Week 1 Newspaper Articles

[mattash]

Please post here good readings.

[kahn]

The Portsmouth Daily Times Blitz 2009 comes out Thursday morning. They're printing it as we speak.

Highlights include a personalized football card representing each team on the cover, preview stories, rosters and schedules for 15 teams and an SOC I and SOC II coaches poll as well as a media SEOAL preseason poll.

If I did my job, hopefully that makes for some good reading.

John Stegeman
PDT Sports Editor


EDIT: A note about our football preview: The master schedule on page 17 suffered some formatting errors that caused several schools schedules to appear incorrect.

We are running an addendum that will be in the regular sports section also on Thursday for the school whose schedules were disrupted. The full master schedule will run in Friday's GameDay section.

We apologize for the error.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

There are two articles on the Wellston Jackson game in today's Times-Journal.

I also posted them on this site under the Wellston Jackson game.

[kahn]

First one of the year

East kicks off season with 27-17 win over Northwest

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

2nd one of the year


Men at work: Oaks steamroll ‘Peake 37-14

By PAUL BOGGS

Sports Editor

CHESAPEAKE — It didn’t always seem that way, but on a steamy Friday night in Chesapeake — an area where orange construction-zone barrels are currently all around — the Oak Hill High School football team brought out the steamrollers against the Chesapeake Panthers.

The Oaks scored the game’s final 31 points, and pitched a shutout of the Panthers over the final 39 minutes, en route to their first season-opening victory in almost a decade as they tamed the host Panthers 37-14.

Oak Hill had not won a season-opener since the 2000 season, and avenged a 30-29 upset by Chesapeake in last season’s season-opener.

The Panthers posted a pair of big-play touchdowns, and staked a stunning 14-6 advantage with three minutes remaining in the first quarter.

But it was all Oaks after that, and this time, Oak Hill held strong to its lead and only pulled away.

The Oaks lost a pair of leads last season to the Panthers at 14-0 and 20-7.

This time, Chesapeake saw its edge evaporate in less than a full quarter, and spent the second half trying to derail the Oak Hill express to no avail.

The visitors went ahead 18-14 with 3:38 to play in the first half, and tacked on 19 more markers in the second half to cruise to the easy rout.

The Oaks forced three turnovers, didn’t commit any themselves, and outgained the Panthers by a whopping 465-135 total.

In fact, junior quarterback Jesse Slone’s 186 passing yards on 14-of-24 attempts was more than Chesapeake’s total of 135, including 104 in the first half.

For the Oaks’ program, and fourth-year head coach Greg Phillips, starting 1-0 is something different.

Especially in a season in which the Oaks are highly touted for possibly capturing their first Southern Ohio Conference championship and state playoff berth.

“A win is a win. That’s what we’re here for. Coaches get hired and fired to win or lose, so we’ll take this win. And our aim is 10 wins, no losses, win the league championship and make the state playoffs,” said Phillips. “I don’t know how many yards we had, but it seemed like we were moving the ball down the field. We had some mental breakdowns here and there, but we have athletes, and anytime you have athletes, you always have a chance. But you have to stay on them. We got rattled a little bit when they scored like they did, but we just stayed on the kids and told them to keep pressing, keep pressing. It’s our will against their will.”

The Oaks exorcised their will on the Panthers on the very first play from scrimmage.

Slone’s swing pass to Westen Hale in the flats went for 45 yards to the Chesapeake 30-yard line.

After Slone connected with wideout Joey Maynard for 12 yards, converting a key 4th-and-12 situation at the Panther 32, the Oaks quickly capped an eight-play, 75-yard drive with less than three minutes gone by.

Hale was untouched up the middle for the final five yards and a 6-0 Oak Hill lead.

It was just the start of a big night for Hale.

The junior tailback amassed 168 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, including a 49-yard dash with eight minutes remaining in the third to open up a 24-14 advantage.

Hale also caught three passes for 50 yards.

Speaking of 50 yards, after immediately forcing a Chesapeake three-and-out, Oak Hill had the ball back at midfield, and drove half the distance before thee straight Slone incompletions and a holding penalty resulted in a turnover on downs.

The Panthers, then, pulled off a go-ahead stunner with a 76-yard touchdown run by Gabriel Freyre.

Trent Saunders kicked the extra point, and suddenly Chesapeake led 7-6 with 4:39 to play in the first.

But that wasn’t the biggest play which the Oaks allowed…in the first quarter even.

The Oaks then went three-and-out and, at the three-minute mark, Slone’s 53-yard boomer and roller of a punt appeared to stop dead and be touched by the Oaks at the Panther 15.

