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The Monroe Central Seminoles were written off by many early in the season when they began the campaign with a three-game losing streak. Don’t look now, but the Seminoles have now won three in a row and are doing impressively.
The thing to keep in mind about the Seminoles is they are just a few plays away from being 6-0. While, that’s not the case we understand, but they lost in overtime loss to Crestview in the opener; they led Shadyside in the second half and had River on the ropes.
“We knew going in that our schedule was going to be tough,” said Monroe veteran head coach Jay Circosta. “Now looking at it, the first three teams we played are a combined 16-2 and all of those teams will probably be in the playoffs.”
The Seminoles’ fourth game was by no means a pushover seeing they had to battle a then undefeated Caldwell outfit.
However, the Seminoles stuck with the plan. They started to cut down on tunovers, played a lot better defense and have been able to get several people involved with the running game as well as receiving solid quarterback play from Derek-London Dierkes.
“Our kids deserve a lot of credit for the way they stuck together as a team,” Circosta said. “It’s always a lot easier when you win because nobody is saying anything. But, when you are losing, everyone’s got the answers. The kids got tired of hearing about good efforts and then coming up short.”
The Seminoles road won’t be easy this week when they travel to Sarahsville to meet a 3-3 Shenandoah outfit, which has also lost to some impressive company in the likes of Union Local and Harrison Central.
“They have an outstanding quarterback (Cody Johnson) and they play a tough schedule, so we know we’ll have to play well to win.”
The Seminoles’ offense is triggered by Dierkes, but leading the way on the ground is freshman Tyler Kinchen who leads the team with 460 yards rushing. Mikey Habig and Jesse Headley have also come up big along with Kyle Jorris who has caught 22 balls for 254 yards.
“We’ve continued to improve in the running game,” Circosta said. “That was one of our biggest problems last year was the fact that we couldn’t run the ball as we would have liked. Kinchen has been quite a find for us. He’s really given us some life in the running game.”
PURPLE POWER
It seems each week in this space, we’re writing about how well the Martins Ferry Purple Riders are playing. Well, they keep on earning their way into this column.
The Riders left Buckeye 8 play week and went to Zanesville to meet West Muskingum for what could prove to be the final time as the two-year contract dries up with this latest meeting.
The Purple of Coach Dave Bruney will venture into Muskingum Valley League in Week 9 with a road trip to New Concord to meet John Glenn. That will be the final meeting between those two as well since the MVL schools will meet the ECOL members in non-league games, meaning the Riders are in search of two games.
Anyway, that’ll be another column or story for another day.
The Riders continued their torrid play by racking up 491 infantry yards on just 41 carries, which if you do the math works out to a robust 11.9 yards a rush.
We’re all well-aware of what guys like Jeremy Murray, Rawn Driver, Marquis Bass and Patrick Allen can do with the football in their hands, but how about the blocking. Senior Matt Shreve is more than a
The Riders in the trenches – who according to Bruney have gotten better with each passing game – consist of Jordan Burress, Dan Rhodes, Steve Woodford, Jared Hanson, Dalton Leach and Courtney Henry.
“We are really pleased with those guys,” Bruney said. “They’ve continued to get better, and they are doing the little things linemen have to do to create space for our backs. All of our backs have a pretty healthy per carry average, and when that’s the case, you know the line is doing a good job.”
ST. JOHN SUCCESS
Believe it or not, the St. John Central Fighting Irish are on a two-game winning streak. Scott Holt, his staff and players deserve major kudos.
The Irish had been the area whipping boy for several consecutive seasons and they’ve had their problems thus far, but the way they’ve hung in there, continued to work and now they are 2-4 on the season.
Lets be honest, things had gotten pretty bad on Guernsey Street for the Irish. They hadn’t won prior to their victory over Bishop Donahue since Sept. 16 of 2006 at Marion Catholic.
One of the most impressive facts about last week’s win at Van was the way the Irish went about it. They were trailing, 21-0, only to score a touchdown in the game’s waning moments and Holt rolled the dice and went for the two-point conversion and the win.
You’ve got to love and admire that call. Lets be honest, you just rode in a school bus nearly 200 miles and a shade over four hours, why not go for the win? You’ve got nothing to lose, so why not roll the dice and go for the two-point conversion?
The Irish could very well make it three straight wins this week when struggling Valley hosts the Irish Friday.
On a side note about the Irish football team, Athletic Director Donnie Murray informed us Monday morning that the Green’s game at Nelson Field on Oct. 11 had been pushed back to a 2:30 p.m. start rather than the usual 12:30 kickoff.
STREAK ENDS
It’s sad to say, but all good things come to an end at some point. Such was the case for the Beallsville 25-game regular-season winning streak last Friday at Caldwell.
A lot of pundits had pointed to that game on the Blue Devils’ card as one of the few possible speed bumps along the way toward a third straight perfect season. Caldwell was a physical team, which had won its first three of the season before dropping two straight.
The Blue Devils actually out-gained the Redskins in terms of yardage, but they committed six turnovers, which is something that’s been highly uncharacteristic of teams under the Dave Caldwell watch.
The Devils should get back to their winning ways this week when they make the lengthy road trip up the river to meet Toronto. They are on the road the following week at another one of those games that could be a speed bump in Bridgeport.
