Stark County Football Week 8

Starkcountylegend said:
Guys and Gals, lets just remember this is all for fun and if you're on this site, you obviously have a love affair with Ohio High School football. There is no good way IMO to measure a teams strength of schedule, Level 2 points would be a good indicator, but even if you beef up your schedule for the year based on the records of your opposition from the previous year there is no guarantee that it will work out. Massillon is the perfect example, and I'm not picking on the Tigers, if you looked at their schedule at the start of the season, it was stacked, there is no way that Massillon could account for down years from some of those teams. I completely reject the premise that you don't need to play tough competition to be ready for a run at the title, yes, there are a few red herrings that occurred, but in most cases your team needs to see the speed and strength that a stronger schedule provides the measuring stick. IMO, I think it's insane that every school doesn't at least play one game above their punching weight each season going forward, 16 teams make the playoffs, you can afford to lose a game and still make the playoffs. There was no attempt to blast Jackson, they could not have forecasted that Mayfield would go winless, as they have been a solid squad for the past few years, Boardman is a good matchup, but do you really have to play both East and CCC in the same year? Maybe Im insane, but with 16 teams making the playoffs, schools should be scheduling at least one Marque game OOC each year. Now lets move past this and have some fun with some picks:


Projections For Week 8 (Order of Games based on WHBC Scoreboard)

Linsley @ CCC
Linsley is 4-2, their 4 wins have come over teams with a combined record of 2-14 (source Joe Eitel), they have lost to St. Clairsville and Steubenville, two teams that should have deep playoff runs. They hung in the game with Steubenville, and got taken to the woodshed against St. Clairsville. CCC has righted the ship after the South Range game and are playing good football right now, props to the Crusaders for playing a strong schedule, maybe too strong. CCC needs this game for computer points, they wont beat Jackson and who knows if STA will even have a team to play CCC. Going to back the Stark school here, but have trepidations because I have little knowledge on Linsley

CCC 24
Linsley 17

Tusky Central @ East Canton
This game should be decided before halftime, East Canton is vastly superior to TC! Right now, East Canton is in the 11 hold for the playoffs, they need to win out and probably need some luck to host a 1st round game.

East Canton 35
Tusky Central 7

Manchester @ Fairless
One of the better games in the county this week. Manchester opened the season with two losses to two really good teams. Since then they have have won five straight including knocking off Mogadore. Fairless has not been tested since week 1, I know it's beating a dead horse, but they are well coached and play solid on both sides of the ball. This will be a tight game, it wouldn't be surprising if Manchester comes out on top, but I'm not going against an undefeated team at home:

Fairless 23
Manchester 21

GlenOak @ Louisville
Although both teams are bad, probably in the case of the Leopards one of their worst seasons in quite along time, this still should be a decent game. Both teams are offensively challenged, so this game will come down to turnovers and field position. I think the Leopards pick up their first win of the season:

Louisville 20
GlenOak 14

Green @ Perry
Very interesting game, Green needs the win if it hopes to host a 1st round game, they are in the playoffs even if they lose out the rest of the way out. On the other hand, Perry is sitting at 18, they need this win and to beat GlenOak to secure a playoff birth, as the race for the last 3-4 playoff spots in Region 7 is tight. I think Green is the better team, but I'm going to back the team that needs the win more which is the Panthers, as a loss here probably eliminates them unless they can beat Lake on the road.

Perry 27
Green 26

Hoover @ Lake
If you're a fan of defensive football, then this game is right up your alley. In addition, this game will have huge implications in Region 7, Lake probably has to win out to get a 1st round home game. Hoover is sitting in the 5th hole, they have a fairly comfortable lead over the 9th hole team, but they also have Green and Jackson on deck. This is a coin flip game, Hoovers defense has been lights out for the past four weeks, but this is only their 2nd round game of the season. Could go either way, but going with the Blue Streaks:

Lake 14
Hoover 13

McKinley @ Jackson
It's hard to believe that even with a 4-3 record the Bulldogs are sitting in the 4 hole for the playoffs, one slot below an undefeated Jackson (though it's a large gap). As it has been pointed out numerous times on this site, the Bulldogs have owned Jackson, but I would be fairly surprised if they can beat the Polar Bears on the road. I think Jackson is the better team this year, this is a year of turmoil for the Bulldogs, although they have turned the corner.

