Last week, Marion Local had to play a school that had just lost its center a few nights before to tragedy. Every time I hear of the tragedy of a young death it reminds me of losing one of my friends almost 20 years ago this week – Wednesday Dec. 9, 1992, to be exact.

I was sitting at home after school, just finishing dinner with my parents, and I got a phone call. It was my friend Emily; she was crying and told me the news that our friend Amy had collapsed after basketball practice and passed away. Her father was the girls basketball coach; he held her as she passed. I was numb. I didn’t want to believe Emily, but the news became reality when more and more friends called. I was a junior in high school. Amy was only a sophomore. The next day at school was quiet. The usual class clowns who made everybody laugh were quiet. You just stare off into space when something like that happens. Teachers didn’t know what to say; classmates didn’t know what to say.

Amy and I weren’t best friends, but we were friends. I remember having a huge crush on her in junior high, and when I finally had the nerve to tell her at a football game, she gave me the sweetest most sincere rejection I have ever gotten. I wasn’t mad; Amy had a tendency to tell you something you didn’t want to hear and still love her. She was just a kind person that everybody loved. We stayed friends after that. She would still say hello to me in the halls. There were no awkward moments. The only time I can remember that ever happening after being rejected, and believe me, I’ve had a lot of those moments.

It was a huge loss for the school, the community, even the world.

I still take lessons from this event. The lessons I learned back then were to stop taking people for granted. Kids can be cruel, and a lot of times we try to be somebody we’re not to try and fit in. It was about this time I became my own person. I stopped caring if I was with the popular kids and just wanted to be friends with everybody, an influence Amy had taught me, and it is something I try to instill in my daughters.

Amy and her parents were very close. They were at everything she did supporting her. I try to be the same with my daughters. Most fathers don’t go to every dance recital and cheer competition, but I was there, barring work or something that kept me, I was there. That was something Amy’s parents taught me.

We go through life and take friends and family for granted. We always think they are going to be there. It isn’t until they are gone that we wish we had more time with them. I lost my mother just over a year ago, and even though I got to spend 34 years with her, it wasn’t enough. It never is.

Over the last few weeks, Franklin Monroe, Miami East and Delphos St. John’s lost students. I feel for their friends and families. I know what the fellow students are feeling; I felt that almost 20 years ago. It isn’t something I want anybody to have to experience, but it is a part of life.

Whether we are playing a sport or not, we are all teammates. Sometimes, as they say, you have to stop and smell the roses. The next time you take that huddle, get ready for a tip off or take your place at the starting line, take three seconds to look around. Take in the moment, take in the people and appreciate all of it. At the blink of an eye, it can all be gone.

Shawn Gilbert is a sports writer for The Daily Advocate. He can be reached at sgilbert@dailyadvocate.com.

With Covington’s latest playoff defeat, it’s becoming more and more clear that the Cross County Conference has some issues that should be addressed.

A couple weeks ago, I made an argument for the Greater Western Ohio Conference North Division schools to break away from the rest of the conference and form their own league with a couple new additions. Like the GWOC, I think the CCC needs to consider breaking up its league for the good of the teams in it.

While I wrote the GWOC North schools should completely disband from the GWOC Central and South, I think the CCC doesn’t have to go that route. Rather, having a few of the CCC schools break away from the rest of the league in football only would be a benefit for the conference.

Football is a different monster than all other sports in the Ohio High School Athletic Association. It’s the only one that requires teams to earn a spot in the playoffs rather than getting an automatic berth. This makes football teams’ conference affiliation very important.

Football also is different because of the size of the teams. Just about any school, regardless of their size, can field teams in basketball, volleyball, track and so forth, but football teams require larger rosters. Teams with few players often struggle in football while teams with 50, 60 or 70 players tend to have more success. That isn’t always the case, but a larger roster is a huge benefit for football teams.

When you look at the CCC, Covington consistently has a large roster. That isn’t the only reason for the Buccaneers’ success, but it helps them build a consistent winner. Schools such as Ansonia, Arcanum, Bradford and Mississinawa Valley don’t have as many players as Covington. They’ve still found success at times, but are at a big disadvantage.

Covington consistently has fielded one of the best teams in the CCC, winning many league titles in football since joining the league. However, the Buccaneers struggle in the playoffs. Last week they lost to 7-3 Coldwater, who had a few losses but was tested throughout the regular season by tough competition in the Midwest Athletic Conference. If Covington ever wants to be successful in the playoffs, it needs tougher tests in the regular season.

