Portsmouth West (2-3) @ Minford (5-0)

[knowledge]

If I can step in here for a moment. Wheelersburg is a talented, good football team. Valley is a good solid football team. Minford is also a good football team. Fellas, and I tell ya what this is great for the SOC II. 3 teams nearly undefeated heading into week 6? That tells me one thing.. SOC II football is great football, and the players, coaches, fans, and communities should hang their hats on that. I used to get into all the banter as a young pup as some of you all may remember from my teen days on JJHuddle...but with age grows wisdom.. or so they say lol. I think it is absolutely tremendous that we got this many good football teams with pride and talent representing us down here. Lets just set back, watch the ball be t'd off, and enjoy the action.... btw, coop I think I owe you a hotdog from 2003 my friend... lol

[BurgPunk]

Went to this instead of my Pirates/NW...hope people do not get mad but not impressed at all by either team. Minford one dimensional unless they throw the out pattern to one guy...and West was just a mess. Did not see much speed as promised, perhaps b/c of field conditions. I really root for Minford's program (when not playing Burg) because I believe coach Daniels has created new atmosphere. Seen Burg few times and have not seen Valley...both teams seem to be scoring at will and I can't see either team tonight keeping up, at least offensively. Hope the Falcons continue to progress and represent the SOC in DIV playoffs. West, get some young guys some PT to give them experience for next year.

[coop]

If I can step in here for a moment. Wheelersburg is a talented, good football team. Valley is a good solid football team. Minford is also a good football team. Fellas, and I tell ya what this is great for the SOC II. 3 teams nearly undefeated heading into week 6? That tells me one thing.. SOC II football is great football, and the players, coaches, fans, and communities should hang their hats on that. I used to get into all the banter as a young pup as some of you all may remember from my teen days on JJHuddle...but with age grows wisdom.. or so they say lol. I think it is absolutely tremendous that we got this many good football teams with pride and talent representing us down here. Lets just set back, watch the ball be t'd off, and enjoy the action.... btw, coop I think I owe you a hotdog from 2003 my friend... lol

Great Post....and yes sir, I havent forgot about that hotdog. LOL

[SiderGuy12]

This was a good, hard fought game (IMO). West had some good drives but would shoot themselves in the foot with penalties. If west could limit big plays, this would have went down to the wire. Anyways, it was a good game and best of luck to both of these teams next week.

[Jesco White]

If I can step in here for a moment. Wheelersburg is a talented, good football team. Valley is a good solid football team. Minford is also a good football team. Fellas, and I tell ya what this is great for the SOC II. 3 teams nearly undefeated heading into week 6? That tells me one thing.. SOC II football is great football, and the players, coaches, fans, and communities should hang their hats on that. I used to get into all the banter as a young pup as some of you all may remember from my teen days on JJHuddle...but with age grows wisdom.. or so they say lol. I think it is absolutely tremendous that we got this many good football teams with pride and talent representing us down here. Lets just set back, watch the ball be t'd off, and enjoy the action.... btw, coop I think I owe you a hotdog from 2003 my friend... lol

If you had told me 7-8 years ago, back when I was "spongebob" on the "Huddle", that I was about to say this I would have called you crazy..........but, I agree with you completely! 8) I'm glad that I missed whatever the arguing was that appears to have been deleted. I'm as guilty as anyone (and more so than most) about getting into heated arguments on these chat boards, but I've realized it just isn't worth it. It's fun to go back and forth with folks from rival schools, but it's become more fun to do it in a respectful manner. I've learned to appreciate a lot about posters from other schools that I never thought possible before. I honestly look forward to reading opinions from some of the guys from all over the league, and I get a good laugh out of the jabs now instead of taking it personal. Through the years, I've met a lot of really cool people and learned how to take a lot of others' personalities, which makes interacting on here (when I have time) that much more fun...which is what the point of the site is.

Ok, sorry for wasting time and space. I'm off my soap box now

[knowledge]

Haha, we have passed the torch.

[coop]

no doubt!

