Week 1- Portsmouth vs Wilmington

[trojanofthepast]

What's the thoughts on a tough game 1 for the Trojans

[biggdowgg]

This will be a tough game..I know its to eary to say "must win", but I tink this game dictates how our season will go.

saturday game,so we should have a huge crowd.

[noreply66]

If Myers is keyed on it could be a rough game for Portsmouth

[TrojanXplosion]

I think Portsmouth will win this game but I'm hesitant to pick them especially after that Valley scrimmage. I know it's just a scrimmage but they could have played with more heart. Maybe I'm not giving Valley enough credit but, time will tell how the Trojans do. Defense is going to have to step up this year.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

I have seen some really good things from the Trojans during their scrimmages, and some not so good things as well. I know the talent is there to have a great season and make a run. We just have to come out faster than we did last season. Last year we played very good by mid season, but started slow. If we can come out and regain the form we had at the end of last year we will be hard to beat.
I don’t want to read too much into our scrimmage games as we didn’t open up the playbook very much, and we had some guys out. I still believe the O will be very impressive this season. It does look like the D needs some more work.
I am excited to see our special teams in a game situation, with Royster and company back deep we have a chance to take one back on every kick. Nate Newton also looks to have a stronger leg this season, and should be able to kick some short field goals if needed. I want to see if he will be kicking deep this year for kickoffs or if we will still try to squib most of the time. I don’t think he has the leg to get it to the end zone, but I think he can kick long enough to pen teams back some.

As for Wilmington, I don’t know much about them. I do know that they were 7-3 last season and were the # 8 seed in region 8. They are a D2 school and play a predominately D2 schedule. None of the schools on their schedule are super powers but are some respectable teams. Last season they did defeat Chillicothe, 42-20, in what was an obvious down year for the Cavs.
Anyone know what Wilmington has back this season? Returning starters? Key loses?

I think Portsmouth will win this game but I'm hesitant to pick them especially after that Valley scrimmage. I know it's just a scrimmage but they could have played with more heart. Maybe I'm not giving Valley enough credit but, time will tell how the Trojans do. Defense is going to have to step up this year.

I too have some of those fears after that game, but it was just a scrimmage, and we obviously didn't go all out in it. We have a very vanilla play call and even approach to the game. I was told that our boys even practiced that morning before the game. This would explain the lethargic and tired play they had. Anyone know if this is true?

I do think Valley may be better then excepted as well. They had some good looking kids. Anyone that has played in this scrimmage in the past knows the Indians normally take it a little more serious than we do. Are goals are normally to just get some reps against another team, not get anyone hurt. Valley likes to play it very aggressive, and really get a feel for their team. I personally don't think Crabtree goes for it on 4th down in a real game, but being a scrimmage he has nothing to really lose, and took the opportunity to put his young men in a do or die situation. He saw it as a great learning experience for his team and he took it. I think that may help the Indians later down the line.

[biggdowgg]

I like to watch the scrimmages, you can get some kind of ideal what a team look likes,but I never get to exited either way,I know both teams are not going to play their full play book.

I seen we did not have all of our starters out there at one time much at all,and also noticed we did not run a lot of our plays we did in intersquad scrimmage..

maybe thats because I seen 3 guys with wilmington shirts on lurking around?

but no matter who played what,I was Impressed with what I senn from Valley

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

Didn't see the guys from Wilmington, but I'm sure that had something to do with it. I too was impressed with the Indians. Think they might raise some eyebrows around the area this season.

[Ptown Playmaker]

We need defense....plain and simple.....11 guys that want to tackle and play with discipline.....if not....with our schedule, the outcome will be tough.

[Neutron Man]

Wilmington is too much for Portsmouth.

[caglewis]

What time is this game? Afternoon or evening? I'm a WHS alum but so long ago that I no longer have family there or know anyone who might have high school age kids. The Wilmngton team name is the Hurricane - and note that it is singular - one joint team effort storm!!

[biggdowgg]

7 30 P.M.

[mglight88]

This will be a close one, but I feel the Trojans will pull this one in as a win.

[4dfalcons]

After seeing both scrimmages, I don't think that the Trojans will make any deep run in the playoffs. If Logan is down they may win the SEOAL. I don't know anything about Wilmington, but West and Burg
may be losses. West could be very high scoring. As to Burg, I don't know much about them but Portsmouth sure has plenty of motivation to win that game. From what i have seen, defense is still an issue for the Trojans.

[TrojanXplosion]

The season hasn't even started and now after a couple of meaningless scrimmages it seems the Trojans once high expectations have been lowered. Well, I still think this is a playoff football team. The intensity in scrimmages is never as high as a regular game. But, I'm old school and I like to see the intensity scrimmage or no scrimmage. I don't care who you play. I'm anxious to see if this defense is willing to hit the snot out of the other team and do it on a regular basis. We have less than a week to find out. Does anyone know a thing about Wilmington? Offense? Returning players from a playoff football team?

[trojandave]

FalconFan is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!.......We SHOULD NOT lower our expectations for our Trojans based on a few scrimmages!!!........Sure, I would have liked to hear better reports about our scrimmages, but IT IS NOT THE REAL THING!!

I can see making a judgement about the team after 3-4 regular season games, but not after scrimmages.......if we don't come out Saturday and play with intensity, then there's no excuse for that!!......It's Wilmington's first game too, and they want to come out 1-0 just like we want to!!

I think the Trojans will be an offensive juggernaut, and the defense won't be a stone wall but better than last year!!

GO TROJANS!!

[PATTYCAKES]

Neutron Man wrote

Wilmington is too much for Portsmouth.

Do you say this because you know something about Wilmington or just a Trojan hater?

[TrojanXplosion]

Is Bendolph going to play or not?

[biggdowgg]

his appeal is not untill the second week in sept, so no he will not play in this game,or any other game untill they decide

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

It looks like a lot of people have jumped on the “we hate Portsmouth band wagon” early this year. Don’t judge this team off of these scrimmages. Portsmouth does not approach them in any way close to the way we do real games. These are little more than practices for us. We mix in lots of guys trying to see if anyone is stepping up. We don’t run anything close to our full playbook. Normally we have about 4 or 5 plays that we run out of a few different sets. Trust me there will be more running plays in real games, both with Jackson back in the lineup, and from Myers. We are not going to let Myers run the ball wild in a scrimmage and take a chance of getting hurt in a game that means nothing. Once those runs happen the pass opens, if they continue to cover the pass we can keep running. It looked to me that Myers tried to force some passes in situations when he would normally take off for the first down or more. My guess is that Myers was told not to takeoff so he wouldn’t get hurt.

With the d we seemed to get caught out of position some. Considering we have been preparing for Wilmington’s offence and not Valley’s that to can be expected. Wait till the boys play a team that they have a scouting report for. Valley’s O is almost all spread anymore, and without preparing for it is very hard to stop.
DON’T COUNT THE TROJANS OUT YET. Last season we didn’t start playing well till mid season, but when we did we looked real good. Now people want to abandon ship because of some scrimmage games. Come on people, give these boys a chance.

[bigcline81]

portsmouth is gonna win this one!!