Ready for Fall? If you are like me you are ready for fall sports to kick off. The Reds just don't have the chemistry that they had last year. They have shown signs of what they can be - like when they beat up the Giants. Then they fell on their face at Houston. Playing to the level of their competition. Although they are not mathematically eliminated, it is safe to say that they will spend the playoffs like the rest of us - on their couches with the remote control.

The Browns could be a team that sneaks up on folks. I can see them upsetting some teams this season. But the Bengals, oh the Bengals, ran by Mike Brown who was shocked and amazed that his franchise was voted amongst the worst in sports. New offense, new receivers, new quarterback, shutdown corner Joseph gone - for them 3 or 4 wins will be an accomplishment. This season the Bengals gear stays in mothballs.

Which brings us to the other professional team in Ohio - the Ohio State Buckeyes. Lots of turmoil. Anyone who hasn't graduated is suspended for the first 5 games. We have gotten spoiled in the Tressel era. It was taken for granted that we would win the big 10, beat up on Michigan, and play in a major bowl. Although the interim head coach, Finckel is intense, I don't know if he can overcome all the off field churn to get the team focused. It will be interesting to see if Braxton Miller can work his way into a starting QB spot - he seems more like the real deal than Pryor.

So what's left - my favorite sport, High School football. Looking forward to seeing some great players this fall. Cole French was phenomenal at Eaton. But his favorite receiver graduated, along with some very good linemen. Still I think that Eaton is in reload mode and should do well this season. A bit further down 35, Bowling is back as a Junior QB for Dixie. And he faces similar challenges - two very good receivers graduated along with some key linemen. Dixie had a great season last year, but being the smallest school in the SWBL, they have little margin for error.

In the CCC, look for Covington and Miami East to be at the top. But I think Bradford could be ready to make a challenge. They return a lot and Enis seems to have made a difference as head coach. Likewise Bethel returns some good players, I can see them in the top half of the league. Derringer seems to get the best out of TCN, they had a good young quarterback last season. It will be interesting to see if he continues to improve. South has a new coach, numbers are up, so maybe South will rise again. Ansonia graduated a lot and I am not sure they will get much help from the underclassmen. National Trail has a new coach, I heard they held up OK against Centerville in 7 on 7's, so maybe they are onto something.

Finally, I have the capability of updating the blog from my phone. So I will be posting quarterly updates on the games that I am attending. I know from the stats that a fair number of folks follow the blog from out of state and overseas. So this will be a way to get results closer to real time. First game will be TVS vs. Dixie.

Test post from phone

Local Athletes State Bound

Two local athletes will be going on to state – regional Champion Myranda Schoen from TCN threw the discus 114’6” to win her event. South’s George Holman was a 4th place finisher in the 1600m run and so he will be running at state. The always tough Southwest Regional track meet was a heartbreaker for a number of athletes who had aspirations of going on to the next level. Many athletes would have their best performances of the season at the meet but it wouldn’t be enough to be a top 4 finisher and go on to state. But as I found out, several athletes will have opportunities after their high school careers have finished.

Dixie had two near misses with John Isaacs finishing 5th and William Stapleton finishing 6th in their events – high jump and 3200m run. Stapleton took an astounding 30 seconds off of his best time but still just missed going to state. De’Aaron Isaacs finally got a medal in the 300m hurdles. Last season he tumbled over the last hurdle while in first place and was disqualified. This season he did finish, but ended up in 8th place. South’s Steve Balthis and Ryan Burns also came close to qualifying for state, but their performances were just shy. South girls relay teams finished outside the medal range even though the 4X400m relay team won their heat.

And looking to the future, De’Aaron will be going on to Miami University on an Academic Scholarship; he will be studying music and drama . Megan Uzzel didn’t do as well as she would have liked in the pole vault, finishing out of a medal. But she will be going on to Ashland where she plans to continue her track career. Tony Prater, also from Dixie, will be attending Kentucky Christian and playing football there. Finally South’s George Holman will attending the University of Detroit Mercy where he will continue his running career with a scholarship.

Coach Fahrenholtz from South had hoped that Steve Balthis would have made it to state,” but still he had a great season, and great career here – he just didn’t have a great day. In any other year his long jump would have gotten him to state, but it didn’t this year. In the 2 mile run 6th place was under 10 minutes – so the competition was great in all the events.” On George Holman, “His time of 4:30.11 is a personal record for him. I am happy for him, he ran well. He is our one and only going to state – it was a tough year here at regionals.”

George Holman was asked about going out for the early lead in his race, “Part of my stragedy was to get out there early and stay with the leaders and stay with them as long as I can.” George held the lead for most of the race and was overtaken late but finished a solid 4th. This will be his second 1600m run at the state meet.

Dixie’s Coach Hughes also agreed that this was a tough meet. “I was happy with the numbers of the guys that made it to the meet. They worked hard all season, it didn’t go quite as well as we wanted it to. John Isaacs just missed in the high jump, and our 2 miler, Stapleton had the best performance for us of the day and still didn’t make it – it was his best run ever. Sophomore John Nguyen didn’t make it in hurdles, but he got some good experience. De’Aaron Isaacs didn’t make it, it wasn’t quite his year. He got his first medal for 300m hurdles, but it really wasn’t the medal he was really hoping for. The 4X200m team scored points for us and had a personal best. the 4X100m team just missed scoring points, finishing 9th. Kenny Beard, the head track official, remarked that the first and second finishers here will finish really well in state too.”

Regional results: 110m hurdles TVS Steve Balthis 7th; 4X200m relay Dix John Isaacs, Doogie Hauser, Ryan Jordan, Tony Prater 7th;1600m TVS George Holman 4th;300m hurdles Dix De’Aaron Isaacs 8th; 3200m Dix William Stapleton 6th; Discus Myranda Schoen TCN 1st; high jump Kate Yeazel NT 6th; High Jump Dix John Isaacs 5th; Long Jump TVS Steve Balthis 6th; Pole Vault TVS Ryan Burns 6th, Jordan Krickenbarger 8th.

South and Dixie Do Well at District

Both Twin Valley South and Dixie boys found success at the district track meet. The two teams dueled for the championship and when the day was done, South took home the first place hardware, while Dixie was runnerup. And the girls teams added to their respective medal counts as several local teams sent athletes to the regional meet to be held next week in Troy. Athletes had to finish in the top 4 in their event to qualify. And it was great weather in an otherwise wet spring. A track official remarked to me that this was only the second meet all season that he had attended where there was no rain! The hot weather made for some good performances.

Steve Balthis from Twin Valley South had an impressive meet, he qualified for all 4 of the events that he participated in. Another athlete had to over adversity to go to the next level, Myranda Schoen from TCN qualified in 2 field events – winning the shot and second in the discus. She had a noticeable limp from a pulled hamstring when she entered the circle for her throws, but was able to persevere. But she missed a trifecta due to the injury which caused her to be scratched from the 100m dash.

South coach Farenholtz was all smiles at the end of the meet. “Steve Balthis qualified in all 4 of his events. And George Holman won the 1600m run, and also qualified on his relay team. Bobby Green finished second in the shot and this was his first year of doing it. He is a junior so he will be back next year. We had great performances today – the 4X100 relay team, well that was their best time all year. They picked the right time to run there best. We scored in all of the field events. Ryan Burns and Jordan Krickenbarger both qualified in the pole vault. Burns has been playing catcher on the baseball team this spring, so we just picked him up – we are hoping that he gets even better for next week. It’s been a fun day for us”.

TVS girls Coach Mabry is sending some athletes to Regionals as well. “Haley Glander is going on two relay teams, but she just missed qualifying in the open 100 and 200. Finishing 5th in both races. It would have been nice if she could have moved up one spot. But both relay teams, the 4X200 and 4X400, ran their best times today. The 4X100 ran their best time of the year – but it just wasn’t fast enough. But next week the girls aren’t running as many races, so they will be fresher and we have time to prepare”.

Coach Via from Dixie was ecstatic about Megan Uzzel who was district champion in the pole vault. “She put in a lot of work in the off season. She won last year with a 9 foot jump. She spent the season breaking her own records and has the school record this year – 10 feet.” Coach Hughes, boys coach from Dixie, was pleased with the Dixie boys team, “The winning 4X100m relay team ran a personal best today. This is back to back championships for our 4X100 team. Our high jumper, John Isaacs was also a district champ. He’s had a good year, tied our school record with a 6’6” jump earlier in the spring. We double qualifiers in the 300m hurdles, De’Aaron Issacns and John Nguyen. This will be De’Aaron’s third year at Regionals. Both he and John have been working really hard this year. Stapleton, our distance runner, has had a good meet – he will be going to regionals in two events”.

Other regional qualifiers are: TVS 4X800 (George Holman, Anthony Botting, Josh Perry, Nick Guerhing); 110m hurdles TVS Steve Balthis, Dix De’Aaron Isaac. 100m dash TVS Steve Balthis. 4X200m relay TVS (Hayley Glander, Kim Perry, Alyssa Wysong, Katherine Leach). 4X200m relay Dix (Tony Prater, John Isaacs, Doogie Hauser, Ryan Jordan).

1600m run TVS George Holman, Dix William Stapleton. Girls 4X100m PS (Taylor Fultz, Jessika Evans, Mackenzie Steele, Cassie Crawford). Boys 4X100m Dix (Tony Prater, John Isaacs, Doogie Hauser, Ryan Jordan). TVS (Tyler Leach, Brandon Gorby, Ryan Burns, Jacob Hemmelgarn). 300m hurdles Dix De'aaron Isaac, Dix John Nguyen, TVS Jacob Hemmelgarn. 800m TVS Kim Perry, TCN Makayla Conley. Boys 3200m Dix William Stapleton; Nick Guehring TVS.

4X400m TVS (Ashton Beneke, Kim Perry, Abbey Voge, Hayley Glander). 4X400m relay Dix Tony Prater, Patrick Bain, John Nguyen, De'aaron Isaac). Discus Myranda Schoen TCN. High Jump John Isaacs Dix, Steve Balthis TVS. Long Jump Steve Balthis. Girls shot Myranda Schoen TCN; boys shot Bobby Green TVS. Pole Vault Dix Megan Uzzel. Pole Vault Jordan Krickenbarger, Ryan Burns.

