(1-7) Gallia Academy @ (7-1) Zanesville

[mattash]

Thoughts?

[GalliaGrad78]

I hope that the good people of Gallipolis will make the trip to support this fine group of young men.
If their record was based on heart, desire, and hard work, it would surely be 8-0.
They deserve our support!

[pappy1]

My shortest drive of the year. I'm sure Z'ville will have more team speed than GAHS so we'll have to play a mistake free game.

[ironman02]

I've been very impressed with the way Gallia Academy has played the last several weeks. Their kids have really played hard all season and you can tell that they are getting much better. Coach Eddy should have a pretty good football team next season, in my opinion. Zanesville is still playing for a possible playoff spot, but it looks like they're going to struggle to get in, even with two more wins. GAHS will play hard, but in the end, I think ZVille will get the win by a couple scores.

[noreply66]

If Gallia goes in with a health team they might put the hurt on Zanesville

[pbuck]

Blue Devils will win this one for sure LOL.... I'm taking the ones from Zanesville

[GAHSfan06]

gallias offense has been very medicore...they are unable torun the ball and have 1 player they throw too...not much balance. o-lines pass blocking had success last night, but hartley only rushed 3. young guys on their need to take in this experience.
defensevely, been impressed with the ends golden and gravely. saunders played a great game last night at linebacker.
i think defensively next year, they should be solid. again, it comes down to offense and i dont know about that, something is going to need to change.

[BBallin fool]

Where does Golden play on O???

[blaze275]

Tite end.

[BigTime]

I dont know about how "mediocre" our offense has been this season. In the first place we have struggled to put a healthy "O" or "D" on the field in the same game for a single time. Injuries are a part of playing football, and excuses are for losers, but the fact remains that health has been an issue this year.

Cody Lloyd (5'10" 330#) has missed almost the entire season and just recently had surgery that will hopefully see him able to return next fall for his senior year.

Austin Wilson has battled with shoulder and ankle injuries and last night had to sit out the first half because he missed two days of practice.

Dingess, Gordon, Moore, Curry, Golden, etc, etc etc have taken their places on the sidelines.

Combined with learning a new offense and the injuries, it would have been nice to have the entire team healthy and on the field all at the same time.

The good news is all of the health concerns have made it possible for the underclassmen to get more and more playing time on Friday nights. I have the DVD of the Chillicothe game, and in just the first quarter alone Coach Eddy was able to get 22 kids in during the FIRST QUARTER! Those are kids who will be back next season

I believe in our kids and our coaches, and I told our coach this morning at Foodland that the experience our kids are receiving is going to come back and benefit us beginning next year. The last four weeks we have played teams who all have a winning record and yet our "O" has put up 19.5 ppg and given up 25.0. The first four opponents saw a scoring differential of 11.5 for and 38.0 against. Quite an improvement if you ask me!

You make some great points about this team. You don't have to look far for an example of a team that went through the same thing. The Trojans and their 1-9 record last year was not fun at all. The kids worked hard in the weight room and are in the process of turning in a winning season this year. Work hard, play hard, and believe in each other and Gallia will be back to the success their accustomed to in the past. Good Luck Blue Devils from Trojan Country.

[GAHSfan06]

injuries have always been apart of gahs the last few years, why?
our offense is putting up #'s, but all have been from big plays, or set up from big plays, dingess and wilson. i wondr how many plays our average drive consists of.
friday was the fisrt i think weve seen of the option on offense, id like to see more of that with moore and wilson. could be scary on that field turf.

what does zanesville bring to the table?

[GAHSfan06]

i have feeling these seniors are gonna step up and get it done these next 2 weeks...deep down, we have turned a corner....we are getting there i think and getting some consistency. saunders and young at the backer positions, 2 of 3 secondry, golden and taylor on the outside...defense is youth. and the offense, only needing to replace 4, roach dingess allison and gravely.

future is bright

[Runner]

The MVL Forum just started a thread for this game since Zanesville is an area team.

Gallia Academy fans are welcome to visit the forum and register at

http://muskingumvalleyleagueforum.yuku.com/

Once you register,you will be approved by the admin, normally within 24 hours.

[The General]

Fun In The Sun.....What does the fun man think?....Do they have a cue?....Like he said a few months ago about someone on here......."He dont have a cue about defense"...... It was removed..but I saw it...Left out the L.......But You never could spell.....Are THEY counting on you in the future as being a part of the solution or just a major part of the problem? ....Are you part of the 95% of the people on this board who do not know what the heck they are talking about or are you one of the sacred 5% who does?.....You perceive yourself on this board as an intelligent football guy. Are You?.... SUPERBLUE,an esteemed poster and orator, asked you this question. Why wont you answer?......... Surely you dont have an agenda....

[BBallin fool]

[Auburntgrfan]

You know the injury bug-a-boo seems to rotate around here doesn't it. It seems he just picks someone and lands on them. Marietta this season has had its share of injuries. Not the usual bump, bruises and owies, season ending, half the season types. Wierd to say the least. Hope that everyone gets through the season healthy and sound. Can I get am AMEN??????
Hope you all finish well.

[gahs20boom]

Well this one should be pretty close if gallia can play mistake free.. do you think special teams will have an effect in this one????

[pappy1]

The percentage rating system to sports knowledge (95%/5%) is not the way I think sports IQ should be measured. In competition, we'll use golf for an example, someone who plays nine and consistently breaks forty doesn't think someone who usually shoots 45 is very good. But.............someone who can't break 50 thinks the bogey golfer is good. I think sports knowledge is the same way, it just depends on the knowledge of the individuals you are comparing. There are people who post here that think they are off the high end of the chart in football IQ. If you compare these people to a list of the most successful football coaches, they would find out they are off the low end of the chart.

[Zanes-Vegas]

Offensively, we've struggled a bit for the past few weeks (though things got a little better vs. Marietta). Defensively, ZHS has been lights out just about all season. That includes the Logan game were our offense was awful and our defense didn't really break until late, after it had been on the field way too much.

Our defense is very physical. They've been fun to watch.

Special teams could be a factor -- but we've run two kicks and a punt back for a TD this season, and very nearly have broken a couple more. While we lost our ace senior kicker in the season's second game, we've had other guys step up and more than admirably fill the void.

Offensively, we're pretty balanced. Will operate under center or spread. Got some good skill athletes and our line is pretty mobile if not huge.

One thing I know for sure, though, is that Gallia's coming up here and playing hard. We cannot afford a letdown these last two weeks if we want a sniff of making the playoffs.

gahs4ever ... are you coming up? I know it's one of your favorite trips! (The irony being that I now routinely go down through Gallipolis on my way to Marshall, where my son goes to school.)

[jottings]

Z-V...Who is the Zanesville AD?...I want to give him a call for press box reservations. I still keep GAHS stats. What is the AD's phone number?

By the way, how big is the ZHS press box?

Hope to ride a charterd bus up there Friday night. Also hope the weather improves. It has rained down here the last three Fridays.

I doubt if GAHS-4-Ever makes the trip. He's been in bad health the past eight weeks. He's only been to one-half a game this fall (Logan).

See you Friday.