[B-dawg79]

Minford won't even be close to keeping up with burg

[black76]

Went to this instead of my Pirates/NW...hope people do not get mad but not impressed at all by either team. Minford one dimensional unless they throw the out pattern to one guy...and West was just a mess. Did not see much speed as promised, perhaps b/c of field conditions. I really root for Minford's program (when not playing Burg) because I believe coach Daniels has created new atmosphere. Seen Burg few times and have not seen Valley...both teams seem to be scoring at will and I can't see either team tonight keeping up, at least offensively. Hope the Falcons continue to progress and represent the SOC in DIV playoffs. West, get some young guys some PT to give them experience for next year.

Minford is hardly one dimensional. West just had good defense. #14 for Minford will be hard to stop in any game. #28 will also. Minford has some weapons and #75 did his job. West is not a "mess" as you put it. They are young but seem like the seniors they do have are not leading by example. I heard alot of folks express even how they hold themselves, as if they already lost. Never seen a team for Trip do that before. #11 and #4 play to win. Only 3 or 4 seniors start for West so they have no choice but to give the young guys experience. Good Luck to both teams as they go forward. Like to see West beat Valley and like to see Minford win out. I cant wait to see this Burg team that everyone is jawing about. From what I read, they are more one-dimensional than any other team, or should I say Miller dimensional. Both Miller kids make most everything happen. Jackson is waaaaay down this year. Still they may win SOC but I would rather see Minford.

[Jesco White]

Watching this game, there were times when I felt both teams had momentum and looked to be poised to take control. But, it just never really happened. I guess a better way to put it, since Minford did lead from late in the first quarter on, would be that there seemed to be several occassions where they looked to have momentum and in position to pull away; and I felt like there were multiple occassions where West had momentum and appeared ready to gain control.

I thought West's first potential scoring drive in the second quarter following the Falcon FG, that ended in the turnover on downs was a pretty big moment in the game. For those not in attendance, the Senators responded to the Falcons' FG (Minford's kicker is a nice weapon to have late in games in the redzone by the way) by pounding the ball right at Minford's defense taking the ball all the way down to the Falcon 15-yard line 1st &10. On 1st down, Minford's defense gets good surge on the LOS (a constant for both teams tonight defensively) and stopped the Senators for no gain; on 2nd & 10, West commits a false start pushing themselves back to the 20 and making it 2nd & 15; then the Falcons came up with two huge back-to-back sacks forcing the Senators into 4th & 30 at the Minford 35. With West facing 3rd and a mile from no-man's land in terms of strategy, the Senators made some productivity out of a terrible situation, by picking up 20 yards on a completion, but it was still 10 yards short and the Falcons took over at their own 15. I thought that sequence was huge for several reasons. West had given a very strong answer to Minford taking the lead, and looked poised to finish the drive off with a touchdown and gain a lead of their own. Minford's defense came up HUGE following the West mental error, and the result led to perhaps the biggest play of the game in terms of excitement when Minford's Stapleton hit Farrar on the visitor's sideline and he streaked the distance ending in a 78-yard TD pass less than 2 minutes after the change of possession.

After an outstanding hit on the ensuing kick-off, the Minford defense picked up where the offense left off, by attacking the West offense. Minford's Nathan Compton broke free on a blitz and made a nice play batting down a pass by West's QB Irwin, but from where I was standing behind the endzone facing the play, Compton was soooooo close to a pick-6 on the play. At that point, I texted chicken coop and said, "Minford is starting to smell blood in the water." But, the Falcons were unable to tack on another score before the half ended.

Stapleton and company found the endzone through the air again to make it a 17-0 game with 8:49 to go in the 3rd quarter, and again, it seemed as though the Falcons were poised to blow the game open...especially following an interception that was returned all the way to the West 16 yard line. The play inspired the following text to chicken coop, "Minford with a pick returned to the West 16...it's about to get ugly!". But, the West defense stiffened and the Senators took over at their own 37-yard line with 5:08 to go in the 3rd quarter. Again, it seemed as if West might use some of the momentum to get back into the ballgame, but their offense was simply unable to do so with the Falcon defense hounding young Irwin on nearly every pass he attempted...eventually intercepting the youngster, although he showed a lot of strength by consistently getting back up and coming back for more always looking down field trying to find receivers and make plays. Nothing proved Irwin's character more than leading his team down the field mixing the pass and the run, culminating in Justin Crace's 4-yard touchdown run (set up by a long run by Irwin himself) with 4:11 to go in the game.

