, another four year plan. Wouldn't want to be the Seniors and Juniors.

[labatts69]

caldwell, on 03 April 2012 - 07:29 AM, said:

Good coach, another four year plan. Wouldn't want to be the Seniors and Juniors.

why? you think he is going to give up on his senior 6'5" big guy and point guard this year? i highly doubt it, get your facts straight. if these 2 don't start this year i will buy you a 12 pack of your choice.

[Putnam County Lady]

Boy good to see school with football produce in basketball as well.
May be 10 years or more ago it was the non football schools who dominated the PCL in basketball ( Kalida, Ottoville , Jennings , MC , Continental) that ruled the league.
Now if we can just get PG turned around.

[milt73]

Kalida, Grove and Leipsic should be the leaders. Conti and O'ville are big time rebuilding efforts but are headed by two quality coaches that in due time will right their respective programs.

I was talking to a few of my O'ville people last night. The general consensus is that the talent isn't there right now and it might take a couple years. But Coach Turnwald has the elementary kids in there on the weekends working on the skills part of it. He took a lot of critisizm from some O'villers this past season, but in due time "program" and "team" will be constant words rather than some of the ''I's" and "me's" that were there.

[Dman]

Turnwald will get the most out of the talent Ottoville has. That is all you can ask of a coach. The crap he took this year is indicitive of what any coach goes through in the rebuild phase. Talent at these small schools comes in waves. He will have them ready when the big one comes. You have to respect the man (or question his sanity) for taking on that task. He could have stayed at Grove and rode the gravy train that seemingly has no end. He definitely took the more difficult route. His career record will not be indicative of his abilities.

[Just..Sayin....]

labatts69, on 03 April 2012 - 07:35 AM, said:

why? you think he is going to give up on his senior 6'5" big guy and point guard this year? i highly doubt it, get your facts straight. if these 2 don't start this year i will buy you a 12 pack of your choice.

I'm with you on that one.....he's already been spending time with these seniors!! HA

[Green seagull 20]

Jennings could very easily sneak up on some people next year but will lose some games they probably shouldn't like last year.. They return three big junior contributors along with two freshman who played quality minutes from last year even though they lose Cody warnecke

[NW Ohio Guy]

I personally believe PG could have had good teams if Klear would change. Still miss the good old days watching Braidic's Great teams. Atleast when he yelled, it was for a reason and it meant something, klear... well it doesnt! Klear should present himself to the players in a better,more respectable, way like braidic. hmmm i remember when the launch pad was sold out (or close to) every game. But I think it will happen again (hopefully) pretty soon, with who some call "P-G's own AC" entering HS this next year. But it wont be for another 3 years or so!

Im liking the FORT Jennings Musketeers this year, like last year. There always a wild card team no matter who they're playing. See some upsets in the future!

PCL records are going to be sketchy...possiblythe worse year for PCL i've seen in a while.

[caldwell]

NW Ohio Guy, on 07 June 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

I personally believe PG could have had good teams if Klear would change. Still miss the good old days watching Braidic's Great teams. Atleast when he yelled, it was for a reason and it meant something, klear... well it doesnt! Klear should present himself to the players in a better,more respectable, way like braidic. hmmm i remember when the launch pad was sold out (or close to) every game. But I think it will happen again (hopefully) pretty soon, with who some call "P-G's own AC" entering HS this next year. But it wont be for another 3 years or so! Im liking the FORT Jennings Musketeers this year, like last year. There always a wild card team no matter who they're playing. See some upsets in the future! PCL records are going to be sketchy...possiblythe worse year for PCL i've seen in a while.

Wow, the good old days when Braidic was coach??? I've heard it all now!!!

[dw629]

caldwell, on 08 June 2012 - 06:29 AM, said:

Wow, the good old days when Braidic was coach??? I've heard it all now!!!

yep and all those district championships... he never won.. Klear doesn't have talent period and to compare the Hovest kid to Craft is shocking

[guru8]

Kalida wil struggle this year 8 or 9 wins could be counted as successful. offense will have hard time putting points on the board. all the focus will be on horstman making their youth step up offensively. give another year to develop with younger kids then they should return to respectable

[caldwell]

guru8, on 09 June 2012 - 12:50 PM, said:

Kalida wil struggle this year 8 or 9 wins could be counted as successful. offense will have hard time putting points on the board. all the focus will be on horstman making their youth step up offensively. give another year to develop with younger kids then they should return to respectable

The question is, Which one of their eight coaches will step up and take over the JV job this year?