ICC Preseason Discussion 2016

[Coach]

It is now August and we are just a few Fridays from starting the 2016 season.  It will come earlier than ever with most teams in our area trading the second scrimmage for a game.  We have some great posters who follow each conference and hopefully these threads will get them going. 

Who are the favorites?
Best returning players?
Darkhorse?
New players that will have an impact?


I'm hopeful that many teams will get previewed in these threads in the coming weeks.  The first week will be here before you know it!

[Aiks19]

Looking like it will be a 3 team race . Northern Bedford, Mount Union and Bellwood Antis.

[billmurray]

strongest year league wide that I can remember. I could see Four 3 loss teams battling it out for the title, but it's such a strong league top to bottom I could see total parity due to great teams. There are a few sitting at the top, but EVERYONE brings back a ton. Going to be an interesting year in the ICC, The team that takes charge quick will have the advantage. I look for Tussey, Mo Valley, claysburg, bellwood, westbranch, williamsburg, glendale, JV to battle for a shot at NB with Williamsburg being the darkhorse contender

[Aiks19]

According to Altoona Mirror preview magazine ( which could be wrong ). ICC has gone away from 2 division format. But as I look at schedules most teams will play all 10 games within conference.  While BA, MU,WB and Everett play out in week 1 giving them only 9 conference games.

[Coach]

Week one will NOT count toward conference standings.

So, NBC plays MV in week one.... That will not impact the ICC standings if I remember correctly.

[abpk2903]

I look for  Tussey, Mo Valley, claysburg, bellwood, westbranch, williamsburg, glendale, JV to battle for a shot at NB with Williamsburg being the darkhorse contender

Correct me if I'm wrong but Tussey Mountain went winless last year didn't they?  That would be quite the leap.

[billmurray]

I look for  Tussey, Mo Valley, claysburg, bellwood, westbranch, williamsburg, glendale, JV to battle for a shot at NB with Williamsburg being the darkhorse contender

Correct me if I'm wrong but Tussey Mountain went winless last year didn't they?  That would be quite the leap.

Tussey returns 8 on offense and 9 on defense ....in 1A ball that means a LOT

[Aiks19]

Tussey is returning starters from a one win team, Glendale returning starters from 0 win team. Northern , Bellwood and Mount Union all returning a lot from already winning seasons.

[davesandstorm]

According to the small blurb in the Huntingdon Daily News today, Tussey Mountain returns 9 starters on each side of the ball. Mount Union returns 6 on offense and 5 on defense. Juniata Valley 6 on offense and 8 on defense. Southern Huntingdon returns 5 on both sides of the ball.

Mount Union has back Kuhstos and Posey who both split time as the starting QB last year. Both kids are athletes, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they both found the field at the same time this year. We have back 1000 yard rusher Martin. He has a realistic shot at breaking Tink Stennett's school rushing records after breaking out with a huge sophomore season. We have Wilson back who was our #3 WR and I felt best DB last year. Ritchey and Walker both return for the line. The younger Gearhart who kicked for us two years ago is on the team as well. I think McMickens could possibly play a big role especially on defense. That kid played kick coverage last year and he was in on the majority of those tackles and he would flat out level kids if he had the shot.

The major questions are: 
What are we doing on offense now? We haven't listed any Tight Ends on MaxPreps. Maybe we're going to stay spread? There's a good bit of speed on the roster and maybe spreading the field out will help with the fact that we need to grow a line.

How are we going to fill the hole that Bookwalter leaves on both sides of the ball? He ran for over 600 yards last year, was a lead blocker for Martin when he wasn't carrying the ball, and was the defensive stopper. I think that we'll miss him more on the defensive side of the ball.

Who's stepping up to fill the offensive line? We return what will probably be two starters, but who else is filling in? We need holes to get Martin into the next level. Once he gets in the open field, he's tough to catch/bring down.

There are a lot of really talented kids coming through the program. We need them to be next man up.

I fully expect that we should have a very good shot at another winning season this year.

[guru1]

My darkhorse this year is Juniata Valley. They made a nice run to close out the year in 15 and have a good many returning players. One could argue they lost MAYBE 1-2 kids that really mattered. They also get back an athlete or 2 that took a year off last year to focus on baseball (which must have worked since they were D6 champs).... Combine that with some nice athletes moving up from an undefeated junior high team and I think this team could make some noise.