Blanchard River Buzz

St. Wendelin has two open dates on 2010 grid schedule

By JAMIE BAKER
Staff Writer
FOSTORIA — St. Wendelin has not one, but two dates to fill on its 2010 varsity football schedule.
A scheduling snafu and the decision last Thursday by Marion Catholic to discontinue the school’s football program mean the Mohawks, as of now, have open dates on the schedule in Weeks 1 and 4, according to St. Wendelin head football coach Bill Hrabak.
St. Wendelin, which was already under contract for a Week 1 game at Arcadia, scheduled Newbury, a school with similar numbers problems as the Mohawks. When the mistake was realized, St. Wendelin gave up its game with both schools, and instead, the Redskins will open their season by playing Newbury in a 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon game Aug. 28 at Arcadia’s Kieffer Field.
As for Week 4, according to a story in the Marion Star, Marion Catholic’s decision to pull the plug on its football program was made after the school had only 13 students commit to playing for the football team this fall. There are just 30 boys in the high school.
The team started with more than 20 players in 2009, but finished with closer to 15 because of injuries. Since 2000, the most players listed on the pre-season roster was 28 in 2006 and 2007, the newspaper reported.
The problems with the schedule started last spring when the school was trying to decide what direction it wanted to go with its football program.
St. Wendelin, which has fielded a football team every year since 1923, has had numbers problems of its own over the past decade. Declining boys enrollment has taken a toll on the school’s grid team which was one of the area’s dominant small-school programs in the 1980s and early 1990s.
With 47 boys in grades 9-11 in the last OHSAA count, the school is the fifth-smallest in the state to field a football team. Only Zanesville Rosecrans (45 boys), Bellaire St. John Central (43), Portsmouth Notre Dame (36) and Vanlue (36) are smaller.
The number of players using the weight room last spring tapered off from a dozen or so to less than a handful. Fearing the school may not have enough players to field a team, St. Wendelin officials discussed discontinuing its own football program or playing an independent schedule week-to-week against schools in similar circumstances.
That led school administrators to meet with the other schools from the Northwest Central Conference to discuss possibly withdrawing from the league.
“We had looked at the numbers and said we might not have the numbers to play. So we were going to make a move and possibly play an abbreviated schedule. We wanted to give the NWCC some lead time to find an opponent to replace us,” Hrabak said.
“The league was very supportive and wanted to stick with us. They said if we don’t get through the season, we don’t get through the season. The NWCC was on board with us.”
The Mohawks were already trying to set up an independent grid schedule and had verbal agreements with several other schools before the decision was made to remain in the NWCC for the 2010 football season. The problem with the Week 1 game was the school signed a contract with Newbury but was already under contract for a Week 1 game with Arcadia.
“I called (Arcadia coach) Paul (Shoemaker) and told him what happened. I told him I couldn’t guarantee we would even be able to play in Week 1,” Hrabak said. “We offered to let them play Newbury and we would step out of Week 1. That’s what we did; it was the right thing to do.”
There is still the possibility that St. Wendelin could find an opponent for its open dates.
The school has been in contact with a league of Christian schools in Michigan that would have openings on both open dates. The league is made up of teams made of up small Christian schools and homeschoolers and have numbers similar to the Mohawks’ 14-18 players Hrabak expects to have on the roster this season.
“If we can get through two-a-days and if we can work something out with the Christian school league they will have a Week 1 opening. If we’re healthy, we can still probably schedule that the week before and still have an opportunity to play that week, but that’s still speculation at this point,” Hrabak said.
The Mohawks will also be traveling out of state for a scrimmage. A small Christian school league based in North Carolina has invited the school to participate in a four-team jamboree-style scrimmage on Aug. 14. In addition to the scrimmage the Mohawks will also likely get a tour of the campuses at Duke or the University of North Carolina.
“We have some cool things set up for the kids, we just need them to come out. The kids are pretty excited because they get to go out of state. We’re trying to add something that will get kids interested in coming out for the program,” Hrabak said.
“Our numbers, as always, are still shaky. We’re just hopeful we can weather the storm of injuries and that everyone comes out that said they are coming out.
“We’re just plowing ahead the best we can.”
On the Net: www.stwendelin.org/highschool/athletics.html
Baker, 419-427-8409
jamiebaker@thecourier.com

