Alright Falcon fans, now that the high school and college football seasons are over, it's time to talk Falcon football. Coach Parker has had two very good campaigns. In his first two years, he has been able to get the Falcons into the playoffs despite numerous key injuries and brutal schedules. The question is: Can he get us to the promise land? If it's going to happen, it's going to be this year or next year. We do lose some key players, but injuries on both sides of the ball allowed many young kids to valuable playing time. Key losses are Oliver and Hively on the d-line, Moxley, Jones, King, and Moore on the o-line, RB and MLB Mitchell WR Tyler Evans. There are also guys who contributed in the defensive backfield and as linebackers, but I think these guys here are guys that are really going to be missed. I didn't mention Byrd because he got hurt early in the season and really didn't affect the outcomes of many gams. The main guy we're losing is the greatest QB in Falcon Football History: Devin Sherwood. He was such a huge part of the offense that I don't know how we are going to replace him. It's easy to get wins when you have a QB who was clearly the best player on the field. Now he's gone, and we have to replace him. That is where I will start. Parker and company have a huge decision to make: Do they move Cam Smith to QB or play Deshawn Vaughn? Vaughn garnered a lot of post season accolades for his defensive back play. We know the guy can play. But Smith was rated as one of the best dual threat QBs for his freshman class. He is a great receiver who saved games for us with big plays. He can dominate a game. I say keep him at receiver if Vaughn or somebody else on the team can get him ball. If you don't have someone who can do that, then play him at QB so he's able to make plays. I don't know if he can be as good as Sherwood, but his athletic skills would make him difficult to contain. At running back we are loaded as long as we avoid injuries. DJ Williams and Jamell James are both DI guys. If James played this year, we would have won at least two more games. At receiver I think we are going to be better than last year. If smith plays at WR, he will be unstoppable. The tight end, Sullivan, was only a sophomore and he looked good last year. We also get back Dominic Perry and Vaughn will probably play WR if he isn't the QB. Replacing three of the five starting O-linemen is going to be tough, but the center Rocco Odom, the center, is back as is two way player Josh Fitzgerald. This is probably going to be the toughest area of the team we need to replace. That being said, there are some young players with good size. The question is "Can they play?" We should be golden on defense. Because of the injuries, six sophomores were playing, and they did great. We have Smith and Vaughn back in the secondary. Dan Evans III was also great. At MLB, Noah Thomas came in and did a really great job as a sophomore. The two defensive ends, Kylen Foster and Brian Robinson, were sophomores who really started to come into their own by the Harding Games. On the line, Fitzgerald will be a three year starter. Another year of wrestling is going to make this kid almost impossible to block. The one thing that must stay the same is running the 4/3 defense. We can't go back to the 3/4. That was terrible. When we went to the 4/3, we were more able to stop the run and get pressure on the QB. I got to say that I am excited for this team. I think there will be five or six DI guys on the team: Smith, Fitzgerald, Vaughn, James, Mitchell, and Fitzgerald. In Austintown, that is unheard of. If out schedule doesn't change, it will be tough to go undefeated, but seven or eight wins is possible. Canfield and Massillon will be the toughest teams on the schedule because they were both very young teams who had a lot of success. I'm pretty sure both of those schools think that these are their teams that can win it all. I think Wadsworth will make huge strides next year too. They are someone to watch if they are still on the schedule. Of course Harding will be tough. Jett is a great QB, but they do lose their two best receivers. Ursuline is losing its whole backfield, and those guys will not be easy to replace. Hoban will be the cream of the crop in our region, but after playing them this year and having some success, I don't think we will be intimidated by them; plus, I think we have enough talent to play with them. This might be the year that a bunch of scrappy tough kids from A-town will get it done. I'm interested to see what you guys think.
Fitch Falcons 2022
- Thread starter falguin
- Start date
Reineytiger15
Active member
Sherwood was unbelievable. I have no idea how Massillon managed to win that game last year. Come on though Fitch fans this has been up for 24 hours and no comments.
Nathanial Durant
Member
What's the schedule look like?
simkon
Well-known member
Week
1 - BYE
2 - Vs McKinley
3 - Vs GlenOak
4 - At Ursuline
5 - BYE
6 -At Massillon
7 - At Strongsville (instead of Vs Canfield)
8 - At Wadsworth
9 - Vs Boardman
10 - Vs WGH
McMurphy
Well-known member
But why would they pick up Strongsville, in the place of having the return home game with Canfield?
