HS Football thoughts for this week's games. Add yours

[Manfred]

First, remember, it's why they have to actually play the games. Anyone can pick their fave's, doesn't mean they will win. Congrats to ALL this week 1 winners. The road only gets tougher from here. Thanks to all those who picked MU over FH, by a 2 to 1 ratio. Everyone I talked to, said MU was beatable. Everyone I talked to said their schedule is weaker, nothing like being in the LHAC every week. That being said, and actually being at the game, here are my thoughts. Size-wise, we matched up very well with MU. Speed wise, not that much! The Trojans ran all over the field for much of the night, likely doubling the stats over us, but when they got into the red zone, the Trojans had some problems. Most of their own doing. MU was likely the better team on the field, but any team that turns it over 6 times, doesn't deserve to win. I was mildly surprised with the number of underclassmen MU had playing as regulars, much like FH. I wouldn't be surprised to see them both in the top of next years seeds. Many folks wrote off FH after their 3-3 start. I had great doubts. What this team showed the past few weeks, is what every Coach looks for in a team, and that is HEART. Outmanned for most of the season, this team showed its mettle when it counted last night. MU defended SHAREEF Blough pretty well last night, and a less than 100 % Joe Donoughe gutted out a tough evening, scrambling for a couple first downs and after being put in on defense for the last series or 2, came up with the clinching pick in the end zone. I CANNOT figure why MU, who had been running pretty much at will for most of the game, with the ball around the 5 yard line and a couple minutes left on the clock, chose to throw a corner end zone pass. Goes against all logic. Congrats to the Rangers. Not saying we will win next Sat. You are going against one of the 2 biggest 6 AA powerhouses next week, but we know you will make an accounting of yourselves against Central. We've done it before. Thanks for a successful season in the great RANGER tradition! Can't wait for 2014.

[davesandstorm]

Needless to say, we too were baffled by the play calling at the end. You'd think we would have learned our lesson from the first drive when we had similar position. We really shot ourselves in the foot with the turnovers and lack of execution in crucial times. Scoring to open the game would have been huge. The game was eerily similar to the Bellwood game and both were the ones we lost. We have a lot of talented players coming back, but at the same time we lose a lot of talented kids.

[HSFootball88]

I was very impressed with Homer Center destroying Juniata Valley. Can anyone who was at the game give some insight about it?

[GreenMachine]

I was very impressed with Homer Center destroying Juniata Valley. Can anyone who was at the game give some insight about it?

Well apparently their Head Coach was suspended just before the game, and someone in here said 3 starters were suspended as well ?!?! Still waiting on more details to emerge about this in the days to come as everyone was blindsided with it it seems.

[House]

Juniata Valley was missing 3-5 starters with injuries.

[QuoteTheRaven]

I'm good friends with Juniata Valleys head coach. He didn't say anything about the suspension (I talked to him yesterday afternoon before the game) I don't know if it was sprung on last minute or what happened. I feel REALLY bad. Mike Smith is a GREAT guy and an AWESOME coach! If JV gets rid of him they are idiots. Before he came along the Hornets were just an average small class A school. He really put them on the map. His 1st season in 2004 he had the #1 defense in the state that season, only giving up 20 pts ALL season long and with his Wing-T offense was just DEMOLISHING teams. He has had A LOT of success since then, JV is always competitive every year, especially considering they are a small class A school. I have not talked to him since yesterday before the game, but I feel really really bad.

[WPIAL~Titan]

Why was the coach suspended?

[guru1]

I was very impressed with Homer Center destroying Juniata Valley. Can anyone who was at the game give some insight about it?

JV was missing 3 starters to injury, 1 who the coach asked to leave the team and another who left on his own due to the situation. I don't think this is the place to go into detail about the events out of respect to coach Smith. Let's just say there was an issue stemming back to last season's Huntingdon game that came to a head last Friday when the two met again and the player in question and Coach Smith did not handle it very well. Some things happened after the game that I am sure they both would redo if they could. Enough said... hopefully they both learned lessons from it and hopefully Coach will return next season.

[youngbuck]

so it is ok for everyone to get on here and talk about how great of a guy he is but what really went on can not be discussed.

injured and kicked off the team are different things right?

[BigSkyCountry]

The way I see it, it is none of our business. If your not that coach, the questioned players nor the school who makes the decisions based on information that they have gathered, then drop it. It's an internal issue that appears to be being handled. The Altoona mirror and WTAJ must have more taste than the tribune democrat and wjac. If it were a Johnstown area school district this would be in the headlines and would be the main story at prime time. These are kids and people who are going to make mistakes. Hopefully their mistakes are not life altering and they have a chance to move on from them with a lesson learned.