After having a chance to see one of the two unbeaten teams in the SBC's American Division last night, I'm left with this impression:
New Richmond is the favorite to win this division.
While Western Brown is certainly a good team, they likely would have been in a dogfight if Goshen doesn't turn the ball over four times in the first half. Goshen spotted them 21 points, then played evenly with them the rest of the way. While I know Western Brown beat East Clinton - I don't think they're better than East Clinton.
And one more thought about Western Brown's ... er ... gameplan to leave their starters in until the end. Granted, they didn't against Williamsburg last week, but it was 55-7 at the half. But against Goshen and Blanchester, with the game in hand late, their starting offense and defense were in there continuing to try to score. In fact, they scored in the final seconds against Blanchester to make it 39-14. Who scored? Was it their JV tailback? Nope - Shaun Davis.
Now I'm not going to get on my high horse and complain about "running up the score" or anything like that. What I will say is this: Western's offense revolves around super tailback Davis and QB Travis Taylor. If either of those players get hurt - SBC league chances and playoff chances go with it. So WHY would you even risk having those players in the game late in the fourth quarter with the game in hand? Again - this has nothing to do with running up the score or embarrassing anyone. That's not the issue here. I'm strictly looking from a Western Brown benefit standpoint. There is little benefit having them in during "mop-up" time.
I hope for the Broncos' sake their two studs can stay healthy and they can make a run at the playoffs. But if one of those stud players go down late in a game which is in hand, many Bronco fans will be left scratching their heads when NR wins the SBC and is the lone representative in the playoffs.
As for Goshen ... it starts and ends with turnovers. They must play cleaner football to compete with good teams. The offense moved the ball well, and the defense overall did a nice job on Davis and Taylor. But when you give the ball away and give the opposition three or four extra possessions per game, it is very hard to overcome that. Again ... there were plenty of positives to take away from that game for Goshen ... they just need to clean up the turnovers.
In other news from Friday:
New Richmond is the favorite to win this division.
While Western Brown is certainly a good team, they likely would have been in a dogfight if Goshen doesn't turn the ball over four times in the first half. Goshen spotted them 21 points, then played evenly with them the rest of the way. While I know Western Brown beat East Clinton - I don't think they're better than East Clinton.
And one more thought about Western Brown's ... er ... gameplan to leave their starters in until the end. Granted, they didn't against Williamsburg last week, but it was 55-7 at the half. But against Goshen and Blanchester, with the game in hand late, their starting offense and defense were in there continuing to try to score. In fact, they scored in the final seconds against Blanchester to make it 39-14. Who scored? Was it their JV tailback? Nope - Shaun Davis.
Now I'm not going to get on my high horse and complain about "running up the score" or anything like that. What I will say is this: Western's offense revolves around super tailback Davis and QB Travis Taylor. If either of those players get hurt - SBC league chances and playoff chances go with it. So WHY would you even risk having those players in the game late in the fourth quarter with the game in hand? Again - this has nothing to do with running up the score or embarrassing anyone. That's not the issue here. I'm strictly looking from a Western Brown benefit standpoint. There is little benefit having them in during "mop-up" time.
I hope for the Broncos' sake their two studs can stay healthy and they can make a run at the playoffs. But if one of those stud players go down late in a game which is in hand, many Bronco fans will be left scratching their heads when NR wins the SBC and is the lone representative in the playoffs.
As for Goshen ... it starts and ends with turnovers. They must play cleaner football to compete with good teams. The offense moved the ball well, and the defense overall did a nice job on Davis and Taylor. But when you give the ball away and give the opposition three or four extra possessions per game, it is very hard to overcome that. Again ... there were plenty of positives to take away from that game for Goshen ... they just need to clean up the turnovers.
In other news from Friday:
- I am very happy for the Blanchester football team. They picked up their first victory with a 20-18 win over Hillsboro. It wasn't easy - they needed a missed FG and an interception in the final minutes to hold on to victory. Hopefully this is the beginning of a successful second half of the season for Blanchester.
- How good is Kyle Cook? He threw for five touchdowns in Little Miami's 64-27 dismantling of Wilmington at Wilmington College last night. Could this be the year LM wins the FAVC? It won't be easy with Turpin and Kings in the division. But who knows?
- I mentioned in the opening minutes of our broadcast last night that London could be a "trap game" for Clinton-Massie. I didn't know how right I would turn out to be. The Falcons needed a last-minute touchdown to escape with a 26-21 victory. It cracked me up to listen to a certain local postgame show last night, talking about how this game, "showed that Massie is beatable." I'm sorry, when did they change the length of HS Football games to 47 minutes, 20 seconds? It is not how long you lead, it is when you lead. The Falcons found a way. I'm guessing London had the best chance a SCOL team was going to get to beat CM this year. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. This game doesn't prove the Falcons' beatability, it proves their resiliency.
- Can East Clinton give New Richmond all it wants? It will be the first true test for New Richmond. It is also EC's last chance to make a playoff push. The Astros must win out - including against NR - to have any chance in Region 20. Should be interesting, that's for sure.
That's going to wrap things up for today. A couple of notes ... I may stop back by early next week and discuss the college and pro football from this weekend.
Also ... I'm going to be starting a KOR Anime blog (as many of you know Japanese animation is also an interest of mine). I'll post a link to it here and on the main page once it is up and running. Edit: And here it is: http://kor-anime.blogspot.com/
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