BleacherCoaches.com

Here we go again, it is football season! I usually write weekly previews for the ICC. There are a lot of question marks in the conference this year and lots of teams that have rosters under 30 guys. I'll have to learn more about everyone after we finish this week because there are more unknowns than there usually are.

Most likely to place in the state rankings: Bellwood
Most likely to surprise: Everett or Williamsburg
Best player in the conference: Damon Braniff or Casey Gray
Division top 3 picks in no particular order- Gold- Bellwood, Northern Bedford, and Everett Silver- Glendale, Mo Valley, Juniata Valley
Biggest sleeper not in my top 3- Tussey Mountain who I think could win anywhere from 4-8 games.

The conference looks different this year as teams are split into large school and small school divisions.

Gold Division:
Bellwood
West Branch
Northern Bedford
Southern Huntingdon
Mount Union
Everett

Silver Division:
Tussey Mountain
Williamsburg
Juniata Valley
Claysburg
Mo Valley
Glendale


Week 1:

West Branch @ Moshannon Valley
Last year, West Branch turned things around in a big way behind coach Lester Smeal and made the playoffs after winning their season finale. Here is what I know, West Branch returns a terrific running back in Chad Speigle but they don't look to have much more. Looking at their maxpreps page, their team picture shows less than 20 players on the team. This trend looks like it is all across the ICC though. Moshannon Valley returns Jake Ludwig and he is a solid running back as well. I don't expect to see a stat line from either team that shows the ball was put in the air much. I'll take Mo Valley to open the season with a nice win. They have a new coach, but he is not a new coach to the ICC in Mike Keith (he was at Glendale).

Moshannon Valley 33 West Branch 13


Juniata Valley @ Southern Huntingdon
Neither of these teams return a lot of skill guys, but they have both traditionally been two of the better teams in the conference over the past decade. Southern Huntingdon lost a lot of their skill guys and look like a very young team. Juniata Valley is pretty young at the skill positions too. Where are they better? The offensive and defensive lines. I'll take JV to win.

Juniata Valley 26 Southern Huntingdon 6


Claysburg @ Williamsburg
Claysburg is a team that actually returns a decent amount of starters to their team. Their leading rusher Helsel is back and gives the offense a nice boost. Williamsburg is another team hurting on numbers. They have a big group of seniors and a lot of experience though. They are led by returning running back Alan Shanholtz. The Blue Pirates have some solid skill guys and should be improved. If they stay healthy they will sneak up on some people. I'm picking them to sneak up on CK right off the bat. I think this should be a really good week one game. These two teams play each other twice this year and will see each other again in October. If either team gets a season sweep it will really help their playoff chances.

Williamsburg 20 Claysburg 19



Everett @ Tussey Mountain
The Warriors and Titans will meet up Friday with lots of question marks. Both teams return guys, but there are still plenty of questions.
1. How early does the sophomore group have an impact for TM?
2. Who will lead the TM defense and be their leading rusher?
3. How will Everett respond to having a new coach and system?
Everett brought in a new coach with a lot of experience and I've heard that the Warriors have bought into what Coach Kirk is selling to his team. The Warriors return a decent amount of skill guys and they have an absolutely huge line with three 300 pounders up front. You don't see that in this league very often. Tussey will once again use Coach Smith's double wing offense. They have some guys returning on the line that are pretty solid but will they match up with what Everett has? Give me the Warriors to win in week 1.

Everett 21 Tussey Mountain 13


Northern Bedford @ Glendale
These two teams return some of the best skill kids in the conference. Glendale might have the best runner in the conference in Damon Braniff. He is a big, fast kid that really makes things happen. They also return their quarterback and a big portion of their offensive line. The big question for Glendale is how well can they pass? If they can throw the ball this is a team that can win 7 games. If they can't, I look for them to finish closer to .500. Northern Bedford returns the Pressel twins Zach and Tayler as well as other depth at wide receiver. They have a new quarterback and they replace a lot of guys on the line. It looks like they can pass the ball, but can they run it? Two teams with two big questions offensively means I'll take the one that has had the better defense and that is Northern Bedford where they return their entire secondary and linebacker Tayler Pressel.

Northern Bedford 23 Glendale 21


Mount Union @ Huntingdon
These two teams are probably the two I know the least about. Mt Union lost a lot of guys from last year and I don't recognize the names of many of their players that were juniors last year. Huntingdon has a roster of 46 guys and is a bigger school that usually wins this matchup, so I'll take them. Mount Union won last year, but I think this year the Bearcats have expectations to do some things.

Huntingdon 33 Mount Union 6


Game of the Week
Bellwood @ Tyrone
The "Backyard Brawl" is always a highly anticipated season opener. These are two of the premier teams in district 6 and they both have high expectations comining into the season. Tyrone has more question marks starting with the loss of their head coach, John Franco, to Altoona. Bellwood returns guys like Worthing, Gray, Beech, O'Shea, and Campbell. Tyrone went to the state final last year but they lost a decent amount of guys. Tyrone wins most of these games and I'll admit I don't know much about them but I'm going out on a limb and taking Bellwood to win this one.