Knowing that football is different from other sports, I propose Covington, Bethel and Miami East break from the rest of the CCC in football and form their own football-only conference. Those three schools would remain in the CCC for all other sports.

I chose Bethel, Covington and Miami East to break away for a few reasons. One, they are three of the largest schools in the CCC. All three play in Division V, which also is home to National Trail and Twin Valley South. Another reason I chose those three is geography. All three of them are in Miami County while the rest of the CCC is in Darke (I’m including Bradford in this group) and Preble counties.

Bethel, Covington and Miami East would need to find teams to join their football conference, and I think there are some great options.

First Fort Loramie and Lehman Catholic would be great additions. While they are Division VI schools, they have fielded consistent winners that would give Covington, Bethel and Miami East great tests that would prepare them for the playoffs every year. Plus, Loramie and Lehman have been searing for a football home for years. A league with nearby programs in Miami County would be great for them.

Another addition could be Troy Christian. Troy Christian, a Division VI school also looking for a suitable conference, struggled this season. However, the Eagles have had success in the past and as a private school have the ability to drastically improve very quickly. Plus, Troy Christian is in Miami County, making it a nice fit.

Bethel, Covington, Miami East, Fort Loramie, Lehman Catholic and Troy Christian would make a six-team league. As I said a couple weeks ago, eight teams is the ideal number as it gives teams seven conference games and three non-conference games, meaning this new league would need two more teams.

One team to get could be Houston. The Wildcats are in the process of starting a football program and are in Shelby County with Fort Loramie and Lehman Catholic. Houston probably would struggle for several years, but it’s every conference has some struggling teams.

The final team I would go after would be Anna. The Rockets are in Shelby County along with Fort Loramie, Lehman Catholic and Houston. They play in a basketball conference with Fort Loramie and Houston and in the MAC for football. Anna is a Division V team and has had a lot of success recently.

Anna could be the toughest team to get to sign on for this new league, but the prospect of playing county rivals Fort Loramie, Houston and Lehman Catholic might be enough to get the Rockets to join up, which would give the newly formed Miami and Shelby county league eight teams – Bethel, Covington, Miami East, Troy Christian, Anna, Fort Loramie, Houston and Lehman Catholic. That league would be tough in football, preparing the teams for the playoffs, while also giving them three non-conference games, which are big for getting necessary computer points for the playoffs.

The CCC currently only gives teams one non-conference game, which hurts teams’ playoff chances. More non-conference games would give more teams a chance to make the playoffs.

The CCC would be left with seven football schools if Bethel Covington and Miami East broke away – Ansonia, Arcanum, Bradford, Mississinawa Valley, National Trail, Tri-County North and Twin Valley South.

As I said, eight is the ideal number for a football conference. Seven is an odd number, which would leave one team without a conference match up each week. It’s hard to find non-conference opponents late in the season, so the CCC would want to add one team to get to eight. That team could be Fort Recovery.

Fort Recovery is in southern Mercer County, real close to Mississinawa Valley and Ansonia so it fits geographically. It’s a Division VI team and like many CCC members has struggled to establish a winning football team. A football-only move to the CCC could help the Indians a lot.

While I said a team like Covington needs tougher competition, schools such as Mississinawa Valley, National Trail and Fort Recovery could benefit from playing an easier schedule. By playing easier teams, they could work on getting wins. Winning programs encourage more kids to play, which would help to build their programs even more.

And schools such as Ansonia and Tri-County North, which have made the playoffs, could have an easier time making the postseason more often thanks to the added non-conference games.

The MAC would lose Anna and Fort Recovery in this whole process, which would leave it will eight football schools – Coldwater, Delphos St. John’s, Marion Local, Minster, New Bremen, Parkway, St. Henry and Versailles. They would be better off too because they could add a non-conference game each year and also wouldn’t lose rivalries such as Versailles-Marion Local as they did the past couple years because of the league’s scheduling system.

In the end, here’s how my leagues would look in football:

• CCC: Ansonia, Arcanum, Bradford, Mississinawa Valley, National Trail, Tri-County North, Twin Valley South and Fort Recovery
• MAC: Coldwater, Delphos St. John’s, Marion Local, Minster, New Bremen, Parkway, St. Henry and Versailles
• Miami-Shelby conference: Bethel, Covington, Miami East, Troy Christian, Anna, Fort Loramie, Houston and Lehman Catholic

These new leagues would befit each school in them. Teams would be in leagues that provide them the right level of competition while allowing them all to schedule three non-conference games every year, which would help each of them in the quest to make the playoffs.

