Battle of Pickerington.

...and have two state titles...

2010. Regional Finals
2011. Runner-up
2012. Regional quarter finals
2013. Regional quarter finals
2014. Regional quarter finals
2015. Playoffs
2016. Final Four
2017. State Champs
2018. Final Four
2019. State Champs
2020. Runner up
 
Marysville beat Pick North handily Pick Central lost. Maybe Pick Central isn’t who everybody thinks
Maybe you are right. But i dont think many would take that bet.
PN (and St.X) showed that clearly PC can be beat so its not impossible.
 
Any good games coming up at home for either team? I’d like to try to catch them both again sometime.
Nick,

Central's schedule is pretty soft from this point forward. They were frontloaded. Their toughest game left is probably this upcoming Friday at home vs Hilliard Bradley. North softens up as well with their 2 toughest remaining games at the end of the year 10/15 home vs New Albany and then week 10 at Gahanna.
 
Marysville beat Pick North handily Pick Central lost. Maybe Pick Central isn’t who everybody thinks

Yea, but Marysville jumped up 14-0 very quickly and North pretty much quit. North is very offensively challenged and had no way back at all against that Monarch defense. That being said, I saw both games and I was actually more impressed w/Marysville though and I'm a Pickerington Grad.
 
Marysville ran the opening kick back and had a pick six and two other fumbles…. In the first half. They play again, that game is different.

thing about marysville they play 1000x harder than the d1 squad of pick central
 
Ryan Day said it best this week. It's either the scheme, the coaching, or the players. Players - The defense is as good as it gets. No problems there. The offense has everything it needs to be successful. The offensive line is good. They're big and strong. And I hear that they do have some speed ( I heard they have a kid on the team that finished 3rd in the state meet in the 100, I can't verify that though). But if all you do is what the defense expects every time you're not going to get a push. Defenses put 9, 10, sometimes 11 men in the box because they know what's coming. A NFL line can't block that many people. These kids do play hard. Scheme - you've got to make the defense play honest. If you're in tight formation, how about throwing the ball on 1st or 2nd down sometime? And how about adding some slants or dig patterns for the wideouts? Central seems to run two pass plays - a three level flood route (with a roll out) or a bomb to a tight end every time they pass the ball. You don't need to be a great defense if you know that's all they're going to do. Coaching - The coaches are probably great guys. But they do a disservice to the kids if they don't put them in a position to win. Example - nobody is talking about what happened after PN tied the score. PC went down the field to the 15 yard line with less than a minute left and one timeout. 1st down - quarterback bootlegs to the left. He gets tackled in bounds after gaining a few yards. But the coaches let the clock run down to 9 seconds before they called a timeout and then asked their kicker to make a field goal from a tough angle and he missed. All they had to do was run up and spike the ball on 2nd down, run the ball to the center of the field on 3rd down, call timeout and kick an easy field goal to win it. My point is, as a coach, you have to be prepared for those situations and put your kids in the best position to win. Btw, I was there when they blew that game at Lancaster. Crenshaw panicked and it cost them. But they didn't give up on him and look what happened with him. I'm not ready to give up on the rb yet. But he needs to be coached up. I'm not a PC hater. I just want them to do better. They would have more than 2 titles if they just stepped it up with the offensive coaching.
 
