Pumpkin Day 2007

September 28, 2007

Here we are once again facing the tangerines down route 10. What do I say? Walton is simply outstanding. Their lowest output this season is 46 points. They played Oxford to a 56-0 win, not allowing a first down nor a single rusher to have positive yards (-47 yards total offense). They are just nasty. Someone today compared them with the 1997 team. Granted, they are playing competition that isn’t as good, but, still, I’d more likely go back all the way to 1993 with them. That was the most dominant Walton team I’ve ever seen. The 1997 team, while having a superb offense, led by Rutgers-bound Seth Stanton, was just a little bit questionable on defense. They did well in some games, but our 2-7 boys had some degree of success passing on them. And Greene had a sophomore running back who had about 150 yards on them. Anyway, enough reminiscing…..this Walton team is GOOD.

I hate to be painfully realistic, but rather than thinking of what we do to come out on top of this game, I think we look at a bigger picture. Think of what will help us over all for the rest of the season. Think of moving the ball a bit, and think of slowing their offense down. Let the results be what they may, but let us play 4 very intense quarters as well as we can.

I think if we truly did this, it could actually get frustrating for some of us. I say that because I can see us running the ball some so that we don’t let Kathmann take a brutal beating by the Walton defensive line. After we keep running up the middle, some of us are going to get upset. But it might just be the best thing for the remaining 3 weeks after.

It’s hard to say how the day will go. Walton certainly looks simply brutal, but sometimes Delhi does really step up for these games. Will we step up tomorrow, or will we shrink in intimidation? If we are intimidated and roll over, it will be a LONG day.

Lastly, my nephew used to always rave about how hot the girls in Walton were, saying they were better than Delhi girls. After seeing the press release of this year’s homecoming queen, I decided I wasn’t quite sure I agreed. Have a look and decide for yourself.

My picks for the week were a very forgettable 16-7 (0.696). Pretty bad, but some that I thought were gimmes went the wrong way (the Cornings losing, Newfield losing). So that makes me 74-23 for the season, or 0.763. There are some great games this weekend, I wish that I could go to more. This week should help clear the muddy picture slightly in some areas. I’ll go with…..Corning East (don’t let me down this week!), Newburg (have a feeling UE might hit some reality tonight), Vestal, Harpursville (almost too close to call), Seton (they have to win someday), Greene, Groton, Unatego, Oxford (at home, and wants back in the race), Candor, Lansing, Dryden, Windsor, Norwich, Forks (wow, I wish I could see this one, though I wouldn’t want to deal with the traffic), Owego, Johnson City, Newark Valley (painful game to watch), Newfield (I think they’ll get back on track), Trumansburg, Waverly, Horseheads, and Corning West (another great game this week).