WestPac Preview 2012

[SRV]

Sorry for the conversational hiatus but I just returned from a wonderful cruise with family.

I will have my first 2012 weekly predictions ready hopefully by Wednesday this week.
I missed ALL the scrimmages so I have to make some calls and see if I can get some tape.

Can't wait!

[Coach]

I saw Shade in person and their other scrimmage on film... They are good enough to win 5 games I think. I look for them to be in the playoffs this year! Their wr #4 looks good.

[thebrigade]

http://www.westernpafootball.net/news/2 ... atch-list/

[Chiefwapum]

Brigade,

Nice to see you back. Any thoughts on the Berlin-CT game this week. After watching some of the pre-season action I now have to
believe that CT should be a formidable foe for anyone in the West Pac. I understand they have a few injuries that may hurt them this week but from what I hear the injuries are only very short term. Therefore, I think they are ready to raise some eyebrows. I believe Rosa at QB will light up the field. Your thoughts?

[RamblinMan]

I saw Shade in person and their other scrimmage on film... They are good enough to win 5 games I think. I look for them to be in the playoffs this year! Their wr #4 looks good.

I'm concerned this week for the Ramblers. I've heard some good things about Shade and many say this is their best team in years. With Windber being inexperienced in the backfield, Shade could be primed for an upset. I went to the Windber/Northern Cambria scrimmage and saw more turnovers in that game than all of last season. They will need to tighten that up or it will be a long night.

My son tells me the team is not taking Shade lightly and understand it's not the same ol' same ol' in Central City. He finds litlle ways to get motivated and he heard that Shade is honoring one of their teams from the 50's that upset Windber. Doesn't want a repaeat there....

[RamblinMan]

btw, if anyone is interested, the somerset daily american had their football edition in yesterdays paper. alot of info on the westpac..

[thebrigade]

Brigade,

Nice to see you back. Any thoughts on the Berlin-CT game this week. After watching some of the pre-season action I now have to
believe that CT should be a formidable foe for anyone in the West Pac. I understand they have a few injuries that may hurt them this week but from what I hear the injuries are only very short term. Therefore, I think they are ready to raise some eyebrows. I believe Rosa at QB will light up the field. Your thoughts?

i would have liked to seen fisher in at qb. with his size he is more of a pocket passer. rosa was able to connect when he rolled out of the pocket but his size limits what he can see over the ol and d lineman. i believe every one of the interceptions were when he was in the pocket. i would have him at rb but if they are gonna keep him there they will have to roll him out to be effective. sayler was the same type of qb and was effective when he rolled out and if it wasnt there took off running. fisher gives the size you need as a pocket passer but i guess sam wants to have the same guy at qb for 2 years. with the game out of hand in the 4th i dont know why fisher wasnt given time under center to see what he can do, if rosa gets hurt, which i feel is a good possibility since sam is running option plays with him and also playing him on defense, having a qb with some backup time is crucial. c.t. moved the ball but was hurt with all the turnovers. tanner should be back this week as you stated and should make an impact offensively and defensively. as far as the defense goes, c.t. had no answers to the outside running game berlin had and they did the same thing friday as they did in the playoffs and if you dont adjust to it thats gonna happen all year with the teams that are in the westpac this year. gonna be interesting to see how sam adjusts to fridays loss. there were many games last year when township had the game in hand and subs were not put in until 1-2 min left in the game, this was a perfect time to give the kids playing now more experience. i am a firm believer in you reap what you sow and 2 games last year c.t. starters were still in playing against opponents j.v. when you have a 20-30 point lead in the 4th start plugging in the future players with the current ones to see how they do instead of a wholesale sub with 1 min left. the kids played hard friday and i am sure they will rebound from that loss. there are a bunch of good athletes on the team and they will come together as the year progresses

[Chiefwapum]

I Agree with your analysis and apparently I was watching the same game as you. They need to make some adjustments. They were in the game at 14-6 driving with less than four minutes in the half. Two picks later and they go into half down 28-6. Few teams can recover from that and with all these new faces it just makes it that much harder. It appeared they moved the ball everytime they ran it and I'm guessing their backs were two banged up to keep punching the ball up field and I suspect they will get a much needed boost this week.(As you mentioned). Their defense will struggle if they continue to blitz their backers to the B Gap out of a six man front as their is not anyone left to make a tackle on the outside. Hopefully they can shake it off and have a decent season. If they eliminate the turnovers or even limit them to a few they would have been in that game but, hats off to berlin they capitalized on every turnover. Considering what Portage did last week and the way Berlin played I expect this to be a real good game. Good luck to all the teams this week.