Dixie Ends Season Against Waynesville

The Dixie Greyhounds baseball has enjoyed success this season as they have in past seasons. But despite a 12 game winning streak earlier in the season, the team sputtered down the stretch and finally lost to Waynesville in the opening round of the state tournament. Dashing their hopes of back to back district titles. It was a frustrating loss for the seniors, a group that was used to success.

Dixie was able to get the lead when Greg Leonard and Wes Smith crossed the plate in the second inning. This gave them a 2-1 lead over the Spartans. Waynesville threatened in the 4th inning, advancing a runner to third base. But a timely double play by the Greyhounds got them out of danger. Aaron Worley unofficially had 6 strikeouts by the 5th inning so he was throwing a decent baseball. He had only lost one game the entire season.

The one run lead seemed to be holding fine as the team entered the 6th inning. The first Waynesville hitter reached base, but the next batter popped out to the catcher when he tried to bunt. The next batter flied out. Then came a 2 out rally, a coaches bane. The next batter was walked, and the damage was done when a bases clearing double on a ball hit in the gap scored two runs to give Waynesville the lead. Another batter was walked and finally the next batter grounded out to end the eruption.

Dixie went down 1-2-3 in to end the 6th inning. They did manage to get their first hitter on base in the final inning when he hit a blooper just over the heads of the infield. He advanced to second on a ground out. The next batter went down swinging and now Dixie was down to their final out. Dixie had a slim chance, but things would have to break the right way for them. Unfortunately the base runner was thrown out on a failed steal attempt trying to get into better scoring position. So that was game, set, and match for Dixie.

Coach Bingham was crestfallen after the game, “We gave the game away - had some errors that hurt us, and the kid from Waynesville pitched a very good game. We hit balls, but we hit then right at them – didn’t have anything fall. ” Despite this loss, the team did end up in second place in the league.

And Coach Bingham gave props to a successful senior class, “Aaron Worley, Josh Bingham, Ethan Hayes, and Wes Smith were the core of this group. Aaron ended up with 7 wins against 2 losses and is second all time in wins at the school. Ethan has been a solid player behind the plate, hits the ball hard, and is one of the all time RBI leaders. Josh was strong for us in 2009 and helped us in that district championship run, he has been solid for us in the outfield. Wes is 3-1 and has been a really good pitcher for us despite injury. All of these seniors will be missed.” He went on to say that this was the winningest class in school history averaging 18 wins per season.

Well Graher has stepped down as head coach at Trail. The guy who got Mississinnewa Valley turned around met his match at the Blazers. The team has only won a single game in the last 3 years. So a lot of room for improvement. Not sure who they can manage to bring in at that program. No tradition, tough for an incoming coach to build enthusiasm for a program like that. A difficult uphill battle for anyone.

Dixie is resodding their football field this spring and looks to be doing some regrading. So if nothing else the field will be looking sharp this fall. Dixie graduates a lot, but I like their quarterback.

Coldwater on ESPN? Heard a rumor that ESPN is thinking of putting a Coldwater game on TV. It would be an August game and they would move it a Sunday start time.

South Football Under a New Head Coach

South Football will be under the helm of a new coach this fall. Lance Engleka was recently voted in by the school board after the resignation of the old coach and has hit the ground running. He has already met with the team and is implementing a strength and conditioning program for the kids. “Even with baseball and track in season, the workouts have been well attended. I like the leadership that I am seeing from the seniors.”

He has an Ohio background, but has spent some time out of state. He spent 4 years in the Navy, and coached at Buford high school outside of Atlanta, Georgia where he helped coach the offense. In Ohio he graduated from Miamisburg high school, he attended Miami University where he played baseball, and coached football in Centerville and most recently in Middletown – again on the offensive side of the ball.

Middletown was his most recent coaching position and they featured the spread offense. Coach Engleka stated that most fans think of a spread offense as constantly throwing the ball. But the system at Middletown allowed more flexibility and so there times when they ran more out of the spread than passed. It was adjusted according to the players you had at time. At different times they had strong players in various positions and so they adapted the offense to match the skillsets they had to work with. So the spread offense is something that we could be seeing more of from South.

It is noteworthy that Engleka has been with winning programs – Buford had a phenomenal run where they made the playoffs several years in row, the football team even received a letter of commendation from the Georgia state legislature and Middletown has made the state playoffs the last two years, even defeating perennial powerhouse Moeller the year before last. This year Wayne beat them on the way to the State Championship. Although he has a lot of experience with large Division I schools like Centerville and Middletown, he stated that Buford was closer to TVS in size – so that gives him some perspective on small school football where there will be many players going both ways.

Although he comes in with a lot of coaching experience on the offensive side of the ball, he is not neglecting the defense. Coach Householder, an alum of New Mexico State University, and who has spent about 30 years in football either as a player or coach will be in charge of defensive duties. He was most recently coaching in Springfield. Coach Engleka is expecting big things from him. Coaches Maddox and Albright are being retained and will round out the coaching staff.

One thing that struck me is that towards the end of our conversion he stated that he enjoyed seeing the players during the strength and conditioning sessions. It gave him a chance to meet and get to know the kids off the field – so that that they knew that this was more than just about football. That is a perspective that I like to see. He also came off as sincere and focused. Attributes that we like to see in our coaches. South football has been very cyclical with long valleys between the peaks. Here’s hoping that South rides to a new peak with their new coach.

Brookville One - Two at TVS Invitational

The Brookville boys and girls track teams had a strong showing at the Twin Valley South Invitational Friday night. The girls team finished first and the boys team was second – edged out of first by only half a point by Covington which scored 98 while Brookville scored 97.5. Despite the threat of bad weather by the local forecasters there was a good sized crowd on hand. The parking lot at the school was full and people were parking along the access road. The umbrellas popped up like mushrooms as a couple of bands of rain passed thru – but each time it rained for about 30 minutes and was gone. Temperatures were reasonable for this time of year and overall it was well ran track meet.

Team finishes for local girls teams: Brookville 1st,Eaton 3rd, Valley View 4th,Madison 5th, National Trail 8th, Dixie 9th, TCN 10th, TVS 10th(tie). Boys teams finishes: Covington 1st,Brookville 2nd, TVS 3rd, Dixie 4th, Eaton 5th, Valley View 6th, Madison 8th, TCN 13th,National Trail 15th.

Girls 4X800 Brookville 1st,Valley View 3rd,Eaton 5th,Dixie 7th; Boys 4X800 Brookville 1st, Valley View 3rd,TVS 4th,Eaton 5th,Dixie 7th; Girls 100m hurdles Ashley Neavin Eaton 1st, Kari Shank VV 3rd, Mackenzie Lingenfe BV 4th, Zanna Spears Eaton 6th; Boys 100m hurdles Steve Balthis TVS 1st, De’aaron Isaac DX 3rd, Jordan Krickenbarger TVS 4th, Deon Smith Eaton 5th.

Girls 100m Dash Michelle McKinney Eaton 1st, Danielle Sedwick BV 2nd,Myranda Schoen TCN 3rd, Allison Bundy MD 4th, Katie Clark VV 5th, Kari Shank VV 6th,Hayley Glander TVS 7th, Katherine Leach TVS 8th; Boys 100m dash Trent Vore BV 1st, Ryan Jordan DX 3rd, Joe Lang VV 4th, Nathan Clark Eaton 6th, Kody Eby TCN 7th.

Girls 4X200 Brookville 1st, Madison 3rd, Valley View 4th, TVS 5h, Dixie 6th, Eaton 7th; Boys 4X200 Eaton 1st, Dixie 4th, Valley View 5th,Trail 6th, TCN 7th; Girls 1600m Samantha Combs VV 2nd, Courtney Swink BV 3rd, Stephanie Robinson MD 5th, Andrea Hunt NT 7th, Alissa Mayrer BV 8th; Boys 1600m George Holman TVS 1st,Todd Hewitt Eaton 2nd, Sam Bench BV 3rd, Nathan Lee VV 4th, William Stapleton DX 6th, Nick Guehring TVS 7th.

Girls 4X100m Madison 1st, Valley View 3rd, Brookville 5th, TVS 6th, Eaton 7th, Dixie 8th. Boys 4X100m Dixie 1st, Brookville 3rd, TVS 4th, TCN 5th, Madison 6th,Eaton 7th, Valley View.

Girls 400m Michelle McKinney Eaton 2nd, Lilly Malcolm Madison 4th, Lydia King BV 6th, Ally Rutherford BV 7th, Makayla Conley 8th TCN. Boys 400m Ethan Leonard BV 1st, Jake Simpkins VV 3rd, Andre Eddy Eaton 5th, JJ MacPherson 8th TCN; 300m Zanna Spears Eaton 3rd, Kari Shank VV 5th, Ashley Neavin Eaton 6th, Mackenzie Lingenfe 7th, Kelsey Limbert 8th. Boys 300m De’Aaron Isaac DX 1st, Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 2nd, Billy McGuire 5th, John Nguyen DX 7th.

Girls 800m Samantha Combs 4th VV. Andrea Hunt NT 5th,Kim Perry TVS 6th, Chelsea Tiley 8th; boys 800m Nathan Clark Eaton 1st, Jake Simpkins VV 2nd, George Holman TVS 4th, Jacob Bench BV 5th, Lee Bricker BV 6th, Josh Perry TVS 7th. Girls 200m Michelle McKinney 1st, Allison Bundy Madison 2nd,Brindy Northcutt BV 4th, Katie Clark VV 5th, Taylor Whiteman Madison 6th, Rachel Vore BV 8th;Boys 200m Dash Ethan Leonard BV 2nd, Ryan Jordan DX 3rd, Joe Lang VV 6th, Andre Eddy Eaton 7th.

