Football Texas Style

Everyone knows that things are bigger in Texas. And the high school football game I attended last night lived up to expectations. Coppell High school at Dallas is one of the largest high schools in Texas and regularly vies for the state championship. When you pull up, you are struck by the size of the complex. A huge scoreboard with graphics and video replay, a stadium with field turf that most colleges would be envious of and a practice facility with an indoor football field. The indoor field was actually used by the Dallas Cowboys when there was a dome collapse at their facility a few years ago. So the sports complex is impressive. I have been to playoff's in Southwest Ohio and the Troy and Mason facilities are some of the best in the area and they pale in comparison to this.

And the whole experience was an event. Both teams took the field running thru inflatable helmets and smoke in the endzones. The home team Coppell Cowboys ran thru a huge banner that looked to be about 25 feet tall. The cheerleaders had to use poles and ropes to hold it up. The halftime show was impressive. The Coppell band had to be at least 200 members strong and generated a wall of sound. Not one, not two, but 4 conductors lead the band. The Lariat drill team in short skirts and dainty cowboy hats did a well choreographed high kicking routine.

Oh yeah there was a football game there too. Fossil Valley Panthers were the visitors. Coppell was starting a sophomore quarterback due to their starting quarterback going down with a knee injury two weeks ago. Both teams ran variations of the spread offense. Coppell used a 3-5 defense and Fossil Valley used a 4-3 defense. As one might expect, Coppell tried to run the ball more with the young quarterback while Fossil Valley was more creative with their offense - even using a halfback pass at one point. They did not utilize a punt team, as the quarterback could also punt. So they just got into a regular spread formation, he took a couple of steps back and quick kicked the ball.

Fossil Valley scored twice to get the early lead. But Coppell was able to make adjustments and after two possessions where they did 3 plays and punted, they finally scored on their third possession when they ran a quarterback keeper and he found a seam for a long run and was finally dragged down at about the 5 yard line. Later they punched the ball in for a score and it was game on from that point. With a bigger line, they were able to get most of the yardage in between the tackles. Mixing in a pass every so often to keep the offense honest.

Coppell gave up a field goal and even a safety. The quarterback had problems with the snap from center several times and that was a thorn in their side as the ball was bobbled and had to hit the ball at least a half dozen times during the night. But they got their third touchdown and the lead in the third quarter. And the score was from a broken play where they drove inside the 10, the snap was bobbled and the quarter scooped it up and drove forward thru a crease in the line and somehow rolled out of a tackle to cross the goal line.

The Coppell defense made a good stand in the fourth quarter – Fossil Valley was in the redzone and they kept them from a touchdown for three plays and failed on a field goal attempt. This allowed Coppell to run out the clock for the remainder of the quarter winning 22-19. All in all I found the quality of play exceptional and it was definitely an event worth watching.

Coppell Cowboy Stadium

Tri County North took out their frustrations on the Bradford Railroaders on Friday night. The team was still smarting from a disappointing 35-7 loss against Covington last week. The coaching staff would have to be wondering how the team would react on their first game back from an emotional loss. And being homecoming weekend, the Panther fans were even more clamoring for a win. This team still has a lot on the line for themselves, a future Covington loss would mean a chance for a least a tie for the league championship and at last check they were unofficially in 8th place for their district – meaning that they are in the hunt for a state playoff berth. So the Panthers needed to rebound with a win for all these reasons.

On their side of the ledger Bradford already had a thin roster decimated by injury – but had some players suspended from the game. So the North sideline was overflowing with red jerseys, while the Bradford sideline was thin – I don’t think there were even 10 substitutes on the Bradford sideline. Bradford was certainly playing iron man football – no rest for the starters. And with new faces on the field there was a greater chance for mistakes.

Any doubts on the North sideline were quickly erased in the first quarter. North struck first with a 80 yard touchdown pass from Austin Hutchins to Bill Derringer. A stout North defense kept Bradford out of the endzone for most of the game, preventing them from getting any traction. But Bradford had several mistakes at key times that prevented them from taking advantage of opportunities. Early in the second quarter they recovered a fumble at the North 35 yard line. But a critical hold on 4th and 1 put Bradford into long yardage and they had to give up the ball. North took advantage and regained their momentum scoring on a Sam Judd pass reception from Caleb Lawson.

