Half time Waynesville 21 Dixie 6.  Dixie scores first but Waynesville answers and then some.  Penalties costly in first half.  Probably 3 times penalty yards as Waynesville.  Dixie needs to get momentum back in second half.  They can move ball, just can't afford any more mistakes against defending league champs.

Hounds Fall to Devils

Dixie got off to a fast start against Brookville in a battle of two rivals. In the first quarter Dixie seemed unstoppable. On their opening drive as Ryan Jordan peeled off a 45 yard run to set up their first score, a 8 yard TD catch by Greg Leonard.  It had only taken about 2 minutes to get on the board.  Quarterback Luke Bowling went to the air again for the extra point, this time connecting with Matt Isaacs.  A Brookville drive to the Dixie 6 was stopped by a Matt Isaacs tackle for loss on 4^th and 6 from the Dixie 6. The momentum was all with Dixie as Ryan Jordan ran for a 40 yard gain, then Luke Bowling ran on a punt for a first down to set up another Dixie score.   Ryan Jordan hauled the ball in from the 42 yard line to put Dixie up by two touchdowns.  Greg Leonard caught a pass for the extra point.  

But a huge momentum swing began in the second quarter. Brookville’s defense adjusted and began to take away the run. And the Brookville offense hit a groove and started to move the ball effectively.  Using both the run and pass, they marched the ball down the field and in two drives they scored two touchdowns to pull within 2 points – having missed on one of their extra points. Dixie did have a chance to extend their lead late in the second quarter when a shanked punt put the ball on the Brookville 29. A Leonard catch moved the ball to the 9 yard line.  But there the drive stalled as a 4^th and 5 pass fell incomplete. 

At halftime the rain and lightning moved in, postponing the second half to Saturday. The delay gave both teams some time to make overnight adjustments.  This slowed down the pace of scoring. But Brookville got the better of Dixie marching the ball to endzone twice more – once in the 3rd quarter and once in the 4^th quarter. Dixie coughed up the ball 3 times to Brookville’s 1.  Dixie also lost the battle of field position, constantly playing with the ball on their side of the field. With a short field to work with Brookville took advantage and captured a 26-16 victory.

Coach Watson commented after the game, “Coach Hetrick and the Blue Devils had a great game plan and they executed it well.  We didn’t execute the way that we should have done.  On offense we just couldn’t get anything going and played on our half of the field the entire time.  And turnovers killed us – we had three.   We’ll correct those issues before our next game against Waynesville.”

On offense, Ryan Jordan led rushers with over 100 yards. On defense, linebackers Matt Isaacs and Justin Hudson both had solid games according to coach Watson.  Looking ahead to homecoming weekend next Friday against Waynesville, “They are a real good team and a top notch program that coach Philpot has down there.  We look forward to coming back to our place and regrouping as a unit.  We are 1-0 in league play at this moment and we want to extend that.  Our goals are still intact for the season, one loss does not affect us.  What we are saying this week is that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.  Last year these guys were the best, they went 10-0 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.  This game will gauge our program and tell us which direction we are heading.”

Game Pics

Dixie 16 brookville 14 halftime

Panther Volleyball Drops 3 matches

The Twin Valley South losing skid carried on this week as the team uncharacteristically dropped 3 games in a row this past week.  The team lost to straight sets to North.   South hung tough in their first set against their rivals to the North – at one point it was 18 all. But after that first set South just couldn’t get any momentum losing  25-20, 25-8, 25-12.

 

Coach Roberts:

“When you can’t control the ball it causes insurmountable problems, I really wish we could have been able to stay with them a little longer in the match, but it just wasn’t in the cards. I knew they  were going to be tough coming in to the match as they have two of the best seniors in Kelly Schriever & Megan Johnson and when they are healthy and in sync their very effective on the volleyball court. I was really impressed with the dynamic duo tonight. If Kelly wasn't setting up Megan then she was making a superb play herself. Megan is becoming one of the most versatile high school players in her division who I have seen in the past decade. Not sure what the future holds for Megan but with the way she varied her shot selection tonight she should enjoy playing at the next level whatever division she prefers, as she is a force to be reckoned with.”

