Week 1: Utica at Buckeye Local

[MBLUE1]

Thoughts?

I'll take Buckeye by a bunch.

Go Buckeye!

[run n shoot 08]

Is Hoar still at Utica? I remember he was definitely a difference maker/ play maker.

[gils17]

No he graduated.

[57chevy]

What does Buckeye Local have coming back? Were they 3-7 last year?

[walshfan]

Utica also lost Cline. I believe Hoar and Cline were responsible for the majority of the O for Utica. Was never realy impressed with their D when they played against Granville in recent years. I suppose I'd go with Local even though I don't know a thing about their team.

[Red_Skin_Pride]

We didn't look too bad against Licking Heights, Utica actually has a pretty adequate offense given that we lost 2 of the best players in school history in the same year to graduation. Utica has several big, young linemen, SR Clay Rowley has looked pretty good in the scrimmages, and rushed for about 75 yards and passed for about 100 in the full half we played against Heights, and Utica has JR Trent Vickers and SO Travis Baldwin in the backfield, that form a much more formidable rushing game than Utica's had in several years.

Baldwin could have a huge year if the line can block. He definitely doesn't run or look like a sophmore. Defensively, if Utica can defend the pass, they'll be ok. My understanding is that Buckeye Local has a good running back, but not much else on offense? Utica's run defense overall looked great against Heights, but their pass defense was subpar. That was supposed to be the strength of the defense coming into the year, but it didn't look like it against LH. If BL doesn't pass a whole lot, it shouldn't be a big deal, but it will obviously be a problem in week 2 if we don't shore it up. I'll take Utica by 7, only because I think this team will try and prove that they're not going back to the cellar just because Hoar/Cline graduated. Still a lot of talent on this team, and still a deep threat in Artie Douglas, which is what the offense has to have to go.

[Panther Crazy]

Josten Dear for Buckeye Local is 6'1 190 and is one of the best RBs around this part of ohio .

[57chevy]

Any updates?

[gils17]

Final
Buckeye Local 33
Utica 16

[NewarkCatholicFan]

Was hoping to see that the Redskins took this one.

Congrats BL on your win.

[Red_Skin_Pride]

Just got back from the game, I was the one tweeting updates for the Advocate's website, man is that a haul! That being said, BL won the game because they were able to capitalize on Utica turnovers and contained our run game, and Utica did not capitalize on several turnovers and were unable to stop the trio in the backfield for the Panthers. They've got some really nice athletes, and about double the amount of players Utica had, and it really showed in the 2nd half. They earned this win every step of the way, and I would say they're going to win way more than 3 games this season.

All that being said, Utica actually made a lot of good plays and had the momentum for an extended period of time at several points in the game. But as I said in my preseason posts on the Redskins, our inexperience really showed at other critical points. There is no doubt in my mind that last year's offense would have put the ball in the endzone at least 3 times in the first half. When you get turnovers on the opponents side of the field, you have to score. At one point, Utica trailed 12-0...they went on a drive and scored and got the conversion to cut it to 12-8, and recovered a fumble AND intercepted a pass in the next few drives, putting themselves in great field postion (less than half the field to drive) for the go-ahead score, and couldn't get in the endzone. You just can't do that when you're inexperienced. You have to use that momentum to get you points and get ahead. Who knows what kind of game it ends up being if Utica capitalizes on those turnovers, and gets up by 9 or 10 points, forcing BL to pass a little more.

Overall, it was a good game to learn from. I still stick to my theory that Utica will be in the middle of the pack in the MBC, and will have somewhere between 4-6 wins, with the most likely being 5-5. I know if our defense doesn't improve, David Fraley might get a few D-1 offers off of his performance next week :/ A solid year for this team, with only a handful of seniors would be to keep improving, be competitive in the conference, and possibly by the 2nd half of the season, have improved enough to knock off a team that most people think they shouldn't beat. If they can do that, and beat the teams that they "should" beat, they would have a fairly good season in my eyes, given the lack of upperclassmen and what they have returning this season.