Week 10: Austintown Fitch (5-3) vs Warren Harding (5-4)

Red-Lep said:
I do believe WWR and Harding were in a league together as SVC foes in the 80's and a league with Niles, Hubbard and Howland right before the merger of Warren schools. Great rivals are more than teams playing on the field, it is the communities involvement in the game. The people who live in Massillon and Canton think about that game all year. They talk about past and future games. NP and Dover would never want their game played on any other date than week 10. The Fed had to make accommodations to Canton for the Massillon game, remember when Boardman and Fitch made 8 teams? Who in the area carries that kind of passion for an opponent ?
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Was Harding in the SVC in the 80’s? Not sure, but their rivalry was never based on them being in the same conference. Heck, I can’t even imagine Harding & Nikes having anything resembling a “rivalry,” but that definitely wasn’t the case in the old days. They played in front of sold out crowds on Thanksgiving! Goes to show you how much times have changed.

You just addressed your own point about Ohio State though. They’ll never be thirsty enough to join the SEC if it means giving up their rivalry with Michigan. Special accommodations will have to be made for that to ever happen.

As far as the “passion” in the area is concerned, today’s generation was raised completely differently than previous ones. 20 years ago today, literally the entire city of Warren carpooled to Cincinnati for a week 9 Harding-Elder ? game at The Pit. Standing room only crowd over 4 hours away! Harding couldn’t even sell out Minersl Ridge’s away side and I promise you that this year’s squad has at least 3 of the 25 best players that we’ve ever had on it.

Look at the crowd from 2001…
100C9149-F2B4-481C-8F1E-52FDBD3140CC.jpeg
 
Worm02 said:
Was Harding in the SVC in the 80’s? Not sure, but their rivalry was never based on them being in the same conference. Heck, I can’t even imagine Harding & Nikes having anything resembling a “rivalry,” but that definitely wasn’t the case in the old days. They played in front of sold out crowds on Thanksgiving! Goes to show you how much times have changed.

You just addressed your own point about Ohio State though. They’ll never be thirsty enough to join the SEC if it means giving up their rivalry with Michigan. Special accommodations will have to be made for that to ever happen.

As far as the “passion” in the area is concerned, today’s generation was raised completely differently than previous ones. 20 years ago today, literally the entire city of Warren carpooled to Cincinnati for a week 9 Harding-Elder ? game at The Pit. Standing room only crowd over 4 hours away! Harding couldn’t even sell out Minersl Ridge’s away side and I promise you that this year’s squad has at least 3 of the 25 best players that we’ve ever had on it.

Look at the crowd from 2001…View attachment 22561
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Worm,

Harding was a member of the SVC with WWR from 1982-85. As Red-Lep alluded to the two of them and Howland left the SVC following the 85/86 school year and along with Niles & Hubbard formed the All-American Conference, not to be confused with the old AAC that Harding and Niles were members of. Niles was a charter member of the SVC but left following the 1957 season. Hubbard was also a chharter member but they left following the 79 season. The Dragons rejoined the league briefly from 1982-84. WWR was a member from 1979-85 & Howland from 1975-85.

As far as attendance goes I don't think any team draws remotely close to what they used to. Of course Harding rejoined the SVC after the merger with WWR.
 
YTOWN said:
Worm,

Harding was a member of the SVC with WWR from 1982-85. As Red-Lep alluded to the two of them and Howland left the SVC following the 85/86 school year and along with Niles & Hubbard formed the All-American Conference, not to be confused with the old AAC that Harding and Niles were members of. Niles was a charter member of the SVC but left following the 1957 season. Hubbard was also a chharter member but they left following the 79 season. The Dragons rejoined the league briefly from 1982-84. WWR was a member from 1979-85 & Howland from 1975-85.

As far as attendance goes I don't think any team draws remotely close to what they used to. Of course Harding rejoined the SVC after the merger with WWR.
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The AAC league you referenced from the 80s above was the All American "Athletic" Conference. Not the All American Conference.
 