It probably wouldn’t be easy to pull off this realignment, but if the schools did, they would all be better off.

Kyle Shaner is the sports editor for the Daily Advocate. He can be reached at kshaner@dailyadvocate.com.

Penn State trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier amid the growing furor over how the school handled sex abuse allegations against an assistant coach.

The massive shakeup Wednesday night came hours after Paterno announced that he planned to retire at the end of his 46th season.

But the outcry following the arrest of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on molestation charges proved too much for the board to ignore.

Last week the Dayton Daily News ran an article titled “Should Sidney be playing in GWOC?” To me, the better question is: Should any of the GWOC North schools be playing in the conference.

The question about Sidney is very relevant to Greenville as it plays in the Greater Western Ohio Conference, actually in the North division with Sidney. The Green Wave teams – except football – began competing in the league last year; Greenville’s football team will begin league play next year.

The Dayton Daily News article mentions Sidney’s pay-to-play fees and kids transferring out of the district through open enrollment to schools such as Anna and Lehman Catholic as reasons for the Yellow Jackets’ struggles. Sidney was 0-8 entering week nine and giving up 54 points per game – by far the worst in the 18-team league.

The article goes on to detail Sidney’s struggles and the roots of them and also explains how things could continue to get worse through talking with various people tied to the program.

One of the questions the article brought up for me was where would Sidney go?

As Greenville could tell Sidney, independence isn’t necessarily the best option. Greenville had no league affiliation for a few years, and as I understand it was very tough for the school.

Leagues help teams in scheduling, they help build rivalries and they give athletes something to strive for in league titles and all-conference honors. Those things are more difficult or impossible through independence.

And finding a new league isn’t the easiest thing, either. Sidney would have to find a group of schools willing to bring it in, which is harder than it sounds.

But what if the GWOC North schools – Greenville, Sidney, Piqua, Troy, Trotwood-Madison and Vandalia Butler broke away from the rest of the GWOC? It would provide a soft landing spot for all of them.

One of the reasons I think the GWOC North schools should consider breaking away from the rest of the conference is their size. They are small schools compared to those in the Central and South, which makes it more difficult for them to compete.

According to enrollment figures on the Ohio High School Athletic Association website, Greenville is the smallest school in the GWOC. Fellow GWOC North schools Trotwood-Madison, Sidney and Vandalia Butler are the second, third and fourth smallest respectively. Piqua is the sixth smallest, and Troy is the eighth smallest.

Another reason I think the GWOC North schools should consider leaving the league is the distance. The GWOC covers a lot of area. Leaving the league could eliminate some of the long drives the teams face to get to their opponents.

Still another reason is the lack of rivalries. Does any one in the GWOC North consider Centerville a rival? Or Xenia? Or any other of the teams from the South or Central? The schools don’t have a lot in common or long traditions that bind them together. And the league’s size prevents them from developing rivalries against many teams.

In football, GWOC North schools play each other every year so Greenville will see Piqua, Sidney, Troy, Trotwood-Madison and Vandalia Butler every season. They then have two crossover games against one South and one Central team, so they only face those opponents once every six years. Football players will go through their four-year high school career not seeing four supposed conference rivals.

Other sports have more crossover games, but they still won’t face everyone in the league. Even league honors and some tournaments are split between divisions instead of the whole league. Maybe 18 schools is a little too much.

In reality, about eight schools is the right number. It allows football teams to have seven conference games and three non-conference games, a nice balance that helps make scheduling easier while giving opportunities to collect computer points for the playoffs against new opponents. Even 10 or 12 is much better than 18 in my opinion.

The GWOC North has six teams right now if they all agreed to break away. They could look to schools such as Tippecanoe, Urbana, Graham and Tecumseh as possible additions to get to eight or 10 teams. Of course those schools would have to want to join the current GWOC North schools, but it could be worth a shot.

A league of Greenville, Piqua, Sidney, Troy, Trotwood-Madison, Vandalia Butler and some combination of Graham, Tecumseh, Tippecanoe or Urbana would be more even in terms of schools’ enrollment, would be less distance between schools and would be easier to manage than the gigantic GWOC.