Strongsville is in a predominantly D1 conference. They play Mentor, Brunswick, Medina, Solon, Brecksville, Cleveland Heights, and Euclid. If they come out of it with four or five wins, beating them would give huge computer points. I don't like dropping Canfield because I wanted them to redeem themselves, but this will be a big test, and a win will give a lot of points. There's probably a reason like some scheduling conflict that got in the way of Fitch getting a home game against Canfield, or maybe, Canfield didn't want to play Fitch again. Who knows.
Great schedule! It's the early 2000's all over again for the Fitch-Harding game as it's moved back to week 10. I'm sure that both of our programs would love more similiarites between now & then as well.
McMurphy
Well-known member
Canfield will probably win at least 7 or 8 games, or even more. So even though they are D3, the points would be just as much, compared to Strongsville.
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simkon
Well-known member
Canfield definitely didn't back out and Canfield had no scheduling conflict, Fitch pulling out is actually making Canfield rearrange their schedule and really scramble to fill out their schedule now. Canfield will take any reasonable game they can get aside from against the certain parochial schools they refuse to schedule (can't imagine who that could be... hmm...). As it stands it looks like Canfield will have another Senate League team or two on the schedule again this year unfortunately.
Yeah Canfield will definitely be worth more computer points than Strongsville. Still a solid opponent though.
Epic gaming
New member
I think Fitch will be good this year
330Football
Well-known member
Canfield is a team theylll likely lose to and get no points. The move made a lot of sense
McMurphy
Well-known member
Heard a couple different stories of who backed out. So who knows
tig62
Well-known member
Last I heard, Massillon has weeks 7, 8, & 9 open.
330Football
Well-known member
I’ve heard a couple different stories too, so find whatever is most even and that’s probably it
simkon
Well-known member
Canfield doesn't need any games those weeks and probably would not be willing to play the Tigers anyways.
I am not sure what exactly happened or the reasoning behind it, but Canfield would have no reason to back out. If Canfield was going to be down next year then that would be a different story. Fitch may have had a good or valid reason to back out or whatever the case actually is...
DaBungles21
Member
I’d love to see Fitch play the Pups week 2! My son graduated from McKinley in 2009, and my wife and I moved away to see him play in college. Now that we are back in the area, I’m ecstatic to see that game in person again
This game will be tough. I remember last year when McK was drilled by Mentor everyone thought that McK was going to be terrible. McK did a great job getting it together and then going on and having a good season. I imagine this will be a really tough contest for the Falcons.
Canfield was the team that backed out
simkon
Well-known member
I can't think of any reason Canfield would want to back out, there is no logical reason I can think of. I can think of quite a few reasons Fitch would want to back out, but not a single reason it would be to Canfield's advantage or benefit. If Canfield did infact back out it would be the most perplexing and perhaps the stupidest decision they ever made. In light of the fact they are returning their QB and easily handled Fitch last season, they would have no reason to duck or be afraid of Fitch.
I don't think anyone is ducking anyone. Scheduling conflicts come up or one team doesn't like the terms of the agreement, so the team backs out. Down the road these teams will meet again. It's a shame though because both teams appear to be loaded this year and that game would be a battle.
McMurphy
Well-known member
Yes, I posted this when I heard the first story that it was Fitch that backed out. But since I have also heard that Canfield has backed out for some reason. So different stories. Honestly I don't know why either team would want to back out, but there must be some in house issue for the reason
Oh well. There isn't anything to do about the Canfield game. My major question for the season is "Who should replace Sherwood?" When he beat out Lescovak(spelling) as a sophomore, I was shocked; but after watching him play, it was obvious that he was special. If he was two inches taller, he would definitely be a P5 player. I'm still mad as YSU for not giving him an offer. So who is going to step in? If Sherwood was a senior last year, I'm sure it would have been Cam Smith. He looked like the guy who was going to take over. Now I am not sure. It looks like it's going to be Deshawn Vaughn. The issue with either of these guys starting is that they are both big time players on defense. Can we risk playing them both ways or using them like the coaching staff used Sherwood. I don't think either of these guys are the passers that Sherwood was, but they are both a step faster. Smith is bigger, and that may make him better suited for standing up to the pounding going both ways is going to bring. One thing that shocked me was that Smith didn't receive any state recognition. He made so many big plays for us last year. I think when he played running back that hurt his stats, and it cost him. But he was just great in so many games. He saved the Wadsworth game. You just knew when we needed a big play, Smith was going to make it. But finding a QB is going to be tough even though we have two good options.
330Football
Well-known member
Sometimes playing different schools and dropping a game just makes more sense to schools not that they’re “scared”
YtownJohnny
Well-known member
Year in and year out Fitch has much more talent, speed, and athleticism than Canfield. Last year was definitely an abbreviation of the teams due to injuries. Fitch wins eight out of ten games decade in and decade out.