Jackson 31
McKinley 17

Malvern @ Newcomerstown
Hard to believe that Newcomerstown has only played three games, must have been one hell of a CV19 breakout there. Isn't Newcomerstown where Woody Hayes was from? Malvern even on the road will roll! Sidebar question: Would Woody Hayes be able to coach in todays college game? He hated to pass, was tough on players, would he have adjusted?

Malvern 45
Newcomerstown 14

New Philadelphia @ Marlington
The Dukes playoff hopes are on life support, they would need to win out and still get some help. Surely, the Quakers are not as strong as they were the past few seasons, but their 3 losses have come against teams likely to go deep in the playoffs. Marlington has no identity, their offense is boring, and their defense is horrendous. I can't back the Dukes here even at home, they are fighting out of their class:

New Philadelphia 31
Marlington 14

Canton South @ Minerva
I'm sure South is wishing that Minerva was moving with them to the PAC so they could have an automatic win on a yearly basis. I applaud the kids at Minerva that show up each week and strap on the gear to play, when they know they have no chance of winning, that's dedication. South probably will not surpass the 66 points Salem put up on the Lions, but they will score at will.

South 56
Minerva 7

Triway @ NW
Triway is 4-1, they ran into a buzzsaw against Manchester in their loss, they really don't have a win that they can hang their hat on unless you consider Waynedale to be a big win. NW has made vast improvements as the season has progressed, they really need this win if they want to make the playoffs, they have Manchester on the road next week, so that will be a tough win to get a W.

NW 27
Triway 21

Salem @ Carrollton
Excellent game, if you want a shoot out, this is your game for this week. This is a huge point builder for the winner via playoff points, both are locked into the playoffs, but this win probably locks in a 1st round and possibly a 2nd round home game. Carrollton has two loses this season, to West Branch and St. Clairsville, both good teams. The Warriors are coached up well, I'm going to back them, but this should be a wild game.

Carrollton 49
Salem 40

Claymont @ Sandy Valley
Didn't they use to be in the old Senate League together? This game is over before it starts, should be a rout:

SV 42
Claymont 13

Loudonville @ Tuslaw
Both teams essentially eliminated from the playoffs, so playing for pride two bad teams, they are evenly matched, so it depends on who has the most heart. The Magic 8 Ball when asked Will Tuslaw beat Loudonville, says likely so, so we will go with that:

Tuslaw 21
Loudonville 20

West Branch @ Alliance
Alliance is another team that has grown as the season has went forward, should be a good building block for 2022. Even though Alliance knocked off Salem, I dont think they have the juice to knock off West Branch. Im hoping that Im wrong, and it may turn out to be a good game:

WB 35
Alliance 20

STA @ JFK
Not even sure if this game is still on, but if it is, a blowout will be in store.

JFK 57
STA 12

Canisius @ Massillon
I know nothing about Canisius, other than that they are undefeated with their four wins coming over teams with a combined record of 0-8 (Joe Eitel. Massillon will win this going away, they have played a tough schedule and deserve a soft game every so often:

Tiger Town 45
Canisius 7
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Canisius is an excellent program. Similar to St. Ignatius.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
It's too early to judge teams on their scheduling with regards to the expanded playoffs. It's been stated multiple times on this forum by myself and others that the decision to expand the playoffs was made in the spring. Most teams' schedules for this year were already complete by then. Furthermore, some of these teams may be locked into most of their nonleague games for a few more years if they signed a 4-year contract or if they just started a 2-year contract this year. I'm pretty sure Jackson has CCC for 2 more years after this year, and the nonleague week that each Fed school has during the course of league play rotates every 4 years (except for McKinley and week 10). This is year 2 of that rotation. When the CCC contract is up, Jackson's nonleague week will rotate to week 4 which might give either side a reason to look elsewhere. Week 4 is a little easier to schedule than week 9. Incidentally, Akron East has been a good points game for Jackson in recent years and probably will end up that way again by the end of the regular season. East should go 5-5 with all but 1 of their wins coming against D2 opponents. That's more points than what Jackson will be getting from Mayfield, Perry, GlenOak, CCC, and Boardman (unless they win their last 2 games).
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Very good logic on your part, and you're right on the money. If the playoffs stay at 16 teams, then teams need to at least make an effort to schedule up at least one team that is in theory superior to them. Don't take this wrong, I was not knocking Jackson, as Mayfield should have been a Marque matchup, but they are sitting winless. Nothing wrong with playing any of the Akron City School League teams, but those games for the most part are wins before you kick off. Let's see what the future brings, I would like to see Jackson schedule someone like Massillon, Hoban or Mentor. Jackson is large enough that they really need to move away from scheduling a D6 like CCC, unless this is considered a rivalry game, which I dont see the logic. But to your point, lets give it a few years, to see what teams do with their scheduling.
 
