Went to watch actual football last night and thought I'd throw a post up here about something other than media, domestic violence, and public relations.
I watched defending all-divisions state champion Trotwood travel to D2 state runner-up Winton Woods. Both teams lost a lot of talent from a year prior, but WOW... still a Hammer vs. Anvil game. Spoiler alert Trotwood's still good. I'm sure @V-BCoach will be happy to know.
Trotwood won 13-3. They certainly had some miscues - interceptions, fumbled snaps, etc. The new quarterback, #5 has a live arm, but threw a few picks and, in my opinion, missed a few opportunities to tuck and run for as stout as he is. In fact, in the 3rd, he turned his ankle and the back-up, a converted wide receiver, I believe, came in and reeled off a 50-yard touchdown run for their first really big play. #11 is a tough runner at tailback (qb1's brother I believe) but is probably even better at DE. I'm not sure how sustainable that is. Overall offensively, Trotwood is OBVIOUSLY going to miss Hargrove; as they seem to lack a real game-breaker. But Winton Woods is awfully athletic as well, so perhaps someone will emerge. Trotwood offense was a bit disjointed to me. A lot of I-form run OR shotgun spread. No real rhyme or reason, and they seemed to fall in love with the pass after hitting a few. With that line... I probably would keep trying to grind teams to mush and work a little play-action and not be quite so obvious about pass/run formations. There have to be more ways to get the ball to the big Stephens kid.
Defensively, Trotwood is good. Very good. Sledge-hammer I-hit-you-you-go-down good. #21 and #6 at LB go down hill NOW. #11 and #4 at DE are undersized for D1 but made massive OTs for Winton Woods go backward. They made a very good RB in Winton Woods' Williams look very pedestrian. And the secondary is the Trotwood secondary. Winton Woods never really got anything going save for a few passes that were ON THE NUMBERS.
Overall, both teams are probably down a touch from last year, with Trotwood missing Hargrove to blow things open. It will be interesting to see them match up against Pickerington again. I'm not sure they have the firepower to beat them again this year; as I thought Central was returning quite a bit. However, if you're going to beat Trotwood... You better be able to do it by winning zero to negative one because that defense is pretty special.
Scary moment: On the kickoff after the WW field goal, #3 for Trotwood returned it to about the 30, got wrapped up and put his head down for a few more causing a big collision with another tackler. It looked awkward to me at the time and he stayed down for a few seconds, got back up, took 5 steps and collapsed. REALLY scary. They tended to him and he got up and jogged off. For some reason, he went on and played the rest of the game. I guess he was ok and just a stinger... but a scary site in today's age.
Ok, that's all. Just wanted to talk football for once. Maybe @Marc Givler has some info on some of those guys.
I watched defending all-divisions state champion Trotwood travel to D2 state runner-up Winton Woods. Both teams lost a lot of talent from a year prior, but WOW... still a Hammer vs. Anvil game. Spoiler alert Trotwood's still good. I'm sure @V-BCoach will be happy to know.
Trotwood won 13-3. They certainly had some miscues - interceptions, fumbled snaps, etc. The new quarterback, #5 has a live arm, but threw a few picks and, in my opinion, missed a few opportunities to tuck and run for as stout as he is. In fact, in the 3rd, he turned his ankle and the back-up, a converted wide receiver, I believe, came in and reeled off a 50-yard touchdown run for their first really big play. #11 is a tough runner at tailback (qb1's brother I believe) but is probably even better at DE. I'm not sure how sustainable that is. Overall offensively, Trotwood is OBVIOUSLY going to miss Hargrove; as they seem to lack a real game-breaker. But Winton Woods is awfully athletic as well, so perhaps someone will emerge. Trotwood offense was a bit disjointed to me. A lot of I-form run OR shotgun spread. No real rhyme or reason, and they seemed to fall in love with the pass after hitting a few. With that line... I probably would keep trying to grind teams to mush and work a little play-action and not be quite so obvious about pass/run formations. There have to be more ways to get the ball to the big Stephens kid.
Defensively, Trotwood is good. Very good. Sledge-hammer I-hit-you-you-go-down good. #21 and #6 at LB go down hill NOW. #11 and #4 at DE are undersized for D1 but made massive OTs for Winton Woods go backward. They made a very good RB in Winton Woods' Williams look very pedestrian. And the secondary is the Trotwood secondary. Winton Woods never really got anything going save for a few passes that were ON THE NUMBERS.
Overall, both teams are probably down a touch from last year, with Trotwood missing Hargrove to blow things open. It will be interesting to see them match up against Pickerington again. I'm not sure they have the firepower to beat them again this year; as I thought Central was returning quite a bit. However, if you're going to beat Trotwood... You better be able to do it by winning zero to negative one because that defense is pretty special.
Scary moment: On the kickoff after the WW field goal, #3 for Trotwood returned it to about the 30, got wrapped up and put his head down for a few more causing a big collision with another tackler. It looked awkward to me at the time and he stayed down for a few seconds, got back up, took 5 steps and collapsed. REALLY scary. They tended to him and he got up and jogged off. For some reason, he went on and played the rest of the game. I guess he was ok and just a stinger... but a scary site in today's age.
Ok, that's all. Just wanted to talk football for once. Maybe @Marc Givler has some info on some of those guys.
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