Girls 3200m Samantha Combs VV 2nd, Courtney Swink BV 3rd, Alissa Mayrer BV 4th,Stephanie Robinson MD 5th, Victoria Stapleton DX 7th. Boys 3200m Todd Hewitt Eaton 1st, Nathan Lee VV 2nd, Matt Sewell BV 3rd, William Stapleton DX 7th. Girls 4X400m BV 1st, Eaton 2nd, VV 5th, DX 7th, MD 8th. Boys 4X400m BV 1st, Eaton 3rd, VV 5th,8th TCN.

Girls Discus Myranda Schoen TCN 2nd, Caitlin Highley Eaton 3rd, Mikayla Daniel MD 4th, Brooke Lewis VV 6th, Kate Deaton NT 7th, Katie Epperson VV 8th; Boys Discus Josh Behnken BV 2nd, Drew Othersen Eaton 4th, Dylan Steffey TVS 6th, Mike Smiley 7th DX. Girls Shot Andrea Brower Eaton 1st, Kate Yeazel NT 2nd, Mikayla Daniel MD 3rd, Myranda Schoen TCN 4th, Katie Epperson VV 5th, Lainey Linville BV 6th. Boys Shot Logan Shell BV 2nd, Austen Alber 3rd BV, Mike Smiley 4th DX, Drew Othersen Eaton 7th. Robert Green TVS 8th.

Girls Long Jump Alyx Duning NT 3rd, Katherine Leach TVS 4th,Rebekah Stout BV 5th, Andrea Hunt NT 6th, Emily Robbins TVS 7th, Katie Bliss VV 8th. Boys Long Jump Steve Balthis TVS 1st, Chris Daniel MD 3rd, Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 4th, Ryan Jordan 6th DX, Billy McGuire MD 7th. Girls High Jump Kate Yeazel NT 1st, Haleigh White DX 3rd, Rebekah Stout BV 4th,Stacey Nutt Eaton 5th, Jordan Hickey TVS 6th, Andi Long MD, Kelly Schriever TCN. Boys High Jump Steve Balthis TVS 1st, John Isaacs DX 2nd, Ryan Thobe Madison 3rd, Nick Gillis BV 4th, Nathan Friesel VV 4th,Jacob Hemmelgarn 4th(tie).

Girls pole vault Megan Uzzel DX 2, Cortney Cobb MD 5th, Emma Kroger VV 6th,Heather Thomas TVS VV. Boys pole vault Jordan Krickenbarger TVS 1st, Cody Falldorf DX 2nd, Kyle Forth MD 3rd, Alan Sarver Eaton 5th, John Nguyen DX 7th, David Day VV 8th.

A Shepard in Afghanistan Part 2

This is the second part of a dialogue between myself and Mark Shepard, a retired Army Colonel who is working with the Afghanistan Government. Some of the projects that he has worked on include developing a national firefighting curriculum and also a National Disaster Management Plan. So he interacts with Afghani’s on a daily basis when he is in country. He has been shuttling back and forth from the US, to Europe, and the middle East as part of his work. And he has been forthcoming with his observations and thoughts on Afghanistan and the Middle East in general.

In Marks words -What I can tell you that there are some educational, economic and cultural obstacles that it will take years to fix, not months. A country that has been without an education system since the Soviet Union invaded and not much of one prior to that has a long way to go. The younger generation of Afghans are more easily accepting of us, at least more accepting of the educational and need to join the world community. And, in a community that respects its elders, change comes very slowly. Marriages are still arranged and obeying of elders continues until the sons and daughters reach middle age.

In a country with few jobs, there is not much opportunity for the younger generation to advance. So educated young people are leaving the country to seek their fortunes. So this exasperates the problems in that country, when your best and brightest leave it is a drain on the society. Also he noted that half the society is marginalized – women have few opportunities to participate outside the home. He also noted that the Afghani’s liked Western things, but did not particularly like Western society. The further away from Kabul one gets, I believe the less they think Americans are doing the country much good, unless they are directly connected with a Provincial Reconstruction Teams that are a mix of Military and State Department people that are out in the provinces trying to establish stable forms of local government.

As noted before corruption has been a problem in Afghanistan. There is a move afoot to introduce a more Western style rule of law with a local system integrated with a regional and national justice system where the laws are standardized and enforced equally. Rule of law
includes the entire legal complex of a modern state, from a constitution and a legislature to
courts, judges, police, prisons, due process procedures, a commercial code, and anticorruption measures. All things we take for granted here but simply don’t exit there.

Another aspect of their culture that impedes the growth of knowledge is the reluctance to share information. A technician knows that he is invaluable so long as he is the only one in a unit to have that knowledge; once he dispenses it to others he no longer is the only font of knowledge and his power dissipates. This explains the commonplace hoarding of manuals, books, training pamphlets, and other training or logistics literature. So whether it is a private company or a military unit, there this hoarding of knowledge.

Mark feels that it will take generations of Western influence to profoundly influence the culture of Afghanistan. Historically, Afghanistan has been characterized as a nation of loosely confederated warlords who rule over geographically separate domains. And there has been pressure from voices within the national government to revert to the old ways and permit provincial governors to field their own militias. But this would upset the concept of a Republic style of government. So far they have resisted this urge to go back to the way things were. Hopefully with the coalition leaving around 2014, the international community will pick up where we left off and continue to guide the Afghans toward legitimacy. Without that guidance, it will plunge back into civil war. Until this generation of Afghans are gone, I get the feel of despotism more than democracy. The recent unrest in the Middle East has been long in coming. There has always been resentment against the ruling families in nearly every Middle Eastern Country. I see a real danger of the rise of radical Islam given the vacuum created by the recent coupes and change of government. Chances of this are very high. Time will tell if we have planted a seed of Democracy or if Afghanistan will revert back to their centuries old ways once we have left. I think we all wish for that seed to take root.

A Shepard in Afghanistan

In a country in need of guidance, Mark Shepard, a graduate of now Tri-County North has been a shepherd of sorts – helping Afghanistan get organized and moving into the right direction. A retired colonel from the military, he had been sent back to the Mideast as a military contractor and is helping the Afghanistan government build a nationwide disaster response organization – sort of like our FEMA. I had lost track of Mark since school – I remember him as a quiet, somber guard on the football team. But we reconnected on facebook and so I was able to find out what he has been up these many years and what he is doing now. Wow has he been busy!
After joining the army he initially underwent training as a combat engineer, learning Demolitions, diving, freefall parachuting, and rappelling from helicopters. During his career he also saw action in the Panama invasion and the first war in Iraq – Desert Storm where he was a scout/sniper platoon leader for the 82nd airborne division. He eventually became a Ranger, an elite unit in the US army and was also a member of the special forces, the Green Beret. He rose thru the ranks, becoming a squad leader, a sergeant, then an officer and finally working his way to colonel. An impressive career for a humble lineman from Lewisburg.

So when we reconnected I asked him what he was doing in Afghanistan. Recent events in Libya and Egypt have overshadowed this war, but I wanted to find out more from someone who was there. Well after retiring from the military he went looking for another job. Turns out that a defense contractor was helping the government of Afghanistan build a FEMA-like organization to be ready for disasters. Things like earthquakes, avalanches(lots of them in the mountains of Afghanistan), fires, and floods. He was helping develop a ‘tashkil’ an afghan term for organizational structure and equipment for the new agency.

Being curious about the country and the culture – I wanted to draw from Mark’s experience to get his thoughts and views since he was living in the country and working with Afghani’s every day. First I asked him to contrast Iraq and Afghanistan. “Iraq and Afghanistan are miles apart. Iraq had an education system and are very much ahead in the areas of infrastructure and public services. Education is the central component that is missing in Afghanistan. There is over a 70% illiteracy rate here. Many people that I work with have very basic reading and writing skills. Some not at all.”

So this could be a problem when working with the officers, “Many of them were mujahedeen fighters that learned to handle a weapon and live in caves or other structures but were never afforded a chance to read or right. Because of their bravery on the battlefield or because of the Afghan Government connections many of the officers have, being illiterate is not necessarily a disqualification and the ministries would rather be interested in ethnic balancing instead of skill sets that will help their ministry.”

Despite obstacles there have been some successes, there had been no nationally organized fire fighting units. Now thanks to equipment being donated, there is a rudimentary fire fighting organization in existence. They are given intensive training and are being deployed as equipment and funding allow.
And the population likes these new firefighters they are seen as hero’s – just like in the US, who doesn’t like a fireman? In contrast, the existing national police force (Afghan National Police) needs some more improvement, an area that is getting attention. Mark noted the ANP are often at road checkpoints asking for bribes to get from truckers and also ask for other “favors” in exchange for “protection”. The corruption is seen as so rampant that the public will rely on the military as a champion of their cause. Since the ANP is an essential part of the disaster response effort, a lot of attention is being focused on changing their ways and thereby changing public attitudes.

There are some aspects of Afghan culture which are puzzling for instance, “The Afghan ethnic wars are things of legend among the Afghan people. Grudges hold for many years and are generational. One tribe may not like another because a great uncle or cousin from 150 years ago may have been killed by another tribe and according to Afghan Custom and law, this act must be endured generationally until some sort of settlement is made”. So getting tribes in the outlying areas to cooperate can be difficult because of this.

To be openly critical of a higher officers plan was unheard of several years earlier but now is tolerated. And being a ‘top down’ sort of culture it is ingrained to respect and listen to your elders – to not question authority. This still proved a problem in a recent exercise where the junior officers knew there was a flaw in the plan but did not question it and of course things went awry. But an avalanche and a plane crash were examples of where the fledgling agency was able to respond effectively. Even coordinating support with the Afghan Commando’s to do high altitude rescues. In a tightly structured country it can be difficult to reach out across departments like this.

So Mark is making progress despite some of the difficulties that he has encountered. We will continue this discussion in part two of ‘A Shepard in Afghanistan’ where we will explore more of Afghanistan and the Middle East thru his eyes.

Congrats to Franklin Monroe for carrying the banner for the CCC deep into the playoffs. They were finally knocked off in the Regional finals by Houston. They only had one loss in the regular season, so an exceptional season for the Jets. Proving once again that the CCC is strong in basketball.