The next Bradford drive was again stopped by penalties – a hold, then an unsportsmanlike as a flustered Bradford offense could not get on track. After a Bradford fumble North scored again on a JJ McPherson run and now things were getting lopsided with North up by 3 scores. Bradford tried a little subterfuge right before the half ended with a fake punt in their own territory. This failed and gave North a short field with about 1:22 left in the half. This was all the time needed for North to find paydirt again as Caleb Lawson caught a 35 yard pass from Austin Hutchins to put North into a commanding lead 28-0.

The second half showed even more that it was not Bradfords night –another fumble and a penalty, and then a snap on a punt went over the punters head who then correctly reacted by kicking the ball out of endzone – denying North the chance of a TD, but gifting them with a safety. About midway thru the 3rd quarter things got a little ugly when a pushing and shoving match drew unsportsmanlikes for both teams and a talking to from the referee’s and coaches to settle both teams down.

North found the endzone 3 times in the second half. JJ McPherson and Michael Olinger (who bull rushed thru several tackles on his 24 yard TD run) both ran the ball in and a Colton Booth to Mark VanBrederode touchdown pass rounded out the scoring for the Panthers. The Bradford offense was able to find the endzone in the 4th quarter as the North first string defense rested on the sidelines and let the reserves finish out the game. Giving an otherwise frustrated Bradford offense some measure of success.

Coach Derringer was asked if the staff was worried about how the team would react after the Covington loss, “Well we were all disappointed about how we got down early and were dominated up front. So we got the whole team and worked on firing off the ball and drive blocking and I think you can see the results of that on Friday night. Austin Hutchins had over 200 yards passing and you can’t do that unless you have an offensive line to protect him. This is the first time in a long time that North has had over 200 yards passing in a game. “

JJ McPherson had 95 yards rushing and a TD. Austin Hutchins threw for 201 yards, 2 TD’s, and was 8 of 13 passing. Billy Derringer had 105 yard receiving and a TD; Caleb Lawson had a TD and 25 yards; Sam Judd also had a TD.

“Now we did get to a slow start against Bradford even though we scored on the second play of the game. But our defense really dominates at home and we held Bradford for three quarters. One of their rushers had over 2000 yards last year and we held him to just 35 yards over 3 quarters. Josh Daughtery our middle linebacker had one of his best games of the year, he had a tremendous night and covered the side to side defense well. JJ McPherson had three tackles for loss at outside linebacker. And the entire defensive line played great – we rotated 6-7 players in there and kept fresh all night.”

Next up is Miami East, who is also coming off of a loss to Covington. “We upset them last year and I know they remember that. But we are playing here at home this year, and this season we are playing good at home. It should be a great ball game.”

Bville wins 28 20

Dix 14 bville 0 halftime. Ch 7 n ch 45 filming

dix 7 bville 0. 1St

“Our defense is what makes this team”, stated coach Derringer after his squad defeated Bethel on Friday night, “we don’t have much size but overall quickness is what makes our defense so effective.” Bethel was able to march their opening drive down the field and plant the ball in the endzone. It looked like game on for two teams that are battling for the top half of the league. But that would be the only score of the night for the Bee’s as the stifling North defense shut out Bethel for the remainder of the game. Meanwhile the North offense was able to put up 34 points in all against Bethel.

Coach Derringer explained after the game that he was disappointed with the first half rushing game. “We had scouted them, and attacked their defense where we felt they were weakest against the run. But we were not able to run, we might have had 8 yards in the first quarter and not much more than that for the half. “ Fortunately for the Panthers their passing game is effective – and Austin Hutchins connected with Billy Derringer for the first score for the Panthers. This tied the game and the Panthers were able to score again before the half ended. They split Austin Hutchins out as a receiver and placed Caleb Lawson at quarterback. Billy Derringer was again the recipient of a touchdown pass - this time from Lawson, and the Panthers had a 14 – 7 lead.

As good teams do, North made some half time adjustments to their running game and then exploded for 163 yards rushing in the 3rd quarter. Caleb Lawson scored a rushing td in the third and North opened the game up in the fourth quarter with both JJ McPherson and Cameron Gayheart scoring rushing TD’s. So the two halves were opposites for the team with the passing game carrying the load in the first half, and the rushing game making the difference in the second half. The game was won 34-7 by the Panthers. Coming into the game Bethel had a single league loss against Covington and in that loss they played tough against perennial powerhouse Covington losing by just 3 points 17-14. So on paper this should have been a much closer battle.

