D5 R19 Regional Semi: #3 Barnesville vs. #7 Wheelersburg

[Bigred95]

You would be surprised, the majority of their wrestlers played football up until 8th grade and then didn't come out as freshmen, and from what I've been told, they didn't play above any of the seniors that Barnesville had this year. If they did play, we could comfortably say that probably 5 of them plug in somewhere on offense or defense for the rocks, but all 5 would've been seniors this year, and the drop off next year would have been more extreme. Also, the 5 that probably could've been good football players are in the range of 135-170 so they all would've been skills guys, which was definitely not what has been hurting them the past couple years. The heavier weight classes already play football. Injuries on the line and not having as much depth as you'd want, although they did have 2 senior linemen that never played, is what killed them and I don't believe having their wrestlers could have changed much of anything.

It doesn't surprise me that they stopped playing after 8th grade; most wrestlers (now a days, I guess, it wasn't always like this) that believe they'll wrestle at the next level chooses to focus exclusively on wrestling the entire year once they get to high school. I think whether or not they played above current players or not back in 8th grade is irrelevant; the amount of development that occurs from freshman year to senior year, regardless of sport, is huge, but with the wrestling program that they have down there, I'm willing to bet the development trajectory of the wrestlers greatly exceeded of the football only students(as a former wrestler I am a bit biased though )
You'd be surprised how one or a few well placed skill players could change the entire trajectory of a team? Where would the 2005 & 2006 Big Red teams have finished without Zach Collaros? The couple of wrestlers I'm aware of may not be quarterback material, but I'd bet they'd be awesome linebackers, dbs and/or wrs. Now, I'm not saying they'd be automatic state champions, and I'm not disagreeing with you, I do however think it would make a noticeable difference.

[Homer98]

It doesn't surprise me that they stopped playing after 8th grade; most wrestlers (now a days, I guess, it wasn't always like this) that believe they'll wrestle at the next level chooses to focus exclusively on wrestling the entire year once they get to high school. I think whether or not they played above current players or not back in 8th grade is irrelevant; the amount of development that occurs from freshman year to senior year, regardless of sport, is huge, but with the wrestling program that they have down there, I'm willing to bet the development trajectory of the wrestlers greatly exceeded of the football only students(as a former wrestler I am a bit biased though )
You'd be surprised how one or a few well placed skill players could change the entire trajectory of a team? Where would the 2005 & 2006 Big Red teams have finished without Zach Collaros? The couple of wrestlers I'm aware of may not be quarterback material, but I'd bet they'd be awesome linebackers, dbs and/or wrs. Now, I'm not saying they'd be automatic state champions, and I'm not disagreeing with you, I do however think it would make a noticeable difference.

I see where you're coming from, I just know that all of the upper weight divisions they have played football anyways and the rocks had depth for days at the skills positions so I'm just not really sure how much it could've helped. They were basically 5 deep at running back and their 2 main receivers weren't ever going to leave the field unless they got shook up a little from a hit. Maybe some could've given Starr a break on defense if absolutely needed, but them playing would've given Barnesville an abundance of riches when some already couldn't get a lot of touches now. They were hurting because all the big fellas down around there aren't playing ball, and 2 of them got hurt early in the year to begin with. Send a coach through the hallways of the middle school and grab every big boy you can and get them to play and hope they pan out enough to provide quality depth for a couple years, they have good numbers, but felt like they had 40some guys and about 30 were skills positions.

[barefacts]

Bigly bare***ing over on SEOPreps.

I'm not on SEOPreps. What is Irontons excuse for losing ?

[carnholio]

I'm not on SEOPreps. What is Irontons excuse for losing ?

Coaching, offensive play calling in particular.