Cory-Rawson cuts golf

RAWSON — Cory-Rawson High School won’t have a golf team this season.
The school board on Monday voted 3-2, with board members John and Roger Rader dissenting, to put golf “on hold” because no one had submitted applications to coach the team by June 4.
Parents and golfers were at the meeting, but none spoke. There was confusion over whether they could speak and when.
“Is there an opportunity for questions here?” asked one audience member before the vote.
Board President Joe Mattoon said questions should have been asked earlier in the meeting during the public participation time.
“I’ve had some people in the community ask, ‘did we try and look for a coach as hard as we do for other sports,’” said John Rader.
“To give you an honest answer, I would say we advertised it, waited for applications to come in, and it didn’t go any further than that,” said High School Principal Mark Willeke.
After the meeting, Willeke said cutting golf was “simply financial.”
“We hope that students don’t have to be affected by the cuts, but we also have an obligation to the district,” he said.
Several parents were apparently disgruntled, despite not getting the chance to speak.
“It’s pretty sad 12 kids won’t get to play a sport,” said one parent as he was leaving the room.
“We were expecting them to speak, but I think they misunderstood their opportunities,” Willeke said.
Between 12 and 15 boys and girls played on the golf team last year, he said.
The team finished last in the Blanchard Valley Conference last year and has remained there over the past nine years. They finished sixth out of seven teams in 1999.
Assistant coaching positions for other sports have been cut as a result of budget constraints, Willeke said.
Separately, the board went into a five-minute, closed executive session to discuss personnel. No action was taken when board members returned.

Krauss looking to move up

By Jamie Baker
Staff Writer
VISALIA, Calif. — There’s no doubt former Patrick Henry three-sport standout Marc Krauss is doing a little California dreamin’ these days.
That’s because he’s living the dream of being a professional baseball player with the Visalia Rawhide of the Class A California League.
Krauss has had a terrific season for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ high Class A affiliate.
In 84 games this season, Krauss is the team’s top hitter with a .324 average to go along with 15 home runs and 62 RBIs.
“I’m having a blast. All the guys on the team, we have a great team, good camaraderie. These guys making coming out to the ballpark every day a lot of fun,” said Krauss in an interview just prior to the Fourth of July holiday.
“Even though I am a long way from home and people can’t quite follow me as much as they want to being out here on the West Coast, I still know I have a lot of supporters back home and I’m trying to make them proud of me.”
But the transition from playing college baseball at Ohio University to playing in the professional ranks was more challenging than one might think.
After three solid seasons at Ohio University, Krauss got his feet wet for Arizona’s rookie league team in South Bend, Ind. last season. He hit .304 with a pair of homers and 17 RBI in 32 games in his rookie season before being sidelined for the season with an ankle injury that required surgery.
“It was pretty difficult. There were a lot of different things I had to do to adjust from college life to a life where baseball is now my job,” said Krauss, a second-round draft pick by the Diamondbacks and the 64th pick overall in the 2009 Major League Baseball amateur draft.
“It’s a different lifestyle. You don’t have to worry about going to class, you can put all of your energy into getting better at baseball.
“Making the adjustment to a wooden bat and playing every day was also tough. It was just something I had to work myself into and feel my way around. I just kind of got thrown in there which was fun. I was able to learn on the run and that was the best way to do it,” he added.
Then, there was making the adjustment to living far from home for Krauss, who had never even visited California before being assigned to Visalia when the Diamondbacks spring training camp concluded.
Living in Visalia, a city of 115,000 on the edge of the Sierra Nevada foothills, is much different than life in rural Northwest Ohio where Krauss grew up.
“It is different living here everything seems to be a little more expensive although were in the part of California, that’s kind of like what you would call not really California. It kind of reminds me of home. There is a lot of agriculture around and we actually have the Red Barn out in right-center field,” Krauss said.
“In a way, it reminds me of home back out in the country. Everyone is really nice and supportive, it feels like home out here.”
Krauss, who is listed as a top-five prospect in the Diamondbacks organization on several websites, got off to a red hot start to the season in April before cooling off considerably in May.
Since becoming a pro, Krauss has learned to keep the game’s highs and lows in proper perspective.
“Baseball is one of those games where it’s streaky. Our hitting coach and all of the coaches I’ve talked to have told me that I’m going to go through hot streaks and slumps. You just have to ride those hot streaks as long as you can and end the slumps as quick as you can,” said the 2009 Mid American Conference Player of the Year.
“Baseball is a battle because you have to prepare yourself to play your best every day. I’ve been hitting the ball well lately and that makes it a lot of fun.”
Before the year is out he may just get the call up to Class AA Mobile, Ala., or the Diamondbacks’ Class AAA affiliate at Reno, Nev..
Whereever Krauss ends up this season, he knows there are plenty of area baseball fans watching his progress and hoping to see him in the Majors one day soon.
I’m just thankful for all the support I get. I talk to my family and my grandparents back in Findlay and they tell me everyone is following me and wondering how I am doing and it’s awesome,“ Krauss said.
“It makes things easier here knowing that everyone back home is pulling for me.”
On the Net: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t516
Baker: 419-427-8409,
jamiebaker@thecourier.com