FootballQueen said:
The AAC league you referenced from the 80s above was the All American "Athletic" Conference. Not the All American Conference.
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You are correct. My bad. I seem to remember the old AAC guys complaining about a new league being called that. Was it the merger of the old MAC & TAC that was called the All American Conference? In any case good catch. Thanks.
 
YTOWN said:
You are correct. My bad. I seem to remember the old AAC guys complaining about a new league being called that. Was it the merger of the old MAC & TAC that was called the All American Conference? In any case good catch. Thanks.
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You were pretty close, just missing one more A....lol. Take care.
 
YTOWN said:
You are correct. My bad. I seem to remember the old AAC guys complaining about a new league being called that. Was it the merger of the old MAC & TAC that was called the All American Conference? In any case good catch. Thanks.
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Yes the "new" AAC was the merger of the Old TAC-8 and MAC
 
YTOWN said:
Worm,

Harding was a member of the SVC with WWR from 1982-85. As Red-Lep alluded to the two of them and Howland left the SVC following the 85/86 school year and along with Niles & Hubbard formed the All-American Conference, not to be confused with the old AAC that Harding and Niles were members of. Niles was a charter member of the SVC but left following the 1957 season. Hubbard was also a chharter member but they left following the 79 season. The Dragons rejoined the league briefly from 1982-84. WWR was a member from 1979-85 & Howland from 1975-85.

As far as attendance goes I don't think any team draws remotely close to what they used to. Of course Harding rejoined the SVC after the merger with WWR.
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I've been collecting articles & box scores via microfilm at the library for a while now (research was slowed down by the pandemic last year) and I have 80, 81, 82, and 89. I see the games with Hubbard from the early 80's. Was wondering what that arrangement was all about, but I suppose that I should've read the articles more, lol.
 
Worm02 said:
I've been collecting articles & box scores via microfilm at the library for a while now (research was slowed down by the pandemic last year) and I have 80, 81, 82, and 89. I see the games with Hubbard from the early 80's. Was wondering what that arrangement was all about, but I suppose that I should've read the articles more, lol.
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What I remember…former Harding State Champion HC Ed Glass left to be the Hubbard HC and AD. He was behind scheduling the game.
The ‘80 game was my senior year and it was a close game.
 
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OhioGuy4 said:
Yes the "new" AAC was the merger of the Old TAC-8 and MAC
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Thank you sir.

I was sure that one of those newer leagues had the "audacity" to call themselves that. :) I guess I conflated the two leagues as they did have some common members.
 
Not real confident about tonight,will take the Falcons best effort if the season to win. Despite the adversity of the last 5 weeks, just too many mistakes and sloppy play. Prove me wrong gentlemen. Good luck to both teams!
 
Why are we always flat? We had some breaks early but didn't capitalize and that is the difference. Harding capitalized on our mistakes. Sherwood is off. He is missing open receivers and not making good decisions with the ball. Everything is developing too slowly. You have to hit fast teams quickly, and we are not doing that. I think we can turn it around, but we need to play with more intensity. Harding is playing very hard, and we are going through the motions.
 
Harding had no interest in winning tonight. Worst play calling all season and that’s saying a lot.

Congrats Falcons.
 
Harding is not a team I would want to meet in the playoffs. There is a lot of talent on that team. Things just weren't clicking the whole gaem for them.
 
Sherwood played a much better second half, and his receivers came up big. Williams and Mitchell ran hard too. I did like how we tightened up on defense. By moving the ends in we were able to control the line of scrimmage in the second half. Good win tonight. I am very proud of this team. We've had a lot of adversity this year. Now comes the playoffs. It's too bad we aren't at full strength because teams are a little down this year in the region. But, we may be able to make some noise because of the QB and some solid receivers. The young sophomores who are playing have matured and are starting to make plays. It's going to be interesting. There doesn't seem to be one team that is just heads and shoulders above the rest.
 
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