Ryan Day said it best this week. It's either the scheme, the coaching, or the players. Players - The defense is as good as it gets. No problems there. The offense has everything it needs to be successful. The offensive line is good. They're big and strong. And I hear that they do have some speed ( I heard they have a kid on the team that finished 3rd in the state meet in the 100, I can't verify that though). But if all you do is what the defense expects every time you're not going to get a push. Defenses put 9, 10, sometimes 11 men in the box because they know what's coming. A NFL line can't block that many people. These kids do play hard. Scheme - you've got to make the defense play honest. If you're in tight formation, how about throwing the ball on 1st or 2nd down sometime? And how about adding some slants or dig patterns for the wideouts? Central seems to run two pass plays - a three level flood route (with a roll out) or a bomb to a tight end every time they pass the ball. You don't need to be a great defense if you know that's all they're going to do. Coaching - The coaches are probably great guys. But they do a disservice to the kids if they don't put them in a position to win. Example - nobody is talking about what happened after PN tied the score. PC went down the field to the 15 yard line with less than a minute left and one timeout. 1st down - quarterback bootlegs to the left. He gets tackled in bounds after gaining a few yards. But the coaches let the clock run down to 9 seconds before they called a timeout and then asked their kicker to make a field goal from a tough angle and he missed. All they had to do was run up and spike the ball on 2nd down, run the ball to the center of the field on 3rd down, call timeout and kick an easy field goal to win it. My point is, as a coach, you have to be prepared for those situations and put your kids in the best position to win. Btw, I was there when they blew that game at Lancaster. Crenshaw panicked and it cost them. But they didn't give up on him and look what happened with him. I'm not ready to give up on the rb yet. But he needs to be coached up. I'm not a PC hater. I just want them to do better. They would have more than 2 titles if they just stepped it up with the offensive coaching.
You nailed it. Last year, I thought PC was playing possum during the regular season wrt to NOT passing the ball to the most talented receiver in Central Ohio (if not the state)... But then they still rarely even attempted to get him the ball in the playoffs... Instead they opted to use him as a running back. Then again, how do you argue w/ Jay's success??? Realistically, they may have gotten a 3rd title w/ a better offensive scheme, but no more than that. PC Football: Bringing back the 1970s. Three yards at a time...
 
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Ryan Day said it best this week. It's either the scheme, the coaching, or the players. Players - The defense is as good as it gets. No problems there. The offense has everything it needs to be successful. The offensive line is good. They're big and strong. And I hear that they do have some speed ( I heard they have a kid on the team that finished 3rd in the state meet in the 100, I can't verify that though). But if all you do is what the defense expects every time you're not going to get a push. Defenses put 9, 10, sometimes 11 men in the box because they know what's coming. A NFL line can't block that many people. These kids do play hard. Scheme - you've got to make the defense play honest. If you're in tight formation, how about throwing the ball on 1st or 2nd down sometime? And how about adding some slants or dig patterns for the wideouts? Central seems to run two pass plays - a three level flood route (with a roll out) or a bomb to a tight end every time they pass the ball. You don't need to be a great defense if you know that's all they're going to do. Coaching - The coaches are probably great guys. But they do a disservice to the kids if they don't put them in a position to win. Example - nobody is talking about what happened after PN tied the score. PC went down the field to the 15 yard line with less than a minute left and one timeout. 1st down - quarterback bootlegs to the left. He gets tackled in bounds after gaining a few yards. But the coaches let the clock run down to 9 seconds before they called a timeout and then asked their kicker to make a field goal from a tough angle and he missed. All they had to do was run up and spike the ball on 2nd down, run the ball to the center of the field on 3rd down, call timeout and kick an easy field goal to win it. My point is, as a coach, you have to be prepared for those situations and put your kids in the best position to win. Btw, I was there when they blew that game at Lancaster. Crenshaw panicked and it cost them. But they didn't give up on him and look what happened with him. I'm not ready to give up on the rb yet. But he needs to be coached up. I'm not a PC hater. I just want them to do better. They would have more than 2 titles if they just stepped it up with the offensive coaching.
Very good observation. PN had a very good defensive scheme. PC had opportunities that they were not able to take advantage of. I have been following Tiger football since 1999 when I moved to Pickerington. One thing I can say is Central is always built to win the league and correct what needs to be corrected during the regular season. The last time Central lost during the regular season was to Groveport in 2019. They stormed the field much like PN did. But when they met in the playoffs Central had made the adjustments from the first meeting and convincingly sent Groveport home for the rest of the season. PN has bragging rights for now. Enjoy the gift you were given. Because if these two meet in the playoffs this year the results could be similar to Groveport's 2019 playoff outcome.

And Troy Lane is the young man you were referring to. Yes he is a junior and he is DB for PC.
 
Very good observation. PN had a very good defensive scheme. PC had opportunities that they were not able to take advantage of. I have been following Tiger football since 1999 when I moved to Pickerington. One thing I can say is Central is always built to win the league and correct what needs to be corrected during the regular season. The last time Central lost during the regular season was to Groveport in 2019. They stormed the field much like PN did. But when they met in the playoffs Central had made the adjustments from the first meeting and convincingly sent Groveport home for the rest of the season. PN has bragging rights for now. Enjoy the gift you were given. Because if these two meet in the playoffs this year the results could be similar to Groveport's 2019 playoff outcome.

