WK6 (5-0, 1-0) Alexander @ (5-0, 2-0) Athens TVC-Ohio

[A-Town Big Dog]

I know it's a little early for a thread but I can't wait for this one. The showdown in A-Town!

[Orange and Brown]

Athens wins!!!
AHS-38
AHS-24


Okay really!
Alex will be able to move the ball well but they will not be able to pace Athens O! I think that The Spartan D will slow Athens down but will not be able to stop them!!

Never thought I would see the day these 2 teams were both 5-0 and playing each other!! How exciting is TVC football!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck to both teams!!!!!!!!!

[fuzzhead]

Athens.

[A-Town Big Dog]

I think the two offenses are similar to one and other however, I think the Athens defense has a little advantage over the Alex defense. This should be an entertaining evening.

[Steely Dan]

Having seen both teams play, Athen's defense is much better than Alex's defense. The numbers play that out.

Game's in Athens, biggest game either team has faced in who knows when?!?!

Athens gets the nod at QB, and in team speed.

Sorry LEROY, I've got to go with the home team in this match up.

Athens wins, by 12 points.

[NYBuckeye96]

This should be an exciting game and a packed stadium! Team Athens County is 15-0! Something has got to give over the next three weeks when Alexander, Athens, and Nelsonville-York face each other over the span of weeks 6, 7, and 8.

Good Luck to both teams, can't wait for the showdowns with NY!

[spartacat]

I'm gonna go with the Spartans! This is gonna be a game for the ages, who would have thought Alex and Athens both coming in at 5-0 in this game. I don't know if The Plains will be able to hold everyone for this game. Gonna get there early for a good parking spot and seat (although I don't think I'll be sitting much during the game).

Good luck to both teams on an injury free and good sportsmanship game!

Go Spartans!!!!!!!

[Orange and Brown]

I wish this game was on Saterday!!!!!!!

I wish the week 8 game between Atens and NY should be on Saterday to! (if they are both still undefeated!)


TVC Football Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LEROY]

Yup, this thread is starting early, but a lot of folks around Athens county were already talking about this game last week. Should be a great TVCO matchup in Athens.

This year:
Athens 5-0, opponents played 3-22.
Athens PF 207 PA 39

Alexander 5-0, opponents played 6-19.
Alexander PF 212 PA 123

The recent past:
2007 Alexander 7 Athens 14
Athens players dance on the 50 yard line at Alexander after the game, and celebrate their only win of the year.

2006 Alexander 33 Athens 47
Athens celebrates their only win of the year with a 14 point win.

Steely, no apology needed. My bet is that most folks will be picking Athens to win this one at home. Athens really looks unbeatable this year, with a lot of offense and a strong defense--a strong Division II team that has the program turned around, and really believes in itself.

My early prediction: Alexander will be ready.

[Steely Dan]

Atta boy LEROY, keep 'em guessing!

And I have no dog, sword, or shield in this fight (no pun intended!).........

[NYBuckeye96]

Looks like this one got started with the Alexander victory over Athens in volleyball to grab a share of the league lead..........

http://athensmessenger.com/articles/2009/09/26/sports/high_schools/doc4abcbdc9772bd044153737.txt

Alexander grabs share of TVC lead

By TROY BOLIN
Messenger staff writer
Published: Friday, September 25, 2009 8:57 AM EDT

The tension, the excitement and the energy was through the roof Thursday as two of the area’s best volleyball teams squared off against each other.

Athens had not lost a Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division match all season. Last year’s Division III state champion Alexander had its remarkable league winning streak ended by the Bulldogs back on September 1st.

The Spartans entered the game with only one league loss, so not only were they looking for some payback after losing to Athens on their home court, they needed a victory to stay alive in the race for a league championship.

After an exhausting and emotional four sets, Alexander achieved everything it set out to do and is now tied for first place in the TVC-Ohio after knocking off the Bulldogs 19-25, 25-16, 25-21 and 25-22 for a 3-1 victory.

Playing through some intense pressure that came mostly from each schools undefeated football team — which happened to be standing nearly on top of the players — both teams showed an incredible amount of poise throughout the match.


Although Athens had the height advantage and more depth on its roster, Alexander proved to be the more experienced team as it consistently hit balls exactly where they needed to go. While the Bulldogs showed off their power with a number of crushing kill shots, the Spartans settled for effective tips and limited their serving errors to gain an upper hand.