But rather than be dead, the play — continued by Chesapeake’s Peter Hintz — was very much alive.

The official’s whistle to end the play had apparently not been blown, and Hintz seized the opportunity as the Oaks appeared to walk away from the downed punt.

Hintz had the presence of mind to recognize, picked the pigskin up, and outraced the Oaks’ defense 85 yards to the end zone for a 13-6 advantage.

Saunders successfully drilled his second extra-point try, and the Panthers posted an eight-point edge that suddenly had the Oaks’ fans thinking “Oh no.”

Phillips explained what happened.

“We covered the punt, but we told the kids the punt is not down until the whistle blows. The rule used to be if you touch it, it’s down. It’s not down until the official blows the whistle, so we have to stay around the ball,” he said. “But we’ve told them that. You can’t just go down, touch the ball, run off and not pay attention. The official made the right call.”

And the Oaks made the decision to respond.

“The last thing I told the kids before we took the field was something bad was going to happen out there tonight,” said Phillips. “The team that responds the best, who has the will inside, a lot of times is the team that overcomes. When you do that, you have the chance to win.”

Kyle Ondera opened the next possession with a 28-yard kickoff return to the Oak Hill 43, Hale broke tackles on a trap for a 20-yard gain, and Maynard took a toss sweep to the left 37 yards to paydirt.

It was the first six of what turned out to be 31 unanswered points.

“We scored so fast early, whether they were ahead or not. We moved the ball, and I think our kids thought we could score on them any time we wanted to. They kind of relaxed and we can’t have that,” said Phillips.

The Oaks then forced a pair of Panther punts before recovering a Chesapeake fumble for the game’s first turnover.

It occurred with exactly 3:53 remaining in the first half.

On the first play following the fumble, just 15 seconds later, Hale heaved a pass toward Maynard, who stepped up and made the grab before sprinting for the touchdown and an 18-14 lead.

In less than 11 minutes, an alarming eight-point deficit was erased.

“We made plays when we had to,” said Phillips. “When we take care of the team in Black and White (Oaks’ colors), it doesn’t matter who the opponent is. If we play the way we can play, we’ll be okay.”

The Oaks were more than okay after surging ahead for good.

Just two minutes and nine seconds after Hale’s 49-yard run, Slone found Maynard again for a 40-yard touchdown strike, which upped the cushion to 30-14.

Ondera added his first career extra point, as Maynard mustered his fourth touchdown on an 8-yard run with nine minutes remaining.

Maynard scored twice rushing and receiving, running seven times for 73 yards and catching five passes for 92 yards.

The receiving totals were game-highs.

Ondera also had five receptions for 32 yards.

The Oaks, which collected 22 first downs, amassed 279 rushing yards on 38 carries, and Slone threw just six total passes the entire second half.

But he didn’t need to throw.

With Oak Hill in front for the final 15:38 of the game, the defense did the rest.

The Oaks allowed just 31 total yards the entire second half, including only five on the ground.

The Panthers posted the century mark in rushing, thanks largely to Freyre’s 80 yards on eight attempts, including his 76-yarder in the first quarter.

Chesapeake punted as many times (seven) as it had first downs, too.

The hosts were forced into three straight three-and-outs to open the second half, after opening and closing the first half with a three-and-out series.

“We made some adjustments defensively and it paid off for us,” said Phillips. “We ratcheted it up a little bit after we got a little complacent.”

The Oaks also forced five Chesapeake fumbles, while the Oaks did not commit a single turnover compared to the disastrous seven of a year ago.

“No turnovers was the big thing. We cut the turnovers in half last year, we possibly win the game instead of losing by a point,” said Phillips. “We haven’t done anything different this year that what we’ve done in my three previous years here as far as coaching turnovers. I just kept showing that film of last year’s game over and over again. It showed us how when you turn the ball over, you’re going to lose whether you’re better than the other team or not. We’ve taken care of the ball so far and we did again tonight. We just have to keep doing that.”

What the Oaks can’t keep doing is committing penalties.

Oak Hill was penalized 11 times, including seven in the second half which were highlighted by three personal fouls on the final defensive series.

“That (personal foul penalties) will get addressed on Monday at 3 p.m. You won’t see that next week, or you may see more people in the stands,” said Phillips, bluntly.

Luckily, the Oaks recovered a fumble after Chesapeake drove all the way to the Oak Hill 5-yard line.

The Oaks also missed eight points worth of extra points, or the margin could have possibly been bigger, perhaps even a shutout if not for the Panthers’ pair of big scoring plays.

Still, the steamrollers were out on a steamy Friday night in the construction-zone area of Chesapeake.

