Mahoning Valley Playoff Thread

In region 25 do not count out JFK. They haven't played a complete game yet but are getting closer. I wouldn't be shocked at all if the Eagles win the region.

I don’t count them out, but i’m also a realist. CH and Lucas are the class of this region and it will take an almost perfect effort for any of the other schools to take the crown in R25. JFK had a couple of serious injuries earlier this season that badly hurt them. The Eagles are a young team with some superb athletes in the lower grades. They’re probably at least a year away from a strong challenge.
 
One of the reasons South Range accepted the invitation to play in the NE8 was to play local competition, and to play-up during the regular season so that they would be prepared for the playoffs. Hopefully we will see how well they respond after all those tough NE8 conference battles.
 
One of the reasons South Range accepted the invitation to play in the NE8 was to play local competition, and to play-up during the regular season so that they would be prepared for the playoffs. Hopefully we will see how well they respond after all those tough NE8 conference battles.
South Range definetly made the right choice in leagues. If they would have been in the EBC this year they would had 3-4 games which they would have had a running clock with their opponent. With only two 2 teams able to give them a strong challenge would not have them ready for playoffs.
 
I just want to see them advance. I do like their chances though. I can't say the same for most of the other match-ups involving local teams however.

I hope I'm wrong but I just can't see Harding or Girard winning. Normally I would really like Hubbard's chances against IC but the Eagles have staggered into the playoffs with two bad losses in weeks 9 & 10. Hopefully they get back on the winning track in week 11. Can they pull off a 1991 Warren JFK style playoff run? Highly unlikely. Struthers has also lost two in a row coming in but they did play Poland tough. Obviously that is an all local match up so one will advance. Same in R21 with Springfield vs BCWR. Have to go with the Tigers again in this rematch.

Salem vs. CVCA? I know Salem only played two teams with winning records and lost to both. CVCA lost to the better teams on their schedule as well. To my knowledge this will be their first home playoff game and they are looking for their first playoff victory.

Brookfield at Mogadore? I have to give the edge to the Wildcats. Southern at Trimble. The only thing I know about this year's Tomcats is that they have only allowed 6 points on the season while scoring just under 50 ppg. Tall task for Southern.

I do like JFK against Independence. McDonald at Lucas? Lucas beat LaBrae by 14. I do think McD is a better team than LaBrae. We shall soon see.

Good luck to all the Mahoning Valley teams.

For the McDonald matchup you mention LaBrae. Lucas scored 28 on Labrae. Brookfield put up 49. Maybe Lucas doesn’t have that great of an offense by comparison. Mcdonald lost to Brookfield on the last play of the game. Take it for what little it’s worth. Just something to ponder as we all try to get an idea of what to expect.
 
For the McDonald matchup you mention LaBrae. Lucas scored 28 on Labrae. Brookfield put up 49. Maybe Lucas doesn’t have that great of an offense by comparison. Mcdonald lost to Brookfield on the last play of the game. Take it for what little it’s worth. Just something to ponder as we all try to get an idea of what to expect.

Wasn't that in Week 1 though? A lot has happened since then...
 
I am a Portage county guy and biased with Mogadore. How can Brookfield beat Mogadore? This is the most complete Mogadore team in sometime. Not to be a homer but this cats team plays lockdown Defense and has many weapons
 
No they didn't but just want to know what it would take for them to win? I haven't seen them play yet this year and look forward to it Friday night
 
Wasn't that in Week 1 though? A lot has happened since then...
Yea. Long time ago. But this thread is dead. Just trying to find some kind of comparisons. This isn’t a real good McDonald team. They lost a lot last year. Curious how this goes.
 
Brookfield will play tough, but they literally have a DL playing rb, Mogadore should win by a couple td’s wouldn’t surprise me if Brookfield hung around tho
I am a Portage county guy and biased with Mogadore. How can Brookfield beat Mogadore? This is the most complete Mogadore team in sometime. Not to be a homer but this cats team plays lockdown Defense and has many weapons
 
I am a Portage county guy and biased with Mogadore. How can Brookfield beat Mogadore? This is the most complete Mogadore team in sometime. Not to be a homer but this cats team plays lockdown Defense and has many weapons

Well I don’t think we saw a “lockdown” defense last week against the devils, took care of business in the end, regardless, and I doubt there are many true Wildcat fans that would say this is the most “complete” team they have had in sometime. That being said, I would be surprised if they didn’t have a good plan in how to stop this Brookfield team, even if it takes them some half-time adjustments to do it.
 
I think Brookfields problem will be defense. They can power the ball on anybody in this region. The big guy is strong enough to get a few yards on every play. But decent teams score a lot of points on them. If they can sustain drives and get a few turnovers they can stay in this game.
 
Did you go to the week 3 game? Massillon spent the first part of the game unsuccessfully looking for the deep ball to Jayden Ballard. Meanwhile, Harding went up 7-0 and could’ve went up 14, but they turned it over on downs deep in Massillon territory. That’s when Massillon started clicking, but Harding eventually settled down defensively and started to build momentum. Unfortunately, they threw a pick 6 and it broke their will, which is why the final score got out of hand.

