A Look Around IVLAND

Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Bulldogs of all ages. It’s time for some miscellaneous commentary on us and on the rest of the section in general.

I was impressed with what Liberty brought to the table last week. They looked extremely athletic at a whole lot of positions. It will be interesting to see how they fare for this season. It was certainly discouraging early on in the game, but I really liked the way we responded as time went on. Our intensity and focus seemed to get better as the game went on, and I certainly felt that we assertively took control of things (though we did almost blow it with a couple turnovers, but for the first game I’m willing to forgive that to some extent). Six months ago I’d probably be pretty discouraged if I knew how things were going to go after a week, but I feel a bit better now, since I see progress from the scrimmage, and throughout this game. Establish the fullback, start working some option and other things, and see if we can get so we can consistently pass. That’s where we go. Defensively, I think we’re right on. Considering we were up against a spread offense (not sure we’ve ever come up against that in a game, though we’ve seen some similar things) with some great athletes, holding them to 8 first downs and zero points is about as good as anyone can ask for. I really like this defense so far.

I also like what I am seeing around our division – quality. I don’t like to be negative, but last year was pretty bad for eastern class D teams. Walton was obviously good, and we were pretty good, but outside that, the level of quality was pretty bad. I think the area has done a 180 on that…..Seton looked tremendous in thrashing last year’s class C champ Elmira Notre Dame. Harpursville squeaked out a win over class C Unatego, who is usually pretty good. Oxford didn’t look great against Greene, but I thought they looked very good in the scrimmage, certainly far improved from last year. I was actually very surprised with how well Bainbridge stuck with Sidney. There will be few if any automatic games, and I certainly don’t consider tonight’s contest at Hancock automatic, as they are slowly playing better and better, and are striving so hard for respectability. A win against Delhi would certainly give them that. Fortunately I think the weather will play to our strengths, but you never know what can happen.

On the other side of I-81, I would say at this point that it looks like Groton and Tioga. Both lost last week, but it was to tough class C programs. Groton returns Kyle Reed, who gave us fits last year as he was probably the toughest, most hard to tackle back that we faced. Tioga somehow managed to beat Groton last year (though they finished 5-4 and didn’t make the playoffs), and they return a boatload of kids, including the section’s 2^nd leading rusher. Candor and Moravia may challenge as well, but I’m pretty confident that it will be Groton 1^st, Tioga 2^nd.

Working our way up, I demonstrated last week the strength of class C, with 3 state champions in the eastern division alone. I think Forks, Walton, and Greene are head and shoulders above the rest, but I think the others are nothing to sneeze at. It is a shame to think that a very strong Greene team may be sitting home for the playoffs. Waverly in the west will be pretty good, but I don’t have high hopes for the rest. Someone could step up, but I fully expect an all-east C IVFINAL.

Class B was just brutal last year, as even the bottom teams were capable of knocking off great ones. Norwich didn’t make the playoffs, but knocked off Oneida, who was state runner-up. Oneonta didn’t make the playoffs, but beat Forks. Waverly was the champ, and they had 3 losses at the end of the regular season. They went on to lose to Oneida in states by 6, after ending the game inside Oneida’s 10 yard line. It’s tough to tell if the class will be that deep this year, but I think at the least there will be several quality programs. Maine-Endwell looks to be very tough – they were outstanding in class A last year, and apparently have a good number back. Last week I picked them as state champs. Johnson City also dropped from A, and they have a division 1 lineman on their team. Windsor will be very good again I think. It will be a horserace, but I just think ME and JC will have a bit too much.

In class A both Corning’s appear to be strong – West won it last year, and has some good returnees. East has some great kids as well, they apparently had a brutal JV team, and they got a transfer RB from West that is very good. Vestal scored a huge win over AA Horseheads, so they will be in the thick as well.

In AA I said last week that it was Bingo and UE. Ithaca surprised many with a win over Cornwall, who has been Section IX’s premier class A team for the past several seasons. The trouble is that I think in general UE and Bingo might be a bit better than average. Not better than last year’s Bingo team (which made the state semi’s) mind you, but in general pretty good for a Section IV AA team. UE has a legit division 1 kid with near world class speed (though they don’t seem to know how to use him on offense). Binghamton I think is on a track toward being better with better coaching, and they have a few very strong kids.

So, that’s how I think the section looks this year. Whether we can match the last 2 years when I thought we had a very good number of true state quality teams remains to be seen.

Wowser, what happened with my picks – I was a steaming hot 21-4 (0.840)……well, steaming hot for week 1 anyway. Not sure how that happened. Hopefully it’s a sign of good things to come. Let’s try our week 2 luck…..Walton over Sidney, Tioga over Newfield, Waverly over Lansing, Candor over Moravia, Groton over Odessa, Spencer over Edison, Dryden over END, Newburg over Binghamton, Wallkill over Horseheads, Ithaca over Norwich, Harpursville over BG, Corning West over Owego, Southside over Dansville (never even heard of Dansville, I assume they are in PA), Vestal over Chenango Valley, Forks over Unatego, Sus Valley over Seton, Johnson City over Oneonta, Maine-Endwell over EFA, Corning East over Windsor, Oxford over Deposit, Newark Valley over Southern Springs, Aquinas over Union-Endicott, Greene over UVE, and Ogdensburg over Whitney Point.

See you all tonight, quack quack!