Next Year's Freshmen

[Manfred]

Tanner Gavlak played in every game, out of necessity, but was not penciled in as a starter for game 1. That's why I did not include him, not intended as a snub.

[CITYBOY]

Stats, are very misleading. Teams that take their own team stats are not always accurate. Many times after the game the stats are nowhere near what the newspaper reporters have. The newspaper guys are very accurate because they have no basis on stats where as it is usually a injured player or a parent that will do stats and then inflate the stats big time. I've seen it happen many times in the booth. For and example a running back is tackled at the line of scrimmage by one player, then the rest of the team piles on and everyone on the defensive line and linebackers gets credit for the tackle. As far as yardage on runs or passes those are always typically inflated also, not saying everybody does it, but some do.

[OldGuy2566]

Tanner Gavlak played in every game, out of necessity, but was not penciled in as a starter for game 1. That's why I did not include him, not intended as a snub.

I think it was only a matter of time regardless of injuries and whether or not he was penciled in as a starter in the pre-season.

[LionDad]

United beat previously unbeaten Marion Center tonight in JV action, they finished the JV season (6-1-1) I believe they started 6-7 freshmen on both sides of the ball in JV. They have 5-6 kids coming up from junior high who should help them out, a loaded junior class and a handful of sophomores who will be lettering again this year. Only 4 senior starters on offense and 4 on defense this year. Should have been 3 and 3, but one of their junior linemen was injured during the second week of the season. So realistically, they return 8 starters on both sides of the ball next season.

Jesse Lee is the RB from Homer City, he is the younger brother of current HC RB Ean Lee.

Blairsville's Dakota Sunday is a solid athlete and a tough kid, he should help out somewhere next season.

Marion Center, United and Purchase Line should all be pretty decent next season. HC and Blairsville also return a lot, Ligonier has been stout at the junior high level also. The Conference should be very tough the next few years after a somewhat down year this year.

[OldGuy2566]

Actually Manfred to be correct, Wieczorek and Gavlak were the only two Freshmen to start at FH in last two years. Pinkas and McClintock are sophomores this year, Donoghue didn't start as a freshman.

[knowitall]

If your team needs to start freshmen, you got problems.

Needing to start a freshman and choosing to start a freshman are two entirely different matters.

[knowitall]

That's definitely not true, especially in the WestPac...just look at Galasso at CV last year

And here is the perfect example of a team with problems. 3-7 with wins over Ferndale and Rockwood in 2012 and 1-7 with a win over Ferndale in 2013. Needing to play as many as three freshman on the offensive line is a recipe for disaster. Seniors and juniors are in general faster, stronger and smarter than freshmen. I would take a 180 pound senior over a 250 pound freshman most days. CV has one upperclassman (11th and 12th grade) wearing a jersey number higher than 49 and it shows.

[knowitall]

I think this helps contribute to declining numbers. When I was a young lad, we had a 9th, 10th, JV and Varsity schedule. Kids stayed in the program because they always had at least one game to play in during the week. I know those days are long ago, but it sure was fun even for someone like me that had minimal ability. Sorry for the off topic response, just reflecting on the old days,

It's not off topic at all. 9th graders used to play a six game schedule against other 9th graders. Once upon a time a junior high team (9th graders) who would go on to be 7-3-1 as seniors, challenged a bunch of band geeks to a pickup game. The band geeks were mostly 11th and 12th graders and they easily shut the junior high football team out. Juniors and seniors are simply bigger, stronger, faster and smarter than freshmen.

[GreenMachine]

And here is the perfect example of a team with problems. 3-7 with wins over Ferndale and Rockwood in 2012 and 1-7 with a win over Ferndale in 2013. Needing to play as many as three freshman on the offensive line is a recipe for disaster. Seniors and juniors are in general faster, stronger and smarter than freshmen. I would take a 180 pound senior over a 250 pound freshman most days. CV has one upperclassman (11th and 12th grade) wearing a jersey number higher than 49 and it shows.

Portage Started 2 Freshman and a Sophomore on their line last year.....

[Manfred]

OldGuy, you are correct. You must admit though, that because of declining numbers the past couple years, those guys played varsity as frosh. If it had been like 5 to 10 years ago, when FH had 52-55 guys coming out for the team, they would NOT have been starting, except for injuries to older players. All names mentioned are worthy players, and can only get better.