Next match was against National Trail and although South did better and won the second set, Trail then went on to win 26-24, 17-25, 25-19, 25-18.  Commented Coach Roberts, “Although we (TVS) were able to hold our own with NT and be more competitive with them the final result was the same as Tuesday night.Tonight it was our lack of execution when it counted that really hurt us. We had too many hitting errors and that was our demise.”

She went on, “Tiffany Jordan did a nice job for NT tonight from the outside and her teammate Kate Deaton ate us alive at the net defensively. As she probably had a handful of solo blocks out of the middle, Deaton IS A TREMENDOUS BLOCKING PRESENCE [emphasis by Coach Roberts]. Trail controlled the ball much better than in years past and that was the key to their success.”

Life did not get any easier as South next played Brookville.  Again they played close and won a set, but again the team went down to defeat:  25-17, 25-27, 25-13, 25-21. Coach Roberts commented afterwards, “Brookville coach Jim Smith always does a nice job with his teams and this year is no different. Brookville has a dominate outside in Sydney Scherer, she probably had twenty plus kills in our four set match.”

There is no let up in the schedule either, next week South plays Bellbrook, defending league and state champs Miami East and also an always tough Covington team. 

Panthers Pummel Trojans

More pics here

On Friday night’s game South excelled against Arcanum in every area – except time of possession.  South scored so quickly – particularly in the first half, that their offense was not on the field very long.  It was another high scoring, big play night for South as they bested the Trojans 44 – 19.  Although the scoring was distributed amongst several players, Michael Burke had a great night with 4 touchdowns.

 Last week the South defense was porous – giving up 40 points against Ansonia.  This week the defense was on their game and requited themselves.  As the game entered the 4^th quarter TVS had a 44-6 lead.  Arcanum was able to score twice more as the game wound down and South did some spot substituting.  And big plays were made on the defensive side of the ball too. There were 3 turnovers in the first half and all 3 set up South scores.  Blake Ashley recovered a fumble on Arcanum’s very first play from scrimmage.  Keegan Holthouse fell upon another Arcanum miscue in the first quarter.  And when Arcanum threatened to score in the second quarter, Jared Rivers intercepted a pass that ended the drive.   There were several sacks in the second half- MJ Randolf, James Cottingim, Jared Kirkpatrick, Chad Eiler(2) all tackled Arcanum quarterback Dallas Johnson for big losses.   Arcanum was trying to pass their way back into the game and South was bringing the heat.

South scoring in the first half was as follows: Wes Cole scored first on a 37 yard run. Then Cole connected with Michael Burke on a 32 yard touchdown pass.  Cole hit paydirt with Burke again this time on a 62 yard pass.  The next score was set up by the Rivers interception – this gave the ball to South on the 3 yard line.  On the first play from scrimmage Burke burst thru the line and didn’t stop until he had gone 97 yards for another score.  The final score of the first half was set up by a Burke reception to the Arcanum 8, a few plays later Cole plunged in from the one to give South a 32-6 lead. 

In the second half, Dustin Mckee got his motor running.  He had several carries for about 10 yards a pop on his scoring drive and then bulled the ball in from the 11.  South’s last score happened at the end of the third quarter with a 49 yard TD pass to Burke.   South came within about 8 yards of another score late in the game when  Joe Webb had a great carry from about midfield to inside the Arcanum 10 only to have the ball punched out as he was tackled and the result was an Arcanum fumble recovery.  

One area where Arcanum did do well was in special teams.  Their kick return team was generally able to return to midfield. And they did execute both the onsides kick and a punt fake effectively against the Panthers. 

Stats for the Panthers: Michael Burke rushed 6 times for  122 yards. Wes Cole 12 rushes for 63 yards.   Dustin Mckee 8 rushes for 80 yards.  Wes Cole was 7 of 8 for 217 yards and 3 TD’s.  Burke had 6 receptions for 215 yards & 3 TD’s.  Seth Baker had one reception for an extra point.  James Cottingim lead the defense with 7 and a half tackles.

