WK3 (0-2) Wellston @ (1-1) Waverly

[tigerfaner]

Tiger2010on huddle and JohnKnight are pretty upset! I wonder why? (Seriously, I am not trying to be smart.)

[JacksonI]

I think Waverly has this one. The reason Waverly has alot of good athletes and i dont think wellston has the coverage they need. Jackson did a good job of shutting down Waverly's run and a decent job containing Roback.

[Dudley87]

OK, Bug09, In your expert opinion, what do you do if the defense has trouble stopping a power run game and Jackson is able to run half a quarter per drive off the clock? Lets say Waverly tried to run the ball in the first half and was stuffed and got a motion penalty and had to punt back to Jackson who, in turn, ran the ball down the field and scored taking another eight minutes off the clock? What do you do if you find yourself down by 21 points to a clock controlling team and you know you have a good passing game?

Waverly's game plan was to run the ball more. As it turned out, Waverly had trouble sustaining blocks when they tried to run early and then they found themselves down by three scores and obvious trouble stopping Jackson from controlling the clock. I'm sorry, if you don't understand how football strategy works, but the options are limited at this point. It really isn't rocket science.

But I am curious... What would you have done?

Waverly has all the tools to beat Welston handely, but they have to decide to play football after the coin toss and not after the halftime show.

[Trooper]

Malone is a good athlete who should go to a D-1 School if he dosen't then the waverly coaches haven't done their jobs. Waverly's coaches are smart. they have won 19 games in the past two years. Waverly wins by three tds

Good athletes don't play D1 football. Great athletes play D1 football.

[smurray]

I am not upset and cannot speak for coach Knight.

It is not beneficial to Waverly, the football program, the kids, the coaches or anyone else to come here and sling around accusations like the ones I've seen posted on this site. And to top it off it appears they are coming from Waverly fans.

Unless you want to coach and have approached the school board stating such or unless you have sat down with the coaching staff to discuss these matters I would suggest you refrain from posting such rediculous comments.

[Billybobb]

Wellston has no chance!!!!!! Waverly big.

[Old*rocket]

The rockets will come to play hard.the past years waverly had good teams wellston either won or lost by a last minute score,but i pick waverly to win wellstons O line has problems opening holes for the backs to hit. waverly 34 wellston 21

[irongirl78]

Waverly will win this one........28-12

[Tiger Grad 07]

Waverly in a blow out... jv in the 4th quarter

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Here's the preview article for today's (Thursday's) Times-Journal. I co-authored this version with Julie Billings of the Pike County News-Watchman, our sister paper in Waverly. Thanks to her for her help as always with the Waverly side of the story. Enjoy.


Golden Rockets to follow ‘Jackson blueprint’ at Waverly

By PAUL BOGGS
Sports Editor

and JULIE BILLINGS
For The Times-Journal

Call it a strange color scheme, but this week, the Blue and Gold are following the blueprint of the Red and White.

That’s right — Wellston High School head football coach Jason Mantell said his team is going to follow the “Jackson blueprint” on Friday night when it travels to face the Waverly Tigers.

But, the most important part of that blueprint was a victory, something the Golden Rockets have not recorded — on the field — in 13 straight games.

“I think we’re getting more respect, but until we get that first win, we’ll still have our doubters which is understandable,” said Mantell.

Wellston will try to snap that losing streak when it invades the Tigers’ den, as kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Raidiger Field in Waverly.

The Rockets and Tigers are renewing their series after a four-year hiatus, as Wellston won the last meeting between the two teams in 2003 at Wellston.

The Tigers took the two key meetings in 2001 and 2002, in which Wellston finished 8-2 both years and just missed qualifying for the Division IV, Region 15 playoffs.

But the last 13 games have marked a different age in Rocket football — as in 14, 15 and 16-year-olds battling experienced varsity teams often laden with 17-year-old seniors.

Last week, and for only the third time in the past 13 contests, the Rockets were involved in a close game late, trailing Minford 14-13 midway through the third quarter.