And Troy Lane is the young man you were referring to. Yes he is a junior and he is DB for PC.
Thanks for the info dawg. Maybe they should try the Lane kid on offense. We'll see.
 
Thanks for the info dawg. Maybe they should try the Lane kid on offense. We'll see.
That could very well happen. But the addition of Josh Harlan ( who has not played since 8th grade ) gives PC a legit speedster in the backfield.

People have to remember there were a lot of parts that needed to be replaced this year for PC. QB, RB ( 2 ), WR ( 2 ), 2 OL. QB being the biggest adjustment to the offense. Once the QB position gets settled this year the offense will be very powerful. This happens every year having to replace great players. But having to replace Crenshaw and Wallace who have been there for the past 4 years will take some time to get use to each other. They started to gel in the second half of last weeks game. By the time the playoffs arrives PC will be well established and the offense will be much better.
 
I didn't bother going to the PC-Newark game... Did they pass any? Is Harlan now the starter? He's not listed in the program. Is he bigger/better than Kamara? Is he a fumbler? Next week's game could be equally lopsided, but I'll go just out of curiosity and to check out CC's facilities.
I went to PN's game vs Westerville Central. PN has improved but they may still be the worst 5-1 team in the Region. Can't wait to see their game vs. New Albany in a few weeks.
 
I didn't bother going to the PC-Newark game... Did they pass any? Is Harlan now the starter? He's not listed in the program. Is he bigger/better than Kamara? Is he a fumbler? Next week's game could be equally lopsided, but I'll go just out of curiosity and to check out CC's facilities.
I went to PN's game vs Westerville Central. PN has improved but they may still be the worst 5-1 team in the Region. Can't wait to see their game vs. New Albany in a few weeks.
Central Crossing's defense is really bad this year. No size whatsoever and cannot tackle. Lancaster ran for ~405 on them, Friday.
 
One of the things that I think is key to the tigers success each year is that the scheme is evolving as the year goes on. We might not always be at championship level from day 1, but Jay and the coaches always seem to have things ready to go come playoffs.
I saw no evidence of PC having an effective offensive scheme-- or any kind of nuance or "Plan B", in the final last year-- perhaps Jay was using last year as a prelude to prepare for this year? But then, I read the stories of this year's "Battle of Pickerington", and it sounds like exactly the same unimaginative, ineffective (against similar talent) offensive scheme as last year.
 
I didn't bother going to the PC-Newark game... Did they pass any? Is Harlan now the starter? He's not listed in the program. Is he bigger/better than Kamara? Is he a fumbler? Next week's game could be equally lopsided, but I'll go just out of curiosity and to check out CC's facilities.
I went to PN's game vs Westerville Central. PN has improved but they may still be the worst 5-1 team in the Region. Can't wait to see their game vs. New Albany in a few weeks.
PC passed a few times: Mantooth/Gillison TD. A stable of RBs ran the ball. Harlan had two TDs, one for 64 yards. Harlan played QB his freshman year, has decent hands but anyone can fumble. Am also looking forward to the PN/New Albany game.
 
PC passed a few times: Mantooth/Gillison TD. A stable of RBs ran the ball. Harlan had two TDs, one for 64 yards. Harlan played QB his freshman year, has decent hands but anyone can fumble. Am also looking forward to the PN/New Albany game.
Me as well- the PN New Albany game should let us know about both teams.
I was at the PN/ west central game as well. Didn’t realize they had 0 senior starters on offense and 3 on defense… it’s like the young kids play down to their competition… then in the 3rd quarter decided to turn it on
 
I like PN's young QB. Big kid, 6-4 195. Has a bit of a 'Philip Rivers' hitch in his passing motion, but is effective. He's supposedly already a D-1 recruit... Hopefully they will trust him a bit more to get the ball down the field... so many passes out in the flats (a couple drops actually looked like laterals or backwards passes. I like it when PN challenges/beats PC (even though PC is 'my' school). I will say this - PC and PN coaches are about the most unimaginative play callers around (given the athleticism at their disposal). If it's 3rd and long, you know the old QB draw up the middle is coming... Just to spice it though, they'll both spread everyone out and empty the backfield. Then gain a yard and punt.
 
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