“Our defense stepped it up after the opening drive,” said coach Derringer, “We gave up 52 yards in the first quarter, but in the second quarter they had -22 rushing. And when we beat Arcanum they had 7 yards rushing in the first 3 quarters, and it was the same against Mississennewa Valley. For the game Bethel had less than 100 yards rushing and maybe 25 yards passing. It was a good game for us, we had great intensity and the team was emotional going into the game.”

Defensively for the Panthers Josh Daughter lead the way with 12 tackles and 2 for loss; Jacob Schlater, who had just returned from injury after missing two games had 6 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and caused a fumble. Sam Judd and JJ McPherson had 6 tackles apiece with McPherson also intercepting a pass.

Coach Derringer on next week, “Covington will run every type of option at us – they have a complicated offense and our defense will have our hands full trying to sort it out. It has been 12 years since a North team has beat Covington. We will have to play an excellent game to leave their field with a victory.”

As we approach midseason, the league is starting to sort itself out from top to bottom. This coming Friday North takes on Covington for a game with both league and playoff implications for both teams. Both teams are undefeated in league play – tied for first, and a win makes the route the league championship that much easier. North is D6 this year and beating D5 Covington would give them first level points to get into the playoffs, and Covington would like to have the second level points from North wins. This will be an away game for North in the always tough Covington home field.

Ansonia Outlasts South in Shootout

Ansonia outlasted South in a contest where offense was king. Neither teams defense could stop the others and it came down to which team would make the final score before time ran out. Ansonia under coach Hoying has been known for years for a ball control/run first offense. This year South’s offense features a spread attack and they would air it out – scoring 5 of their TD’s with the pass. So it was a game that would contrast two different styles of offense, plenty of lead changes, and where the punters pretty much had a night off.

South fell behind early as Ansonia got the ball and marched it down the field, taking 6 minutes of clock to score. South moved the ball on their first possession getting two first downs, but a penalty stopped their first drive and caused them to punt. And for the game South would punt twice, once in the first half and once in the second half. Ansonia then did another machinelike clock eating drive and ended it with another touchdown in the second quarter. Ansonia went for 2 points on their PAT’s and were successful twice. So the scoreboard was 16-0, it was not looking promising for the Panthers.

But although time of possession in the first half would favor Ansonia, South showed that they didn’t need much time to score. They scored not 1, not 2, but 3 unanswered touchdowns in quick succession. Suddenly it was TVS in the lead with a 21-16 lead. But South just would not be able to stop Ansonia on Friday night and they scored just before the half ended to regain the lead 24-21.

Now the game became a seesaw with Ansonia and South exchanging leads several times. But Ansonia was able to extend their lead. And late in the game South was facing a 40-28 deficit. But with 5:11 left, they scored to make it 40-34 and then did a squib kick which South recovered. It was a big momentum shift. And South made use of that momentum to drive the ball in and score. But
Ansonia was not out for the count – they made a big special teams play and blocked the TVS kick for the point after and now the score was knotted 40 all. But Ansonia had one more drive left in them and scored with 11 seconds to go for the win 48-40. And every fan in that stadium got their money’s worth that night.

“I was proud of the team, twice we were down by 2 touchdowns and twice they responded and came back, said Lance Engleka after the game. I was most pleased that we didn’t get down and kept coming at them. But ball control was a problem, we gave up 474 of rushing offense – and you can’t win games giving up that kind of yardage. Also Ansonia converted on 3rd and 4th downs 12 of 17 times. We can’t allow teams to have that kind of success again us.”

He went on to point that that Cole Cottingim had a great game rushing 24 times for 149 yards and a touchdown and his passing was 12/19 for 210 yards and 5 td’s. Scoring 5 passing touchdowns is something that South has not done for quite some time. He also pointed out that Michael Burke had a good night at receiver 7 receptions for 131 yards and 2 TD’s. Finally safety Zane Cottingim had 8 tackles with 4 assists and defensive back Wes Cole had 2 solo tackles and 8 assists. But when asked about this he admitted, “Our leading tacklers should not be in the defensively secondary, we need more from the rest of the defense. “

Dixie Falls to Valley View

Although the final score was lopsided, the Greyhounds hung with the Spartans for 3 quarters. And Dixie had their chances against Valley View. There were two times in the game where 14 point swings made a big difference. Although the outcome would probably have been the same, the score would have been closer had Dixie not had mistakes in the red zone. Twice they failed to score points in side the twenty and both times Valley View capitalized on Dixe mistakes in the red zone to score themselves. So add 14 to the Dixie side and subtract 14 from the Valley View side and suddenly you have a game. Dixie showed that they could move the ball but putting it in the endzone was a problem on Friday.