Geeze this Tressel deal at Ohio State. Lots of pressure on the head coach to win at a school like OSU where the fans are many and are fervent. To me the violation is one of those ticky tack things. Why can't players sell playoff rings and memorabilia? It's their property. I guess that I can see the autograph deal being a problem. Anyway rules are rules whether or not you agree with them. But I think that Tressel looked the other way because he was potentially going to lose a lot of talent for X amount of games. But getting caught after the fact may put a damper on what I thought could be a Championship season. Pryor will be a senior next year. Decent talent returning, but with this turmoil it will be hard for the team to focus.

How is everyone's brackets looking? Gotta brag I am in 10th place out of 107 people in my pool. Even though I blew Louisville - but then who saw that coming. I did have Pittsburgh being the first number season to crash and burn - albeit one round later. Anyway I have a habit of sprinting out early but getting it wrong in the later rounds and crashing and burning myself. Ohio State is running away from George Mason right now - just so that they make it to the final 4, but no further...

Rumor has it that Shondelmeyer is leaving TVS as football coach. He had a good run at Arcanum where the right coach with the right group of kids made it to the playoffs. Tried to fill the shoes of a legend at Versailles and just couldn't match up to the success that the Tigers had in the past. Never really got much traction at TVS. Used the pass sparingly and used the double wing offense for a run dominated attack. But who is going to take over now? It would be nice to have Cottingim again, but I am not sure he wants to do the duties of principal and head coach again. Doing it all takes lots of time. So then they will just have to find a young coach willing to come to a small school for experience and hope that he catches fire.

Double Win Night for Shawnee. Both Varsity basketball teams won in exciting fashion in a mens and womens double header. South was the unlucky recipient of tough losses. South's women's team is based on seniors while Shawnee's is based on sophomores. The Shawnee team has been able to string together some wins while South has a winning season and hope to enter the post season season on an upnote with a win for their last regular season game. After a first half with a lot of turnovers, the tables were turned as the Arrows began to take advantage of the Panthers errors. Down the stretch Shawnee hit their shots while South whiffed. Shawnee came away with a 5 point win.

Coached this bunch of sophomores when I did junior high at Shawnee. And at times there were 4 sophomores on the court. Not much height, but some athleticism and that intangible that you either have or don't have - a desire to win no matter what the odds. If this bunch stays together, look for good things to happen in Arrow country the next couple of years.

As for the boys game, South has got to wondering what happened. They had a comfortable lead at half time. But Shawnee kept chipping away at that lead. If my memory is right South had an 8 point lead with about 2 minutes left. I was getting my coat and making plans for heading out the door. But Shawnee made their shots down the stretch, including an incredible three pointer launched about midway shot form between the three point line and midcourt. South had a tough time making foul shots, the Arrow crowd was definitely a six man as at least three players bricked the front end of 1 and 1's partly due to the loud crowd.

This tied the game and I think the air left South's sails at this point. They were trying to force the ball on offense and this caused turnovers. Plus it did not help to miss some easy shots. Shawnee did hit their free throws and won comfortably by 8. It has been a tough season for the South boys squad and this loss was a real heart breaker.

Palmer leaving? I don't think so. Remember several years ago when Ocho Cinco threatened to leave? And look where he is now. I don't see the tight grip of Mike Brown relaxing. And I don't see any teams picking up the expensive contract of Palmer after a less than stellar year. So my bet is on number 9 being back next year.

Public vs Private

OSHAA has a panel that has been looking at the public vs. private school debate. It is well known that private schools have dominated the state playoffs - particularly in football. And although schools are not allowed to actively recruit students for athletics, they can recruit for 'academics'. However it happens, good athletes seem to get attracted to certain schools and they excel. Meanwhile public schools have to play with the cards they dealt - only working with kids from their school district.

Over the years debate has swung back and forth. Some say leave things as is, it makes everyone better because you have to compete against the best. Another view is to go the opposite direction. To have completely separate divisions and playoffs for public and private schools.

OSHAA seems to have come up with a compromise between these two views. Everyone stays in the same pool. But there is a multiplier placed on schools that can pull students from a wider area than just their school district. So a school with 200 male students put can pull in students from outside their area may have a 10% multiplier giving them a total of 220 students for assignment to a division. NOt always enough to push them up into the next largest division, but it is a step in the right direction.

So at least OSHAA is addressing an issue - its a compromise. Not everyone will be happy. But this is a step in the right direction. Something needs to be done to give public schools some sense of fairness. Otherwise someday it could be that if you want to be on a championship team, then just go sign on with a Catholic school.

Got to watch the Holiday tournament at Shawnee. A nice opportunity to see 4 teams in one night. Shawnee impressed with their quickness on defense. Turnovers were a problem for Trail. The full court press of the Arrows wore Trail down. South looked strong against North, but they almost didn't finish. Had a 15 point lead that evaporated away late in the fourth quarter. North had problems hitting the three all night, but late in the game they went to a quick lineup and started to dribble penetrate on offense. A few more South turnovers and a few more made North shots and the outcome may have been different. South got their first win of the season although they did lose a close game the next night to Shawnee in the Championship game.

Got to watch the UD Lady Flyers this weekend too. They play exciting basketball. Man to man defense, they run the court, and can shoot the three. They put up over 100 points against Harvard. They have a winning record right now and from what I saw, they should finish the season on the plus side.

Basketball season is in full swing. Both Miami East boys and girls teams are looking strong this season. On the boys side Arcanum looks tough and on the girls side Tri County North is off to a strong start. TVS boys are off to a slow start 0-3. First season in a long time that there is not a Spitler on the team. But look for good things to come, there are some good players in the pipeline. The TVS girls team has a winning record.

Ohio State - the only professional sports team in Ohio. Didn't know it was a violation to sell things that you own like championship rings and trophies. I guess I can see the autographs being a problem. Gee there sure are a lot of restrictions on the athletes. I still say the college athletes should get a monthly stipend. Some athletes come from a poor background and so having a little pocket change isn't going to hurt. Anyway 5 game suspensions seems a bit much.

And speaking of professional football, both Cleveland and Cincy are struggling mightily. A good bit of the Bengals offense will be leaving after this season. Unless they put the franchise tag on someone, they will lose wide receivers TO and Chad and running back Benson. Some say Palmer should follow them out the door. It may not hurt to draft a QB to start developing them to be his replacement.

November Wrapup - Eaton wrapped up a stellar season against Saint Nickolaus. Sure the outcome was not the best. But they were undefeated until that regional final game. And they have the championship from the SWBL big school division to hang their hat on. It was the first time I had seen French play. He threw some pics into coverage, but when he was on target, it was nice. He can throw a long ball accurately, and he is back next year. He may not be a blue chip prospect, but I can see MAC schools having an interest. Congrats to coach Neanon for a memorable season.

South girls basketball opened their season against Carlisle. The Indian defense was pretty tough, South's leading shooters were held in check. The Panthers made a good run in the 4th quarter, but Carlisle did a good job of managing the game and the clock. They couldn't find an answer for Carlisle's leading scorer and offense rebounding was lacking. Season is young and with a senior loaded team, I am expecting better from the Panthers as the season progresses.

Rodriguez at Michigan - The Wolverine faithful must be ready to storm the campus gates. Another sub par season and they just did not do well against Ohio state. Whatever he had going for him at WV did not follow him North.

Bengals - did not think they would be a playoff team this year, but thought that they would be better than this. Johnsons gold shoes really look out of place on a team with 2 wins. Palmer is putting up the passing yards when you look at the average yards per game. But the interceptions are a problem. I didn't think they lost that much on defense, but they have gone down the tubes as well. Injuries made things worse as well. What I am waiting for is the Bengals to make that late season push where they win like 3-4 meaningless games. Giving some optimism that - hey we can make this work. And we stand pat with no changes for next season, just like the Bengals have done for last umpteen years.

Regular Season Wrapup.

Curtis Enis has the RailRoaders going the right direction. Bradford has been the doormat of the CCC for a long time. But in his first year Enis has them going the right direction. The team finishes 5-5 but that is a lot better than they have done and if they have a winning season next year it would have to be their first winning season in at least a decade. They were 5 points away from a winning season this year in a shootout with Bethel in the last game.

Trail - Graher has a reputation for turning programs around. Maybe Trail is a mountain too steep to climb. Usually by his second year you can see progress. But Trail finishes winless.

Bethel had a solid season and losing that overtime game to Ansonia cost them a shot at the playoffs.

South - Shondelmeyer caught lightening in a bottle at Arcanum and left for greener pastures in Versailles. Didn't have success there and finally returned to the CCC, getting the job at South. Still hasn't found his groove. This years team was light on Seniors - started a lot of freshmen and soph's, there is some talent in the pipeline. But he needs to get his mojo back.

North - Another success story, made the right move in allowing Derringer back at head coach. I think they won like 2-3 games last season. North came the closest of any CCC team of knocking off Covington - the Bucc's had to break a sweat to finally win over North. They graduate some big linemen, but have enough talent coming back to reload. Can Derringer take them back to the playoffs next season???

Once again Covington and Ansonia represent the CCC in the playoffs. I would like to see Covington pass more, tough to be one dimensional in the playoffs. Wish both programs success.

Eaton - one of the bigger teams in the SWBL. Neanon has been making adjustments to his style over the year and they are bearing fruit this year. They have a lot of talent. I really think that they have a shot at district.

Bellbrook - biggest school in the SWBL - and the last time you won league was... well I can't remember. Another disappointing season by the 800 pound gorilla. I can see why they are afraid to leave the SWBL for a bigger league. If you can't beat the small schools, you would really get thrashed by the big schools.

Dixie - Another feel good story. Tall receivers and a flame throwing sophomore quarterback. First winning season in forever. Just missed the playoffs. It is tough to be the smallest school in the league(D5), but they overachieved this season. Congrats to Coach Tarpley for turning the program around.

Valley View - Credit them with making the SWBL as strong a league as it is. Everyone had to play catch up to them - and they have. It used to be automatic that the Spartans would be in the post season. And their last state title was what - over a decade ago by now. And when was the last time you heard of football players transferring OUT of Valley View. Lots of good football to come from the Spartans, but I wonder if their championship years are behind them.

South ends Season against Riverside

South won their first round match against Bethel, but fell to Riverside in 4 sets.