“We were assuming there would be a very big crowd on hand for tonight’s match,” said Alexander head coach Jaime Welsh after her team grabbed a share of first place in the TVC-Ohio. “We’ve been here before with everything on the line. We came into the match with only one league loss while Athens hadn’t lost any so if we wanted to compete for a championship we had to win.”

“We just told the girls before the match to think back to the first game when they came on to our court and gave us our first league loss in I don’t know how many years,” added Welsh. “So our scouting report really emphasized that, we told them to remember how it felt when they walked off the court crying last time.”

Alexander and Athens both played with extreme intensity throughout the first first three matches. The big crowd and large student sections appeared to fuel the players as Athens took the first set 25-19. The Spartans seemed unfazed by the defeat and came back to win the second game 25-16.

As emotions ran high with the crowd getting louder, the critical third set proved to be perhaps the most important as a winner would gain control of the momentum going forward. Alexander came out and jumped on Athens 4-1 shortly after dominating the Bulldogs in the second game. Caity Willis and Cindy Willis quickly answered though with two straight kill shots for Athens, and Shawna Whitehead served for two points to tie the game 4-4.

Intent on playing a team oriented game, Alexander relied on a group of players to pull out in front 12-7. Senior Haley Born had a big kill, Kayla Radekin recorded a point — on one of many tip shots for the Spartans during the match — and Paige Hays, Nicole Ogg connected on back-to-back kills to help their team take a five point lead.

Whitehead and Caity Willis, who totaled six kills and a block during the match, tired to keep Athens in the match with two blistering kills each, but Julie Els deployed one her own for Alexander — and Born quickly followed with one to push the Spartans out in front 15-9.

Athens eventually fell behind 20-11 before making one last comeback bid. Two Ellena Lein blocks and a kill by the tall sophomore pulled the Bulldogs to within five points. A Kayla Nicolson ace, added to an Alexander hitting error, made it 20-17.

It appeared Athens was going to deadlock the score again until Els, who had a team high 11 kills in the match, suddenly slammed the door with two hard hit kills sandwiched around a Born tip. Trailing 24-17, the Bulldogs again dug deep for a possible late game rally and went on a 4-0 run aided by a Whitehead kill and block.

Four points is all the closer Athens would get after Els slammed another kill right through the heart of the Bulldogs defense for a 25-21 game three win for the Spartans.

“I definitely think both teams had a tremendous crowd on hand tonight,” said Athens head coach Kelli Dyer after enduring her first league loss of the season. “It’s fun, its loud and it was everything you hoped a competitive match between two good volleyball teams would be. We just weren’t able to get it done tonight and Alexander was.”

When asked about the Spartans ability to execute the tip shot for points Dyer replied “It’s all about reading the hitter and we just didn’t do a good job of it the first game. The other games after that we started picking up a lot more but we didn’t do a good enough job of mixing up our own shots. We just kept trying to slam the ball and it caught up to us in the end.”

Leading two games-to-one, Alexander found the fourth and final set a bit more challenging as Athens came out aggressive and emotionally prepared to stay alive in the match. The game started out as a see-saw affair with the scored tied up six different times until it was 7-7.

The Bulldogs delivered the first big blow when Cindy Willis hit a kill shot and Whitehead blocked one. After Allison Schoeppner served out of bounds to give Alexander a point, Whitehead, who had a game high 13 kills, then slapped another smoldering kill to give the Bulldogs a 10-8 lead. The two teams again embarked on another back-and-forth battle that left the score deadlocked at 14 apiece.

“It was definitely a plan of ours coming in to execute a number of tip shots if the opportunity presented itself,” said Welsh. “We knew Athens was big and aggressive and we don’t want to try and compete with size. We knew we couldn’t hit into that block every time so we advised the girls that if the tip was their take it because it was going to be more effective and it was.”

Two more serving errors knotted the game at 15 and another Whitehead kill put Athens up one. But that is the last lead the Bulldogs would enjoy in the match. Hayes, who had four kills and eight serving points, came up with a cross-court kill shot for Alexander followed by an Ogg kill. Hayes then served for four straight points, including an ace, to give her team a 20-16 advantage. An Els block later put the Spartans up 23-17 before Athens made a last ditch effort to pull within 23-21.

