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

[NYBuckeye96]

http://athensnews.com/news/sports-news/29197-unaccustomed-unbeatens-clash-at-athens-friday

Unaccustomed unbeatens clash at Athens Friday
Written by Garrett Downing
Thursday, 01 October 2009 09:07

Athens junior quarterback Trey Harris has noticed a difference with the Athens High School football team this year. Yes, the obvious change is the Bulldogs 5-0 record and dominance over opponents. Given the struggles Athens football has endured in recent years, Bulldogs fans know the strong start is no small accomplishment.

The most notable transformation, however, has come from outside of the football program.

“I go around town, and people are finally talking about Athens football,” said Harris. “You know, the hype is coming back.”

In Albany, Alexander High School has found itself in a similar situation. The Spartans also have a 5-0 record, and look steadily improved from the team that had won just three league games in the last 12 seasons.

For years, Alexander appeared stuck in a rebuilding process, and now the Spartans finally seem headed in the right direction.

“This is a milestone, and it’s something we wanted to achieve,” Alexander head coach Sean Arno said. “But since the beginning of this process, we’ve all had larger goals about what we want to accomplish, and we’re not there yet.”

The impressive start has the two teams talking about goals, such as a TVC-Ohio championship and playoff spot, that seemed like nothing more than pipedreams the last few seasons.

Friday, in the year’s biggest challenge for both teams, Alexander will take the 15-minute trip to Athens High School for the Bulldogs’ homecoming game.

“I’d be lying if I said it’s not a big game,” Arno said.

In recent years, the game between Athens and Alexander has not counted for much more than pride. Athens did not join the TVC-Ohio until last year, so the game did not matter for league purposes, and neither team had any hope at playoff contention.

This year is different.

“When you’re looking undefeated at this point of the year, you have playoff implications with the winner of this game,” Athens head coach Ryan Adams said. “Between playoffs and homecoming, and the fact that you’re playing a rival right across town, I don’t know how it could get any bigger than this.”

In many regards — not even including the perfect records up to now — the two teams are strikingly similar.

They both use a handful of running backs. They both have a quarterback who avoids mistakes and does an effective job managing the game. They both average over 40 points per game.

The strength of both teams starts with the line play, and neither team relies on one player to do most of the work on either side of the ball.

And they both are desperate for success.

“A big part of our motivation is the fact our school spirit and pride has been down over the years,” Adams said. “We’re starting to turn the corner a little bit.”

For Athens, Harris is the key to the offense. In his second year as the starting quarterback, he has transitioned from trying to learn the schemes to now leading the team.

Last year the coaches did not ask Harris to do too much in their run-oriented offense, but this season they have allowed Harris to be more of a playmaker, and he has become the league’s premier passer with more than 700 passing yards and 11 touchdowns. But for the coaches, the most impressive statistic is zero interceptions.

“The catalyst of our offense is obviously Trey Harris,” Adams said. “He does exactly what we expect him to do, and he protects our football.”

The Bulldogs have surrounded him with plenty of talent, including a pool of five running backs who all share carries, and a group of receivers who complement each other well. Harris’ top receiving targets are Shad McCollum, Frank Valentour and Ian Dixon, who all have the ability to score every time they touch the ball.

“With the people we have out there, it’s a hard offense to stop, especially with our balanced attack, which Athens hasn’t had in a long time,” Harris said.

Alexander uses quarterback Mike Chapman to lead the offense, and like Harris, he effectively manages the game. He rarely commits turnovers or forces the ball into bad situations, and he allows his teammates to make big plays.

Spartan running backs Cody Lawson and Jake Hedrick provide a stable rushing attack, and they have combined for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns. At receiver, Alexander relies on Trey Bennett and Wes Meadows to stretch the defense.

Regardless of who does most of the work on offense, both teams have the ability to score points in a hurry. Alexander has scored more than 50 points twice, and Athens’ closest margin of victory is 21 points.

“When you look at our two teams on paper, it certainly has the makings of a high-scoring football game,” Adams said.

The game certainly will have an impact on the teams’ postseason chances and hopes for a TVC-Ohio title.

For Athens to have a chance at making the playoffs, the Bulldogs almost certainly need a win over Alexander. Athens is a Division II school, which makes it the biggest school in the TVC, and the Bulldogs cannot afford losing to smaller schools if they hope to play in week 11.

The Spartans could make the playoffs if they lose to Athens, but the road would be tough. But if they can beat Athens, that puts them in excellent position for a postseason bid.