According to the unofficial, OHSAA computer poll, the Blue Devils dropped to 10th after the weekend’s action. Beallsville can’t afford to stub its toe any further seeing its remaining opponents have a combined record of 9-13. Points are of the premium for Big Blue.
BIG WIN
Union Local needed a win and it got one. It got one in a big way. The Jets cranked up the offense once again in a 40-13 romp over Edison. The Jets rebounded nicely after their humbling 60-18 setback at Martins Ferry in Week 5.
The offense was strong again thanks to the leadership and play-making abilties of Jordan Barbina who accounted for all six UL touchdowns. He tallied 323 yards passing and added 153 on the ground. For the season, Barbina has passed for 1,677 yards and 17 touchdowns for the season. He’s ran for 529 yards and 13 more scores.
Coach Mark Cisar and his trusted coaching staff have been able to get the ball into their playmakers hands all season. The likes of Brandon Nicholes, Kyle Blackman, Joby Barr and the list goes on and on.
The Jets find themselves in the thick of title chases in both the Buckeye 8 and OVAC. Neither of which has ever been captured by the Jets. They are also currently sitting in third in the unofficial OHSAA computer rankings and qualifying for the playoffs for the second straight year is the ultimate goal according to Cisar.
However, the Jets have nary a breather left on the schedule, beginning with this week’s Saturday afternoon roadtrip to Nelson Field to meet Bellaire. They then have home games with Harrison Central and Buckeye Local before meeting arch-rival Barnesville in the land of the pumpkin.
It’ll be interesting to see the next three weeks in Jets’ land. Bellaire is much like the Jets with a finesse style of play, whereas the Huskies and Panthers are physical, blue-collar teams. Similar in many ways to Martins Ferry. Lets not lose sight of the fact that Buckeye beat the Riders and Harrison fell in overtime to them.
PICK YOUR POISON
The Shadyside Tigers have long been known as a passing team. However, the stats after each game wouldn’t necessarily indicate that however.
In the Tigers’ latest win – a 34-14 verdict over Barnesville – they ran for 238 yards and three scores and also scored twice on special teams. That’s the beauty of what Shadyside can do. It makes you prepare for everything and that’s exactly the game plan Ty Fleming wants to employ.
Shadyside’s proven times this year that quarterback David Bonar is more than capable of leading the way. They hit you with the power running game with Johnny Merryman and the speed option of Brandon Elliott. Lets not lose sight of the fact that the Tigers have a homerun hitter in the special teams with junior Dylan Kimble and senior Nathan Butts – who’s been banged up at times this season – also has the capability of going the distance at anytime.
TORONTO’S PROBLEMS
The Toronto Red Knights have a storied football tradition. However, 2008 will be a season the Red Knights look to forget soon after Week 10.
Despite a myriad of rumors swirling that the Knights – who are battling a numbers problem – would shut the team down for the season after this past week’s loss to Steubenville Catholic, the Knights will go on with the remainder of their season.
Toronto’s athletic director David Criss confirmed for me late last week that the Red Knights would finish their season and he wanted to dispell any rumors that could be going around.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH CREEK?
To answer that question, we’re really not sure. Coming into the season, the Redskins had especially high aspirations, since beating two far inferior teams in the second and third weeks of the season, Coach Andrew Connor’s squad has fallen on hard times.
Somethings are a given of late. The Redskins are going to start the season 0-1 because they open with Steubenville. While they may have closed the gap some, there’s still light years between the two programs. The Redskins regrouped well last year and were one of the more formidable, physical foes for most teams.
However, this year it’s totally different. Since being 2-1, the Redskins have gone in the tank. A lot of that might have to do with the fact that they’ve yet to recover from their Week 4 loss to Union Local. The Redskins led 21-0 only to see the Jets score the next and final 33.
The following week Buckeye Local clobbered the Redskins and last week St. Clairsville, which has struggled to score at times this season, hung 35 on the Redskins in the first half.
The road gets no easier the next two weeks as a road trip to Martins Ferry and a visit from Harrison Central are on the horizon before finishing at Bellaire and hosting Edison.
SLAPPED IN THE MOUTH
No one got slapped literally obviously, but the mighty Steubenville Big Red traveled to the state capital and blanked one of the most well-known parochial schools in the state. Big Red – now winners of 56 regular season games in a row – handed Columbus Bishop Watterson a 14-0 setback.
It just goes to show this Steubenville team is really good. I am not trying to be Captain Obvious here, but this team just gets better every week. The Red returns to Harding Stadium this week to entertain undefeated Wheeling Park, which is coming off a bye week.
The Patriots have a really nice football team and personally, I think this could be the year they make a run to the Super Six. However, Steubenville is once again on another planet from Park.
If the Patriots crack the scoring column we’d be surprised. That’s no jab at Park, but Big Red is just that good. It’s also been evident over the years that Park has a mental block along with its physical deficiencies in matching up with the best football team the OVAC has to offer.
PICK PARADE RACE
The race to be known as The Times Leader’s most knowledgeable prep football prognosticator is heating up with each passing week. A four-way tie is still at the top. Yours truly, Kim North, Mike Palmer and Mark Dierkes are all knotted up after six weeks of picking. The four of us each went through a 10-3 week.
Last week’s advertiser of the week, Ashley Stewart, representing Cornerstone Landscaping endured an extremely tough week, finishing at 6-7 for the week.
There are some tough games to call this early in this early in the week on this week’s slated, which can be found on Page B2.
Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com