Waite football coach Gardner Howard is looking forward to the 2011 season. Who can blame him?

His Indians will have only five conference games in the City League, but those games will be against other public schools. Five schools, including the three parochial schools, will be leaving for the Three Rivers Athletic Conference.

“We’re excited. I mean, it’s going to take some getting used to. There’s going to be some changes with the Catholic schools leaving, but really it gives us an opportunity for the remaining teams, which have similar problems and deal with the same issues as one another, to compete. We’ll crown a new king,” Howard said. “It’s an opportunity for these public schools to kind of revamp themselves, to get the numbers back up and get the pride and spirit going again.

Toledo will join Ohio’s other major cities in having one league for public schools. In Cleveland, it’s The Senate, and the Columbus City League consists entirely of public schools.

“What people don’t realize is, Toledo was the only (large city) league in the state that combined Catholic schools and public schools, so it’s not uncommon for us to become just an all-public league,” Howard said. “It is uncommon to have the mix of the two.”

Howard admits that having the Catholic and public schools in the same league was something Toledo took pride in.

Waite football coach Gardner Howard

“It was special and it worked, and it was tradition, but you’ve got to play the hand you’re dealt, and this is the hand we’re dealt with,” Gardner said. “I’m excited, and our kids are excited about that, too.”

After losing in the Hall of Fame game to Rogers, Waite finished 4-7 this year, 3-3 in the City. Gardner had an outstanding senior class and strong roster numbers that leads him to believe his team could compete with anyone next year, too.

“Our kids were pretty excited about this year with the opportunity to be even better next year. If you think about it, the only affect it has on us really is we won’t play St. John’s. The only (Catholic) team we’ve played since I’ve been here is St. John’s. You know what I mean?

“So when you talk about that, all of those were always (public schools) playing each other anyway. You play the three teams below you and the three above. If you did well, you ended up playing (Catholic schools) for the next two years, but it was always hard to maintain that. We’ve seen that with programs like Bowsher and Start. They’d have a couple good years, and here is your reward for having a couple good years — play the three Catholic schools.”

Even basketball coach Dave Pitsenbarger, a Waite graduate, sees an advantage for football.

“I think it’s bonus for our football program. It gives them something to shoot for — a championship. For football, it’s definitely good for us in the long run because we’re not always able to compete,” Pitsenbarger said.

Filling the schedule
It does not make athletic director Bob Utter’s job any easier, however. He has five non-league games to fill, but he is up to the challenge.

“I think it’s going to be fine. Weeks four and five are going to be hard to find. I have Bellevue for the next two years, which is good. We just need week four (Sept. 16),” Utter said.

“I mean, I’ve had contacts for week four, but they’ve all been like Massillon, or Cincinnati Elder, or Columbus St. Francis De Sales — all really, really good teams. We don’t belong playing them yet. I’d never say that to the kids, though. We’re looking all over.

“We were even thinking about playing, like Scott, twice or anyone else who was open. They are looking for week five and Woodward or somebody was looking for week three. I don’t think anybody is playing anybody twice right now. I guess years ago somebody was telling me they did that.”

In 2011, Waite opens at Maumee Aug. 26, hosts Northview Sept. 2, visits Clay Sept. 9, visits Bellevue Sept. 23, visits Rogers Sept. 30, hosts Start Oct. 7, hosts Bowsher Oct. 14, hosts Scott Oct. 21, and hosts Woodward Oct. 28. Scott is technically an away game, but will be played at Waite’s Mollenkopf Stadium.

Since Waite and Clay will no longer be in the same league, it was important for both schools to keep the Oil Barrel Trophy rivalry going.

“(Clay athletic director) Mike (Donnelly) and I worked it out. They needed another home game. That’s something that Mike and I pretty much insisted on doing,” Utter said. “The only way it worked for Clay, though, was so that they had five home and five away games was if we went out to Clay again back to back. I was open to that, also. They’ll come back here to Waite in 2012.”

Waite basketball, however, has been able to compete — both boys and girls. Both teams have won regular season championships in recent years, and the boys two years ago breezed through the regular season with a 10-1 record, giving them the No. 1 seed in the final four.

“We have been pretty competitive the past four or five years. The City League schools that are remaining are pretty competitive,” Pitsenbarger said. “I know Bowsher is supposed to be pretty good this year. But I think in terms of basketball it should be even more competitive and there’s a chance to win a tournament championship.

“We’ve been fortunate in the past four or five years to have some pretty good athletes, but there’s definitely been some dry spells in the past. It will definitely be a confidence booster for us to be able to get to the championship game.”

Pitsenbarger will miss playing perennial powers St. John’s Jesuit, St. Francis de Sales, and Central Catholic in conference action. Utter said Waite has contracted with those schools for non-league games, though.

Pitsenbarger fears that losing those games, along with cuts by Toledo Public Schools that eliminated his freshman team, may take the edge off his program. 

“We’re going to miss the competition with the parochial schools, and Whitmer and Clay add a variety, too. I think it’s going to hurt us not having the freshman programs, too,” Pitsenbarger said.

Next year in basketball, each school will play each other twice, and all six teams will be in the City League playoffs.

“The schedule is going to be interesting. We’ll have to scramble to pick up eight games, and hopefully we can keep some of the rivals that we’ve had on the schedule like Clay and other City League teams,” Pitsenbarger said.

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