2009 SEOAL Previews: Warren Warriors

[WHSwarrior]

Scrimmage at Caldwell...Noble County Fairgrounds, 10 am tomorrow

[warrnwarriorfan]

Warren looked very solid in the first scrimmage against Caldwell. The coaches made it clear that this was more about finding out who fit where than anything else, and lots of players got a chance to show what they can do. The first offensive group started on the 20 and drove the ball down the field and scored in about 6-7 plays. It was a mix of effective running and passing. The first offense then took the ball back down the field with the remaining 3-4 plays and ended up at about Caldwell's 30. When Caldwell took the ball on offense they struggled to move the ball then had an INT by Caleb Wolfe take them back to the 20 again. They failed to advance much in the remaining plays. During the remaining two varsity sessions Warren substituted heavily but moved the ball both times. The Warriors were obviously focused on sticking with the ground game and rotating in players to see where folks fit. Warren drove inside Caldwell's 20-30 yard line both times. Caldwell did get pressure on the QB a couple times and had a sack, so the pass protection will have to pick it up a bit. Caldwell didn't make it past mid-field in the first 3 varsity sessions. The JV session was pretty even, although Caldwell did make a drive inside the 10 before being shut down. The scrimmage ended with Warren's punt team running 5 plays. Venham punted 40+ each time and had one go about 47 yards. He will be a nice weapon this year.

So, against an unknown quantity like Caldwell Warren looked quite good this morning. The first groups looked excellent, and lots of kids got a chance to show-off what they could do. Our passing game is WAAAAY ahead of where it has been in years. The running game is excellent. The Warriors look strong. The hard work in the weight room is going to pay off this season.

Maysville on Friday . . .

[WHSwarrior]

yippee!

are we at maysville on friday? and what time?

[bankshot]

Warren was definitly more athletic in this one...you could tell they were bigger...faster...and stronger than caldwell...seen a lot of room for improvement...thought there were a lot of missed blocks on the o line and a lot of confusion on who to block...definitly would have liked to seen some better reads from the quarter backs...it looked as though they were told to look at one reciever only...on the other hand seen some good running plays and definitly loved the play calling..im glad to see a change in play calling it looked as though it went a little smoother and was not as predictable...defense looked good besides the few times the corners and the safety would have been burnt with a good throw... all in all i thought they looked pretty good even though it was against a young inexperienced caldwell team...can't wait to see the improvements on friday night...

[air4ce1]

i thought that the scrimmage at maysville was this saturday at 7 not friday but i may be mistaken

[WHSwarrior]

air4ce1...

i looked at the online schedule on highschoolsports.net and it does list the scrimmage as being 7 pm on friday 8/21.

i thought it was saturday, too, but someone must have changed his mind.

[cavalierfan95]

me and my friends are coming to the warren chilli game on october 23 which happens to be my birthday this will be my second trip to warren.

[air4ce1]

WHSwarrior...just informed today that it has indeed been changed to friday at 7pm...thanks

[warrnwarriorfan]

The last 2-a-day is on right now. There is a great "team" atmosphere this year. The coaches and players are having a good time. Hilverding is practicing again after having a tweaked back for a week or so. Wolfe is out with an ear infection and to let his groin fully heal. He may not go on Friday in the Jamboree. If not, Henthorn and others will fill in. I do think a couple players have dropped out, but that is to be expected. I would put the post 2-a-day player count at about 55; so the numbers are up and will stay up this season.

The team is definitely anxious to make a statement on Friday against Maysville.

The Big Blue Picnic and Meet the Team is tomorrow at 6:00p and 8:30p respectively. All Warrior fans should be in attendance!

[air4ce1]

wat did the scrimmage look like last night?

[WHSwarrior]

I know the varsity score was 15-14 Warren and the JV score was 22-20 Warren

but I think we'll let warrnwarriorfan provide the details

[warrnwarriorfan]

I just was finishing the post, had taken about 30 minutes to write it, had spellchecked it, and then somehow hit the wrong key and lost it.

I'm going to have to walk away for a bit before I throw my laptop out the window.

Oh boy, did that hurt.

[WHSwarrior]

My apologies.

Take your time.

[warrnwarriorfan]

OK, here we go again.

Last night’s jamboree game was the first game to be played in Maysville’s new stadium. Moreover, the whole evening was being played for a Maysville senior football player who had been paralyzed in an ATV accident. Needless to say, Maysville was fired-up.

