Pigskin Picks: Week 5

Traction was the by-word of the week for sports editor Zach Baker.He wasn't IN traction, thank God. But he surrounded by variations of the word.Basically, he wanted to gain traction in his Pigskin Picks battle with sportswriter Dave Hanneman. Entering Friday's games, he trailed the grizzled veteran of the staff by four games.But there was dis-traction here and dat-traction there. A native of North Olmsted with deep emotional ties to the Browns and a graduate of BGSU, the guy bleeds brown and orange. So there he was, getting amped up for the Browns' season opener against Kansas City, Super Bowl champion in 2019 and runner-up a year ago, and BGSU facing South Alabama and looking for its first win since 2019.Face it. It must have been hard analyzing records and stats and focusing on the pros and cons of making a decision on who to pick in that Northwest Central Conference matchup between Hardin Northern and Ridgemont.Baker did his diligent duty, though, and did pretty well. He was 10-3 for the week, but Hanneman swept the two games they disagreed on — Carey's win over Colonel Crawford and Spencerville's win over Bluffton — and expanded his overall lead to five. Heading into the mid-point of the regular season, Hanneman is 53-8 overall. Baker is 48-13 and wishing things had turned out a tad better for his Browns, his Falcons, and his pigskin prognostications, which this week include three games in which he's disagreed with Hanneman on. He's going with Toledo Whitmer, Van Buren and Lima Perry, while Hanneman favors Findlay, Riverdale and Hardin Northern in those contests. Hanneman's PicksLast week: 12-1, overall 53-8Findlay over TOLEDO WHITMER — Taking a chance. Trojans seem to play well in odd-numbered weeks (1-3), poorly in even-numbered weeks (2-4).NORTH BALTIMORE over Arcadia —Hope they get this one in.ARLINGTON over Vanlue — Trivia question: Name the one and only team Vanlue has never, ever beaten in the history of the BVC.Liberty-Benton over CORY-RAWSON — Cory-Rawson's Hunter Stauffer is among the league leaders in kickoff returns. I'm betting he gets a lot of chances to do that on Friday.McCOMB over Pandora-Gilboa — Alphabetically, there's no "d" in McComb. Football-wise, there's plenty of it.RIVERDALE over Van Buren — Boy, this one's tough. Falcons coming off two lop-sided wins. Question is, did they get healthy enough and experienced enough to now carry that momentum into what could be a real dog fight.CAREY over Mohawk — Want to hear a weird stat? In four games, Carey has been outscored 53-36 in the second quarter. In the other 12 quarters combined, Carey has outscored the opposition 100-21. What's up with the second period blues, Blue Devils?Colonel Crawford over UPPER SANDUSKY — Eagles looking to rebound big after loss to Carey.OTTAWA-GLANDORF over Lima Bath — Bath much improved, but O-G seems to be hitting on a lot of cylinders right now.COLUMBUS GROVE over Allen East — Should be a great NWC showdown. Top offense in the league against the NWC's best defense with the winner remaining in first place in the league standings.Bluffton over ADA — Bluffton is 3-1, Ada is 1-3, but I can see this one going right down to the wire on the new turf field at War Memorial Stadium.Leipsic over SPENCERVILLE — The intra-county battle between Leipsic and Columbus Grove used to be for bragging rights only. Viking need a win here, though, for next week's date with the Bulldogs to be for a share of the NWC lead.OTSEGO over Elmwood — Battle of state-ranked 4-0 teams. Royals are doing great, but former Pigskin Picker Mark Heiman would tell me the big-game experience his boys from Tontogany gained with deep playoff runs the past few years will make a big difference.Rossford over FOSTORIA — This is one of those ipso-facto picks: Rossford beat Oak Harbor and Oak Harbor beat Fostoria, so, ipso-facto.Hardin Northern over LIMA PERRY — Here's what scares me about this pick: Perry scored 62 points last week ... AND LOST! What that tells me is that the Commodores can — and probably will — turn any tiny mistake (fumble, interception, blocked kick) into points in a hurry, putting added pressure on Hardin Northern to play almost error-free football.Baker's PicksLast week: 10-3, overall 48-13TOLEDO WHITMER over Findlay —The Trojans just have a brutal first half of a schedule.NORTH BALTIMORE over Arcadia — Arcadia had a great start against Pandora-Gilboa last week, but then seemed to run out of gas. North Baltimore ought to be fresh after not playing last week.ARLINGTON over Vanlue — Arlington is a tough opponent for any team, even more so for one that is short on players.Liberty-Benton over CORY-RAWSON — L-B looks like it's starting to roll.MCCOMB over Pandora-Gilboa — It's easy to gush about the Panther defense, but the offense is picking things up, too. Grant Dishong threw for more than 300 yards last week vs. Van Buren.Van Buren over RIVERDALE — The team that wins this game will be the one that controls the pace. The Black Knights like to run; Riverdale likes the pass. I think VB prevails.CAREY over Mohawk — Carey has won three straight after a Week 1 loss at Hopewell. Well, expect to make it four.Colonel Crawford over UPPER SANDUSKY — Russell Hall's Rams are vastly improved, but I'm not sure they can take down the Eagles, who are probably smarting after last week's loss at Carey.OTTAWA-GLANDORF over Lima Bath —The good news for the Wildcats is that they are 3-1. The bad news is the teams they've beaten are a combined 2-10. O-G shouldn't have a problem.COLUMBUS GROVE over Allen East — The Mustangs might need a tune-up after this.Bluffton over ADA — This might be a tougher game for Bluffton than it appears. Nonetheless, I'm taking the Pirates.Leipsic over SPENCERVILLE —Leipsic gets a big road win.OTSEGO over Elmwood — Two 4-0 teams, and the first in a series of tests over the next few weeks for the Royals.Rossford over FOSTORIA — Rossford is a tough 2-2 team. Fostoria needs a win, but it won't happen this week.LIMA PERRY over Hardin Northern — Big test for Nevin Robson and the Polar Bears.Home team in caps