In terms of a league championship, the team that wins Friday’s game still needs to knock off Nelsonville-York, which has won five of the last six titles, and is also still undefeated.

No matter which team leaves Basil Rutter Field with a victory Friday, both teams and schools understand the excitement that has finally started to build around their football programs, and that is exactly what they wanted.

“I can’t walk down the hallway without someone saying, ‘hey, big game this week, coach,’” Adams said. “It ought to be a great night of football.”

[Orange and Brown]

Thats going to be a great game!!!! I know my nephew is pumped about this one!!!! GO GETEM DOGS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spartan]

MSL - go home. Nobody here cares about your outside opinion. Go rain on somebody else's parade.


Great article in A-News. Great publicity for these two schools. The game should live up to the hype.

[Rufus]

Very nice article...I love the way the A-News is taking an interest into local athletics. Hopefully they keep it up for basketball and baseball seasons also.

[whompascat]

might not like it but MSl is right.

[Spartan]

Go Bulldogs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[93Bulldog]

IM trying like heck to get ahold of my technical guy that built trivalleyconference.com to upload the blog I wrote about Friday's game ... its loaded with stats/team comparisons .. just any and all information one would need to gauge the differences between Athens and Alex ... he will probably have it uploaded today sometime, hopefullyso keep an eye out for it ...

Good luck to both teams; I went and bought a nice hand-held radio today just so I could listen to the action at Rutter Field from the Trimble/Eastern game in Glouster.

[A-Town Big Dog]

Athens is only a D2 by like 12 kids and from what I've been told the projected numbers next year will have Athens back down to a D3 school. I don't hear anybody saying D3 Vinton Co. shouldn't be in the league and I'm guessing it's because they aren't winning. Also one often overlooked fact is that Athens is filled with people who are employed at OU and their kids only attend school in our district until their parents move on to other opertunities. The turn over rate in the school is unbelievable at times and I know it doesn't seem like it would matter but our kids don't have the luxury of playing together from the time they were in third grade like they do at Trimble or N-Y or many other schools. I'll bet if you look at a Trimble or N-Y roster the majority of the kids had a close relitive who played on a squad in the past, I'll also bet that if you did the same thing for Athens the ratio would be drastically different. I don't want to sound as if I'm making excuses because I definately am not, I just want everybody to try to look at things the way alot of the true local families in the Athens district look at things. Also with Belpre moving down to the Hocking next year that will leave N-Y as the only D5 school in the Ohio and the rest will be either D3 or D4 so hopefully this discussion won't be necessary next year. ( By the way I'm only using N-Y and Trimble as examples because I'm more familiar with their programs, I'm not trying to start an argument with anyone just using them as due to thier general success rate and ability to keep their kids together from a young age. )

[A-Town Big Dog]

Now back to the game the weather reports don't look inspiring for tomorrow evening and I think if it rains it could help the Spartans cause as i feel they have a little advantage in the running game. I hope the rain is over before the game as I would like to see these teams go at it wide open tomorrow. Good luck and good heath to both schools.

[93Bulldog]

The week 5 blog is uploaded about Athens and Alexander on trivalleyconference.com

just click VIEW BLOGS and you will find some intresting stats between the two.

If anyone sees any thing that doesn't appear correct post it here on this thread .. thx

[LEROY]

Lotsa talk on this site and around town about this great TVCO matchup. Most people on the thread and the TVC pickem are picking Athens in this one. Athens defense is better, home field advantage, homecoming, Athens program is turned around, playoffs, talk of the town. (I posted some W-L stats early in this thread.) Not many folks giving Alexander a chance. CalPreps picks Athens 42 Alex 20.

I think the teams match up pretty well, the rain has been called the great equalizer, and that the game will be a lot closer than folks think. I think that this game will show the one element of high school football that makes it so great, and is the real reason why we want our young men to learn, play, and enjoy the game. It's what makes a team that doesn't have a chance come out and play beyond the expectations and walk off the field with a win. It overcomes strength, speed, field position, and penalties. The stat where it shows up is in the W-L column. Some call it motivation. The will to win. Desire. Heart.

I'm picking Alexander to win. Good luck to both teams--play your best game. See you at the game.

[Steely Dan]

LEROY - Mary Jane and Patty would be proud of that post (except for lotsa). Was that "Horra or Terra?" Sorry everyone, an inside joke......