With the game almost in hand Born, who totaled five kills and two blocks in the match, came up with perhaps the biggest play of the night — a high velocity kill that landed just inches inside the sideline. Lein, who ended the match with seven kills and six blocks, recorded the next point for Athens on a kill. The set ended though with another Ogg kill that gave Alexander a hard fought 25-22 game four and match win.

[Auburntgrfan]

My math is not real good but how can Athens opponents be 3-32 that makes 35 games which means that they have played 7 games each in a five week span and the same would be the case for Alexander 6-29 is 35 devided by 5 wins comes to 7 games????? My calculations make Athens opponents 4-21 and Alexanders opponents 6-19 if Unioto won. So I will challange the statement that Athens is a strong DII team. In their devision is Louisville (state champs last year), Logan (playoffs last year), Big Walnut,New Philadelpia DIII playoffs last year), Zanesville (playoffs last year), Marion Franklin (Playoffs , Brookhaven (13) (playoffs last year)etc. Both Athens(10) and my beloved Warriors(9) are up there this year but both teams are in the same boat the teams they have beaten so far are not winning Belpre 0, Morgan 0, Marietta 1, P-Berg South 2, tonights (Saturday)opponent Point Pleasant is 2-1 our toughest opponent to date. If Warren comes out 5-0 great but Warren is not, nor is Athens a strong DII team. Yet Both team seem to have turned a corner and are getting very competative which is great. I would suggest that both schools fans hold off on a statement of being Strong DII teams, let the season unfold a couple of more weeks first.

Yup, this thread is starting early, but a lot of folks around Athens county were already talking about this game last week. Should be a great TVCO matchup in Athens


This year:
Athens 5-0, opponents played 3-32.
Athens PF 207 PA 39

Alexander 5-0, opponents played 6-29.
Alexander PF 212 PA 123

The recent past:
2007 Alexander 7 Athens 14
Athens players dance on the 50 yard line at Alexander after the game, and celebrate their only win of the year.

2006 Alexander 33 Athens 47
Athens celebrates their only win of the year with a 14 point win.

Steely, no apology needed. My bet is that most folks will be picking Athens to win this one at home. Athens really looks unbeatable this year, with a lot of offense and a strong defense--a strong Division II team that has the program turned around, and really believes in itself.

My early prediction: Alexander will be ready.

next Friday and that they get number 6.

[93Bulldog]

Man, that was one heck of an article ...

Being at McAfee Gymnasium on Thursday; The excitement was definitly pretty crazy ... the most intense volleyball game I have ever seen (But, I haven't really watched a ton of matches in my life) ... the energy not only derived from the two teams on the court - it was very clear the two football teams in the stands were already jawing at one another ... Im pretty sure the magnitude of this game is like nothing ever seen before at Athens ... the 1990 game Vs Jackson with ESPN in the stands doing a feature on Bubba Lichtenberg was really, really big. They brought in extra bleachers to set up behind one end-zone to make like a mini Dawgpound ... But nobody ended up sitting in them, the game was truly awesome though with Athens winning on a late TD ... But even still, I don't think that game will be as big as this one next Friday ... there are just toooo many subplots and having the game include two county teams pushes it over the top. ... Oh yea, and the fact its ALEX & ATHENS who are undefeated at this point in the season makes the situation down right unbelievable ... lol

[buckeye_master]

I am crazy but ill take alex it would be great to see that happen alex-21 athens-14

[FANOSPORTS]

Athens 42 - Alexander 21

[whompascat]

The spartan pass D isn't very good
Alex 17
Athens 35

[mister b]

Athens by 21

[A-Town Big Dog]

Athens by 21

I think this one will be a lot closer than that. This one will truely depend on the line play of both schools, if the Athens D line can do what they did at VC friday Alex will have to put it in the air more than they would like ( even though Chapman is very talented ). If the Alex O line wins the battle it could be a long night watching a couple of talented backs run up and down the field. On the flip side if Athens can control the Alex D line and they can mix the run and pass on their terms they will be very dangerous. I think Athens wins but not by a wide margin. Have a good focused week at practice Dogs and everything else will fall into place.

[pbuck]

Athens is better up front on both sides of the ball and it will be the difference in this one ..... Athens 35 Alexander 14

[Orestes]

Athens big.