Coach Engleka was asked for comment after the game, “This is the first time that South has won back to back games in 6 years.   They rushed over 40 times but only got about 130 yards.  So we did a good job of containing their run.   We rushed 31 times for 306 yards.  That is our third game in a row with over 300 yards rushing.  Anytime you gain over 300 yards you are dominating the line of scrimmage. “

He continued, “We just tell the kids we want them to be 1 and 0 every week.   Enjoy it this week and enjoy this weekend.  We want to prepare and come back Friday night and be 1 and 0 again.”

Next week South will host a 0-4 Mississinnewa team.  There are several good games this next Friday North plays Covington in a battle that might decide who is the early front runner in the league title and our game of the week will be Dixie vs. Brookville, a battle of rivals.

Tvs 44 arcanum 19. Final

tvs 32 arcanum 6 halftime

TVS vs Ansonia part Duo

TVS vs Ansonia part Duo

Ansonia did a good of keeping the South defense off balance with a combination of the run and pass.  They ran a 2 back offense and even the T formation.  Their screen pass was effective as I recall they had a 33 yard touchdown and a 72 yard touchdown on that play.  They also drew South off sides in critical 4th and short situations. South for the most part had a big play offense.  They definitely could generate big chunks of yardage.  The referee's definitely earned their money as the scrambled up and down the field trying to keep up with both teams.

I think the rain delay was an advantage for Ansonia.  Almost the entire first quarter was played on Friday night.  So Saturday they played for a quarter and got a halftime to rest before finishing out the game. South had a numbers advantage - despite losing some players to injury this season,  and were able to rest players.  Ansonia had to play iron man football.  I am guessing that their numbers are in the low 20's.

At halftime South had a 30 to 22 lead, having allowed Ansonia to score just before the break.  In the second half South received.  And several times during the game, South was a team that could not stand prosperity.  And a great example was that kick off return.  It was a great return into Ansonia territory - but a hold put the ball back on the South 16. But Michael Burke, who was playing ill, took a flare pass all the way to Ansonia 8 where Wes Cole scored.

Ansonia scored on a fore mentioned 72 yard screen pass.  And on that kick off Jesse Wysong was able to return the ball all the way to the Tiger 23 yard line. It looked like South was going to extend their lead.  But on the first play from scrimmage, a hold put South back into long yardage.  A swing pass was intercepted and ran back to the 6 where Ansonia scored.  Now instead of a comfortable lead, South only had a 4 point lead - 38-34.

But on South's next drive senior Michael Burke had a 54 yard TD carry to put South back up by two scores 46-34.  Now the game entered the 4th quarter.  Ansonia drove the length of the field and on an incredible 4th down play they scored.  It was 4th and 6 on the 6 yard line.  The quarterback dropped back to pass and  South brought the heat.  As a defender began to drag him down the quarterback threw a fluttering pass.  The receiver came back to the ball and made the catch, dodged a tackle and took it in for the TD.  Again it was a one score game as Ansonia closed the gap to make it 46 to 40.

There was about 7 minutes left in the game when South got the ball.  They were able to chew some time off the clock before giving up the ball on downs - not able to get a first down on a 4th and 9 pass. Ansonia was able to get the ball to midfield before giving up the ball on a 4th and 10 at the 40 with 1:12 on the clock. South took the victory formation and took a knee to run out the clock for their first victory of the season.

Tvs 46 ansonia 40 final

tvs 46. Ans 34 third

When  i left the score was 16 - 8 in favor of South.  Ansonia scored first.  Running wise they seemed to get most of their yards on the edges, no so much in the middle. But passing was where they did the damage, one passing getting them a first down in TVS territory.  And a screen pass would go 33 yards for the first score of the night.

South did not take long to respond.  Dustin McKey returned the ensuing kickoff to the Ansonia 22.  A couple of plays later and Wes Cole knifed thru the Tiger defense to even up the score.  Weather became a factor as Ansona fumbled in the rain and Ashley recovered.  Jesse Wysong set up the next score with a carry deep into Ansonia territory.  Wes Cole scored again and again the conversion was good.  With about 40 seconds left in the quarter the game was put on hold because of lightning.  I bugged out because it seemed pretty steady.  Updates to come once I learn more.