[Spartan]

The Dawgs have plenty of heart.. Go Bulldogs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Orange and Brown]

The week 5 blog is uploaded about Athens and Alexander on trivalleyconference.com

just click VIEW BLOGS and you will find some intresting stats between the two.

If anyone sees any thing that doesn't appear correct post it here on this thread .. thx

That was a great blog!!!!!!!! I really enjoyed that!

[AxGrinder]

Over that last few weeks I've heard the "heart" talk too many times. Every team has heart. No one can have more heart than another. When it is used as in this situation, it gets very annoying. Don't try and tell me Alexander has more heart than Athens. They equally have heart and care about their teams, community and schools respectfully. You have to have heart to be 5-0 at this point.

I gotta feeling that much heart and soul will be displayed tonight by both teams. But the winner or loser won't have exhibited more than the other. The winner will have played a better game than the loser. Period.

My bet is on Athens.

[IMK01]

AxGrinder,

In reading LEROY's post, I certainly don't see where he said or implied that Alexander has more heart than Athens - it looks to me like he's talking about any teams who have the heart/desire to win. He's picking Alex, because that's his preferred team.

I'm picking Alexander too - I always like to see the smaller schools beat the big schools!!

GO SPARTANS!!!

[NYBucksDad]

Good luck to both teams this should be one great game.

[questionmark]

When programs are down for a few years, you'll find coaches using building blocks to get them to overcome the adversities that thwarted the previous teams. I know that this was used when I played and I see it again coming back with this years Athens team.

I played for Athens from '00-03' (Grad '04), and our 1st season we went 2-8. It was the following year when we came outta the gates hot with an unexpected (3-1) record that people began to talk about the last successful team which in this case was the talented '90 squad. Our coaches, and the media outlets constantly referred to success we were having, by saying we haven't seen wins like this since the '90 squad and that little bit of comparison to a team that had success drove us for our own passion of success.

Well, the pattern has returned. Last week when Athens defeated VC to improve to (5-0) on the season they were compared to the '03 squad. The '03 squad had talented players like Grant Gregory, Chris Hewitt, Ryan Mingus, Jeremy Sebring, Brock Clonch, Pete Kerber, Charlie Fulks, Robert Hughes, Adam Harris, Chris Pitts and Jared Wren. Everyone knew these Athens boys, they were familiar with the team. They knew every Friday that Grant Gregory would be taking snaps from Charlie Fulks. The RB Tandem of Chris' (Hewitt & Pitts) would be running the ball, Sebring, Mingus, Harris and Hughes would be receiving and that they would be protected by Kerber and Clonch on the line. Also as all of these 'Dogs played defense, they knew Wren would be there to deliver a smashing hit or two. Many people probably can still remember a play, or a drive, or player or a game that was special around this time. That is what makes High School football what it is...

We have now come to know this team. Harris is the QB, The committee of RB's is Sharp, Glass, Weaver and Young. The WR's are lead by McCollum, Dixon and Tope...and that stingy defense, well we know to look for Germano, or the Rider Bros. and Valentour...

Many people on here have asked when was the last time Athens played in a game of this magnitude...the answer is the '03 game vs. (5-0) The Jackson Ironmen which ironically (since we are comparing the '03 Dogs and '09 Dogs) was a battle of (5-0) squads.

This years Athens Squad has a chance to be the 1st Athens Squad to go (6-0) since well, the '90 squad...

This is what makes High School Football such a thing of beauty...

[questionmark]

As for the game...

Both squads enter at (5-0)...
Both squads playing for a shot at the Championship...
Both squads playing for a play-off chance...
Both squads playing for Town Pride...

Athens has to be the favorite with being at home and because of their no-nonsense defense.

The Rain may be something that can level this game a bit, but just as it can play leveler it can become the decider...

I look for this game to be close at the Half, a turnover by each team, and a few scores. Tons of wet balls will be dropped, and also look for some more penalty's in this game because of all the excitement. However, I believe it will be the Athens 'D' who set-up the game by giving Athens 'O' a ton of 'Short-Field' shots at scoring...

ALEXANDER -- 13
ATHENS ------ 35 FINAL

[Rufus]

I gotta think if the rain continues, it's only going to help the Spartans. I think the one visible advantage the Spartans have is in the running game. Athens throws the ball well, so maybe the wet weather will have an impact on that.

Spartan defense has to step up big. They've been doing just enough to get by for the past few weeks. They need to be hard nosed for the entire game and force Bulldog turnovers. If they do this, I think they can come out with a win.