After the great games last Friday night, it's been awfully quiet on this board this week. Hard to believe but by 10:00 PM on Friday night, the regular season will be half over. Football season goes by so quickly.
So let's talk about what we learned last week and take a look at the Power Rankings heading into Week 5
1. Fairless (4-0, 1-0) (unchanged) - After giving up just 13 points in the first three games of the season, the Falcons remained unbeaten but were pushed to the brink by Northwest and
needed a trick play to set up the game winning field goal in a 31-28 victory in PAC Game of the Year candidate #1 on the road last week. Northwest scored 28 after being held to just six points a week earlier against Louisville. Going into Week 5, it's still hard to tell how good this team is. Upper echelon PAC good? Absolutely. 2022 repeat champion good? We'll find out. But probably not this week. The Falcons should come out of Friday night 5-0 after hosting Orrville. But unblemished, they remain atop the Power Rankings for another week.
2. CVCA (3-1, 1-0) (+1)
- If the Fairless-Northwest game was a PAC Game of the Year candidate, then the CVCA-Canton South game has to be added to the list. A game of massive swings. 15-0 Royals in the first quarter. Then a turnover on the goal line sparked South, who outscored CVCA 36-7 in the second and third quarters. But it was 20-0 CVCA after that. Add five more touchdowns and a got-to-have-it 2-point conversion from Kyle Snider and CVCA has the ground game working to near-perfection. Up next: Triway. Then Fairless. Then Northwest. The Royals were 3-1 a year ago, before the gauntlet caused them to stumble to a 5-5 regular season finish. Will 2022 be different? We'll see on Friday night down in Wayne County.
3. Canton South (2-2, 0-1) (-1) - Poochie Snyder was brilliant last Friday night. 20-38-341-0 with three touchdowns passing - two to Xavier WIlliams, (who torched the Royals for 4 catches and 156 yards receiving). Snyder added another touchdown on the ground. Unfortunately for Poochie, he was also the Wildcats' leading rusher, with seven carries for 38 yards. CVCA shut down the South running game with everyone else going a combined 13 carriers for 24 yards. South is dynamic. They can put up points in a hurry. But they couldn't close out the Royals because they couldn't run the ball in the fourth quarter with a lead. South will win a lot of games and they should get PAC win #1 this week against Manchester.
4. Triway (3-1, 1-0) (unchanged) - Manhandled Tuslaw 44-14 last Friday night and the home cooking continues in this week's PAC Game of the Week against CVCA, the fourth home game in five weeks for the Titans. Zack Miller tossed six touchdown passes last week and passed for 371 yards going 35-46 though the air, and the Titans defense harassed Tuslaw all night. It's safe to say the Titans are every bit the contender they were a year ago. With a plethora of receivers including Easton Barnard, Riley Gumber, Cale Drown, Cooper Barton and Jaxon Hackett, there are threats all over the field. It should be another high scoring affair this week with CVCA coming to town.
5. Northwest (2-2, 0-1) (unchanged) - The Indians reversed the scoring trend and put up 28 against Fairless with Kyler Miraglia rushing for a game-high 171 yards on 30 carries for the Indians. But it wasn't quite enough to prevent a second straight loss for Northwest. But the production bodes well for upcoming games, including this week's contest against Tuslaw, which should get Northwest back above .500, followed by a game next week against Orrville.
6. Orrville (2-2, 1-0) (+1)
- OK. We expected the Red Riders to pick up the "W" against Manchester. But did anyone see 41-8 coming? Seems like Orrville is developing some new stars. Asiah Smith has six touchdowns rushing in the last two weeks and went for 117 yards and two of those touchdowns on 15 carries against Manchester. And Saywer Hamsher passed for 211 yards, tossed two TD’s and rushed for another at QB. Definite signs of life to go with a two-game winning streak. Is it enough to upset Fairless this week? Probably not. But it should get the Falcons' attention. And everyone else's attention too.
7. Tuslaw (2-2, 0-1) (-1)- The positives: Troy Harbeitner rushed for 83 yards and a TD and passed for another 75 yards at QB against Triway. And Tommy Snyder took another ball 61 yards to the house. But that's about it. It was a coming back to earth event for the Mustangs against Triway as the PAC losing streak reached 16 games, dating back to October 2019. A home date with Northwest this Friday before Manchester pays a visit in Week 6.
8. Manchester (0-4, 0-1) (unchanged)
- Canton South's JV was shut out 22-0 against CVCA last Saturday. They won't be shutout on Friday night against Manchester. And that's after Poochie Snyder sits for most of the second half. Better days are ahead for the Panthers. Because it can't get much worse. Can it?
Chime in ... let's get the chatter going again. Just over 48 hours til the games begin again!