You hope that the Buckeyes were looking past Navy to USC, or were just over confident. Or maybe Tressel was holding back not to show too much to USC (roll of eyes here).

But holy moly they were three yards away from a tie ball game with Navy. If they did not intercept the two point try, then things could have ended differently. The defense looked very suspect. Navy was getting a good line surge and moved the ball very well. The offense played well enough to win I guess. Saine showed some ability to slip tackles this year. It seems like he can get thru the first one or two tacklers. Herron had a few good touches. But the pass blocking did not impress. It's a good thing that Pryor can tuck and run as well as he can.

I hope that the team did not hold its head high after that win. USC will be licking their chops after seeing this game film.

Dixie volleyball netted a win over visiting Northridge. But the young team kept it interesting, allowing the Polar Bears to hang around and last longer than they should have. The Greyhounds struggled in the first set, with several miscues and mental mistakes but still managed to win it.

In the second set, the team showed confidence coming from that first set win. After staying even with Northridge, they went up 8-7 and peeled off 6 points in a row to take a commanding lead. Their serves were strong and contributed to a 25-16 win in the second set. With two sets under their belt, I was looking forward to an early ride out of the gym as I expected the home team to keep the momentum and run away in three straight sets.

But an over confident Dixie team and a gritty Northridge put an end to any thoughts about a short night. Northridge scored the first point of the third set and did not look back. Dixie was very sloppy. Serves going out of bounds, allowing the ball to drop between players, and the like. Northridge rallied from the Dixie mistakes and put the pedal down. They were up 13-3 when coach Honeywell had seen enough and called a timeout to refocus the players. He took another time out a few minutes later. The team adjusted and chipped away at the lead. Actually finishing strong, but too many points had been spotted and Northridge won 25-20.

Which Dixie team would take the floor in the next stanza? The confident, playmaking team in the second set, or the fumbling team in the third set. A determined Dixie team took the court and went to work. They quickly built a 9-2 lead before Northridge took a time out. This did not slow down the Greyhounds as they methodically outplayed the Polar bears on route to a 25-11 win of the final set to end the night with a victory.

“Overall I thought we played fairly well,” stated Coach Honeywell, but we still have a lot of work to do” he admitted. “We are a young team this year and we are concentrating on our fundamentals. And I thought we communicated really well tonight.”

On the third set, “I think our youth showed; we thought we had it won at that point. We thought we could win that third set without trying and in varsity volleyball that is almost never the case. As we gain in experience I see that happening less and less this season.”

Stats for Dixie: Ciara Bates had 9 aces, Danielle Foster had 30 assists, and both Haleigh White and Breean Cole had 6 kills.

Dixie volleyball netted a win over visiting Northridge. But the young team kept it interesting, allowing the Polar Bears to hang around and last longer than they should have. The young team struggled in the first set, with several miscues and mental mistakes but still managed to win it.

In the second set, the team showed confidence from that first set win. After staying even with Northridge, they went up 8-7 and peeled off 6 points in a row to take a commanding lead. Their serves were strong and contributed to a 25-16 win in the second set. With two sets under their belt, I was looking forward to an early ride out of the gym as I expected the home team to keep the momentum and run away in three straight sets.

But an over confident Dixie team and a gritty Northridge put an end to any thoughts about a short night. Northridge scored the first point of the third set and did not look back. Dixie was very sloppy. Serves going out of bounds, allowing the ball to drop between players, and the like. Northridge rallied from the Dixie mistakes and put the pedal down. They were up 13-3 when coach Honeywell had seen enough and called a timeout to refocus the players. He took another time out a few minutes later. The team adjusted and chipped away at the lead. Actually finishing strong, but too many points had been spotted and Northridge won 25-20.

Which Dixie team would take the floor in the next stanza? The confident, playmaking team in the second set, or the fumbling team in the third set. A determined Dixie team took the court and went to work. They quickly built a 9-2 lead before Northridge took a time out. This did not slow down the Greyhounds as they methodically outplayed the Polar bears on route to a 25-11 win of the final set to end the night with a victory.

“Overall I thought we played fairly well,” stated Coach Honeywell, "but we still have a lot of work to do” he admitted. “We are a young team this year and we are concentrating on our fundamentals. And I thought we communicated really well tonight.”

On the third set, “I think our youth showed; we thought we had it won at that point. We thought we could win that third set without trying and in varsity volleyball that is almost never the case. As we gain in experience I see that happening less and less this season.”

Stats for Dixie: Ciara Bates had 9 aces, Danielle Foster had 30 assists, and both Haleigh White and Breean Cole had 6 kills.

Hey Ohio State starts their season this Saturday at noon. At least one professional team in Ohio will have a winning record this season (insert rim shot here...). They have a patty cake opponent though - Navy. Do hope that the Buckeyes do better against USC this season than they did last year.