Dixie’s first drive was their best of the night. Combining the pass and run they capped the drive with a Bowling to Ryan Jordan 32 yard touchdown pass. Later in the Valley View offensive series Dixie’s Nick Parker sacked the Valley View quarterback as did Wade Floyd a few plays later and Dixie would hold a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. So far Dixie was looking good on both offense and defense.

But to beat a bigger opponent, a team can’t afford to make mistakes. And turnovers kept Dixie from getting momentum, this started in the second quarter and didn’t stop. Early in the second quarter a bad snap lead to a bad handoff which lead to a Valley View Spartan pouncing on the dropped ball. A few plays later and the game was even at 7-7. Then a bad punt gave Valley View the ball on the 41 yard line where they drove it in to go ahead. A fumble recovery by John Isaacs gave Dixie new life but on that series, Dixie coughed up the ball on an interception at the Valley View 14. Dixie did stop them and got new life when a bad snap went over the punters head, he attempted a kick which was partially blocked and who else but Isaacs covered the ball at the Valley View 17. It looked like a momentum change, but Dixie threw an interception on 4th and 11, it was returned by Chris Lykins over 90 yards for a TD. So instead of tying the game 14 all, Dixie was down 21-7 at the half – not the momentum shift that Dixie needed.

In the third quarter, Dixie’s Wade Floyd had a tackle for loss and ended Valley View’s first drive. Dixie’s last gasp was on their next possession. John Isaacs caught a pass and went 80 yards for the touchdown. They did not make the extra point and it was 21-13. And from there on out it was all Valley View. Dixie was able to drive again to the Valley View 25, but a bad snap on 4th down killed that drive and lead to another Valley View touchdown. With Valley View able to platoon, they wore down Dixie. Many Dixie players had to go both ways in the heat – plus two starters were just coming back from the flu. So they just ran out of gas in the second half. The Spartans would win 49-13.

“Well you can’t win any ball game with 7 turnovers,” stated Coach Tarpley after the game,”and Valley View capitalized on 4 of those for touchdowns, including all three Valley View TD’s in the second quarter. Bad plays and bad snaps were a problem. And our defense could not find an answer for Schenck their running back. Valley View rose to the occasion and played really well.”

He did go to say that Ryan Jordan had a really good game on defense. “He was our leading rusher last week, but we couldn’t get our running game on track this week. He plays both ways and lead the team in tackles at linebacker. Next week we play against Division 2 Franklin, the mistakes we made this week we can correct.”

Congrats to both TVS and TCN on their first victories of the season. And Eaton is hitting on all 8 cylinders. They look tough to beat at this point in the season.

Finally on OSU - watching the game against Akron over my shoulder as I update. Glad that OSU gets the win. They looked good - but you have to consider the opponent, the Zips have been in the bottom half of the MAC. Still I liked what I saw, an Ohio State team that controlled the line of scrimmage, ran well, passed well. Freshman Miller got playing time at qb in a non threatening situation. So a good start to the Finkell era.

Vv 49 dix 13 final

Dixie 13 vv 28 end of third

Vv 21 dixie 7 at halftime

Dixie 7 vv 0 1st qtr

Dixie 7 vv 0 1st qtr

This Friday I will be covering the Dixie - Valley View game.

If you can't make the game, I will be posting quarterly scores from the sidelines.

Watch for the story to be posted here next weekend.

Greyhounds Race Past Panthers

With Dixie graduating a good crop of seniors last season there was some question if they could reload or would they need to rebuild? They have Junior quarterback Luke Bowling back at the helm but they lost two of his favorite receivers and on the defensive side of the ball they lost a premier linebacker, finally they lost linemen on both sides of the ball. Well the answer this last Friday night was that Dixie is in reload mode. They scored first and allowed South to tie it 7 -7. But that was the high water mark for the South offense as they were smothered from that point on by a stout Dixie defense. On the other side of the ball, the spread offense of Dixie was keeping South off balance with both the run and pass.

Bowling showed that he had some wheels as well as an arm as he carried the ball in twice for scores. He also connected with Doogie Hauser for a 30 yard TD pass, this play was set by a Jordan screen pass a play prior. And Jordan scored himself on runs of 43 and 80 yards. The 43 yard run was set up a Zack Grubb kick off return to the TVS 46 yard line. Trent Cummings scored on a one yard carry. But this score was set up by a Panther miscue – a bad snap on a punt resulted in the ball going to Dixie on the one yard line.

