Working Our Way to a W

It’s tough to complain about what we put out there on Saturday. I think we did all I had hoped for. Obviously a W would have been better, but, considering we put 7 sophomores out there on offense and 5-7 out there on defense (didn’t get an exact count of who was there, but I remember some in particular) against the #1 ranked team in class D in the state, I’d say we did just fine. And the fact that we assertively pushed the ball down the field on a 9 minute drive to start the game was even more encouraging. Yes we struggled at times on both sides of the ball, but you simply cannot say that they had their way with us, not when it’s 14-6 at the half. We did give up too many big plays once again, though this time it was more from being a bit ill-prepared for Mr. Shiels’ speed than with poor tackling.

I do think we are somewhat of a different team with Tom Telian in the game. I could see it in the Unatego game (where he didn’t play offense for the 2^nd half and we definitely stalled), and I could see some much improved capability against Walton. The young guys did great, but you can see the elder Telian’s abilities, especially when he’s got a single would-be tackler on him. It’s tough not to think where we’d be now had he played against Oxford and Harpursville, but I guess you can’t spend all your time thinking about what could have been.

As for Walton, they impressed in some ways, while other areas make me wonder where they will be come November. As for the latter, their 176 yard rushing total (on 26 carries) was not all that impressive for a top ranked team playing a large 10^th grade contingent. Granted, we didn’t exactly make them go terribly slow. Some times we did better than others, getting them to 3^rd down at times, and there were a few others where it was a bit easier, especially on their TD runs (27 and 17 yards). I was impressed with Shiels and Kaminsky though. Kaminsky certainly looked athletic enough last year, and he could lob the ball half the field, but he really didn’t throw with any accuracy. He’s far improved this year, however, and I think they can do a good bit with Shiels’ speed. I’m concerned though that they don’t seem (at this point at least) to have any other big receiving threats. I also note that for all of their other best teams they’ve had a big bruising fullback, and I didn’t feel like we got hurt there too badly. So, we’ll see what happens. They’ll get some pretty decent challenges just in section IV I think with BG, Tioga, and Candor all being quite formidable.

What do you say about us at this point? We’re playing ok…..we just need to start winning some games. Keep doing what we’re doing, keep playing hard for all 4 quarters. Deposit-Hancock is another quality team I think, and this could go either way. They had some very talented juniors last year. Let’s see how our tackling is tomorrow, let’s see if we can block consistently, and let’s see if we can build a bit more of a passing threat.

I’m still enjoying watching the boys play, and I look forward to putting one in the left column….

The picks for last week got a little better at 19-4 (0.826), including a few where I should have known better and a few others where I think I made some bold picks and came out on the right side (for example Sidney over Unatego and ME over UE). My season total now stands at 50-16 (0.758). This week has some easy ones and some tossups, so who knows where it will all end up. I’m pulling for….Greene over UVE, Edison over Watkins Glen, Newark Valley over Whitney Point, Tioga over Seton, Groton over Spencer, Waverly over Chenango Valley, Lansing over Trumansburg, Corning over Horseheads, Candor over Notre Dame, Oxford over Harpursville, Unatego over Windsor, Norwich over Oneonta, Dryden over Sus Valley, Walton over BG (should be a good one, especially after last year’s thriller kept BG out of the playoffs), Odessa over Newfield (pick’m), Forks over Sidney (Sidney’s got some mo’, but I think Forks has more), Union Springs over Moravia, Johnson City over Owego, Binghamton over Elmira, UE over Ithaca, Vestal over Horseheads. Fall doesn’t come on any better of a weekend than this folks…..