On the ensuing onside kick, Minford covered the ball nicely at their own 42 yard line. West's defense made a pair of quick stops, setting up 3rd & 12 for the Falcons at their own 40-yard line. That's when Stapleton and the Falcons' offense made perhaps their second biggest play of the game, completing a 25-yard pass across the 50 and down to the West 35-yard line, essentially putting the game away with a fresh set of downs when West had been so close to getting the ball back with plenty of time still on the clock (though they would have still needed more than one score). The play was also a great example of the type of game it was for the Minford offense. They looked absolutely awful at times, BUT they got some absolutely HUGE plays when it counted most!

Going into the game, I expected a close contest and that's what we got. I left believing Minford was clearly the better football team on the field tonight, although I'm sure both teams' coaching staffs are less than happy with the way their team played...and rightfully so, as neither team brought any consistency offensively and while both defenses played well, I'm sure both coaching staffs saw plenty to work on moving forward. In the end, though, it's a win for the Falcons and it's irrelevant how you get them as long as you get them. For West, holding the Falcon ground game to 57 yards on 34 carries (unofficial stats per WNXT-FM after the game) and less than 250 yards of total offense is encouraging. There's still a lot of football left to be played this season, and I wish both teams well in the future..............except against Valley 8) :122245

[coop]

The texts were rolling in.

[Westfan]

After this game I feel exactly as I did before it started. West is just so young. 3 seniors on defense and 4 on offense. I thought we could play with Minford and we did. And as the other poster said, about every bad thing that could happen did. I agree, if we punch that first one in, we are in for a barn burner. But we didn't. In the end I'm very encouraged by the fight in West tonight. As was said, it would have been easy to fold the tents and take a beating, but they hung in there. I also sensed Minford was very discouraged that they couldn't blow West out.

West will keep getting better. Would not surprise me at all if they pull an upset over Wheelersburg or Valley. I came into the game thinking Minford wasn't near as good as their fans think they are and I still do. They have a nice team solid football team, but nothing special.

Also why do Minford fans keep saying your young? Aren't most of your better skill kids seniors?

[28Buck]

Siderman- nope. Only skill kids I know that are seniors are Berry and Farrar. On the line Dyer and Howard are the only others I can think of. Defense is much the same way. We are young... Very young. Personally I thought we were for a 5-5 season. But the young guys can play. As for the game talking to my roommate who was there (I wasn't the joy of working in healthcare) he said it was the sloppiest we have played all year. He is chalking it up to having a young team and all the distractions coming with the game. I'm sure I will have a full and complete run down tomorrow.

[Westfan]

Siderman- nope. Only skill kids I know that are seniors are Berry and Farrar. On the line Dyer and Howard are the only others I can think of. Defense is much the same way. We are young... Very young. Personally I thought we were for a 5-5 season. But the young guys can play. As for the game talking to my roommate who was there (I wasn't the joy of working in healthcare) he said it was the sloppiest we have played all year. He is chalking it up to having a young team and all the distractions coming with the game. I'm sure I will have a full and complete run down tomorrow.

Those are your two best players. That Farrar is a heck of a receiver.

Minford looked "sloppy" to minford fans because West plays darn good defense, holding them to 60 yards rushing.

[Bleeding Red]

The entire conference is young. I see Burg, Valley and Minford getting better the next few years. Not sure about West. They looked small and weak up front and lacked speed. They do have good linebacker play.

[black76]

If that is as good a ground game as Minfords got then they must be weak. Cause other than #14 and #2 td threw the air, didn't see much from Minford and all that speed. What were the stats? West had to have better stats rushing. Seemed like more of a stalemate most of the game to me. I thought Minford was supposed to blow West out, that never happened.

[playa_44]

I know 7 or 8 different seniors out there playing for Minford. Farrar and Howard, both seniors, got the two tds. Farrar could play at the next level.

[Bleeding Red]

If that is as good a ground game as Minfords got then they must be weak. Cause other than #14 and #2 td threw the air, didn't see much from Minford and all that speed. What were the stats? West had to have better stats rushing. Seemed like more of a stalemate most of the game to me. I thought Minford was supposed to blow West out, that never happened.

Nobody said Minford would blow West out. At least nobody from Minford or West made that statement.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

congrats minford. this should be a war, between valley, burg, n minford.

[here4fun]

Minford won't even be close to keeping up with burg

You can't say anything negative about Minford or you're post will get deleted