Looks like I'm going to take a beating this week, based on half times scores:

McKinley is besting Jackson, maybe the folks were right that said McKinley owns Jackson. This would be a huge win the the Bulldogs in regards to computer points and open a path for Hoover and McKinley to win the Federal.

It's really sad what's going on at Louisville, they have regressed back to the point where they were the punching bag in the Federal League before they left. They are squarely looking at a winless season if they lose tonight, and it seems like Lep fans are waiting for the EBC to bring them back, it's not happening.

I have underestimated Green all season, Perry has some issues

CCC is getting punched out, this will be a tough loss for them in regards to computer points. They will need to rely on help from Level 2 points, because they are not beating Jackson.

As Maxie pointed out Canisius is a very good team, they are locked into a battle with the Tigers right now, could go either way

West Branch might put up 60 points on Alliance tonight

Salem and Carrollton while not a shootout is going to go down to the wire

Hoover and Lake is not a defensive struggle, but so far a fairly high scoring game for these teams

If Canton South doesnt call off the dogs they might put up 70 points on Minerva tonight. Lions have been one of the worst teams in the state for the past few years, and there seems to be no plans by the Administration to remedy this issue.

Fairless and Manchester is looking like the best game of the night
 
Starkcountylegend said:
Very good logic on your part, and you're right on the money. If the playoffs stay at 16 teams, then teams need to at least make an effort to schedule up at least one team that is in theory superior to them. Don't take this wrong, I was not knocking Jackson, as Mayfield should have been a Marque matchup, but they are sitting winless. Nothing wrong with playing any of the Akron City School League teams, but those games for the most part are wins before you kick off. Let's see what the future brings, I would like to see Jackson schedule someone like Massillon, Hoban or Mentor. Jackson is large enough that they really need to move away from scheduling a D6 like CCC, unless this is considered a rivalry game, which I dont see the logic. But to your point, lets give it a few years, to see what teams do with their scheduling.
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Agreed SCL. Some of these Stark County teams need to start beefing up their schedule now with the 16 team playoff format. Massillon and McKinley have started doing it. Glenoak started to do it, and they were doing it before the 16 team playoff format. I have to believe that once Garcia gets that program back to where it was, he will do it again.
Time for Hoover, Lake, Jackson and Perry to follow suit. The county would be much better off if these teams did.
 
Starkcountylegend said:
Very good logic on your part, and you're right on the money. If the playoffs stay at 16 teams, then teams need to at least make an effort to schedule up at least one team that is in theory superior to them. Don't take this wrong, I was not knocking Jackson, as Mayfield should have been a Marque matchup, but they are sitting winless. Nothing wrong with playing any of the Akron City School League teams, but those games for the most part are wins before you kick off. Let's see what the future brings, I would like to see Jackson schedule someone like Massillon, Hoban or Mentor. Jackson is large enough that they really need to move away from scheduling a D6 like CCC, unless this is considered a rivalry game, which I dont see the logic. But to your point, lets give it a few years, to see what teams do with their scheduling.
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My current sense is that the Jackson fans don't care about this game, and I believe the folks at CCC who have say in the matter aren't too interested in extending the current contract, assuming they can find an opponent that suits them. I don't know who agreed to the contract they're on now after the initial 4-year contract expired after the 2019 game. After nearly 25 years of not playing, the renewal of the series was cool, but it has run its course rather quickly.
Starkcountylegend said:
CCC is getting punched out, this will be a tough loss for them in regards to computer points. They will need to rely on help from Level 2 points, because they are not beating Jackson.
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CCC sleepwalked through the middle portion of last week's game against KIPP and was going to have to play much better to win tonight. It didn't happen. I still think they can make the playoffs with 3 wins. They'll get some L2 help in the final 2 weeks, and the bottom of the region is bad. I'll take a look after this weekend. I've been hesitant to do any math with all the cancellations, replacement opponents, and changes to everyone's divisors.
 
