Ohio Week 3 Predictions/Discussion

[Coletrain06]

St. Ignatius (2-0) vs. Euclid (2-0)  - Iggy 28 Euclid 14

St. Ignatius beat Mentor 41-31. The score is hardly surprising. Mentor is known for their ability to put up alot of points, but also known for having a weak defense. While it's better than the Mentor of the last couple of years, I'm not sure that they're ready to compete with the best in the state again. Ignatius proved that they have reloaded with 2 wins against Hoban and Mentor to start the year.

Euclid is a good team that has a blowout win vs. Glenville and another win vs. a solid Aurora team. They seem to have made some good strides in the offseason.

I really don't know a whole lot about Euclid, but they seem to be pretty solid this year. I'm just not sure they're ready to get a win against a program like Ignatius.

St. Edward (2-0) vs. Howard D. Woodson DC (1-0) - St. Edward 31 Woodson 10

St. Edward smoked Glenville 41-6. Glenville is a shell of their former selves, so it's hard to take too much away from this game.

Woodson is 1-0 after beating Harverford PA 43-12. Other than that, I know next to nothing about them.

St. Edward is still flying under the national radar, but I am very high on them. I really don't know what to expect, but I think Ed's wins.

Moeller (1-1) @ Scott County KY (3-0) - Moeller 35 Scott County 21

Moeller played a great game with Trinity KY, but ultimately fell 38-30. Moe jumoed out to an early 24-10 halftime lead, but Trinity came roaring back in the 2nd half. Moeller has a nice QB in Miles McBride whom threw for nearly 280 yds. Moeller was without their best player LB Hawkins again. Moe's secondary seriously struggled, as they gave up nearly 500 yds passing. 

Scott County is a decent KY team whom is 3-0 with a win against Highlands. Don't know anything else about Scott county.

The last couple of years, Elder has played and beaten Scott County. If Moe is back to being a contender, they must win this game. I think Moe is too much for Scott.

Elder (2-0) @ Gahanna Lincoln (2-0) - Elder 27 Gahnna Lincoln 20

Elder beat Oak Hills 41-12. This is not surprisng as Oak Hills is terrible. 

Gahanna Lincoln is a team that thinks they have a pretty solid team this year.
They scheduled X in a scrimmage, and are now 2-0 with a good win vs. Westerville
Central 24-3. 

I think this game will be close, and would not be shocked to see Lincoln win. Lincoln played St. X close for a qtr or 2 in their scrimmage. Elder doesn't have the kind of defense X does.

La Salle (2-0) vs. West Clermont (1-1) - La Salle 28 West Clermont 7

La Salle played East Central IN last week in the pouring rain on a grass field that was a sloppy muddy mess. La Salle won 13-0. The weather played a huge factor in this game....Still La Salle's defense held East Central to next to nothing. La Salle's offense still has to work some things out, but their defense is one of the best in the state.

West Clermont is the brand new school that combined Amelia and Glen Este High Schools. They are one of the biggest schools now in Ohio. They are 1-1 with a comeback win vs. Princeton in week 1 and a 3 score loss to Winton Woods last week. 

Just on the surface, this game shouldn't be close, and probably won't be.............however if La Salle's offense struggles, it could be a close game. I think La Salle's offense will get some rythym this week. 

Mason (2-0) @ Sycamore (2-0) - Sycamore 17 Mason 14

Mason has another good team this year, starting the season 2-0 with wins against a good Springboro team and a terrible Withrow team. So far Mason has been very productive running the ball, but neither team they have played have a good defense. Mason's defense is solid again.

Sycamore has picked up where they left off last year.....starting 2-0 with 2 big shutout wins against Loveland and Mount Healthy. They've only given up 55 yds in 2 games....however, Loveland and Mount Healthy aren't very good, so while that is a good sign for their defense, not sure it means a whole lot. Sycamore's offense may take a little while, because of having to replace a great QB and Great RB. 

The Battle for the Skies! This rivalry has 2 teams whom look to be the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the GMC behind Colerain. They met twice last year, with Sycamore winning both contests. I think whoever can pass the ball better will win, because both defenses appear to be very strong against the run....not sure who that will be.....I'm going with Sycamore at home.