Stated coach Roberts after the season ended, "It was good to be able to get the younger players some tournament experience tonight as they will be the leaders of the team in the next couple of years and need to know first hand the level of play they will be expected to bring to the match." Against Riverside, "We just didn't have enough defense to stop their top player. She was the difference in the match. TVS had a good season finishing 21-3 overall and tied for second w/ TCN in Cross County Conference play at 8-2. Thank you to everyone who supported the girls on and off the court this season. Your support is greatly appreciated!"




TVS def. Bethel 25-11, 25-17, 25-12
Jordan Hickey 2 aces, 4 digs, 15 assists
Laura Ingram 3 aces, 12 digs, 5 kills
Taylor Baker an ace, 11 kills
Katherine Leach an ace, 10 for 10 on serve receive, 4 digs, 3 assists, 2 kills
Emily Burge 4 aces, 3 digs, 2 kills
Emily Froment 2 aces, 4 kills
Kim Perry 9 of 11 on serve receive, 11 digs
In off of the bench:
Gentry Gates 5 assists
Skyler Lain a kill
Danielle Kreitzer a kill
Angela Nushawg a dig
Kaelee Rivers a dig

Riverside defeats TVS 25-15, 24-26, 25-12, 25-21

RailRoaders Steamroll South 67-8

It was senior night for TVS and its not the way you would like to leave your home field. Penalties were a factor for South. Their second drive of the night went deep into Bradford territory, but a delay of game and a hold left South with a fourth and forever. And the defense aided Bradford's offense with late hits and a facemask. When South went to the pass to try to generate some offense, Bradford was ready and had a couple of picks in the first half. The second half was more of the same and when all was done, Bradford under first year coach Curtis Enis had an easy victory. This makes their record 5-4, assuring them of a at least a .500 season. South will fight Trail for the bottom of the CCC next week.

North made a better show on their home field against Ansonia, but still came up short. It was a 19-14 game at the half, but the Tigers pulled away in the second half for a comfortable win. I think it was like 42-21. Eaton looks like a lock for the post season with their latest win over Valley View. That also gives them the SWBL league championship. They have a chance to do some damage in their district. Nice to see them make the post season.

Local Volleyball teams did not fare well in the post season. Everyone is done at this point. So except for Eaton football, the rest of us are waiting on basketball season. I will be coaching junior high again, looking forward to the start of the season.

Volleyball for the Cure

First up this week for South was Franklin Monroe - they got the win but it wasn't easy. Coach Roberts, "We're happy to get out of here tonight with a win. Their middles tested us and we struggled a little with our block defensively."

TVS def. Franklin Monroe 25-11, 20-25, 25-15, 25-22
Jordan Hickey 41 assists
Laura Ingram 17 digs and 10 kills
Taylor Baker 2 aces, 17 kills
Katherine Leach an ace, 15 digs and eight kills
Emily Burge an ace, 11 digs, 8 kills
Emily Froment an ace, 6 digs and 6 kills
Kim Perry 3 aces, 32 digs and two saves

TVS defeated Bradford in straight sets on the night of Volleyball for the Cure - which was for Breast cancer awareness week.

TVS def. Bradford 25-9, 25-13, 25-14 Overall record - 20-2 League 10-2

Stated Coach Roberts, "Individual stats were not our focus tonight our main focus was the event and raising awareness and raising funds for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. I'm really proud of my girls and their efforts to get the word out about this
devastating disease. If you were anywhere close to the event you saw true teamwork in action.

We would like to thank all of the parents for their efforts associated with this event, we couldn't have done it without you. A big thank you goes out to Tammy Jackson and Tim Beneke for being a part of our event. We would also thank
the school administration, all the businesses and individuals who donated to the cause. We raised just over $5,000 between the website and the night of the event. Thank you to everyone who made contributions this year."

North v South: another one for the Ages.

North, South – those words by themselves symbolize rivalry. And for Tri County North it was also their homecoming, which added to the already tense atmosphere. For years the two Panther teams have dueled on the field. These games are usually battles and this year’s edition added another page to that legacy. The two teams kept the crowd on the edge of their seats all four quarters.

North came into the game with momentum, winning their last two games – one of those being an upset of Miami East. South has struggled this season and has only a single victory. But as always, records are meaningless when these two teams take the field. The offensive fireworks would happen in the first half and the game would become a defensive stalemate in the second half.

North went to work on their opening drive, and aided by a couple of South penalties would score first on a JJ MacPherson 20 yard run. But South bounced back and scored on their first drive as well. Michael Burke connected with Tony Combs on a pass to put the ball in North territory. They ran the ball, then went back to the pass where this time Combs caught a 19 yard TD. The extra point was missed, so North stayed ahead 7-6.

The next score was set up when North quarterback Austin Hustchins was pressured in the pocket and had to scramble. When he done running, he had gone about 40 yards and put the ball on the 2 yard line where he would run a quarterback sneak for the score. On the ensuing South series North’s Eli Davidson would have the defensive play of the night when he snagged a South pass and ran about 37 yards for a North touchdown. This defensive touchdown would turn out to be a big one and put North on top 21-6.

But South’s Michael Burke wanted to show that North didn’t have the only quarterback who run and score. In the last half of the second quarter, he ran a keeper about 45 yards for a touchdown. And in their last possession of the quarter it looked like South had ran a hook and ladder play for a score, only to have it called back on an illegal forward lateral. Then Jacob Schneider sacked the South quarterback on the next play to end the South drive and hopes to draw even before halftime. South's Bobby Green also had a tackle for loss in the first half.

So at halftime the score stood 21-14 in favor of North. Now the two teams hunkered down and played some tough nosed defensive football. North ended one South drive at the 20 yard line when Austin Hutchins intercepted a pass from his counterpart. Both teams defenses held tough on 4th down situations numerous times. North ended another South drive at midfield on a big 4th down play and South ended a North drive on a 4th and 3 play on their own 12. But at the other end of the field North stopped South on a 4th and 2 inside their 30. Neither defense was breaking and both offenses were using all of their downs - shooting all their bullets each series.

There was about a minute and half left in the game when the North coach decided to go for it on 4th and 7 at midfield. The quarterback keeper was denied and South was back in business. They moved the ball to about the North 30 – and time was counting down. But the North defense stepped it up once again when Caleb Lawson pulled down a South pass to end their hopes with about 17 seconds left in the game. This was definitely a memorable game for the grit and determination showed by these two teams from the opening kickoff to the final horn.

Coach Derringer had this to say about the game, “South was very prepared for us. They came out and played a great ball game. We came out on the opening drive and stuck it in the endzone. But then they responded on their first drive stuck in the endzone too. From that point on it was pretty much a dogfight. We told the kids this week that the North South game you can throw out the records. It’s a big rivalry game and it doesn’t matter who has the better record at the time.”

"Our defense has been playing well. We had some breakdowns against Bethel, but from the Covington game on, they have been getting after people. We had the three interceptions, and on Davidson’s, he is a defensive end and recognized the half back pass and dropped back underneath and made an outstanding play – running it back in for a touchdown. Michael Olinger, our fullback, was really relied upon in the 4th quarter when we were trying to chug out positive yardage and hoped to get an insurance score. “ Next week North plays at winless National Trail, while South hosts Miami East.

TVS def. Arcanum in a non-league contest in straight sets: 25-16, 25-13, 25-13
Jordan Hickey 6 digs, 2 saves, 27 assists, 2 kills, a solo block and a block assist
Laura Ingram an ace, 8 digs, 10 kills
Taylor Baker 3 digs, 8 kills and a block assist
Katherine Leach an ace, 7 digs, 6 kills
Emily Burge 3 aces, 5 digs, 3 kills
Emily Froment an ace, 5 kills
Kim Perry an ace, 18 of 20 on serve receive, 25 digs
Gentry Gates an ace, 2 assists
Coach Roberts Stated that, "Everything tonight was evenly distributed. As with any match we continue to strive to play our best volleyball and work on ball control issues."

10/5 TVS def. Newton in league play 25-12, 25-22, 25-18
Jordan Hickey 17 digs, 3 saves, 25 assists, 3 kills, a solo block
Laura Ingram an ace, 10 digs, 12 kills, and a block assist
Taylor Baker 9 kills, 3 solo blocks and a block assist
Katherine Leach an ace, 8 digs, two assists, 3 kills
Katherine was key for us tonight. When she controlled her serve we were able to execute our offense very well.
Emily Burge 3 aces, 10 digs, 5 kills
Emily Froment an ace, 2 digs, 4 kills and two solo blocks
Kim Perry 2 aces, 22 digs
Coach Roberts, "Hats off to Newton, they served us tough. As a result we had some problems on serve receive. A good reminder to keep our practice performance focus. . . drill, "baby," drill . . ."

At the Dixie Tri meet with Stebbins
10/9 TVS def Dixie 25-14, 25-9

10/9 TVS def Stebbins 25-19, 25-15
Coach Roberts, "Individual stats were not as important today as the total team effort. Everyone saw a little time today and that might
become key down the stretch. It continued to be all about team in the match against Stebbins as well." TVS improved its overall record to 18-2, league 8-2 (2nd is still a three way tie)

Upcoming matches for the final week of regular season (DRAW is tomorrow www.swdab.org)
10/11 Franklin Monroe
10/14 VOLLEY FOR THE CURE with Bradford doors open for raffle ticket purchases at 4:45PM
On behalf on the event, the TVS volleyball team would like to invite you to our
match in support of breast cancer awareness, education and all who have been touched
by this devastating disease.
THANK YOU sincerely for considering a donation.
Please make your checks payable to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
You can forward all contributions for the match to:
Twin Valley South
c/o Volley for the Cure
100 Education Dr.
West Alexandria, OH 45381

Thanks to Coach Roberts

North Over Pats, Newton

On Tuesday, TCN traveled to Tri-Village for a league match up. Tri-Village was a little short handed with a couple of suspensions, and I think that showed up in their play. Their serve reception really struggled, and their communication on the court struggled as they had several balls hit the floor. They had a couple of nice hitters, but were unable to get the ball to them because of their poor ball control. On our side of the court, he thought Megan had her best game of her career as she led us in aces and kills. He thought Sara did a good job of getting her the ball, as Megan had the hot hand for us. Katie really did a good job on defense for us as she led us with 15 digs. Katie continues to improve her ability to read hitters, and she does a good job of placing herself in position to make defensive plays. He thought Carly Schriever also had a solid night with 6 aces and 4 blocks. Carly's blocking has been pretty strong all season long, as she rarely mistimes her block. Emily has continued to get better as our opposite hitter as she contributed with 6 kills. Aukerman liked how my team stayed focus with the lopsided scores and he felt like they played pretty strong all the way through. It was also a night for TCN to take a look at a couple of my subs at the Varsity level, and he thought they handled things pretty well. We defeated Tri-Village by the scores of 25-14, 25-12, and 25-13. Stats for the game are Bierly 1 ace, 4 digs, 23 assists, 2 blocks; Kelly Schriever 9 digs, 4 kills; Johnson 5 aces, 3 digs, 9 kills 2 blocks; Broughton 1 ace, 3 aces, 6 kills; Carly Schriever 3 aces, 1 dig, 6 kills, 4 blocks; Ullery 4 kills, 1 block; Whitaker 4 aces, 15 digs; Vanover 1 dig.