As a Harding fan, I’ve seen us play St. Ignatius, St. Ed’s, Mentor, Massillon, and Cincinnati Elder in the same postseason. Different era, but I’m glad that this group will get the opportunity to redeem theirselves and show how far they’ve come. Massillon is an outstanding team, but if you’re not striving to play against the best teams, you have no business being on the field.

And, we get to go to one of the most beautiful, stories facilities in the country. Win or lose, I’m looking forward to potentially going to Massillon.
Bro I respect the heck out of steel valley football but please tell me your joking? I was at the Massillon Warren game an y'all act like Massillon got lucky y'all only scored off a muffed punt...... Massillon dominated that game yes I will say did y'all come out fired up? Yes y'all did I can't lie but come on bruh the final was 49-7
 
Well I don’t think we saw a “lockdown” defense last week against the devils, took care of business in the end, regardless, and I doubt there are many true Wildcat fans that would say this is the most “complete” team they have had in sometime. That being said, I would be surprised if they didn’t have a good plan in how to stop this Brookfield team, even if it takes them some half-time adjustments to do it.

Watch the Springfield & Columbiana games.
 
Bro I respect the heck out of steel valley football but please tell me your joking? I was at the Massillon Warren game an y'all act like Massillon got lucky y'all only scored off a muffed punt...... Massillon dominated that game yes I will say did y'all come out fired up? Yes y'all did I can't lie but come on bruh the final was 49-7

Huh? "Joking" about what? Tell me one thing I said that isn't true. If you're a competitor, you can't just accept defeat because you lost. You've got to look in the mirror and correct your mistakes, right? If I'm Harding, I'm telling myself...

-We have to finish our drives on offense, especially before Longwell starts connecting with Ballard, Wilson-Lamp, etc.
-We have to limit our mistakes.
-We can't have Keyes breaking tackles on us all night. If he gets going, it could be a long night/
-We can't become too predictable offensively and have Massillon's secondary sitting on our routes and ready to pick 6 us.

Easier said than done against a great program like Massillon, but when you're playing against one of the best teams in the entire state, you can't shoot yourself in the foot multiple times and expect the bleeding to stop on its own. Not only did Massillon have a great response to Harding's TD, any hope the Raiders had of keeping it close was gone after the pick 6 before half. Harding never recovered after that.
 
Huh? "Joking" about what? Tell me one thing I said that isn't true. If you're a competitor, you can't just accept defeat because you lost. You've got to look in the mirror and correct your mistakes, right? If I'm Harding, I'm telling myself...

-We have to finish our drives on offense, especially before Longwell starts connecting with Ballard, Wilson-Lamp, etc.
-We have to limit our mistakes.
-We can't have Keyes breaking tackles on us all night. If he gets going, it could be a long night/
-We can't become too predictable offensively and have Massillon's secondary sitting on our routes and ready to pick 6 us.

Easier said than done against a great program like Massillon, but when you're playing against one of the best teams in the entire state, you can't shoot yourself in the foot multiple times and expect the bleeding to stop on its own. Not only did Massillon have a great response to Harding's TD, any hope the Raiders had of keeping it close was gone after the pick 6 before half. Harding never recovered after that.
bro I understand where you coming from, you have to have confidence in your team. I completely understand that, but the way most Warren fans are trying to make it seem like y'all gave us the game, which is not the case because we was up 21-7 after y'all scored that first TD and to be honest with you get td only come because of a muffed punt which I understand is a part of football but the final score was 49-7 that's a 42 point loss an basically is 49 unanswered points, I could definitely see if the game was a little bit closer, then, yeah, I'll give you guys more credit. But to me, that game was never in doubt in my opinion, just because I haven't been a fan of this team and this class for a long time. Which I completely understand why you guys will confident at first, but great teams always find a way to win a game, whether it's a close game or blow out, and that's the way I look at it
 
bro I understand where you coming from, you have to have confidence in your team. I completely understand that, but the way most Warren fans are trying to make it seem like y'all gave us the game, which is not the case because we was up 21-7 after y'all scored that first TD and to be honest with you get td only come because of a muffed punt which I understand is a part of football but the final score was 49-7 that's a 42 point loss an basically is 49 unanswered points, I could definitely see if the game was a little bit closer, then, yeah, I'll give you guys more credit. But to me, that game was never in doubt in my opinion, just because I haven't been a fan of this team and this class for a long time. Which I completely understand why you guys will confident at first, but great teams always find a way to win a game, whether it's a close game or blow out, and that's the way I look at it

As somebody who is pretty heavy on football recruiting and also goes to the state track meet every year, I’m well aware of the talent walking the halls of Massillon. Ballard is worth all the hype and Wilson-Lamp ain’t no joke either. Most fans who were at the week 3 game thought, “They’re just too good for us.” Me, I’m like, “When we get an opportunity, we have to capitalize before they get their guys going.” We capitalized off the muffed punt, but after that, we weren’t very aggressive with our play calling. In fact, we were very predictable! That’s cool if you clearly have better athletes than the opposition, but that’s never the case with Massillon. Without looking, I’m pretty sure that we don’t have more than 10 double-digit victories over Massillon, and that’s with almost a century’s worth of games.

Win or lose, we have to execute tonight.
 
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