TVS Stumbles

The Twin Valley South volleyball team has had a strong start this season.  Winning their first 3 games of the season.  They did have to go to 4 sets in their match against Carlisle. But were able to win in three sets against Stivers and Bradford.  South has traditionally been strong in volleyball, but last season the bar has set higher with Miami East winning state in Division 3. So this year expect the competition to get tougher as they go deeper into the CCC schedule.

And this year’s team is a younger team than last season with the core of the team being juniors.  There are two sophomores on the roster and a senior.   The team will have to mature in a hurry.  And they have done so for the most part in the early going. Putting up some good numbers in their early victories.  Against Stivers  the team hammered them 25-12,25-8,25-9.  Gentry Gates had a good night with 8 Aces, 4 kills, and 12 assists.  Kaylee Johnson had 7 aces and was 10 of 10 on serve receive.  Paris Gruber had 5 kills. Finally Danielle Kreitzer had 4 aces and 4 digs.

Against Bradford (25-21, 25-11, 25-13), it was another player stepping up for the victory.  Skylar Lain had 7 digs and 10 kills. Paris Gruber had 3 aces, 6 digs, and 6 kills.  Gentry Gates had 11 digs and 11 assists. Taylor Kirkpatrick had 4 digs and 5 assists.  After the game Coach Roberts commented that she was impressed with the way that both Gentry Gates and Taylor Kirkpatrick distributed the ball in this game.

Next up for the Panthers was their second league foe of the season – Arcanum.  And the team stumbled for the first time this season.  The first set was a lackluster 25-14 loss where South never really got on track.  In the second set the team performed better.  But was constantly playing catch up.  Arcanum would go up by 2-3 points, South would tie. Arcanum would go up again, and South would catch up but could never pass Arcanum.  They never could get that big momentum swing to go ahead. Arcanum seemed to be able to get good set ups to spike the ball.  Meanwhile, South was weak on their returns. This set was closer though 25-23 in favor of Arcanum.

In the third match it looked like Arcanum was going to run away with it. But coach Roberts took a time out when South was behind 9-3 to stem the tide.  South battled their way back into game, but couldn’t get any closer than 3 points to Arcanum, finally losing the set and the match. It’s the first setback for the team this season, so now the team will see who the leaders are to get the team back in the win column.

Coach Roberts was asked for comment after the Arcanum game, “We didn’t have any ball control. Our issues piled up early on and just got more dismal. We never did get into sync with what we wanted to do. We had lack of execution and a multitude of errors. We couldn’t get the ball to the outside, which is where you want to get the ball. We have one senior, 2 sophomores, and the core is juniors. So we are not as young as one might think, but we are inexperienced at the varsity level of play.  We need to work on general volleyball skills. Their work effort needs to be there day in and day out at practice.”  

Odds n Ends

This week will be a little hectic.  I plan to cover volleyball on Tuesday as the paper has an early deadline for next week.  I still intend to cover football, probably the TVS - Ansonia game for this Sports Blog on Friday.

Great time to be a sports fan in SW Ohio.  Reds are in first and look to be headed to the division title. Pro football starts next Sunday (will my fantasy team be ready?).  Ohio State has its first win in the Urban Meyer era.

Dixie Dominates Valley View

The Dixie Greyhounds hadn’t defeated the Valley View Spartans in 27 years, but in a single night the drought was ended.   The Spartans had prepared well defensively and were able to rein in Ryan Jordan who had gained over 300 yards the week before.  He was held to a little over 80 yards and a single TD on the night.  But they did not find a way to stop quarterback Luke Bowling who contributed to all but one of the Dixie scores.  And on the defensive side of the ball he had 3 interceptions.  Not bad for a nights work.

He had 4 touchdown passes – 2 to Logan Watts, 1 to Matt Isaacs, 1 to Justin Funkhouser.  Ran for a touchdown on a 20 yard run.  Then had a pick 6, where he sprinted 21 yards for the score.  He would end up with over 80 yards of interception return yardage.  Ryan Jordan scored on a one yard plunge to complete the Dixie scoring. 

The game began with Dixie taking the ball and getting the ball to midfield where the ball was fumbled.  Not a good way to start the night. Valley View scored first, but Dixie promptly answered with a 66 yard TD pass to Watts to even up the score.  On Valley Views next possession, a Matt Isaacs sack put Valley View into long yardage and a Travis Wright interception ended the drive.  So after one quarter, the game was even.