Benchboss1 said:
Agreed SCL. Some of these Stark County teams need to start beefing up their schedule now with the 16 team playoff format. Massillon and McKinley have started doing it. Glenoak started to do it, and they were doing it before the 16 team playoff format. I have to believe that once Garcia gets that program back to where it was, he will do it again.
Time for Hoover, Lake, Jackson and Perry to follow suit. The county would be much better off if these teams did.
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You have no clue about Hoovers schedule
 
Guardians said:
I watched the CCC vs Linsley game. That game made me create an account here. CCC was at least equal in talent if not more and they got blown out. The offense was so bad. I saw a bad coached team. I think in the 1st half I saw CCC run jet formation countless times with 2 plays coming out of it. The actual jet sweep and crash in the middle with QB or RB. It appeared Linsley was super ready for it and stuffed it most times. Their D hung around for a half and the whole team gave up. I watched the athletes on the field and Linsley was bigger for sure but they did not seem better. That offense was horrific. I heard this from the dad I was with and he warned me it is not the best O. I dont see CCC doing anything in the playoffs. Offense predictable and stale and D is alright. Plus, I got rained on but worth it to see a game. I did not see the end though. Not sure how they got 20? Garbage i assume.
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A cursory look at hudl and maxpreps would have shown you Linsly has a lot more size and talent than CCC, so I completely disagree with your third sentence. I knew Central was in big trouble in this game after checking out Linsly. Bigger, faster and more athletic than Central. Central has been running this simple offense since the last few years of Klinefelter. Shotgun single back with a WR in motion, QB draw/diver or sweep to the man in motion. They do not have a true tailback any team should focus on. They run pass plays out of the same simple motion. It works when you have a speedy man in motion like they had with Colangelo years back. They really haven’t had speed anywhere near that since their last great playoff runs ended 5 years ago. CCC has very little speed at the skill position, so a team with better than average speed should pay little attention to the motion man other than normal contain. Load up on the QB power run and play man or simple zone and with the corners up. Central just does not have the athletes in the program all the way down to their feeder schools right now. If Central has to pass to beat you they are in a very bad position. I think it was probably wise for Riley Campbell to transfer to Massillon for his senior year as he really wasn’t getting much college attention at Central and he is getting much more interest this year playing for Massillon. Hoban would have also been a good choice in this respect if he wanted to stay in a Catholic school, but he would have had to sit out the second half of the season unless his family moved. Hoban an Massillon are much bigger schools and are demographically more similar to a higher level college football team. That’s what college recruiters are looking at other than those rare freak athletes at small high schools.
 
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Buck1974 said:
A cursory look at hudl and maxpreps would have shown you Linsly has a lot more size and talent than CCC, so I completely disagree with your third sentence. I knew Central was in big trouble in this game after checking out Linsly. Bigger, faster and more athletic than Central. Central has been running this simple offense since the last few years of Klinefelter. Shotgun single back with a WR in motion, QB draw/diver or sweep to the man in motion. They do not have a true tailback any team should focus on. They run pass plays out of the same simple motion. It works when you have a speedy man in motion like they had with Colangelo years back. They really haven’t had speed anywhere near that since their last great playoff runs ended 5 years ago. CCC has very little speed at the skill position, so a team with better than average speed should pay little attention to the motion man other than normal contain. Load up on the QB power run and play man or simple zone and with the corners up. Central just does not have the athletes in the program all the way down to their feeder schools right now. If Central has to pass to beat you they are in a very bad position. I think it was probably wise for Riley Campbell to transfer to Massillon for his senior year as he really wasn’t getting much college attention at Central and he is getting much more interest this year playing for Massillon. Hoban would have also been a good choice in this respect if he wanted to stay in a Catholic school, but he would have had to sit out the second half of the season unless his family moved. Hoban an Massillon are much bigger schools and are demographically more similar to a higher level college football team. That’s what college recruiters are looking at other than those rare freak athletes at small high schools.
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Riley has 2 catches for 23 yds all yr for Massillon. How is that getting college attention? You lost all credibility.
 
Voorhees said:
Riley has 2 catches for 23 yds all yr for Massillon. How is that getting college attention? You lost all credibility.
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I must have missed where the poster said that Riley was getting much more college attention based on his stats as a receiver.
For starters, he is fantastic on the defensive side of the ball. He is also an extremely good blocker from the slot position and/or as a lead blocker. He runs quality routes and does have very good hands. There have been several occasions where he was wide open, but the qb simply missed him.

These are things you would have known if you had actually been watching the young man play this season.

I believe it is YOU who has lost all credibility.
 
I think Hoover's non-conference schedule was pretty good this year. Louisville is bad, but the other three have winning records. They even played against a D1 school Week One with Cleveland Heights.

After Week 10, Hoover will have played against 4 D1 schools, 4 D2 schools and 2 D3 schools. 7 of their 10 opponents are going to finish with winning records. That's a very strong schedule for a school Hoover's size.
 
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