COLUMN: Early impressions through the first 3 weeks of football
We’re a couple of weeks into the season now and have a small, but decent enough, sample size to see how our local teams are shaping up.
In Ohio, we have a little clearer picture as the teams have played three games. In West Virginia, there is still a lot to be determined through two games, but there are some early impressions.
RESILIENT BIG RED
Steubenville has shown the same trait in all three of its wins on its way to a 3-0 start, the last two of which were on the road against traditionally challenging opponents. That trait? Resilience.
Big Red has trailed in all three games and stormed back to victory in all three. While anyone who knows ball knows Big Red is always going to be skilled and tough, that ability to never say die and be able to come back could be what makes this version of hall of fame coach Reno Saccoccia’s team stand out.
Also worth noting is senior QB Aiden Davis playing in his first season as the team’s signal caller after transferring from Park. He has factored into nine of 10 Big Red touchdowns so far this season, including all eight in the past two victories at Mooney and New Philly. He seems to be getting acclimated to Big Red football quite well so far.
Steubenville is at home for the first time since opening night Friday hosting Pittsburgh USO and will be at Harding Stadium in all but one of its remaining regular season games.
UP AND DOWN WEIR
The Red Riders are one of those West Virginia teams that may be too early to get a good read on. They have a very different group, a much younger one, than last year’s state semifinal team. They showed a lot of good signs in their strong opening win at Oak Glen, but last week took one on the chin at home from a more experienced Toronto team.
The extreme highs and lows of the first two weeks are indicative of a young group. As the saying goes, a team is rarely as good as it looks on its best day nor as bad as it looks on its worst. I’m sure Frank Sisnni and his veteran staff are hoping Friday was the worst they will be and its all up from here. As they get more time together and with that veteran staff, I would expect to see them make improvements.
They have a perhaps more challenging than originally thought trip to Indian Creek this week, since Creek is a two-point conversion from being 3-0, and a tough schedule the rest of the way.
CATHOLIC CENTRAL
DEFENSE RESPONDS
The Crusaders have had two very stout defensive performances sandwiched around a tough one. Catholic Central’s defense bounced back from a disappointing loss to Strasburg in a big way Friday night, shutting down a Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans offense that entered the game averaging more than 40 points per game and 360-plus yards in an 8-7 victory.
The Crusaders held the Bishops to under 100 yards of offense and off the scoreboard in the last three quarters.
Senior Peyton Rauch had 6.5 tackles and two sacks to lead the defensive effort while also converting the game-deciding two-point conversion.
MADONNA HAS A QB
First-year Blue Dons head coach John McCune seems to have found himself a pretty good quarterback through two games in freshman Maddox Bowen, and it’s helped them start 2-0.
After throwing for 152 yards and three touchdowns in a comeback win over Wellsville in the opener, Bowen threw for 231 yards and two more scores on the road at Clay-Battelle on Friday.
Madonna has had some good quarterbacks in the past, perhaps most notably one of Bowen’s coaches — Ross Comis — and it seems the 5-foot-8 ninth grader could add his name to the list. Bowen and McCune also had success together with the Junior Dons program last season.
CREEK’S GOOD START
As mentioned earlier, the Redskins were a two-point conversion try late in the fourth quarter at Union Local away from being 3-0. Even with the tough loss to the Jets by a point, Creek’s 2-1 start is its best since 2019 when they last went to the playoffs.
While some may be surprised by their early season record, one thing no one should be surprised about is Zion McGee being one of the area’s top backs again. He’s racked up more than 400 yards from scrimmage and seven touchdowns so far. He factored into all four at Union Local.
EXPLOSIVE EDISON
In last Thursday’s bounce back win over Southern Local, the Wildcats showed a lot of big play ability as JD Henderson has passing touchdowns of 46 and 45 yards and ran for a 73 yard score, while Trevor Eisnaugle hauled in one of those deep balls and returned a kick 83 yards for a score.
IMPRESSIVE WIN
FOR TORONTO
A lot of people, myself included, had Toronto’s visit to Weir High circled as having the potential to be the best game of the week — the Knights had other plans however and dominated in every aspect on the way to a 50-0 victory.
Toronto winning was not surprising at all, how they did, though, I’m not sure anyone outside of the Gem City would have predicted.
The terms “statement victory” and “style points” get thrown around a lot in college football in this era of playoff rankings. Toronto’s performance was the high school equivalent. Weir is young this year, and it is not a program that has lost many games that way in its more than 100 year history.
The Knights, ranked in the top-10 in Division VI by MaxPreps, will look to make another statement when they travel to challenge a fellow unbeaten, high-scoring, team in Newcomerstown.
PANTHERS IMPROVING
Even though they dropped the first two games under new head coach Chris Kiedaisch, those I talked to who saw those games remarked how improved Buckeye Local looked. That finally showed on the scoreboard Friday as the Panthers got their first win of the season at Shadyside and the first of Kiedaisch’s career.
Chase Worwa had a big performance in all three phases of the game to help key that 41-20 victory on a soggy night down the river as he had a pair of rushing touchdowns, recovered a blocked punt for a third score on special teams and forced two fumbles on defense.
HUSKIES GROUND GAME
While Harrison Central may have dropped a 38-28 decision to Malvern on Friday, the Huskies potent ground attack had another big night.
After rushing for 491 yards in Week 2, the Huskies racked up 360 more yards and all four of their touchdowns on the ground.
The Huskies have rushed for more than 300 yards in all three of their games this season, totaling 1,173 for an average of 391 rushing yards per game.
Senior tailback Mykel Quito rushed for 280 yards and a pair of scores. On the season, he has 646 yards and six TDs, averaging more than 215 yards per game.
SEEKING WIN NO. 1
With Buckeye Local’s win last week, Brooke and Oak Glen are the last of the area teams looking to get in the win column.
The Bruins, as one could expect after starting over with a new coach for the first time in a long time, are still trying to find their footing on offense, having not scored yet, while the Golden Bears showed some good signs offensively against Weir in their opener before a tough one at St. Marys last week.
Both teams have a chance to get in the win column at home this week. Oak Glen hosts Edison while Brooke welcomes Washington trying to get Casey Goff his initial win for the Green and Gold.