The theme of the evening for Warren was bad field position, and it was due primarily to poor kick-offs. This is an area where we must improve and improve fast. Warren never kicked the ball past the 30 yard line on kick-offs, and it hurt. Maysville received first and started just past the 30. Warren stuffed them and Maysville punted from about the 35. The ball went over the punt returner’s head and bounced out of bounds inside the Warren 10 yard line. Sigh. That’s the bad news. The good news is Warren drove the field and scored with a nice combination of passing and running. They gained ground in chunks, and then completed a key third down pass inside the Panther’s 5 to position themselves for the score. Wolfe busted it up the middle for a TD, then he ran for a 2 point conversion when Maysville lined up in front of the line (and not the ball) on Warren’s typical muddle huddle extra point play. There were no penalities during the drive and everyone was excited to see that kind of execution so early in the season. 90 yard drives are not an easy thing in high school football.

So, 8-0 Warren Warriors.

Now, remember the theme. . . Warren’s kick-off was again not good and Maysville again had great field position at the 35. They couldn’t do anything up the middle, but started to run sweep after sweep and gained ground. They had a couple longer runs, and made it inside Warren’s 5 before the Warriors stuffed them and took over the ball. Warren started to drive the ball then had some penalties that stalled them. Warren punted and Maysville had even better field position, starting in Warrior territory. This time they continued to gain ground to the outside and scored on a long run. They did not convert the PAT, and Warren led 8-6. The Panthers kicked-off . . . now you can take the last two offensive series by each team and replay them, except that Maysville scored a 2 point conversion with a pass into the back of the end zone.

So, with about 5 minutes left to go, the Warriors are down 14-8 and Maysville is REALLY fired-up. Remember the theme for the evening . . . The Maysville kicker booms the kick-off out of the end zone and Warren has to start on the 20 with less than 5 minutes to go. (Now is the best part for Warrior fans.) Warren calmly drove the ball 80 yards for the TD. It was again a nice mix of running and passing. Ellenwood threw for 2 key first downs to Yocum and Pritt, then closed the drive with a TD toss to Venham from the 20 yard line. Scott converted the PAT, and the Warriors nipped the Panthers 15-14.

The good news: Excellent running game, good execution, few penalties, nice play by the line. They have a tremendously improved passing game. Ellenwood was over 60% and around 100 yards with 1 TD and no INTs. Five different receivers caught passes. NO TURNOVERS! In fact, the Warriors didn’t turn the ball over at all in either scrimmage. The defense is tough! The Maysville coaches commented on the team’s physical play. The pass coverage was really good. Maysville didn’t make any headway passing (nor did Caldwell last week).

Bad news: The Warriors must sure-up the defense against the outside running game. Warren’s coaches felt they made some errors in the alignment, and we had several subs in when most of the damage was done, but, nonetheless, it was a weakness. They can fix it. The biggest bad news was the kick-off team. The kicks were way too short, and the coverage broke down on one play (due to poor tackling) and it put the Warriors in a tight spot defensively. I’m sure we can fix that too.

The JV looked very good with Hilverding and Leffingwell at QB. Higgins had a nice INT in the end zone that saved a Maysville TD. Lots of nice younger players! The team will be solid into the future. The final score was 22-20 Warren.
Warren is way ahead of where they have been the last few seasons. Welsh has been a great addition to the staff. They have a few more days of practice to prepare for a visit to Belpre. Belpre is reeling right now . . .

This is a team that can turn the corner for the Warren football program.

I should add a word of thanks to Maysville. This was a nice event. It was for a great cause. Maysville is much, much improved this year. They pass the "eyeball" test. They just look good. They have fantastic new facilities. Good luck to the Panthers this season!

[coal miner's son]

Is it just me, but most schools we play seem to have "nice new facilities" and we have rain running down the walls inside our school buildings. Can't help but to be a little envious.

[warrnwarriorfan]

Yeah.

Did you hear about the ceiling tiles crumbling and falling on the parent's heads when it was raining during Freshman orientation?

Our schools are "officially" the worst that we encounter as we travel for athletics.

Sigh.

[teach123]

Isn't Gribble the special teams coach?

[coal miner's son]

They ONLY good thing about ceiling tiles falling from the sky is that hopefully the community will finally see that we HAVE to build new buildings. My concern is the health issues. Where there is water, there is mold and mildew.

[bigbluedad]

Gribble is the special teams coach, who is doing the kickoffs is it the Scott boy or is it someone else. Other than that sounds like things are moving in a forward direction for us and can't wait till Friday night in Belpre.

[warrnwarriorfan]

I don't want to cause anyone to get down on any coach or player. This was the first time that we had kick-offs this season. I'm sure it will get figured out. Gribble is the special teams coach, and his "muddle huddle" tactics landed the 2 point conversion. It'll be fine. Poor field position was the theme of the game for us, but it was just a scrimmage and it will get fixed.

There are waaay more positives than negatives heading into this season.