Pickerington North (2-0) @ Centerville (2-0) Centerville 24 Pick North 23

Pick North is 2-0 and have dominated a Canadian team, and beat Dublin Jerome 35-0 last week. Pick North is good, and there's been a little hype behind them this year. 

Centerville has been a pleasant surprise this year. Many people didn't expect Centerville to be very good under first year coach Brent Ullery, so when Centerville played nearly even with La Salle in a scrimmage, most people figured La Salle would be down this year.....Well in Week 1, Centerville handled an extremely hyped Fairfield team, and followed it up by blowing out Lakota West last week 42-21. Centerville definitely has my attention.

I haven't seen Pick North, yet, but I'm gonna go with Centerville

Pickerington Central (2-0) vs. Trotwood-Madison (2-0) - Pick Central 28 Trotwood 13

Pick Central got the win against Indianapolis Cathedral IN last week 25-20. It's a great first 2 weeks for them after knocking off Cass Tech in week 1. Cathedral is 0-3 but could have won all 3 of their games. 

Trotwood-Madison is a D3 power whom has hammered Troy 48-0 and got by Piqua 42-35 last week. Trotwood usually has a good amount of athletes.

Pick Central has a nice 3 game stretch to open the season......they must win this game if they want to be taken seriously as a contender. While Trotwood has been able to hang with some of the good D1 teams in the past, they rarely end up winning. I think Pick Central is a top D1 team, so I'll give them nod here.

 

Colerain and St. X should both roll easily this week.

[Coletrain06]

Sorry, been busy. Will fill in when I get the chance

[Wosinc]

What happened to Glenville?  Seems like they've been nosediving ever since that Dwyer game.

Karma?

[OdbCle]

4 hours ago, Wosinc said:

What happened to Glenville?  Seems like they've been nosediving ever since that Dwyer game.

Karma?

Health issues of Ted Ginn Sr. have led to the decline of the program. While he's back at the helm after taking a leave to deal with those issues, the program hasn't really recovered yet. They still have some good athletes on their team, and massive lineman, but the blue chippers have stopped matriculating there in recent years. Conversely, with the pied-piper Jeff Rostky now at Euclid, the Panthers have seen an uptick in high caliber transfers and looked poised for a playoff run this year. If he stays there they could be an annual region 1 contender. Problem is, he usually bails after a few seasons to take on another project.  

[OdbCle]

HD Woodson is actually pretty loaded this year. 5+ BCS-level commits/recruits on the roster. They feel this may be their best team ever. Now what that means as far as inner-city D.C. programs are concerned remains to be seen, but these guys could look more like the Glenville of old than Glenville does now. 

Two other big R1 match-ups not on Coletrain's list include Solon (2-0) @ Stow (2-0) and Hudson (2-0) @ McKinley (2-0). Despite the 2-0 start, Solon has been a bit underwhelming, their offense in particular. A close win over Aurora is somewhat understandable, but sneaking by Twinsburg is not.  I don't think Stow has the horses it did the past two seasons, but Solon should certainly be on notice. McKinley has easily dispatched of their first two opponents in Harding and Wayne Hills and their defense has been superb in both. Division 2 Hudson takes on their third D1 OOC opponent after beating Fitch and Strongsville. They return a good amount from last years final four team and will be a big test for a resurging McKinley program. 

[OdbCle]

18 hours ago, OdbCle said:

Health issues of Ted Ginn Sr. have led to the decline of the program. While he's back at the helm after taking a leave to deal with those issues, the program hasn't really recovered yet. They still have some good athletes on their team, and massive lineman, but the blue chippers have stopped matriculating there in recent years. Conversely, with the pied-piper Jeff Rostky now at Euclid, the Panthers have seen an uptick in high caliber transfers and looked poised for a playoff run this year. If he stays there they could be an annual region 1 contender. Problem is, he usually bails after a few seasons to take on another project.  