Bellwood 20 Tyrone 17



I'm so glad that football season is finally here!!!

Nice write up rainmaker. There are a lot of question marks in the ICC this year. Will the traditional powerhouses stay on top? How will teams adapt to the coaching changes? Can any of the bottom feeders turn things around?

Best Offensive Player - Chad Speigle, West Branch
Best Defensive Player - Tayler Pressel - Northern Bedford
Best Athlete - Casey Gray, Bellwood
Breakout Player - Trey Claar , Claysburg QB
Biggest Sleeper - Claysburg, I feel they will be #3 in the Silver division, but they could sneak up on Glendale or Mo Valley.
Trending Up - Mo Valley. Keith could put them to the next level. He did great things at Glendale, and he will have better athletes and football tradition with the Knights. He could vault them into contention will Bellwood in the near future.
Trending Down - Mount Union. They are the biggest school in the conference but have been nothing more than a middle of the pack varsity program, despite having strong JH teams. Something needs to be done to change the culture with that program.

Week 1

West Branch @ Mo Valley
I like both of these teams. West Branch was able to sneak up on some people last year. This this year that won't happen, and teams will be loading up to stop Speigle. I've seen Speigle on the diamond, and the kid is a heck of an athlete. If he had a little more around him he would be a real star in this league. The numbers for West Branch are downright sad though, and it will be tough to overcome once some injuries hit. James Stodard leads MV and is arguably the best two way player in the league. I believe it was Dylan Ludwig who split carries with Derek Southern last year, and they both along with QB Martin have since graduated. I'm not sure who steps in at QB and RB for the Knights, but I'm sure they'll find someone to produce. I think this will be a real tight game, but Stodard will be a difference make on both sides of the ball for Mo Valley and lead them to a win.
MV 20 WB 14

Juniata Valley @ Southern Huntingdon
The Green Hornets have been one of the more consistent teams in the ICC over the past decade plus, where the Rockets haven't been quite the same for some time now. JV always seems to have a breakout running back who puts up some monster stats. SH has had trouble putting points on the board. I'll take JV pretty easily.
JV 27 SH 14

Claysburg @ Williamsburg
This one is a really intriguing matchup to me. Williamsburg is coming off its biggest win in Lord knows how long over Bishop Carroll in week 10 last year. Shanholtz is a big kid who can carry the ball 30 times a game if needed. Claysburg returns a nice running back in Helsel, and actually has a bigger, more talented O-line than usual. Mix in new QB Trey Claar and these guys could have some nice offensive balance. I'm kind of torn here and don't really know who will win this one, but I'll go with CK's offense hitting a few big plays along the way.
CK 30 W 22

Everett @ Tussey Mountain
This is one of the bigger rivalries in Bedford County, and both teams badly would love to jump out of the gates 1-0. The big question is how Everett adjusts to the coaching change. It's tough to change a losing attitude in a few short months. Both teams return guys who saw action at QB last year (Droz at Everett, Husick at Tussey). I would expect Zakk Jays to get the bulk of the carries for EV, and Mitchell Corbin should get a lot of touches for TM. Watch out for TM soph Daniel Taylor also out of the backfield. It will be interesting to see how the new staff at Everett runs things. The old staff was unwilling to run behind that big line. If they can stick to the inside run and mix in some play action, I like Everett's chances.
EV 21 TM 16

Northern Bedford @ Glendale
I don't have much to add to what rainmaker had to say. I think it will come down to the H2H matchup between RB Brandiff and LB TPressel. I think this swings in NB's favor. If Brandiff goes off, Glendale wins. If TPressel shuts him down, NB wins. If it's a draw, NB's makes enough plays through the air to win. I'll take NB this week.
NB 28 Glendale 22

Mount Union @ Huntingdon
Don't know much about either team other than Huntingdon has a great history, and MU underachieves year after year.
Hdon 34 MU 6

Bellwood-Antis @ Tyrone
In my fearless forecast I went with Bellwood, then I scrolled up and saw the everyone else picked BA and I was a little shocked. I'm anxious to see what the guys from the Mirror pick. If they all pick BA, I wonder if Tyrone uses that as some bulletin board material? But hey, in this rivalry I don't think any bulletin board material is necessary. Tyrone is Tyrone. Bellwood is Bellwood. I just feel, as well as most of the people on this site do, that BA has enough studs returning to win this one.
BA 21 Tyrone 14

Huntingdon is down again this year from what I've been reading on their web forums. Our team will be young, but we have some talented players coming up from the junior high teams that have lost 2 games in the last 2 seasons. We have a lot of athletes who are standouts on the diamond who tend to focus on baseball year round. Some of those athletes have slowly been coming into the football program again. I think we have a strong shot at getting a rare win in back-to-back years against Huntingdon this season.

Focusing on one sport....blah. Another topic for another day.

Coach wrote:Focusing on one sport....blah. Another topic for another day.

Those words should make all real coaches everywhere want to vomit uncontrollably! Focus on one sport my rear anatomy!