On Thursday, TCN hosted Newton. Newton has had some solid wins this year, and the first game was a challenge all the way through. North trailed all the way through the first game and found a way at the end to win. North was very fortunate to win that first game. Coach Aukerman thought North made some pretty good plays down the stretch to win that game, and if we hadn't won that first game, the night could have been completely different. He wish my team would have stepped up their play sooner, but he gave to give credit to Newton, they hit the ball pretty well, and their defense was impressive. After that first game, Newton lost their confidence. Coach Aukerman thought his servers stepped up and created passing problems for Newton, which always helps our offense as they gave us several freeballs. Megan once again had a solid night as she continues to improve her hitting game, but Aukerman thought we were more balanced in this game. Aukerman thought Sara did a better job of getting all of her hitters involved, which always makes us more competitive. We had good production out of Kelly on the outside and Mallorie in the middle that kept Newton offbalance. Katie did a good job with her serving as she led us in aces. By the third game, Newton had trouble with all aspects of the game, and we were leading them 17-2. At that point, Aukerman thought we should see our subs for the rest of the match. After a couple of shakey plays, he thought they did a good job of settling down, and they played pretty well. We finished off Newton by the scores of 25-23, 25-10, and 25-12. Stats for the game are Bierly 4 digs, 20 assists, 1 block; Kelly Schriever 2 aces, 9 digs, 3 assists, 6 digs; Johnson 9 digs, 1 assist, 9 kills, 2 blocks; Broughton 5 digs, 2 kills, 2 blocks; Carly Schriever 2 aces, 2 digs, 2 kills, 2 blocks; Ullery 4 kills, 3 blocks; Whitaker 7 aces, 15 digs; Schoen 1 dig, 1 kill; Marshall 2 digs, 1 kill; Vanover 2 digs.

Special Thanks to Coach Aukerman

South volleyball seems to be building to a peak as they continued their winning ways this week. A solid front line and a tenacious defense were the trademarks of a hungry South team as they look to the end of regular season play and the beginning of the state tournament. The Panthers are firmly in second place in the CCC, league leading Miami East shows no signs of faltering. So now the prize is a strong tournament run.

Preble Shawnee was the first team up for the Panthers. The Arrows were no slouches, arriving with a respectable 10-2 record. But South went after Shawnee, winning in straight sets 25-16, 25-13, 25-14. Highlights for the match were Jordan Hickey’s 21 assists and both Laura Ingram and Taylor Baker had 10 kills, while Kim Perry had 21 digs.

Next up for the Panthers were the Ansonia Tigers. A young team that the experienced Panthers were able to dispatch with a stalwart defense as pointed out by Coach Roberts. And when you look at the stats, Jordan Hickey, Laura Ingram, Katherine Leach, and Kim Perry were all in double figures for digs. Proof that the Panthers can defend as well as attack. For the second match in a row, both Ingram and Baker matched with 12 kills. And Kim Perry was 18 of 20 on serve receive. It was another trifecta for the Panthers who won 25-17, 25-9, 25-14.

The week ended with a match against CCC league foes the Tri-Village Patriots. The Panthers would complete a hat trick going three for three for the week. The Panthers won in three straight sets 25-8,25-11,25-23. Coach Roberts had these comments after the match, “Our front line - Baker, Froment and Ingram act as Three Musketeers along the net versus the Patriots. These three young ladies
plus Jordan Hickey's set distribution coupled with their supportive defensive cast of Burge and Perry did a fine job of controlling play against TV. Some of their kills were like lightning! Froment had one of her more impressive nights. We will need more performances like this from all of these young women to make a run in the tournament."

Finally the TVS team wants to remind everyone about their VOLLEY FOR THE CURE with Bradford , doors open for raffle ticket purchases at 4:45PM. The TVS coaching staff and the TVS volleyball team invite you to our event in support of breast cancer awareness and education. THANK YOU sincerely for considering a donation. Please make your checks payable to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

TVS vs. Preble Shawnee
Jordan Hickey 3 aces, 9 digs, 21 assists
Laura Ingram an ace, 10 digs, 10 kills
Taylor Baker 2 digs, 10 kills
Katherine Leach 6 digs, 2 assists, 5 kills and a solo block
Emily Burge an ace, 10 for 10 on serve receive, 9 digs, four kills
Emily Froment an ace, 5 kills and 3 solo blocks
Kim Perry 2 aces, 21 digs
Gentry Gates (freshman-in off the bench) four assists

TVS vs. Ansonia

Jordan Hickey 10 digs, 2 saves, 32 assists
Laura Ingram 2 aces, 10 digs, a save, 12 kills
Taylor Baker 12 kills, 2 solo blocks
Katherine Leach 3 aces, 10 digs, 4 kills
Emily Burge an ace, 3 digs, 2 saves, 2 kills
Emily Froment 7 kills
Kim Perry 2 aces, 18 of 20 on serve receive, 27 digs

TVS vs. Tri Village

Jordan Hickey 6 digs, 36 assists
Laura Ingram 5 aces, 9 digs, 11 kills
Taylor Baker 12 kills
Katherine Leach 9 of 10 on serve receive, 3 digs, 2 assists, 2 kills
Emily Burge an ace, 100% on serve receive, 9 digs, 5 kills
Emily Froment 3 aces, 3 digs, 9 kills, 3 solo blocks
Kim Perry 24 digs



You can forward all contributions for the match to:
Twin Valley South
c/o Volley for the Cure
100 Education Dr.
West Alexandria, OH 45381

A dominating Tri County North volleyball team made short work of the visiting Ansonia Tigers this week. The hosts did a good job on defense - almost always getting a hand on the ball. And on offense, they set up some nice spikes that the Tigers had a rough time handling. With more experience and a slight advantage on overall team height, the Panthers dispatched the Tigers in three sets.

The young Ansonia team fell behind 7-3 in the first set. A time out was called, then a second one when North doubled up Ansonia 16-8. But when Ansonia tried to rally and mount an attack, North blockers were ready at the net. Ansonia seemed to do well when they had a lot of touches to set up their offense, while North seemed to do better on the attack – punching the ball back over the net. North won the first set 25-16.

In the second set, North took command. During one run, North scored 3 points in a row off of serves. The Tigers took a time out at that point to get organized. That stopped the North run, but not the final outcome. North did falter a little down the stretch. They allowed Ansonia to score 6 unanswered points in a row and made the set interesting 21-15. But North settled down and went to work. Scoring points off of serves and spikes, they shutdown Ansonia and won 25-15.

Finally North went to work for the final set. On the Ansonia side, there were a lot of balls that hit the floor, while North kept the ball in play. This time Ansonia could not muster a rally. They would lose the final set to North 25-9. One good thing about Ansonia was their team spirit. They played hard and celebrated every hard won point. This team should get better as they mature.

“We did a real good and served aggressively”, stated coach Aukerman after the game, “the kids really worked well together. We’ve really been working hard on our serves and serve zones. I think Ansonia got frustrated towards the end of the match, as they struggled because of their errors. I thought our serve reception looked pretty good in this match, which is extremely important for our offense. Megan Johnson, Kelly Schriever, Emily Broughton, and Katie Whitaker have done a good job all year for us with passing the ball in serve reception.”

North won against Bethel on Tuesday – “We had some problems hitting around their block, but I thought my hitters did a good job of adjusting to hit around them. My middles also did a good job of running one balls to freeze their middles, which made things easier on my outsides. I thought Kate Whitaker and Emily Broughton had good serving nights as we scored a lot of our points when they were serving. Megan Johnson had a good night with her hitting as she led us in kills, and my middles ( Carly Schriever and Mallorie Ullery) provided good blocking. “

North had a clean sweep for the week, visiting Brookville for their last victory of the week. “Brookville has a good defensive team, as we had problems with putting the ball down against them. Every kill we recorded, we earned. We caught a break with Brookville's setter being out of the lineup with an injury. They had some nice hitters, especially outside hitter Taylor Woodworth. She used our block several times to get her kills, and seemed to get better as the match progressed, but I thought my players answered the call. Kelly Schriever stepped up big with her serving as she recorded 7 aces. Katie Whitaker had a good defense morning recording 25 digs. Sara Bierly kept the our offense rolling, and she also kept Brookville's defense honest by throwing in several dumps that scored points for us. I thought Megan Johnson and Kelly Schriever did a good job of adjusting their defense to pick up balls hit by Brookville. We defeated Brookville in 3 games 25-19, 25-18, 25-18. “


Bethel Stats:
Bierly 1 ace, 2 digs, 18 assists, 3 kills, 1 block; Kelly Schriever 2 aces, 3 digs, 4 kills; Johnson 2 aces, 2 digs, 7 kills, 1 block; Broughton 1 ace, 1 dig, 2 kills, 1 block; Carly Schriever 2 digs, 5 kills, 4 blocks; Ullery 2 kills, 3 blocks; Whitaker 3 aces, 9 digs.