The second quarter was where the game was won by Dixie. They erupted for 25 points.   And the defense smothered every effort by Valley View at a comeback.  Matt Isaacs scored on a nice 7 yard TD pass from play action. Next was a 21 yard TD pass to Logan Watts.  The next TD was set up by a Matt Isaacs carry to the Valley View 20.  Then Bowling dropped back to pass and had to scramble.  He then dodged and weaved 20 yards for the score.  Finally, late in the quarter Bowling intercepted a pass and returned it over 60 yards where he was tackled on the one yard line.  Ryan Jordan finished the job with a 1 yard TD plunge.   Dixie was up 32 to 13 at the half.

In the third quarter, Valley View went back to the running game where they had some success.  But their ground chewing drives were eating precious clock.  As the game entered the last quarter the score was 38-20 in favor of Dixie.  Last season Dixie played with Valley View for the first half, but seemed to run out of gas in the second half.  Partly because a lot of Dixie starters go both ways while Valley View was able to platoon.  This season with a deep bench, Dixie was able to spot substitute for their starters and help keep them fresh.    This paid off in the last quarter as Dixie held Valley View to a single TD and had one more touchdown drive to end the night. 

They used the victory formation and took a knee to end the game and Greyhound fans swarmed onto the field to celebrate the win.  The only blemish’s that I could see on an otherwise great game by the Hounds was the Dixie special teams and Dixie turnovers.  The kickoff team allowed Valley View to get several good returns deep into Dixie territory.  The kicks were generally long by high school standards – there was even one touchback.  But the coverage needs to better so that the other team isn’t getting a short field to work with. 

 Coach Watson was asked for comment after the game, “It was a huge game for us, shutting down their very potent offense.   The defense was stellar - they all tackled well.  Matt Isaacs and Dustin Hutchins, the leaders of the defense did a good job of handling their triple option.  Hunter Overholtz and Saloman Shepard are leaders of the offensive line they protected Luke very well and are by far our best defensive linemen – they did a good job of pressuring the quarterback.”

On next week’s game against NorthEastern, “They are very good at what they do, they have a solid team.  They run the wishbone wing-T with a triple option.  They had a running back gain 260 yards.  So we have to make certain that we are disciplined defensively.  On offense we need to make sure we are doing what we do best.  Our offense needs to be explosive.  That is Ryan Jordan running the ball and Luke Bowling getting the ball to the receivers.   If we can do that, then we will be OK.”

The Dixie season is off to a great start.  But with an emotional victory over the Spartans, combined with their first road game - could there be a let up against NorthEastern?  Dixie was fired up at a fever pitch before the Valley View game.  Will they have enough gas in their tanks for next Friday? 

Upset dixie forty five view twenty seven

Dixie 32 valley view 13 at halftime

Dixie dominated South in all facets of the game on opening night of the high school football season.  The host team had home field advantage and every other advantage as they cruised to a 48-0 win.  The amazing thing is that all of the damage was done in the first half.  The team scored 14 points in the first quarter and an astounding 34 points in the second quarter .   That was plenty enough offense for the night.  And the defense was stifling – not allowing South to sniff midfield in the first half.   South did manage to get into the redzone thanks to a botched punt attempt by Dixie in the second half.  But the defense kept them out of the endzone to maintain the shutout.

Ryan Jordan had a stellar night breaking not one, but two school records.  He broke his own single game rushing record with 306 yards.  Even more remarkable when you find that he was pulled out of the offense for the entire second half.  He also set a single game scoring record with 6 touchdowns.  Again all done in 2 quarters of work.  South just could not find an answer for his combination of speed and strength.   

Defensively Matt Isaacs, who only played linebacker for one half, lead the way with 5 tackles with 2 of those for loss.  Travis Wright had an interception.  Chuck Lockheart had a fumble recovery.  Those two turnovers put Dixie up plus 2 in the turnover department as Dixie did not have any turnovers on the night. 