My proposal would require the GWOC North schools to all agree to exit the GWOC and find a couple more schools to agree to join them. However, if they could pull that off, they all could end up in a better position.

Greenville joining the GWOC a couple years ago was the right decision. It allowed the Green Wave to align with some similar programs such as Piqua, Sidney and Troy – which was a better option than independence.

However, all those teams could have a chance to put themselves in an even better position if they join together in a new league.

With the final week of the high school football regular season upon us, many are starting to look toward the playoffs.

Three of Darke County’s teams – Ansonia, Arcanum and Versailles – still have a shot at the playoffs. Bradford, Greenville and Mississinawa Valley have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

If the playoffs started this week, Versailles would be in while Ansonia and Arcanum would be left out. That could change with this week’s games. The main thing is each team has to win to help its playoff chances.

Most people would expect Versailles to beat St. Henry this week. Ansonia and Arcanum have tougher challenges in Tri-County North and Covington, respectively.

None of Darke County’s teams is guaranteed a spot, even with a win, but it looks like the county very well could have one or two teams playing in week 11.

There are 30 runners left from Darke County in the cross county postseason, several of which have excellent shots at advancing to state.

The girls teams from Greenville and Versailles plus the boys teams from Tri-Village and Versailles all remain along with Ansonia’s Samantha Shook and Franklin Monroe’s Colin Roberts.

We probably can expect some of them to advance to state from Saturday’s regional meet.

The Versailles boys and girls won their district meets, which puts them in good position heading into regionals. The top four teams from each regional advance to state, so both squads have a good chance of advancing.

If for some reason those teams are unable to advance, they both have runners capable of moving on as individuals. To advance to state, individuals have to finish in the top 16 of their races.

You can start with Tammy Berger, a two-time defending state champ and the winner of last week’s district meet. She probably will move on.

Along with Berger, Natalie Grillot and Chloe Warvel of Versailles both finished in the top five last week, meaning they have a good shot at advancing if Versailles doesn’t advance as a team. Hannah Wening finished 14^th last week, so she would have a little more difficult time moving on by herself but has a shot.

However, the Lady Tigers have a really good shot at advancing as a team, like they did last year, so all seven of their runners have a great shot at making state.

For the Versailles boys, Sam Prakel probably will move on even if his team doesn’t. Prakel won his district meet last week and is putting up times that could have him contending for a state title. Last year Prakel finished seventh in the state.

Michael Wenig finished sixth at districts for Versailles and Sam Subler finished eighth, so they both could advance to state as individuals if needed.

However, like Versailles’ girls, the boys team has a great shot at moving on as a team and bringing its seven-man team to the season’s final race.

Greenville’s girls could have a tougher time moving on. They were the final team to qualify for state, and none of them finished in the top 16 at the district meet as they were led by Kristen Karns 17th-place finish. They’ll have to step it up if they want to make state.

Tri-Village’s boys also were the final team to qualify for the regional meet, putting them in a tough position, too.

However, individually Clayton Murphy won a district title last week giving him a good shot at advancing. He made state last year as an individual.

Franklin Monroe’s Roberts finished 13^th in the district meet last year, so he’ll have to step up this week as he faces a stronger field at regioanls if he wants to move on.

Finally, Ansonia’s Shook could be looking at a state trip. She made state last year and finished eighth in her district meet, which means she has a decent shot at advancing.

But of course, the races aren’t run on paper, and anything could happen.

The Franklin Monroe soccer team is looking pretty good thus far in the tournament.

The Jets – Darke County’s final soccer team still playing – have won their first three playoff games by a 15-0 margin, beating Botkins 3-0 Tuesday. Tuesday’s game might have been even more one sided than the score suggests, as Franklin Monroe out-shot Botkins 24-6 in the game.

But Franklin Monroe will face its toughest challenge of the playoffs so far Saturday as they play the state’s sixth-ranked team in Cincinnati Summit Country Day at 4:30 p.m. at Northmont. Country Day has out-scored its opponents 16-1 in three playoff games, equaling Franklin Monroe’s 15-point margin.

The Jets will have to have a big game to get by Country Day.

A key player to watch will be Franklin Monroe’s Jaden Horner, who is fifth in the state with 38 goals this season. His 38 goals also tied a Franklin Monroe single-season record.

Other key players for the Jets include Zach Diceanu, Brian Robison and Marcus Horner. Along with Jaden Horner, those four are the key components to the Jets’ dynamic offensive attack.