However, after Wellston battled back from a 14-0 deficit, a key ruling by the officials saw the momentum swing hugely in the Falcons’ favor.

With the Falcons facing a 4th-and-5 at the Wellston 40-yard-line, Minford opted to punt and pin the Rockets deep.

But the punt barely got off the ground, and appeared to perhaps even hit a player before Minford downed the ball 20 yards downfield.

As it turned out, the officials ruled — after twice reversing their call — that the ball had hit Wellston’s Chris Howison and therefore made it live.

Thus, Minford was re-awarded the football, which was the initial ruling much to the dismay of Mantell.

The call was never overturned.

Then, with Wellston trailing 21-13 and only 2:17 remaining, the Rockets appeared to have scored the potential game-tying touchdown when freshman Jaylen Prater rumbled in from just inside the 10-yard line.

But Prater fumbled as he crossed the goal line, and the ball rolled all the way through the end zone and beyond the back pylon.

As a result, the officials awarded Minford the football again in the form of a touchback.

Truth be told, in fact, the 21-13 final from the Wellston-Minford game didn’t tell the whole story.

The Rockets held a 19-15 edge in first downs, ran 63 to 48 plays from scrimmage, outrushed the Falcons 259-220, and outgained Minford overall 306-291.

“We racked up around 300 yards against Minford, and gave up next to nothing defensively in the second half. That’s great, but that doesn’t always equal a victory,” said Mantell.

As Mantell further explained, the Rockets have to score when driving deep into the opponents’ territory.

“We have to score when we get the ball inside the 30-yard line,” he said. “I think we had the ball inside the 30 five times and only scored twice. That’s not good enough. We have to finish off drives, something we haven’t done and we didn’t do against Jackson either.”

Speaking of the Ironmen, they did finish off drives against the Tigers, scoring three touchdowns in the first half en route to a 27-20 triumph.

The loss by the Tigers snapped their four-game win streak over Jackson, as well as a 15-game home winning stretch.

“We have to overcome this loss,” said Waverly coach Rusty Wright. “It is something you don’t like. There aren’t any off nights in football. Every Friday night is a playoff game. We didn’t come out ready Friday night and that’s my fault as the head coach. We have to get them ready for this Friday night.”

Jackson, like Piketon in the season opener with Waverly, was able to successfully run the ball.

The Ironmen amassed 317 rushing yards on 62 attempts, including 259 yards and 40 carries by Cody Huff.

Piketon posted 434 rushing yards against Waverly.

This year’s Rockets are a run-oriented team as well, so look for them to keep it on the ground also.

Prater (13 carries and 93 yards) and senior tailback Matt Lockard (22 carries for 101 yards) carried the load last week, and are likely to do so again this week.

“We’re going to run the ball and it’s not a secret,” said Mantell. “That’s what we’re going to do and that’s what we do best. We’re going to take the Jackson blueprint and run with it. I thought Jackson did an exceptional job of game planning. The plays were the same, but they shook Waverly up with a formation or two that they hadn’t seen. Their linemen just continued to lean on them, and just wore Waverly down.”

Wright feels the Rockets will be another challenge for his young Tigers.

“Wellston is a nice, big, experienced ball club. They have a big offensive line. They aren’t as big as Jackson, but they have very good size. They have two defensive tackles who play hard and their running backs run hard,” said Wright. “Until we prove we can stop the run, people are going to keep running against us.”

Inexperience will continue to be a problem for the Tigers in the early going, and some injuries worked against Waverly in the Jackson game.

“With this group, we have to take baby steps. When you lose 21 seniors and 14 starters, those are some big holes to fill,” said Wright. “We lost three linebackers against Jackson, so we had to put two new people out there and another player we made into a linebacker. We just have to be patient with this young team. It is a growing up process. The kids are learning more of what it takes. Our young offensive line is getting better at times. We just have to get more blocking up front so we can establish the run.”

Mantell concurred about the inexperience level of this year’s Waverly team.

The past two seasons saw an experienced Tigers squad win at least 10 games and advance to the state playoffs.