The lone Panther score was set up by freshman Anthony Augspurger’s interception. He was playing outside linebacker and jumped a route for the pickoff. Then he ran about 36 yards until he was tackled at the 23 yard line of Dixie. Three plays later the ball was given to Augspurger from 6 yards out where he finished the deal by running in for the score.

Both teams had their of share penalties – even for a first game. In a close game this can come back to bite these two teams. So I am sure both teams will be working on minimizing the illegal procedures and holding calls for next week. Although there was a good night for football, the turnout in West Alexandria seemed a little light as compared to years past. Hopefully this will improve too as the season goes on.

But Coach Tarpley from Dixie was more than pleased with his defense, “They are doing really well, this is the fastest defense that we have had and it showed on the field. It was lead by linebacker Matt Isaacs, who had 13 tackles and a fumble recovery. We played well in all aspects of the game, the defense, the offense, special teams – our kicking game was outstanding. Ryan Jordan had 165 yards rushing in the first half alone. “

He was gracious to the host team, “They are a well coached team, I see them getting much better once they learn the spread offense. It is a hard offense to pick up the first year. Also I appreciate the good sportsmanship that I saw on the field. Lance [Engleka] will do well at South, I see him doing good things in the CCC. ”

On next weeks game, “Well they are Valley View for one – they dropped us from the schedule years ago because they didn’t think we offered the completion, but I want to see the rivalry we once had come back. They have a good running back that their offense is centered around and they run a 5-2 defense. It will be a tough game, but I hope to surprise them. We had a good fan turnout Friday against South, but I really want to see the Dixie fans come out in full force and support us at Valley View.”

Coach Engleka acknowledged that Dixie was potent after the game, “We knew their offense was explosive, they put 35 points against Division 2 Greenville and scored 49 points in 3 quarters against Tri-County North. So we knew that they could put points on the board in a hurry. So we told the players before the game that we could not allow any big plays. We did that in the first quarter – although they scored, they had to drive the ball down the field. And we stopped them a few possessions. Then we had the break down on special teams early in the second quarter and turned the ball over to Dixie on the one yard line. Then we gave up another big play and so that 14 point swing at the start of the 2nd quarter really broke our backs.”

I asked him about the South score, “We had told our outside line backers where the Dixie receivers hit their marks, and Anthony hit the mark at right time and was able to make the play. We’ve been teaching the kids to listen and get to where they need to be on each play. He then had a nice return to the redzone and we were able to score three plays later.”

Finally, what positives they could find from the game? “We watched the game film and found that defensive linemen Cody Clayton and Kole Maggard did a great job clogging up the ‘A’ (inside) gaps. Kole was generally double teamed and still had 7 tackles including 2 for loss. They were both in their backfield more often than not. We also liked what we saw in Brad Wagers at Defensive End. He is a bit undersized, but compensates with quickness. And that quickness caused problems for the Dixie offense.

Next week South will play National Trail at home – both teams run the same offense and the same defense – according to coach Engleka this game will come down to which team executes the spread offense and 4-4 defense the best, and Dixie stays on the road and will travel to always tough Valley View.

Dix 42 tvs 7 final

dix 42 tvs 7 3rd qtr

Dix 35 tvs 7 at half

tvs 7 dix 21

Eaton is ready for Talawanda. After their 3rd and final scrimmage, Eaton is ready to begin the regular season next Friday against Talawanda. Expectations are high after last seasons playoff run. Returning quarterback Cole French did not disappoint as he looked steady at the helm. I don't know what his completion rate was, but it had to have been high. Very few dropped balls and most of his passes were on the money. He and the spread offense work well together. When the scrimmage was over, Eaton had scored 4 TD's to Tipp City's one.

On the other side of the ball the defense had a good night overall. Lots of pressure on the Tipp quarterback. He had little time to throw. The running game was all they had. It was the big play that was the Achilles heel of the Eaton defense. They held Tipp to just a few yards a carry then all of sudden Tipp ripped a big carry for 50-60 yards. This happened at least twice and lead to their one score. Then the second time the defense held on a 4th and short causing Tipp to give up the ball on downs at about the 10 yard line. But overall the defense gave a good accounting of themselves.