And what a way for coach Tom Watson to begin his career as a head coach.  Anytime there is a change at the top, you have to wonder how the team will react and there will always be differences in technique,  philosophy of offense/defense, and just the style of coaching.  The Dixie players obviously adapted well.  Coach Watson was asked how it felt to get the first game out of the way. “I am happy and excited – it could not have happened without those kids.  They played hard and busted their butts – I am very proud of all of my players.”

On the game, “Ryan Jordan had a monster day. The offensive line did an awesome job blocking for Ryan Jordan, he could not have set those records without them.  Even our wide receivers did an awesome job blocking for him.  We only threw the ball twice – Luke Bowling was 2 for 2. The receivers know that they wouldn’t touch the ball very much with Ryan running like that, but they did an excellent job of being team players and blocking to open a hole for him.  It was overall a great first game for us as a team. We are sacrificing ourselves for each other and I couldn’t be any more prouder.  Our defense was outstanding, anytime you get a shutout it is a good game.“

On hosting Valley View next Friday night, “They have a great team and a great tradition – I know what they are about.  Coach Ketron is an excellent coach with experience and they are going back to their old ways with the run and shoot.  They are very good team and I think it is going to be a dog fight.  But we are renewing that old rivalry that went back into the 80’s and 90’s.  And we are trying to snap a 27 year losing streak.  But I am telling my team it only takes one game to erase that 27 years.”

One good thing about Dixie being able to dominate on the ground, they did not have to open up their playbook very much.  So there is not much of the Dixie offense that Valley View was able to scout.  Meanwhile, Valley View had a much tougher opening game in their loss to Dunbar and so they had to open up and show a lot more to the Dixie scouts.

There were some bright spots for South.  Jesse Wysong had an average of 28 yards per return and was second on the team in tackles.  James Cottingim was the team leader in tackles.  Jarad Kirkpatrick, a freshman, lead the team in rushing with 10 rushes for 52 yards.  But unfortunately Kirkpatrick was injured and will not play in next week’s game.

Coach Engleka from TVS was asked to comment after the game: “They were bigger, faster, stronger, and tougher than what we were and 10 times out of 10 tries they are going to win the game.  We knew going in that they were a good team. “

On next week’s game against National Trail, “They are a mirror image of us with the exact same offense and the exact same defense.  The team that goes out and executes the best,0 that is the team that is going to win.  They played against Ponitz Tech and got a win, so they are feeling good about themselves.  Our team has to come back from playing a good team and got manhandled by Dixie. So their kids are on a high and our kids we need to pick up and get ready to go for next week.  They know what we are doing, we know what they are doing – whoever executes wins.

Dixie: Senior laden team

First year coach Sam Watson will be leading the Dixie Greyhound football team this fall. But since he has been an assistant coach at Dixie the past couple of seasons – he is not new to the players.  The team will still be running a spread offense as they have done in the past and a hard-nosed, tough defense.  And the team returns key starters at the skill positions on offense.  That makes things easier for a first year head coach – a familiar system and experienced players.

The team has a decent crop of seniors - and a total of 8 on offense. 4 year starter senior Luke Bowling will be the quarterback. Coach Watson, ”Luke is a very good talent for us, he is definitely a big asset”.   Travis Wright, another senior, will play receiver and defensive back. Fellow senior Ryan Jordan, who set the single game rushing record at Dixie last season will be back as well on offense. Coach Watson, “Ryan is a big plus for us he is a big play maker on both offense and defense”.  On defense,  Matt Isaacs yet another senior is back, he got post season accolades last year as linebacker.  Coach Watson, “Isaacs was second in the area in tackles last year – he is definitely the leader on defense”.

Another key player who has not played with Dixie for the last few years is Solomon Shepard.  He is back at Dixie for his senior year.  Coach Watson, “We are happy to have him back – he is a good lineman, we are expecting him to contribute both on offense and defense. He is a good asset to have. And I expect all my kids to be ready on Friday nights , we are a small school and they need to be ready if I need to put them in.”