And to expound on this a little more, the importance of Ginn Sr. to that program has nothing to do with the X's and O's of coaching. He's never been known as a great football mind, and the lack of coaching and discipline has probably kept the Tarblooders from a few state championships where their talent was the best in Ohio. But his ability as a mentor to young men in that neighborhood and other surrounding east-side Cleveland communities (which are some of the most violent and poverty stricken in the country) was priceless. He's kept a lot of kids off the streets and given them opportunities through football they would have never had. That also had the effect of drawing in players from other Cleveland neighbors (CMSD is all open-enrollment), as well as kids from the inner-ring suburbs and beyond whose families left the inner-city years ago. In his absence, those types have chosen to play for their suburban school of residence or go the private school route.  The expansion of Ohio's voucher program has also helped more kids offset private school tuition costs, and when given the opportunity to attend Ignatius, Ed's, Benedictine, VASJ, etc., that's almost certainly the route most parents choose for their kids.  

[zulu1128]

On 9/7/2017 at 1:01 AM, Coletrain06 said:

Pickerington North (2-0) @ Centerville (2-0) Centerville 24 Pick North 23

Pick North is 2-0 and have dominated a Canadian team, and beat Dublin Jerome 35-0 last week. Pick North is good, and there's been a little hype behind them this year. 

Centerville has been a pleasant surprise this year. Many people didn't expect Centerville to be very good under first year coach Brent Ullery, so when Centerville played nearly even with La Salle in a scrimmage, most people figured La Salle would be down this year.....Well in Week 1, Centerville handled an extremely hyped Fairfield team, and followed it up by blowing out Lakota West last week 42-21. Centerville definitely has my attention.

I haven't seen Pick North, yet, but I'm gonna go with Centerville

 

I honestly wasn't that impressed with Centerville. I'll be surprised if PN doesn't beat them comfortably.

[Coletrain06]

47 minutes ago, zulu1128 said:

I honestly wasn't that impressed with Centerville. I'll be surprised if PN doesn't beat them comfortably.

Just looked up the box score.......did Centerville really score their first 3 TD's on special teams returns?

[zulu1128]

37 minutes ago, Coletrain06 said:

Just looked up the box score.......did Centerville really score their first 3 TD's on special teams returns?

Yup. IMO if West/Centerville played 10 times, they'd split 5/5.

[Coletrain06]

14 minutes ago, zulu1128 said:

Yup. IMO if West/Centerville played 10 times, they'd split 5/5.

I think West has a legit shot at Fairfield tonight. How crazy if Fairfield starts 0-3

[OdbCle]

53 minutes ago, Coletrain06 said:

I think West has a legit shot at Fairfield tonight. How crazy if Fairfield starts 0-3

What's the deal with Fairfield? Third largest male enrollment in the state, good demographics, at least a few blue-chip prospects every year. Why aren't they a region 4 contender every year? Same goes for Mason which has the largest enrollment in the state in a fantastic community. No youth systems in place? 

[Coletrain06]

So here's a quick recap/thoughts on Colerain/St. X last week......since neither are playing a tough opponent this week, and it was a significant game last week. Since 2015 they have played 5 times and 4 of those games have gone to OT!

Obviously it was a cold, windy, & constantly rainy game. Colerain came out playing Leyendecker at QB again. Both defenses showed up. Colerain's D held X's offense to 90 yds and mostly nothing for 3½ qtrs. Colerain had decent success with the speed pitch and getting to the edge on X's D. After a Colerain turnover in their own red zone, the Colerain D made a goal line stand and X missed the FG. Colerain had a nice drive inside the X red zone, but also missed the FG. Colerain got it right back on an X turnover inside their red zone and 3 plays later kicked the FG......3-0 at half. Sometime around 1st qtr?  Colerain's standout 6'4 225 DE/LB/TE Eric Phillips went out with injury and didn't return............

The 3rd and first ½ 4th qtr was similar to first 2 qtrs........Colerain D was shutting down X's offense. Colerain started running Ivan Pace Jr. at FB and X was having trouble stopping him. Colerain kicks an impressive 42 yd FG in pouring rain to go up 6-0. Colerain then has another drive down the field and caps it off with an Ivan Pace Jr TD, and then a complete pass for 2pt conversion. Colerain up 14-0. With about 6 mins left, X's offense starts running a hurry up offense with just short timing routes that Colerain struggles to stop. Colerain kept all the plays in front of them, but just couldn't get that stop or incompletion when it mattered. X scores to make it 14-7.....X gets it back then does basically the same thing again and ties it 14-14. Colerain goes conservative with little time left, but ended up backed up against their own endzone. After a punt and fair catch at the Colerain 25 with 7 sec left, X decides to take a Free Kick off a tee. Somehow the X kicker completely shanked it and game went to OT.

