Opening night was a tough night for the CCC. Lost 3 games and only won 7 - it looks like a down year for the conference. Anna was the team to beat and now they are gone so it knocked down the competition a notch. Teams had to play at a higher level to be competitive with them. Plus last season we lost several good coaches so teams are learning new systems, etc. I would say that Covington is back to being the standard bearer for the conference and the road to the conference championship will have to go thru the Bucc's.

Missinnewa Valley under coach Graher could make some noise. Sounds as though they have some size, and with him coaching you know the team will be hitters. They won on opening night (over Union City IN) as did Covington under Dave Miller (7-3 over New Breman) and TVS.

I was able to watch the TVS game and it was a thriller. Dixie is the real deal. they line up in a spread offense and can throw the ball. It was close at half time, but Dixie had 2 scores in the third quarter to pull ahead 30-14 going into the last stanza. South was in the middle of a drive and finished it off with a TD to start the 4th, but the two point try was denied. So the team was still down by two scores. About the 2nd play after the kickoff, Dixie ran a sweep. A defensive tackle busted thru and go to the runner the same time that the ball did. Knocked the ball loose and grabbed it in midair. Took it 25 yards to the house. Again Dixie starts their drive and goes to pass after 2-3 downs. A linebacker picks it off and takes it back to the 25 yard line. A few plays later and now South has the lead. In a little over 3 minutes the team scored 3 TD's!

Dixie did knock at the door, but on 4th and 3 on the TVS 15 a pass was batted and fell incomplete with about 2 minutes left . South was able to get a much needed first down on offense and run out the clock. Definitely shows that the boys don't give up.

TVS 5 scores - PS 1. TVS did a good job of mixing the pass and run. Would like to see more consistancy on the passing, but they did well enough to keep Shawnee on their heels. The defense gave the offense good field position. There was one breakdown where Hale got behind the safety and Shawnee's QB hit him in stride and he took it to the house. Other than that drive late in the scrimmage, South dominated. Shawnee had a lot of penalties - including an unsportsmanlike. I think that they got frustrated.

Maleski showed flashes of what he is capable of, he was starting to run downhill later in the scrimmage and also was starting to make people miss with shoulder fakes and lateral moves. Early in the scrimmage it seems like he was tentative, looking for holes and stutter stepping at times. Stone seems to be a more reliable ball carrier this season, and Flynn showed that he can run as well as pass when he has to. Don't know all the names on defense, but I know the one tackle did a great job on pass rushes - must have had 2-3 sacks. Linebacker corp seems to be solid.

TVS vs. Dixie: The grapevine tells me that Dixie is running a more spread out shotgun type offense. Miller is an experienced QB and he has some experienced recievers coming back. So the passing attack is there for Dixie. Both teams have shown that they can score points in scrimmages, but I don't feel that either team has really been tested. It may come down to who has the best defense. Also if the south offense can consume clock time with ball control rushing drives, this will keep the high octane offense of Dixie off the field. Dixie will need to score early and often. If they force South to play catch up and pass the ball more often than they like then this could work to Dixie's advantage as their defense sits back and waits on the pass.

CCC preview

Well it looks like Covington is still the team to beat. Held their own against Eaton until late in the scrimmage last week.

North took a whooping from Dixie, new coach and graduated a good crop of seniors. So this could be a rebuilding year.

South did OK against SouthEastern, but SE was a 0-10 team last season. Good bunch of seniors, thin junior class, so the sophomores and even a few freshmen will have to step up.

Bethel - rebuilding? Haven't heard much from the hive.

Arcanum - should be strong. They still seem to be in a reload mode.

Trail - could be a retread season, don't see much hope for progress. Some good kids at the skill positons, but I heard the numbers are down and that the line is inexperienced.

Ansonia - Should be over .500 They should have some returning starters.

Bradford - new coach but one that coached there with some success in the past, heard that the numbers are down, so that does not bode well.

Mississenewa - Haven't heard anything yet. If they still have Grader they will still be hitters.

Miami East - biggest team in the conference now. They should be returning some starters, they could be over .500 this season for their first winning record in a while.

South Scrimmaged SouthEastern this past Saturday. TVS Varsity did have 3 scores. Running game looked good but the passing game was sporadiac. Both Maleski and Stone had some good carries. Thought that Flynn threw decent passes, but there were a few dropped balls. We did have one touchdown pass. The defense swarmed to the ball and in their first two offensive series, I don't know that SE gained more than 10-15 yards. They did gain more yardage in the last half of the scrimmage, but the SE varsity did not score. The TVS JV did give up 2 scores. So there was some optimism in the TVS stands afterwards. But you have to remember the competition - SE was 0-10 last season. Next South goes up against Shawnee who was 5-5 in 2006. So it will be better guage of where the team is at going into the season.

Heard thru the grapevine that Dixie (first game for TVS) was in the drivers seat for the scrimmage against North. Scored a handful of times using a shotgun style offense and did not allow North to cross the goal line. They have Miller who is an experienced QB and some good recievers with varsity experience from last year. They should have a new running back and linemen but obviously they did their jobs against North. They do have a new coach who is a Dixie alum. Sounds like Dixie is peaking while North may be rebuilding this season with their new coach.

OK time to get this puppy in action.

Fall Sports preview - Preble County:

Eaton football: Graduated a ton of seniors from a successful team that made the playoffs. Can they reload? History says no. They should be capable of a winning season, but I don't see them in the fight for the championship.

Preble Shawnee Football: The program is showing signs of rebirth. The move to the small school division seems to have helped. I see them over .500 but not by much.

National Trail Football: Ouch. Could be another long year for the Blazers. A lot of young faces, small line. The team has a ways to go to be competitive. They will struggle to get 2-3 wins.

Twin Valley South: Cottingim has the program pointed in the right direction. The team eaked out a couple of wins last year and were competive in most of their games. Strong senior class, but the junior class is thin in numbers. So the sophs will need to step up to make the team competitive. Flynn will play QB, JT Stone will make an impact where ever they play him. Look for Maleski to get the ball at tailback. The team learned that they can win last year, look for a bigger impact this season.

Tri-County North graduated a strong senior class last season. They now have a new coach. Derringer stepped up to the District office and an assistant is taking over. So new players will need to learn the system of a new coach. The team improved steadily under Derringer. Will the team reload or back slide? I think they will drop off a bit, they should have a winning record.

Typical test to see if this is working as advertised.