And I guess that professional can also loosely be applied to the Bengals. The Bengals have had a great track record with first round draft choices. With Smith breaking a bone in his foot during a drill, memories of blown draft pics gone by start to echo. Heard this quote on a sports talk show and it bears repeating. "At least Kijuana Carter made it into a game." Too early to throw in the towel on Smith of course, but his rookie season is starting to look like a bust. Late to camp, out for several weeks with a broken foot. When he does come back, it is going to take some additional time to get into game shape. So he will see the field what - maybe in October sometime. And now no scrimmages to make mistakes. When (if?) he does get to play, he gets to make his mistakes in a game.

I like the Bengals D, but worry about the offensive line and a fragile Palmer. If the linemen are playing Ole' - Palmer isn't mobile enough to dodge rampaging 300 pound linemen. When he gets pounded into the turf 5-6 times a game, look for another shortened season for Palmer.

CCC didn't do quite as well as I predicted on opening day. But 4 wins are better than the one that we had a year ago. Two of the losses were close and so could have slid the conference over to the plus side if they had gone the other way. The poll predicts Ansonia to take the CCC crown. And I have to lean towards them as well. I still can't wrap my brain around the Tigers passing for 5 TD's against Fort Recovery. History has them playing smashmouth football and you could generally count the number of passes they threw in a game on one hand. It might be worth the trip up there just to watch the air show.

Injuries are a factor for South. I was really looking forward to watching this years team. Lots of talent in the junior and senior classes. But in small school football, when you lose a starter - they generally are playing both ways. And so it may take two people to replace them, one on offense and one on defense. And there just isn't the depth once you get past the starters. So I still think that they will be formidable, but you hope that the kids heal fast and get back into the lineup. Being a D5 team, you just can't afford many losses with all the D6 schools in the conference. Two losses will make it extremely difficult to make the playoffs.
An interesting aside, I am wondering if the South coaches saw how well the Fort moved the ball with their spread against the Tigers and will change their game plan accordingly???

Bradford won big over Yellow Springs. Yeah the Bulldogs aren't known for their football, but on the other hand 64 points shows a dominant team. Are the Railroaders for real and can they make the race for the CCC crown interesting? Program has been down for awhile, they are due for some success.

Covington - high expectations and a disappointing loss to start the season. A winnable game for the Buccs. But look for them to be worked into a froth this week. Should be hitting on all cylinders come Friday.

Third quarter the Difference in Dixie Victory
J. C. Tilton

Dixie and TVS were evenly matched thru out the night, but the third quarter ended up being the difference on a wet Friday night. There was rain thru the first quarter and so the field was damp the entire night. Both teams had their share of penalties and turnovers. The coaching staffs had to begin to wonder if their teams could go thru a series without at least one yellow hanky being thrown.

South’s strategy seemed to be to establish a ball control running offense and to use the pass sparingly. While Dixie mixed things up, sometimes using their spread, sometimes using an I formation. And mixing in the pass more often. South did spread things out in the fourth quarter when they were trying to close the gap with Dixie.

South scored first on a Miles McCollum TD run from the two yard line that he had set up with a 41 yard carry. But Dixie answered quick as Gray connected with Prater for a 70 yard TD pass. South had another first quarter opportunity when Cody Bryant snagged a Grey pass to give South the ball at the Dixie 26. But Luke Bowling pounced on a South fumble to put an end to that threat.

Likewise Dixie had a chance with good field position in the 2nd quarter when a shanked punt gave them possession on the South 34. But a Tyler Leach sack put Dixie into a situation where they had to punt. And towards the end of the half Dixie did a fake punt where Hall managed a first down at midfield. But another penalty helped to put an end to that drive where they had to turn the ball over to South at the 40 with seconds left.

Dixie wasted no time scoring in the second half as Doogie Hauser carried for 60 yards to the TVS 8 and then scampered the remaining 8 yards for a TD on the next play. South did answer as Balthis rambled 35 yards for a TD. Michael Hall carried the load for the Greyhounds on the next possession ending the drive by going 22 yards for the next Dixie score.

And in the 4th quart Hauser found the endzone again and so the Panthers were down by two scores 28-14. After an inadvertent whistle caused a redo of a South punt. An alert Nick Youngerman was able to scoop up a Dixie fumble of this punt to give South new hope. But a stout Dixie defense forced South to 3 downs and punt. Later on the Nick grabbed an errant Dixie pass and this time South capitalized. Skylar Reckers closed the gap to a single touchdown with a touchdown run. But there was only 1:24 left in the game. Dixie covered the onside kick from South and ran out the clock.

Coach Schondelmyer was contacted for comment after the game, “Despite the loss, we are showing signs of improvement from last year. But on Friday night we just had too many mental mistakes in crucial situations. We didn’t see this in the preseason – very few turnovers and few penalties. That was the difference maker, we can’t beat Dixie with the amount of mental mistakes we had. We did miss some critical tackles in the second half and that’s just something we have to get better at.“

Positives from the game, “Tyler Leach had a good game going and we lost him in the second half. Losing your fullback takes away from your option offense. Skylar Reckers played well on both sides of the ball. Steve Balthis had a good night as well. But really despite the disappointment, I feel our guys are playing harder and are in better shape than last year. They seem to be committed to playing winning football.”
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