Ansonia Stats:
Bierly 3 aces, 10 digs, 18 assists, 3 kills; Kelly Schriever 1 ace, 8 digs, 4 kills; Johnson 3 aces, 9 digs, 5 kills; Broughton 1 ace, 7 digs, 2 assists, 2 kills, 2 blocks; Carly Schriever 2 aces, 2 digs, 8 kills, 2 blocks; Ullery 2 digs, 3 kills, 1 block; Whitaker 3 aces, 9 digs; Schoen 1 dig, 1 assist, 2 blocks.

Brookville Stats:
Bierly 1 ace, 7 digs, 22 aces, 6 kills; Kelly Schriever 7 aces, 7 digs, 6 kills; Johnson 15 digs, 6 kills, 2 blocks; Broughton 1 ace, 7 digs, 5 kills; Carly Schriever 9 digs, 2 kills, 1 block; Ullery 4 digs, 5 kills, 3 blocks; Whitaker 2 aces, 25 digs.

South took one on the chin from Covington. The Buccs scored on their first three possessions in the first quarter as they went on to rout the Panthers. Their offense was crisp and precise with the run. Not so smooth with the pass. Which could hurt them in the playoffs. The Panther offense was able to move the ball at times. But penalties and fumbles ended drives in the first half. The Panthers put it all together in the 3rd quarter and finally found the endzone. The Panthers were without Steve Balthis which hurt them on both sides of the ball. Although I don't see his presence making a difference in the outcome.

The Buccs scored on special teams too. Returning a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns. Without the services of Balthis's toe, the Panthers resorted to a quick kick from a running formation on 4th down. On the other side of the ball, the Buccs seemed to punt OK, but they need someone to kick a bit deeper. The coverage was good on the kickoffs, which made up for the lack of distance on the kickoffs.

On the other hand, I saw that North upset Miami East. I saw their close score earlier in the season against Covington and figured that maybe they played a whale of a game and Covington was looking past them. It looks like North is for real.

So the upcoming North - South game will be interesting. Will North be overconfident after their upset win, maybe let down against South? Will South get Balthis back - he is a big help on both offense and defense.

Oh and speaking of play offs, I can't see any D5 schools in the CCC making it this year. With so many D6 schools in the conference, you can only have 1 loss at most. I don't it happening this season.

As the 2010 season comes to a close, the American Junior Golf Association recognizes outstanding junior golfers and their achievements over the past year. Below, please find a press release announcing Hubert Heights native Michael Bernard as a 2010 HP Scholastic Junior All-American.

The HP Scholastic Junior All-America team honors 12 young men and 12 young women who demonstrate the ability to excel both on the golf course and in the classroom.

Twin Valley South was aggressive with their front line against league rival Covington this past week. Despite the Buccaneers deploying a taller front line, South was able to set up some nice kills. Although South won the match, it was not in straight sets as Covington refused to lose easy and fought back. And the South team had an extra player in a boisterous home town crowd that was loud and proud throughout the match.

The first set would foretell the rest of the night. South took a lead, but Covington stayed on their heels – nipping away at the lead until late in the match where they tied South 21 all. Coach Roberts took a time out to set things right and several points later Laura Ingram, in another trend for the night, put the match away with a vicious spike for the game point. So South would win a close set 25-23.
The second set was a runaway for South. Covington took two time outs to try and stop the hemorrhaging, but South had an 11-2 lead at the 2nd timeout and Covington never did recover. They had problems handling South serves, and were making too many mental mistakes. They made a short run, but South easily put them away 25-14 to go up 2-0 over the Bucc’s.

Covington played with resolve in the third set. Taking an early lead until South woke up and battled back. And as it had happened in the first match, South then set the pace and Covington stayed on their heels. But this time, Covington tied the set at 24 all which woke up the visitor side of the stands and got them in the game. South had a mental lapse – letting the ball hit the ground on the ensuing serve, and giving up the winning point on poor play. Critical mistakes at a key point in the match allowed Covington to win this set 26-24.

For a volleyball match, the stands were about as loud as I have heard them for the start of the 4th set. A loose but purposeful South team gradually quieted down the visitors side as they started the set with a 6-0 run. They did allow the Bucc’s to catch up when they made some mistakes and let them close the gap 12-10. The Panthers composed themselves and went on another run thanks to aggressive play at the net. Sizzling spikes sliced thru the Covington defense. They did allow the Bucc’s to draw close yet again late in this set. South seemed to stall out and Covington inched back and closed the gap 21-19. South caught their breath and went on finish strong to close out the set and win the match 25-20.

After the match coach Roberts was asked if she was disappointed that the team didn’t win in straight sets. “ We were up 24-17 at one point in the third set. I was extremely disappointed that we couldn’t put them away and I let the team know that. We needed to step it up defensively at the net and not allow so many touches by Covington. “ Next she was asked about the team keeping their composure even as Covington tried to rally: “They are learning to focus on the next point, not the one that just happened. We don’t want them to just let things slide, but we don’t want them stone faced either.”

Next she was asked to comment on the play of the front line, “Laura [Ingram] and Taylor [Baker] played the roles of Batman and Robin tonight "The Dynamic Duo." They came out offensively stronger than any match in the past. We need them to do this consistently match in, match out.”

South also had wins against Bellbrook and Bethel this week – winning in straight sets each time. Asked to respond, coach Roberts stated, “It has been a total team effort this week. Everyone looks at the attackers, but we had players with digs and sets that got the ball in play for us. The role players really did well this week. “

Stats provided by the TVS coaching staff: TVS vs Bellbrook: Jordan Hickey 30 assists
Laura Ingram 15 digs and 12 kills ; Taylor Baker and Emily Froment 8 kills each;
Katherine Leach 2 aces, 11 of 11 on serve receive, with 7 digs, 3 assists, 3 saves and 7 kills.

TVS vs Covington: Laura Ingram 3 aces, 8 digs and 18 kills;Taylor Baker 2 aces, 15 kills and 2 solo blocks; Kim Perry 23 digs 2 saves; Emily Burge stepped up defensively going 22 of 23 on serve receive with 20 digs and a block assist with Emily Froment who was 100 percent off of serve with an ace, 8 digs and 4 kills. Katherine Leach chipped in with 2 aces, 6 digs and 5 kills.

TVS vs Bethel: Jordan Hickey 3 aces, 8 digs and 20 assists; Taylor Baker 11 kills; Emily Froment 8 kills; Kim Perry 15 digs; Katherine Leach 9 digs and 4 kills; Angela Nushawg 3 digs; Laura Ingram 4 digs and 4 kills;
Emily Burge chipped in with 6 digs and 6 kills.

Upcoming matches: 9/27 at Preble Shawnee, 9/28 at Ansonia, 9/30 w/ Tri Village, 10/4 w/ Arcanum, 10/5 at Newton. Reminder October 14th at 5:30PM VOLLEY FOR THE CURE MATCH between Bradford and TVS breast cancer awareness, education, door prizes, raffles, serving contest and breast cancer survivor story. All proceeds from the event to go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. To make an online donation visit www.tvs.k12.oh.us. Thank you in advance for your support!

Twin Valley South won their first game of the season, but had some second half drama on way to a 33-22 victory. Both Mississinawa Valley and TVS were 0-3 entering the game. And the Black Hawks had yet to score a touch down in their first three games. But after giving up a first half lead to South, they would find a groove in the second half and prevent a fourth straight shut out.

Steve Balthis put South up early with 71 yard touchdown run on the very first play from scrimmage. The Black Hawks tried to respond and despite three penalties, they drove to the South red zone. But South made a nice play on 4th and 11 to end the threat. The next South touchdown drive began when Ashley Dillon fell on a Black Hawk fumble in the second quarter. Tyler Leach would then carry the ball 45 yards to the 5, and he would later punch it in on a 1 yard carry. Steve Balthis would score the final touchdown of the half to put South up 20-0 at the 4:26 mark. He would turn around and end a Black Hawk drive with an interception.

In the third quarter it looked like the rout was on. South’s Michael Burke scored a TD on South’s first possession of the half. It was 26-0 South and it sure looked like another drubbing for the visitors. That drive consumed a good bit of clock time as well. When the Black Hawks got the ball back, there was only 3:20 left in the third quarter.

But at halftime, the Black Hawks must have googled “spread offense”, because they then began to run the spread and air it out. Gary Pease would run the ball in from 2 yards out. In a quick 2 minutes they had found the endzone for their first score of the season. But South responded with another clock eating touchdown drive. Balthis scored again on a 2 yard carry midway thru the 4th quarter. This put South up 33-6 entering the final quarter.

So South began substituting while the Black Hawks stayed with their starters. Now the game got a little sloppy with the Panthers giving up some late fumbles while the Black Hawks starters took advantage of the mismatch to score twice more. South freshman Kodey Hawthorne managed to block a Black Hawk extra point and help preserve a 33-22 victory. So it made the game entertaining in the 4th quarter, but South managed to win easily - the game was not as close as the score would indicate. Steve Balthis would score a total of three touchdowns to lead the team offensively. And Grant Kreitzer would lead the team in tackles on the other side of the ball.

Coach Shondelmeyer was happy to get the victory, “…good to get the first win – we were so close the week before. We had to practice this whole week that game in the back of our minds. And all of guys got to play and get some experience.” Next he was asked about the clock chewing drives, “Our line is our strong point. We believe that we can control the ball and that is all due to the guys up front.” Steve Balthis’s three scores, “He had a great run on that first sweep for a touchdown. He has been getting better this season, despite fighting injury. He was actually playing hurt in the Arcanum game, but he has been playing with toughness.”

Next Coach Shondelmeyer was asked about the defense. “I thought that both of our outside linebackers had good games, Dillon Ashley and Tony Combs. We played better team defense this game and really swarmed the ball and gang tackled.” Finally he was asked to look ahead to next week, “Bethel is 2-2, but they are an improved team. Their two losses are to Covington and Miami East, two teams that at the top of the league. Our defense will need to continue to improve. This will be a huge game for us.”

North: Not unnoticed was the North game against Covington. The game was scoreless at halftime and even though they lost, they played an always tough Covington team close.

