Coal Grove(19) @ (14)Portsmouth

[bleed_blue]

Love how people always get that OVC is weak shot in there. SOC except for the exception of Burg and West is pretty weak too.

I think it's far to say Wheelersburg, West, or Waverly would have very little trouble in the OVC. I believe the SOC is 8-5 against the OVC this year. 4 of the OVCs wins have came against Northwest(0-5) which we all know is far from a football powerhouse. Symmes Valley (3-2) a team that will probably finish 3rd in the SOC I and a Valley (2-3) team that will probably be last or next to last in the SOC II. As of now the SOC has 5 teams currently in the playoffs compared to 2 for the OVC. I would say that as of now compared to the SOC the OVC is the weaker of the 2 conferences.

[OVC]

Love how people always get that OVC is weak shot in there. SOC except for the exception of Burg and West is pretty weak too.

I think it's far to say Wheelersburg, West, or Waverly would have very little trouble in the OVC. I believe the SOC is 8-5 against the OVC this year. 4 of the OVCs wins have came against Northwest(0-5) which we all know is far from a football powerhouse. Symmes Valley (3-2) a team that will probably finish 3rd in the SOC I and a Valley (2-3) team that will probably be last or next to last in the SOC II. As of now the SOC has 5 teams currently in the playoffs compared to 2 for the OVC. I would say that as of now compared to the SOC the OVC is the weaker of the 2 conferences.

Rock Hill was the only OVC team to play Northwest... Not sure where you are getting the 4 teams.

[Matt77]

Parker only had like 74 yards against Coal Grove last year. The grove returns a lot of key players from that defense last year. The defense has been playing well lately and it HAS to Friday night.

[bleed_blue]

Love how people always get that OVC is weak shot in there. SOC except for the exception of Burg and West is pretty weak too.

I think it's far to say Wheelersburg, West, or Waverly would have very little trouble in the OVC. I believe the SOC is 8-5 against the OVC this year. 4 of the OVCs wins have came against Northwest(0-5) which we all know is far from a football powerhouse. Symmes Valley (3-2) a team that will probably finish 3rd in the SOC I and a Valley (2-3) team that will probably be last or next to last in the SOC II. As of now the SOC has 5 teams currently in the playoffs compared to 2 for the OVC. I would say that as of now compared to the SOC the OVC is the weaker of the 2 conferences.

Rock Hill was the only OVC team to play Northwest... Not sure where you are getting the 4 teams.

4 of the 5 wins the OVC have had against the SOC are:
Rock Hill over Northwest
Coal Grove over Valley
Portsmouth over Valley
Cheasepeake over Symmes Valley

[OVC]

I think it's far to say Wheelersburg, West, or Waverly would have very little trouble in the OVC. I believe the SOC is 8-5 against the OVC this year. 4 of the OVCs wins have came against Northwest(0-5) which we all know is far from a football powerhouse. Symmes Valley (3-2) a team that will probably finish 3rd in the SOC I and a Valley (2-3) team that will probably be last or next to last in the SOC II. As of now the SOC has 5 teams currently in the playoffs compared to 2 for the OVC. I would say that as of now compared to the SOC the OVC is the weaker of the 2 conferences.

Rock Hill was the only OVC team to play Northwest... Not sure where you are getting the 4 teams.

4 of the 5 wins the OVC have had against the SOC are:
Rock Hill over Northwest
Coal Grove over Valley
Portsmouth over Valley
Cheasepeake over Symmes Valley

You said "4 of the OVCs wins have came against Northwest" . See where that can get confusing? LOL

[bleed_blue]

Rock Hill was the only OVC team to play Northwest... Not sure where you are getting the 4 teams.

4 of the 5 wins the OVC have had against the SOC are:
Rock Hill over Northwest
Coal Grove over Valley
Portsmouth over Valley
Cheasepeake over Symmes Valley

You said "4 of the OVCs wins have came against Northwest" . See where that can get confusing? LOL

I can see how much there might be some confusion but the rest of the post wouldn't make much sense if that's the way it is read.

[trojandave]

The Trojans simply have to play better defense if they are going to win any of their remaining 5 games. Portsmouth is allowing 25 PPG, and 30 PPG is you don't count the Valley game. That is simply too many points surrendered and puts way too much pressure on the offense to have to keep up on the scoreboard. Against Gallia, the Trojan defense repeatedly allowed Blue Devil ballcarriers almost 5 yards before they got hit. Offensively, PHS is averaging a very respectable 23 PPG despite being shutout by Galion.

Coal Grove is very beatable, especially with Talyn Parker back. He does make a big difference in the offense. If the defense cannot take the sting out of the Hornets offense, Portsmouth will find itself on the outside looking in when it comes to competing for the OVC title.