“They lost a lot of seniors, but they still have a real solid junior class,” said Mantell of Waverly. “They are inexperienced up front. The core of their team the last few years has been their offensive line and their linebacking corps in the 3-5. They’re replacing a lot of those kids this year. It’s not that they are having to start all freshmen and sophomores, but they are starting a lot of inexperienced juniors who sat behind those all-state players.”

One of those all-state players returns, though, in junior quarterback Derek Roback.

Roback, in just his second game under center, nearly rallied Waverly to a win over Jackson, having thrown 29 times for 229 yards and two touchdowns.

In the opener against Piketon, Roback racked up over 600 all-purpose yards in leading the Tigers to a thrilling 54-53 comeback win.

Mantell knows that Roback, son of Waverly offensive coordinator and former football star Mike Roback, is a threat on every play.

“The one plus is that he can’t throw to himself,” said Mantell of Roback, an all-state wide receiver last year. “I think the scary thing about blitzing this kid is that if he picks it up, he is gone. We can’t go blitz-crazy. He can pick up blitzes, and he can read coverages. Their best play, sometimes, is when a receiver breaks off a route and he reverses field. The worst thing that can happen sometimes is pinning him in because he reverses field and makes you miss tackles.”

The counter, Mantell added, reverts back to the “Jackson blueprint.”

“From what we saw, Jackson did not change up a whole lot and did not do anything overly fancy,” he said. “They used their front four kids, and the (defensive end Ryan) Hughes kid for Jackson looked like a college athlete playing against high school kids. If we can get that kind of performance from our kids, I think we can be successful against them. Our front four (defensive ends Ryan Darnell and Jeremiah Kerr and tackles Kevin King and Corey McLain), have to have a big game and control the line of scrimmage. We’re going to use those four kids in pass-rush situations, and our defensive backs and linebackers have to be aware of the crossing routes.”

Kevin Malone will run the ball when Roback doesn’t, and caught four passes last week for 94 yards.

He also returned a kickoff that distance for a score.

In addition, some of the Tigers which were injured last week should be back in action this week.

The Rockets, conversely, are without fullback/linebacker Derek Seymour for Friday.

Seymour re-injured his knee in the Minford game, and Mantell said he will be re-evaluated today (Thursday).

Seymour “will probably not play” against Waverly, as lineman Benny Grey and cornerback/receiver Ryan Wagener remain out indefinitely.

Still, despite the early-season injuries, an 0-2 start and 13 straight losses, Mantell said his “kids are not down.”

“They are disappointed in the outcome from last week, but we feel like we still have the opportunity to contend for the TVC-Ohio title and the playoffs,” he said. “That will sound lofty to some, but if we play offensively like we did for three quarters and defensively like we did the second half….if we can put those two things together for four quarters…We feel like there’s not a team on our schedule that is just completely out of our league. It’s a tough schedule, but we have a lot of athletes and our line is getting better by the day.”

[email protected]

[JohnKnight]

However, after Wellston battled back from a 14-0 deficit, a key ruling by the officials saw the momentum swing hugely in the Falcons’ favor.

I don't like anyone blaming the officials for a loss. Which ruling are you alluding to in this article mr boggs?
The punt was a good call and the one fumble it is hard to tell when the whistle blew. The fumble that went out of the EZ was a good call.

[Pigskinplayer]

"Golden Rockets to follow ‘Jackson blueprint’ at Waverly." This will be the general rule every game until we can effectively stop the running game of others teams. Come on D, You can do it!
Go Tigers and GO BUCKS!

[boilermaker]

Calpreps says Waverly 46 - Wellston 19 .Wellston is getting better each week , but the loss of Seymore hurts the Rockets on defense alot .IMO

I wanted to get on here last friday night and complain ,but didnt. However since JohnKnight wants to get on Boggs for talking about a Momentum shift.Ill take it a bit further than Mr Boggs,they were HORRIBLE calls both were equally bad.

I hope for a good injury free game between these two schools, something has to give friday night I beleive the series is tied 8-8 between the Tigers and Rockets.