Coach Watson first commented on the North scrimmage: ‘Some of the things I liked about it were the we played as a unit and we played together, the team camaraderie,  it was a positive experience.  We do need to get better at running our stuff, and there is a lot of fine tuning we need to do.  But I think we will accomplish that in short order. “

 On expectations: “They know what we expect and they actually have high expectations for themselves.  The expectations are that we will be competitive game in and game out every single week.  We are going to play hard nonstop and give everything we have every Friday night. “

On TVS: “I expect South to be a very competitive program. Their coach has done a very good job of getting kids out and getting the program up and running. I expect very tough completion between them and us.  We have similar style offenses and both schools have tough hard-nosed defenses that are very aggressive.  But it will be tough for the defenses to stop the offenses because they both execute very well.  I can’t praise South enough, they are doing a great job with that program  - getting it back on its feet and moving the right direction.

Last season the team was 4-6, but depending on how the team gels behind Watson the team should be better. The Greyhounds will host TVS on Friday August 24. 

TVS - Reaching for Perfection

Twin Valley South is preparing for their second year under head coach Lance Engleka.  They are looking forward to improving on last season’s 3-7 record.   South will be leaning on the following players to lead their effort: Senior Michael Burke at linebacker and wide out.  Wes Cole sophomore quarterback and defensive back, who started last year as a freshman as a receiver and defensive back. Junior linemen MJ Randolph and Cody Clayton.  And Darren Brown, junior receiver and defensive back will be a prominent contributor.

For the second season in a row, the team has over 40 players on their roster – so enthusiasm for the program stays high.  This pays dividends in that the players have to compete for positions and so they have to work harder to earn a starting slot.  Additionally, this means the school can field a reserve team and give the underclassmen playing time.  Coach Engleka hinted that he was hoping to be able to platoon more players and have less players going both ways.

I was able to catch up to coach Engleka this past week and talk to him about the first scrimmage of the preseason.  “Well we only do 2 scrimmages and so this was New Miami’s second scrimmage – our first.  We came out kind of flat – I didn’t think that we were as physical as what we needed to be.  And they were more physical than what we were.  Then we took a break after doing some series of ten.  We got on them, told them that needed to respond and pick it up.  So after the break, we responded and picked it up against them.   We were now the more physical team and did what we wanted to do.  The offense was able to execute, and the defense flew to the ball.”

After speaking to coach Engleka about the scrimmage, I found out the starting quarter back, Wes Cole was out with a finger injury that happened before the scrimmage and that they had to play the  entire scrimmage with the freshman back up calling the signals.

On the second year as head coach, “Last season we laid down the foundation for the expectations for this team.  And so now it has been a year- long progression where every day, every drill we are reinforcing those expectations.  The kids are now familiar with us and know what we expect.  They know our offense and know our defense.  So it is now just another step on the ladder.  We do things the right way and do it perfect every time.  And if we don’t, we go over it and over it until it is perfect. “

On Dixie – South’s first game, “There first scrimmage was against North.  It was a 14-14 tie.  I know that North has a solid program and that tells me that Dixie has a solid team.  We know that they have a number of good players coming back – their quarterback, Luke Bowling.  They a have a good wide receiver and running back coming back.  Those are three really good players.  And I know they will have big kids in the interior line.  So it will be a challenge for us – they are a bigger school and the last couple of years they have had their way with South.  But our kids believe in what we are doing and I think it will be one heck of a match up.

Rounding out Souths staff are the following  assistant coaches: Clint Shepard who will handle the offensive and defensive lines.  Pat Shockey will coach the receivers and defensive backs.  Dave Maddox will be the defensive coordinator.  South opens their season on Friday, August 24 at Dixie. 

Getting ramped up for the start of the high school football season.  First game covered with be TVS vs. Dixie.  Both teams will have similar spread offenses.  Dixie returns experience at the skill positions.  Jordan will be back at running back and they will have a 4 year starter at quarterback. Luke Bowling has done a great job at the helm and this year should be no exception. On defense, Matt Isaacs, who earned post season honors as linebacker, will be on the hunt.  First year coach Sam Watson will be leading the team this season.

South will have a first year starter, Wes Cole a sophomore running their offense. Senior Mike Burke will be back at linebacker and wide reciever. They also return an experienced line. Lance Englaka will be back for his second year at head coach. The game should be a good one with both teams ready to air the ball.