Warren football

[northern exposure]

I was at the game Friday night and thought i'd post a few observations since there doesn't seem to be fan interest for whatever reason. First I think the defense this year is vastly improved from last year. That 3 - 5 was ridiculous with the personnel they had. The 4-3 is much better. Even though PHS scored 41, 14 were given up by the offense, defense scored twice, way better this year - room for improvement yes but basically pleased. Special teams not bad except missing extra points no excuse. Now the offense ... Pitiful. Made it real tuff on defense giving PHS ball in good field position all night long. No blocking whatsoever. Couldn't even pass block. Stood around flat footed all night. Need to get those feet moving. Where is coaching didn't see anyone getting on those guys. They would rush three and still get to qb easily. The backs looked good but ran into defensive lineman in the backfield. QB throwing was bad but he was always running for his life. They have no blocking fundamentals. Only other comment I have is they were not in shape. I bet there was 15 times they had someone with cramps.PHS had none. Our kids would come off field looking beat after first quarter.

[ez_high]

Good summary.

I agree the defense was much improved but the offense needs some work, especially the o-line.

I believe a real barometer test will be Marietta next week. They have been pretty even teams the last few years with both only getting a few wins each year. Marietta had a lopsided win against Morgan who Warren beat in the jamboree game.If warren gets beat like they did against PHS, it will be a long season with only 1 win in my opinion. If they bounce back and get the o line to at least hold their own, I could potentially see 3 wins. Being optimistic.

Areas for improvement:
1. O line. They had the size advantage against phs but no quickness. All about fundamentals and foot speed. Warren had the ball on the 1 yard line and didnt get it across after 3 tries. Thankfully phs committed a dumb unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and gave Warren 3 more tries. They scored by pitching outside. If you can't gain 1 yard in 3 tries, it will be a long season. The net rushing yards was 2 and if running the ball is your goal, you are in trouble. The dline for phs was in the backfield before the running back got the ball.
2. Decision making. If you are the qb, don't just chuck the ball in the air because you are about to get sacked. Live to fight another down. Also, don't pitch the ball back to your rb in desperation and hope it will work out. That cost us 14 points in the game.
3. Fitness. Might be too late to work on this one but warren was cramping up all over the place.

Warren had a very good crowd on hand as they do the first game of every year, but it dwindles when the loses start piling up. The community and fans are hoping that Fish will turn this program around. It will be a hard task though.

[edforshey]

The biggest thing I noticed from a Parkersburg point a view about Warren.

Warren couldn't hold a block for more than 1 second.

Warren scored on a:
Safety
Fumble return
Fumble return to the 1, which took 4 plays to finally score

Sad thing is, Parkersburg defense isn't really very good either.

Warren must be able to run the ball to have any success.

Now for the Warren defense,
Played decent just couldn't make a big play after getting behind by 14+ to get back in the game before the running clock rule.

Hopefully this series will continue the next couple of years as its a good gate for both schools.

[WARRIOR BS]

I thought the defense looked pretty good. Only gave up 27 pts with bad field position all night. Our defense scored twice and set the offense up on the 2 yard line, so I give them another score for that one too.The only thing I saw was the DB's need to knock the ball down on those 3rd down passes instead of trying to intercept it. But, all in all, I think they will be fine. Now the offense has one big issue, the O-line. This has been an issue in the past, but I haven't seen anything like what happened Friday night in my entire life. I don't understand it, we have good size up front and should be able to run the ball. Maybe we need to take baby steps and just try to stop the rush and then work on making a hole to run thru. I hope we have a long list of back up QB's because no one can take a beating like that for 10 straight weeks. He was running for his life on every play. I would just like to see what our offense can do if we have a little time.

[northern exposure]

I would say we all agree about the line. It alls goes back to the youth football league and there lack of teaching fundamentals - namely blocking and tackling. More worried about getting their kid to be a star. Too busy trying to learn the high school plays. They just needed to concentrate on fundamentals and learn a few basic plays and learn them well and they would win most games. Its about execution and knowing the fundamentals. Now we are paying the price. This will take awhile to overcome. Heard they didn't have enough kids this year for youth may be a blessing in disguise.

[WARRIOR BS]

Agreed 100%--We have to get back to the basics!!

[Auburntgrfan]

O-Line looked like a repeat of last ohhhh decade. Splits were terrible, etc, etc, etc, all about coaching up the kids. O-Line coaches, technique, technique. get it, got it, good. Looking back the "Red Hill" and before era, Warren had consistantly solid fundamental teams and it started at the Pee Wee level. Alot of credit to the staff at that time, Warren has gone steadily down hill since the WYFL came into existence only one winning season Pifer 7-3 (2009) all seven wins were against teams they should have beat or were down that year and had losing records. Could not beat the top of the SEOAL. Seems like too much emphasis on winning at a young age and not enough fundamentals, basics and fun. Pee Wee Football League was all in district, high school coaching staff worked with coaches on what they wanted them to learn, ran a 6 man defensive line mandatory, an "I'" formation, so every had someone to block just basic football and it worked. BACK TO BASICS AT ALL LEVELS. That would be outstanding, start at the top and work to the bottom. O'well still love em, go blue, work hard and get better.