With revenge exacted on the Panthers, the Oaks aim to start 2-0 as they return to the road — and return to non-league action — next Friday night at River Valley.

River Valley suffered a 42-0 shutout at the hands of visiting Minford.

sports@timesjournal.com

[RogueWarrior1965]

The Portsmouth Daily Times Blitz 2009 comes out Thursday morning. They're printing it as we speak.

Highlights include a personalized football card representing each team on the cover, preview stories, rosters and schedules for 15 teams and an SOC I and SOC II coaches poll as well as a media SEOAL preseason poll.

If I did my job, hopefully that makes for some good reading.

John Stegeman
PDT Sports Editor

Nice job on the preview this year. As bad as the PDT was beat up last year due to the quality of the preview, you deserve kudos for this year's Blitz 2009. Nice job.

[PopeSnoopDogThe1st]

Ironton beats Wheelersburg

DAVID WALSH

The Herald-Dispatch

IRONT0N -- Ironton used its methodical running game mixed in with a couple of big plays and a stellar effort on defense to register a 24-8 win over Wheelersburg in the battle of U.S. 52 rivals Friday night at a packed Tanks Memorial Stadium.

"I'm impressed with everybody's effort," said quarterback Ethan Preston, who made his first start at that position for the Fighting Tigers. "We all showed up to play. The offensive line was solid. They put in a lot of hard work and it paid off."

For opening night, Ironton had three interior lineman and fullback Keith Wetzel back from the offense a year ago. Wheelersburg returned 14 starters overall.

Ironton's first big play came on its first possession when halfback Brian Warner raced 64 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. In the second period, Wetzel went over from four yards out to cap an eight-play, 57-yard drive and 12-0 Ironton lead.

"He used all the speed he's got," Fighting Tigers coach Bob Lutz said of Warner.

Right before the half, Ironton nose guard Zack Kriebel drifted out into the left flat and picked off a pass by Pirates quarterback Tyler Lang at the visitor's 20. Three plays later, Preston, on a nice play-action pass, found Jon Monning all alone in the end zone for a 13-yard TD strike and 18-0 lead at halftime.

"The difference in the ball game is we dominated the line. Our big strong guys were better than their little guys," Lutz said.

On defense, Ironton limited Wheelersburg to 15 yards in the first period and 44 in the second. The Pirates had one sustained drive, covering 94 yards in 10 plays in the fourth period for their only score. Lang scored on a 5-yard run and also ran in for the two-point coversion.

"We kept our space," Lutz said in describing how the Fighting Tigers bottled up the Wheelersburg attack. "We didn't allow any big plays. Who thought a nose guard would intercept a pass and Warner would go the distance?"

Kriebel, a senior, called the win special. As a senior, this was his last chance to beat the Pirates, who had won the last two meetings. Ironton does lead the overall series 14-6.

"Our defense played really tough," he said. "The front line got after the them and the defensive backs covered well. It feels good to go out with a win. This was my last chance."

About the interception, Kriebel said, "I dropped off, read his (quarterback's) eyes perfectly and was in the right place to make the play."

Wheelerburg returns to action next Friday at home against South Point. Ironton is home against Russell.

"Ironton got off to a really good start and we obviously didn't," Wheelersburg coach Rob Woodward said. "We weren't able to establish any kind of rhythm offensively at all, they were able to. We had a lot of missed tackles and that was the ball game. There's a lot we can take from this game. We have to come together better as a team and work to improve next week."

WHEELERSBURG 0 0 0 8 -- 8

IRONTON 6 12 6 0 -- 24

I -- Warner 64 run (kick failed)

I -- Wetzel 4 run (run failed)

I -- Monnig 13 pass from Preston (run failed)

I -- Taylor 5 run (kick failed)

W -- Lang 5 run (Lang run)

WH IR

First downs 8 15

Total Net Yards 167 327

Rushes-yards 29-117 54-285

Passing 50 42

Comp-Att-Int 4-9-0 4-5-0

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0

Penalties-Yards 3-23 6-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Wheelersburg: B. Schankweiler 10-42, Craigmiles 3-32, Walker 5-15, Lang 10-28, Adkins 1-0. Ironton: Warner 8-83, Taylor 14-90, Wetzel 25-74, Preston 7-38.

PASSING--Wheelersburg: Lang 2-7-0, 18; B. Schankweiler 2-2-0, 32. Ironton: Preston 4-5-0, 42.

RECEIVING--Wheelersburg: Stegman 1-28, Craigmiles 3-22. Ironton: Monnig 2-28, Warner 2-14.