[MinnyAckMack10]

This isn't the minford/wellston thread.. I was on the sideline near the punt calling and the official who saw it hit the wellston player was in perfect position, he knew without out a doubt(and had a better view than anyone) that hit the wellston player... thats one of those wrong place/wrong time things.. however, after that ruling, the momentum did shift, but it was rightly so... The refs were not that great during that game... WHOA off topic.. get back to waverly/wellston cause week 2 is over folks..

Waverly 35 Wellston 10

[JohnKnight]

Boilermaker, I have watched the DVD, many times. They were good calls and in the end the right thing was done even though it did change the momentum. It was not the officials that put the ball or the ground or got hit by a scrimmage kick and didn't cover the punt. Very unlucky, yes! Bad Breaks, hell yes! but not poor officiating and you owe that crew of officials an apology as does Mr Boggs and Miss Billings.

[ocho stinko]

Boggs does a nice job writing articles and Jackson County is lucky to have him. On the other hand Wellston needs to get over it. Waverly can score. This could get ugly. Wellston needs to get the monkey off their back and mantell desperately needs a win, the fans and school board can only be so patient. Forget last week, and pound the ball right at Waverly! Give Lockard and Prater 20 plus carries a piece!

[RogueWarrior1965]

I wanted to get on here last friday night and complain ,but didnt. However since JohnKnight wants to get on Boggs for talking about a Momentum shift.Ill take it a bit further than Mr Boggs,they were HORRIBLE calls both were equally bad.

I filmed the game and the punt clearly hit one of the Wellston linemen in the facemask. I had to match it a few times because you can clearly hear it and then when you slow it down, it is clear what happened (it hit his facemask and deflected). Unfortunate for Wellston, but a good call. As for the endzone call, I could not see it from my angle, but it sounds like Knight did on a DVD.

That was last week and this week is this week. Roback is tough and if he gets going, it could be a long night for the Rockets. Wellston has some nice players (20, 44, 3 and others I am sure) that could cause some trouble for Waverly, but I see Waverly winning this one.

[JohnKnight]

The fact that Wellston paints their Goal line yellow doesn't help matters at all (on film) but it is clear that the fumble occurred before the Wellston player crossed the Goal Line. Since he then forced it out of the back of the end zone, by rule Minford ball, Touchback. You gotta know the rules if you are going to rag the ref!

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

JohnKnight.......I do not owe the officials anything, nor did I say that that call cost Wellston the game against Minford. So please get a clue. It was clearly a momentum swing in Minford's favor, and whether or not the officials made the right call or not is not for me to decide, but the fact is that they CHANGED THEIR MINDS TWICE on that call. Hence, it was a key ruling.

I find it very interesting that you left that part of the story out in your rebuttal to me. And, I seriously doubt you even were at the game or "watched the DVD many times" as you suggest. If you did "watch the DVD many times", why did you have to watch it "many times" as you claim? If you are watching that game "many times" and spending a lot of time posting on this website, then maybe you need to focus more on getting your offensive line and linebackers prepared for Wellston game, which is less than 24 hours from kickoff. You are the offensive and linebackers coach at Waverly, correct?

Quite frankly, a coach that is posting on a website about and worrying about a reporter's account of a game that was played a week ago that his team wasn't even involved in...well, that tells me where your priorities are — or are not.

Ah, priorities......you gotta love 'em.

BTW, my Waverly colleagues and friends have told me about you JohnKnight, and that your views and opinions expressed on here are not entirely representative of the Waverly football program. Just making you aware since perhaps you aren't.

Good luck to both teams in this game.

Boilermaker and Ocho stinko....Thanks for the kind words of support.

[JohnKnight]

Dude, I wasn't at the game, you know I am the o-line and LB coach for Waverly. Why do you think I have watched the video about 60 times? I don't need to get a clue. You insinuated that the referees made bad call. Some things went the wrong way for Wellston but the officials got it right!
Not sure what you are saying about my priorities, I watch lots of film and post very little.