He's ba-a-a-ack!

If it takes a real man to admit he was wrong, then I guess I'm all man. I thought Ada coach Mike Fell was crazy to play -- much less start -- Zac Dysert in Ada's first-round playoff game. For those of you living under a rock or just coming out of a coma, Dysert broke the thumb on his throwing hard only a month ago.
What purpose did it serve to play Dysert? Unless the Bulldogs found themselves down by three scores in the third quarter, I felt the prudent call was to stick with Mitchell Faine. Only then would I understand putting Dysert in.
And yet Fell went against what I thought and started Dysert. And what did the all-Ohio quarterback do? Throw for 311 yards and four TDs.
Guess that's why Fell is one of the best coaches in the area and I'm not.

The difference

I heard something funny at the Lima Central Catholic playoff game. Someone (I'm not sure who) said that the Thunderbirds would still be good as they are without Todd Ruggley.
I only hope this person was joking.
Sure, LCC has very good running backs in Matt Huffman and Chris O'Brien. But Ruggley is a great prep running back. All he did against Bucyrus Wynford was rush 24 times for 191 yards and a 30-yard score. Yeah, that's easily replaced.
Again, the T-Birds have very good players in Scott Kayatin (how he slipped to 2nd team all-NWC, I'll never know) and Jake Hyland. Plus, Ruggley might be the most versatile defender I've ever seen. He can line up at defensive end, lock-down corner or roam the secondary at safety like he did against Ada.
Not knocking the other players on the LCC roster because a team doesn't win with just one player. But they wouldn't be where they are without Ruggley.