Eagles, Wildcats top area poll Southwestern picks

Only three coaches took part in the preseason poll.

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By John Bombatch, Staff Writer 2:06 AM Sunday, August 21, 2011

After an impressive undefeated regular season in 2010, the Eaton Eagles have emerged as the co-favorite to win the Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division again this year.

But nobody wants to talk about it.

Of the seven league coaches, only three chose to vote in the preseason poll.

Valley View mentor Jay Niswonger has never been comfortable voting in the poll, so he’s never taken part in it. Brookville’s veteran coach Mike Hetrick opted not to vote in the poll for similar reasons the past two years. Bellbrook Athletic Director Tom Bean said coach Kevin Basinger was caught up in his team’s two-a-day practices and wasn’t available to vote, and rookie Oakwood coach Rick Robertson begged out of the poll due to his unfamiliarity with the other teams in the division.

“I don’t know anything about any of them except for Cole French at Eaton, so they would get my first-place vote,” Robertson said by e-mail.

The league poll was based on voting by Franklin’s Rodney Roberts, Monroe’s Brett Stubbs and Eaton’s Ron Neanen.

Franklin and Eaton are co-favorites to win the division. Eaton has a slight edge with two first-place votes to Franklin’s one. Each team had 19 points.

Monroe received 14 overall points to finish third. Valley View was fourth, followed by Bellbrook, Brookville and Oakwood.

“Although it is a nice honor, I am surprised we were picked as a league favorite,” Neanen said. He said Eaton has lost several key players, including SWBL Defensive Lineman of the Year Cody Shafer and first-team all-Ohio offensive lineman Deon Smith.

“We lost our front six on defense from last year,” he said. “We have many new faces on defense and have been experimenting with schemes to find the right match for our personnel.”

Roberts said he doesn’t put much stock in preseason polls, adding that he prefers to pay attention to how his team fares in the polls after the season.

“I think the league will be very competitive once again. ... I still think everyone is still chasing Eaton. They are the king until someone knocks them off,” Roberts said.

Southwestern Division poll

(First-place votes in parentheses)

Eaton (2) 19 points

Franklin (1) 19

Monroe 14

Valley View 13

Bellbrook 10

Oakwood 7

Brookville 6

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