In OT Colerain went first, and kicked a FG to go up 17-14. X's turn and on first play Colerain gets flagged for incidental facemask, and X now has it 1st inside 10... few plays later, 3rd down from the 1, X QB sneaks, appears to be stopped, then X RB? runs up and pushes him into the endzone.....game over.

Thoughts on St. X: Good Defense that will get even better as the season goes on......Chase Wolf is fantastic and one of the first times I was truly impressed by him. Very accurate and made great decisions. Great coaching and senior leadership by X.

Thoughts on Colerain: Eric Phillips going out was huge, as he is one of the bigger and best guys on both the DL and OL. Colerain's pass rush was greatly diminished without Phillips, allowing the X offense to run away from Ivan Pace Jr.......Still not sure about the decision to have Gunnar as QB. In the past, the Colerain option QB has usually had the most yds or been right up there with the RB's, but the past 2 years, Gunnar has had next to nothing rushing and hasn't been a threat. DSM2 can make the decisions and cuts to get those yds........Colerain's depth is what really hurt them I think.......they were playing 6-7 guys both ways  at times and some also on special teams. They have to figure a way out to balance this better............Overall Colerain still looked pretty good against an X team many thought would handle Colerain.........Wouldn't want to be Middletown this week.

 

 

[Coletrain06]

37 minutes ago, OdbCle said:

What's the deal with Fairfield? Third largest male enrollment in the state, good demographics, at least a few blue-chip prospects every year. Why aren't they a region 4 contender every year? Same goes for Mason which has the largest enrollment in the state in a fantastic community. No youth systems in place? 

Well both have been getting better and becoming tough teams. A lot of it is getting a good coach. Fairfield has a great coach that has turned around numerous programs. Mason's coach is formerly a St. X assistant  coach, and they've seriously improved under him.

Mason has played Colerain  tough the last 2 years, played Moeller very tough, and knocked off Elder in the playoffs last year. They are looking good again this year. Mason's problem used to be the parent's always intervening with the coaching staff and administration.....Don't know if they still have this problem or not...but honestly Mason probably suffers from demographics in football more than they gain from having a nice, wealthy community. Don't think Mason ever really has the prospects.

Fairfield is a bit perplexing. They have similar demographics to Colerain, only much larger school, and usually have top prospects. I think a big difference is that a team like Colerain has a whole team of very good football players, while Fairfiled probably doesn't have the same level of supporting cast........Fairfield hasn't had a decent offense in awhile, which is why they are 0-2 this year. Their defense has been very solid.....they've also given alot of points off turnovers, which needs to be fixed, because its becoming a common theme

 

[zulu1128]

2 hours ago, Coletrain06 said:

I think West has a legit shot at Fairfield tonight. How crazy if Fairfield starts 0-3

I think so too. I'll be surprised if it's not a competitive game.

[concha]

Let's face it, rain and wind help the run-oriented team versus the more pass heavy one.

.

[concha]

Less than 6 minutes into the St X - Walnut Hills game and X is up 16-0 already.

Early look is that this will be a name-the-score game.

WH has -10 yards as I'm typing...

[concha]

Still 4:35 left in the 1st and it's 23-0 St X

...

[concha]

Another TD for X (PAT failed)

 

29-0 X with 9:44 left in the 1st half

[concha]

36-0 St X with over 7 minutes left in the first half.

This is silly and should be stopped.

.

[zulu1128]

Gahanna Lincoln is up 13-0 on Elder in Q2

[concha]

43-0 St X with 2:26 left in the half

 

Wisco-bound QB Chase Wolf is done for the night already.

[THS2011]

Moeller 24-14 at half 

[Coletrain06]

I'm pretty sure the whole St. X Walnut hills game was scheduled because Lainhart was coaching Walnut Hills.....but then Lainhart had all those issues in the offseason and is no longer coach. 

[zulu1128]

Elder up on Gahanna 20-13 3rd Q

[zulu1128]

2:45 left

Gahanna 23

Elder 20