Dixie wins against Shawnee, a tough test against Brookville this coming Friday.

Some more good games this next week, but I think that I will shift gears and cover volleyball this coming week.

Ohio State - Despite giving up the points on special teams, I thought they played a great game. Pryor had a few moments, but overall I thought he did well. He still seems to do well when he creates from broken plays. Still would like to see more from him being a straight drop back passer. Running game was good from both Seine and Herron. Defense was on - take away the special teams points and you have a blow out. I liked the interceptions. Who didn't like Heyward lumbering down the field with his takeaway - a lineman's dream moment. I think this team has the possibility of being top 10 or better.

Bengals - Ugh, what a lame game. Defense looks nothing like they did last year. The Patriots were tearing big holes in the front line and passed at will. What happened here? And the offense did recover in the second half, but they never did establish that solid running game that was their trademark. Team seemed flat for the first game of season, hopefully Marvin can get them revved up next week.

Michael Vick. Had some company over, left the TV in the family room on and forgot about it. Came back and their was an injury timeout. I was going to change channels, but then Vick came on the field. Well, I'll just watch and see what happens. He played like a guy with nothing to lose. Made the most of his minutes, and almost lead a comeback. I think he made a statement that he can still lead a team. Fun to watch, time will tell if he gets his chance.

Twin Valley South and Arcanum played a hard fought game on Friday night. By nights end, the winner would be decided by a single point. Each team sported a 0-2 record coming into the game. And each team featured their running attack on offense. Both teams are known for using a double wing offense although South would lean to a wishbone formation. In a lot of respects the teams were mirror images of one another, which made for such a close game. Scoring was lean for the first part of the game, with the fireworks occurring from the third quarter on.

The first half saw Arcanum dominate everywhere except for the scoreboard. They had the ball for almost the entire first quarter. But to South’s credit, Arcanum made three trips into the TVS red zone and came back empty handed each time. South made some big plays on 4th down. Steve Balthis had an interception to end one drive, another drive ended one foot short of first down on the 1 ½ yard line of TVS, the last ended at about the 20. So the South defense was bending, but showed no signs of breaking. In the first half, Arcanum had 3 pass attempts – one complete, one incomplete, and one interception. So I could see why they were leery of the pass. The rest of their yardage, they ground out with the run.

While the Trojans were racking up the yardage, the Panthers were having problems moving the ball. About midway thru the second quarter, the team did put together a drive into Arcanum territory. But the South could not stand good fortune – they fumbled on two consecutive plays, recovering the first one, but giving it up the second time. It was looking like a good old fashioned slugfest as the teams stood at 0-0 at half time.

But the game opened up in the second half. South came roaring back in their first posession when quarterback Michael Burke burst thru the center of the Arcanum line and sprinted 63 yards for a TD. The next score was set up by an Arcanum miscue. A high snap on a punt gave the ball back to the Panthers. A pass interference call on Arcanum gave the ball to TVS on the 10. From there Dillon Ashley plunged thru the line and scored. But South had problems with extra points – they whiffed on their first two attempts on way to a 12-0 lead.

But big plays would be the bane of the Panthers. Arcanum bounced back with a 67 yard TD run and nailed the extra point. South’s next score was set up in part by a Arcanum penalty for knocking over the returner on a fair catch during a punt. This put the Panthers at midfield. Again they took advantage of a short field, capping their drive with a Dillon Ashley carry for his second TD of the night. This time South went for two and got it.

Arcanum mixed the pass and run on their next drive with effectiveness. Capping the drive with a touchdown pass. Then late in the fourth quarter, South gave up another big play. Allowing a punt return to be carried all the way to the 4 yard line where Trojan quarterback Derrick Baker punched it in. They made good on their extra point attempt. With 2:26 left in the game, Arcanum had their first lead of the night up 21-20. South finally had to give up the ball on downs on their next possession and Arcanum would win a close one, taking a knee to run out the clock. Next week South will play against winless Mississinnewa Valley.

Defense was the difference maker in North’s game against Mississinnawa Valley. The Panther offense was not silent, but I thought the defense set the tone Friday night. The offense sputtered at times, but North’s defense was stalwart throughout the game. Particularly in the first half. The offense was good for 14 points, but some miscues kept them from scoring more. Penalties and lapses in the pass blocking would derail several opportunities. But thanks to the defense, special teams, and a rambunctious home crowd, a good bit of the game was played in Blackhawk territory.
Late game heroics helped to seal a shutout for North. The Blackhawks only mustered a couple of first downs for their efforts up until halftime. The second half wasn’t much better. A swarming North defense kept their running game at bay. But then they nosed the ball into North territory late in the 4th quarter. And it was starting to look like the Blackhawks were poised for a 4th quarter rally. They had connected on a key 4th and 11 pass play with 3:43 left in the game to keep their drive alive. Blackhawk Gary Pease had found an open seam in the North defense and put the Blackhawks into North territory. But Caleb Lawson made a big play during the next set of downs, intercepting a pass to put any hope of a comeback to rest and ensuring a North shutout.
After the game Coach Derringer had praise for his defense, “We allowed about 25 yard rushing for the entire game, and about 60 yards of passing. We had big plays from our line backers, a pair of juniors – Jacob Schlater and Josh Daugherty. And Alec Brasher, our defensive end, had several tackles for loss. The defense played really well Friday night.”
North won 14-0; Freshman quarterback Austin Hutchins called his own number and scored from 14 yards out in the first quarter, then late in the second quarter he connected with Sam Judd for an 11 yard TD catch. In the second half, North penetrated deep into Black Hawk territory several times, but came away empty handed. “ We already had a starting tackle and guard out going into the game, “ stated Coach Derringer, “ Then we lost our other tackle to injury. So we had to start a lot of young guys on our line. “
Even with the patchwork offensive line, North was able to put 3 rushers past the 50 yard mark: Hutchins, Mike Olinger, and JJ MacPherson. Hutchins could have had even more net yardage, but sacks subtracted from his total. North was generous with the ball, giving 8 players touches on offense. Hutchins was 4/11 and 70 yards on the night. But the youthful line showed – there was one sequence where North had 3 penalties in a row – leaving them with an outrageous 1st and 35. And twice North advanced inside the 30 in the second half, but quarterback sacks pushed the ball backwards and ended the threat.
Coach Derringer was asked to look ahead at Bethel, “They still have the same coaches there that they have had for several years. They know what we do, and we know what they do. They played a tough game against Covington this week. When we play it has always been a hard fought and close game. We coaches are breaking down their film this weekend and getting the team ready.”

Don't watch UFC fighting that much, but was at a sports bar last night and they had it up on the big screen. One of the early matches on the card had me scratching my head. The one guy was chiseled - very muscular and looked like a fighter. The other guy looked like his training regimen was eating a dozen glazed donuts while smoking a pell mell cigarette for breakfast. Lounging on the couch during the day and having a night cap of a 12 pack of old Milwaukee. I mean the guy had man boobs.

To his credit, he did have fast hands and could take a punch. But it was obvious that at the end of the match that he was spent. The decision went unanimously to the chiseled looking dude. The pilsbury dough boy is probably using his check for a weekend grazing at the Golden Corral buffet. Another interesting match was also on the undercard. A tall string bean looking guy against a bear like looking guy - a wrestler. The wrestler guy owned the string bean in the first round. Got him on the ground and pummeled him. It was like watching a play ground bully own the geeky kid.

At the break, they tried to patch up the guys bloody lip. Back out they went - my wife said 'why don't they stop the fight'? Well they must have given the skinny one piece of advice - use your reach and box. About a minute into the second round he got the wrestler on the chin and down he went. What a turn around.

I have to admit, I like it more than boxing.

Well I can't say that I am enthused about the Bengals signing TO. The team will be more of a circus than ever. Ochocinco and Owens are O squared. A negative chemistry if there ever was one. Palmer will have to have a whip and chair to keep control of that huddle. Both recievers will be badgering him for the ball. And with Benson having probs in the off season, I can't see the team being focused.

Well after a summer's hiatus, it is time to awaken from a July slumber and start looking forward to the start of fall sports.

CCC Football - Curtis Enis takes the reins at Bradford. The former NFL player has worked as an assistant, but now he will be head coach. I would think that this would pick up interest in the program, but don't know what talent the Railroaders will have this fall.

Reports from Covington are that the numbers are up a little and the weightroom is well attended. They only lost a handful of starters from a play off team. Look for them to be contending yet again.

Arcanum should be returning a lot of starters from a young team.

Trail will be under their second of coach Graher. Lets see if that program gets some traction this season.

North has some talent that quarterback I saw last year had a decent arm. Line will have to give him some time.

South has some holes to fill from a sub .500 team. Lots of openings in the line and skill positions. The senior class has some talent, but will the depth be there to fill out a competitive roster.

League champ Ansonia loses talent to graduation. But they still have their quarterback. I see them having a winning season, but don't think they have what it takes to repeat.

Speaking of fall football, how about Ohio State. Big year for Pryor, it will be interesting to see if his skills have matured as a quarterback. The team returns 16 starters, so there is plenty of experience. I didn't think that Herron or Saine were that steady of rushers. I saw them play well in spurts, but I would like for the leading rusher on the team for the 2010 season be a running back, not the quarterback.

The Bengals - I have been wearing my Bengals gear this summer. In the past, you kept it hidden away, broke it out in the fall, then in October when it was obvious that the team was going no where you put your gear away. Palmer is getting to the age where he needs to make that deep playoff run. Not sure how many more years he has in him. Chad Ochocinco is not focused this off season. When he should be working out, he is dancing and calling out Pittsburgh. I don't see him being a factor this season. And with the Benson getting arrested for fighting in a bar, it doesn't look like the Bengals are focused this season. I can see the cards falling right and the Bengals making the playoffs. But I can't see them making a deep run.

Now how about them Reds. Very surprising that they are in first place in July. I thought that they needed one more big bat to be a complete team at the start of the season this spring. But the team has done well. They have lots of pitching, so do they deal any away to strengthen the team this season and go for a play off run? Or do they hold onto the cards they have been dealt? Maybe trade a starter for a closer? Or move a starter to bull pen?