GO TROJANS!!

[jmc]

I got Coal Grove in a close one. Grove and Gallia are the 2 top dogs in the OVC right now and next week is about to be an important game for both teams. Coal Grove 20 Portsmouth 13

[falcons4life]

The Trojans simply have to play better defense if they are going to win any of their remaining 5 games. Portsmouth is allowing 25 PPG, and 30 PPG is you don't count the Valley game. That is simply too many points surrendered and puts way too much pressure on the offense to have to keep up on the scoreboard. Against Gallia, the Trojan defense repeatedly allowed Blue Devil ballcarriers almost 5 yards before they got hit. Offensively, PHS is averaging a very respectable 23 PPG despite being shutout by Galion.

Coal Grove is very beatable, especially with Talyn Parker back. He does make a big difference in the offense. If the defense cannot take the sting out of the Hornets offense, Portsmouth will find itself on the outside looking in when it comes to competing for the OVC title.

GO TROJANS!!

Trojan Dave where do you see the Trojans needing to improve on defense...Is it at the line of scrimmage, defensive backs, or overall play calling to make the adjustments for the big plays? With this team being able to put a lot of points on the board, it would be nice to see the defense step up in a big way to get a victory this weekend against a talented Coal Grove team!

[trojandave]

falcons4life: I'm not an X and O guy, but from what I have seen it is not just one thing that plagues the defense........at times not being able to contain the outside has hurt the Trojans, at times not being physical enough on the interior is an issue, not putting enough pressure on QB's has resulted in some big plays, as in the Gallia game. There were a couple of big pass plays that the GAHS QB made which really hurt PHS because the Trojans had them backed up deep in their own territory. There have been some penalties that have come in crucial down situations.

Can't really put a finger on exactly why the Trojan defense has struggled, but this has been a problem for this program for the almost a decade now.......and with the offense annually averaging 25-30 PPG, it makes it very frustrating to watch. Seems like so many times the Trojans just can't get a crucial stop when needed.

I look for the Trojan offense to move the ball and score a good number vs. the Hornets, but can we get enough stops? That seems to be always the question going into so many games.

GO TROJANS!!!

[Matt77]

Tonight will be the first true test for the Grove tonight against a healthy portsmouth team. I like the changes they've made after the West game overall. The defensive changes really have been working. I think it'll be an interesting game tonight. We'll know how the rest of the season for Coal Grove goes tonight

[CGFAN#1]

Should be a good game. I say Coal Grove will win 35-21. Go Big Grove!

[Matt77]

Coal Grove 19

Portsmouth 14

Good game Grove!!

[Bleeding Red]

Is Parker back yet?

[Matt77]

Is Parker back yet?

He came back against Gallia. Played tonight as well.

[mattash]

Coal Grove(19) @ (14)Portsmouth

[svac83]

Is Parker back yet?

He came back against Gallia. Played tonight as well.

I don't know how he was tonight but against Gallia academy you could tell he was not 100% plus he got banged up again against them.

[trojandave]

Congratulations to the Coal Grove Hornets on the win.........unfortunately another frustrating loss for the Trojans. Portsmouth had a number of opportunities to take control of the game, but several long pass completions by CG completely changed the game around. I had predicted an 8-2 or 9-1 record for this Trojan squad, and right now I'm not looking too smart. Never thought that we would be 2-4 after 6 games, but we are and hopefully the kids will continue to work and play hard. I will be there to support them, but this is one of the more disappointing seasons in quite a while.

GO TROJANS!!

[biggdowgg]

Portsmouth had the lead and the momentum with lots of time left and decide to go for it on 4th and two from their own 40?? They get stopped and very first play from coal grove on short field is a 40yard TD pass, that was the game winner.

And the delay of game when we had a fourth and one hurt also when we had two time outs and did not use one,but did use a timeout after to set up a quick kick .

I thought our kids played hard and had a good chance at winning this game but they have to put it behind them and get ready for next week.


Congrats to coal grove on a nice hard fought win

[Buckeyefan55]

It just seems like CG offense runs so much smoother with #8 at QB. Your QB needs to have confidence and your team needs to have confidence in your QB, and I think they have that when he is in the game. #14 will make a great QB once #8 is gone. I think coach Ferguson done a nice job last night realizing he needed to make the change. These are he types of games CG has to win, and Coach was smart enough to make the adjustments to win the game. Exciting stuff in the future for CG.

Portsmouth played very well and #1 is scary good for them. If he was healthy he mighta been the difference in a win or loss for CG. They have a good team. Much better than their record shows.