The one thing I would like to see improved is the running game. Sure with the spread, you think pass first. And with a seasoned quarterback that is your strong hand. But you need to be able to run from time to time to keep the defense honest. Plus on those cold and windy Fridays, you need to be able to run when the pass isn't working for you. There was one decent gain for 15 yards, but overall they didn't do so well on the ground.

Coach Neanon had this to say after the scrimmage: "It was a good place to start, I really liked our defensive intensity - we got some nice pressure on their quarterback. That is something that we have been working on, so it was pleasing for us. Overall intensity wise I thought we played well. I thought our passing game looked good tonight. Our receivers caught the ball and Cole ready the defense well and picked out the guys who would be open. The offensive line gave him plenty of time, and if Cole has the time he can pick a defense apart."

Neanon expects Talawanda to use a ground attack. "They have big line splits and they will try to spread you out and they have a big quarterback who makes good reads on the option. They are not a huge team, but they have good quickness. On defense they use that speed to close on the ball."

On OSHAA allowing teams to have three scrimmages this year. "Overall I think it was a positive. We got to look at a lot of kids early on and fill out the depth chart. A lot of our young guys got playing time in game situations. On the negative side, there is always the chance for injury and so you just want to get out healthy."

Also I am doing some audio clips. So check it out on my Sports webpage, there is a link to right. The TVS audio is there now and Eaton's will be there shortly. Oh and if there are any young aspiring broadcasters out there - contact me. My voice is a monotone.

Eaton 28 tipp 7 With jv teams now playing in 43h

Eaton 21 tipp 7 at half of scimmage

 

A new look at TVS. By my count TVS won the scrimmage 4-2 over New Miami. South scored both on the ground and in the air. The offense has an entirely new look under first year head coach Lance Engleka. He is the former offensive coordinator at Middletown where they ran the spread offense. That was the South offense of choice for the entire scrimmage. Many times spread teams will go to a different formation when it is short yardage - but South stayed with the spread thru out. Although South did use the pass effectively, they were able to keep New Miami of balance by running for yardage as well.

The South quarterbacks had a good eye for the most part - I think there was just the one interception, and the South receivers had good hands - very few dropped balls. They had a few holds on the line, and a few miscues, but for a first scrimmage they did well. And New Miami did have a couple of horses at tackle. Two big kids that looked to be over 6 foot and over 250 pounds. Defensively they had some let downs, but in the last part of the scrimmage, when it was down and distance, they did a good job against New Miami. South was up 4-1 and they had some subs in the game late when a New Miami quarterback ran a keeper for about 50 yards just before the scrimmage was over. Lots of red jerseys around the ball which you like to see on defense, plus they had a few sacks and tackles for loss.

New Miami has a new head coach as well - Coach Jewitt - if my memory is right he coached at Carlisle for awhile. One thing he did that was actually beneficial for the TVS defense was the variety of formations he used. The old T formation, Double wing, and the spread offenses. So the team had to adjust to a variety of looks. New Miami does not have much depth with about 22 - 24 players in all. On the other hand, South had 41 dressed for the scrimmage. Towards the end that difference in depth meant that they stayed stronger, longer.

Coach Engleka stated the entire experience was positive. "From an offensive standpoint we want to be uptempo in everything we do. Right from the get go we did what we needed to do, we were able to run the ball and we were able to throw the ball. We want to do what we want to do - when we want to do it. We both ran and threw the ball well when we wanted to.

Dylan Ashley and Cole Cottingim did really well at quarterback today. Our offensive line did a good job of getting into guys and moving them off the ball. We want our line to move the line of scrimmage back three yards and they did a great job of doing that. Our recievers made some real athletic plays. On the defensive side we told the guys to line up right, play fast and physical. Those are the three things we want to do, and today we did those three things. The type of offense they were running we had not seen before. And they did a good job against them; and if we can do those three things all year - line up right, play fast and physical we will be successful this year.

The defensive line did a good job of putting pressure on the quarterback. Our linebackers were coming up strong. Our free safety Zane Cottingim did an outstanding job today did an outstanding job of filling in the alley. Overall we were pleased with everything."

Football Scrimmage: TVS 4 New Miami 2 Final

Well looks like the mobile posting from the field is working well. South was up 4-1, but Miami East got a score at the end of the scrimmage. Will post a full update and a pic or later. Have to run to a birthday party now.

Tvs 2 new miami 1 almost done with scrimmage

Tvs 1 new miami 1 midway thruscrimmage

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