Recordpub.com - PTC battles to make lasting impression outside of county

Editor's Note: This is the fourth story in a five-part series by staff writer Colin Harris leading up to the start of the 2008 high school football season.

By Colin Harris
Record-Courier staff writer
Rising from the ashes of the Portage County League, the Portage Trail Conference has nurtured rivalries both old and new among member schools since its creation in 2005.
However, nothing in Northeast Ohio football happens in a vacuum.
To that end, the question of where the PTC stacks up among its area peers seemed like an interesting endeavor.
Assuming each PTC school faces three non-conference foes a year, what kind of damage have they done when they're not busy slugging it out for the Metro and County Division crowns?
The short answer: 223-257.
The long one? Well, that's what Joe Eitel's Ohio High School Football statistics are for.
It should be noted before we get too deep, that the PTC does consider matches between County and Metro Division teams as "non-conference" games, so those will be counted among the win-loss totals.
While their overall record over the last three years of 17-13 might not show it, the Field Falcons have been the most successful of the PTC schools when stepping outside of their Metro Division comfort level. Field's 8-1 mark includes an impressive win over Manchester (2007, 27-0), while the lone loss came in 2005 at the hands of Rootstown (31-21).
No PTC school has enjoyed the sort of overall success that the Mogadore Wildcats have over the past three years. The Wildcats have compiled a 24-8 overall record and made three consecutive playoff appearances since joining the PTC, and they've also fared reasonably well against non-conference foes.
Mogadore's 5-4 non-conference mark is equaled by Coventry, Southeast and East Canton.
Additionally, the Wildcats have also made the deepest trip into the postseason of any PTC school. During the 2006 season, Mogadore picked up playoff wins over Lucas (8-3 record), Cuyahoga Heights (10-2) and Columbiana (10-3) before falling to Shadyside in the Division VI state semifinals.
If there is a conference that the PTC has yet to solve, it's undoubtedly the Northeastern Buckeye Conference.
With a 12-0 all-time record against PTC schools, the NBC has been both a reliable place for PTC schools to turn for non-conference scheduling and a considerable roadblock to overcome.
Canton South (defeating Ravenna), West Branch (Southeast) and Alliance (Crestwood) have each earned three victories over PTC foes, while league teams have endured individual losses to Louisville (Ravenna), Marlington (Waterloo) and Minerva (Southeast).
Kent Roosevelt's overall record sits at 19-11 since the beginning of the PTC, with a 4-5 mark against non-league foes. Additionally, the Rough Riders notched the lone undefeated regular season in PTC history in 2006.
On the subject of playoff bids, the PTC has accumulated 10 total appearances since its formation, placing it tied for fourth behind Northeast Ohio (16), Inter-Tri County (13) and North Coast (11) among all Northeast Ohio conferences.
For the sake of completeness, that 223-257 overall record (.465 winning percentage) mentioned at the top of the story includes the results from all 16 PTC teams over the first three years of its existance.
If you do the long-winded amount of math involved, the 16-team PTC currently ranks as the 18th-winningest conference in Northeast Ohio out of a total of 24. The six-team Premier Athletic Conference and its .576 winning percentage is in the top spot.