Thursday, October 30, 2008

Games of the Week, First round

The WPIAL football playoffs is upon us and, for many teams in Washington and Greene counties, it means the season is usually one game from completion.

Since 2003, area teams are 16-52 in the WPIAL playoffs, a .235 win percentage. Only Beth-Center and Monessen have won three postseason games during that span.

Will 2008 everse the trend? Nine area teams qualified for the WPIAL playoffs. Canon-McMillan, Beth-Center and Fort Cherry are playing at home.

Here are the games the Varsity Letters wants to see:

1. Western Beaver at Beth-Center
Western Beaver, the No. 12 seed, beat Springdale and Monaca earlier in the year. Those are two of the top six seeds in the Class A bracket. The Golden Beavers, much like Beth-Center, likes to spread the carries around the backfield.

The Bulldogs have won eight straight in convincing fashion and playing at home will be a tremendous advantage. Josh Lockett has rushed for 1,088 yards and scored 19 touchdowns, much of it coming after B-C lost sophomore fullback Jeff Tarley to injury.

2. Shaler at Canon-McMillan
Shaler has been steady throughout the year but does not own an impressive victory. Canon-McMillan is much improved over last year and needs a playoff victory to prove it.

3. North Catholic at Fort Cherry
North Catholic's defense, a unit with three shutouts in the last four games, faces a Fort Cherry offense which has put up 40 points or more in a game four times this season. The Rangers offense has rolled even without running back Nate Crossey. Derric Stankus has scored 14 touchdowns.

In its two biggest wins – Serra Catholic and Chartiers-Houston – Fort Cherry made several special teams plays to key the victory.

4. Trinity at Indiana
How often can Trinity be called the established program in a playoff matchup? This is one occasion where it is true. If the offensively challenged Hillers can continue to create points and turnovers with its defense, don't be surprised if they head to the quarterfinals.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

well canon mac got caught looking ahead to their potential second round matchup with gateway and got manhandled. cm had alot of injuries, and i cant help but wonder, maybe cm wouldnt have looked so bad if they didnt practice from 3-930 every nite..

Anonymous said...

here we go...start with all of the excuses cm fans...

Anonymous said...

If Canon-Mac would have won against Shaler, wouldn't that have been 3 straight major sports seasons that they knocked Shaler out of the playoffs? I think the basketball team ended Shaler's season in the Winter of 2008, baseball beat Shaler in the spring of 2008, and football could have beat them in the fall of 2008. Don't know what that really means (other than heart break for shaler) but I wonder how often that situation has ever happened?

Anonymous said...

wow anon, your another person who cannot read. i obviously said "maybe cm wouldnt have looked so bad" not once in that blog did i say "cm would have won" so maybe before you comment on this blog, you should work on some competence. just a thought

Anonymous said...

"well canon mac got caught looking ahead"

"cm had alot of injuries"

- dont know, those sound like excuses to me

Anonymous said...

got caught looking ahead. thats not an excuse. thats fact. had i said "well maybe if canon mac wouldnt of looked ahead.." and the fact is they had alot of injuries but had i said "well if they didnt have the injuries.." so therefore, i didnt make excuses. thank you

Anonymous said...

could be Shaler is just better. I dont know, just a thought...

mike_kovak said...

I seriously doubt C-M was looking past Shaler. The Titans went into the game with a better record than the Big Macs.

Anonymous said...

considering i go to school there, i know for a fact that canon mac was looking past shaler. the whole week everyone talked about their matchup with gateway

mike_kovak said...

It's one thing for players to expect to win. It's another to assume victory in the postseason.

Anonymous said...

right and they assumed the victory and it proved costly. looking ahead is almost sure doom

VCTMbrian said...

Ya, no one in CM was looking past Shaler. Sure the possible matchup with Gateway was seen, but no one took Shaler lightly.

VCTMbrian said...

As much as most of us HATE Upper St. Clair, you can't help but feel horrible for them. How any of them are able to not completely lose it with the WPIAL is crazy. Imagine what this board would look like if it was CM getting screwed like this instead of them...

mike_kovak said...

I agree with you Brian. I have a hard time believing C-M was looking at Gateway.

If they did, it was obviously a mistake.

Anonymous said...

canon mac was playing train, by comparing their score vs baldwin (53-6) or something like that to shaler vs baldwin (19-6) that obviously isnt a good philosophy.. cm did not deserve to win at all

Anonymous said...

I am in shock that someone is actually complaining about how long the CM kids practice!!! HA HA HA!! At TJ, the kids routinely leave anywhere between 8:00 and 9:00 at night; even on Sunday nights for the film sessions - and they all fully expect it to be that way. They also put in a ton of hours in the off season as well. The parents totally support Cherp - the prevailing thought around the community is that if you don't like it; don't come out for the team. That's the price of success.

Anonymous said...

remember anon.. student athletes. student before athlete, and thats funny what you say about leaving at 8 or 9 on a SUNDAY cause if im not mistaken, thats illegal under PIAA rules and should probably be investigated. hmm, wouldnt be the first time

Anonymous said...

your right anon, its called the "Six Day Rule" meaning that during the regular season, an athletic team is limited to six days of competition and/or practice during the week, meaning that the team has to have at least 1 day of the week off. so now that another anon mentions TJ watching films on sunday, unless they have saturday off, they are violating PIAA rules

Anonymous said...

hmm, so while "Cherp" may have the support of the parents, im sure if the PIAA was aware he would not have the support of the association.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

whats the matter mike? You dont like the truth being told on your blog about a certain black and gold football program?

Anonymous said...

a certain black and gold football program that violates PIAA rules..

Anonymous said...

NICE TRY...
TJ is doing nothing wrong except beat just about everyone they play, which is clearly upsetting to some of you. :)

The kids are off on Saturdays - since you are so concerned about their well being - and everyone in the community, and the WPIAL for that matter knows what kind of schedule they keep. If anyone really wanted to investigate the way they run their program - THE DOOR HAS BEEN WIDE OPEN FOR A LONG TIME NOW.
Cherp does an amazing job with the kids, in fact the kids themselves treat it as an honor to even be a part of that program. Each class that goes through knows what the commitment is and what the expectations are - and they fully embrace it. You'll never hear anyone in West Jefferson Hills "belly-ache" about how much time the kids put in. I think the results speak for themselves. HA HA HA! :)

By the way - Cherp weas commended by people within both the PIAA and WPIAL last year for throwing Wehner off the team the week before their biggest game of the season for behavior issues. I'm sure you've noticed that Wehner is probably one of the better QB's in our area right now - he was last year too. His turnaround, from an attitude standpoint has been just amazing - and Wehner himself will tell you - he owes Cherp alot for helping him turn things around.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and one more thing.
Mike does a fantastic job on this site. I'm also pretty confident that he is no TJ fan - but he is very fair. If you tried to post something out of pure jealousy and bitterness that was completely ridiculous; that's your fault - not his. What you've already put up here is pretty over the top to begin with, (and actually pretty funny) so if he felt the need to block something - it kind of says something about you ANON.

Anonymous said...

WOW...who knew CM fans could be so bitter?! Aren't they in AAAA now anyway - they don't have to worry about taking beatings from TJ anymore - what do they care how much time TJ practices each week?

Anonymous said...

no jealousy here. but i do remember when TJ struggled with BVA a couple years ago, cherpak scheduled a early morning practice on a saturday. maybe your just trying to save face and say they have saturday off. i guess jv doesnt play jv games then. anyway, you took it to another level with anger, maybe your on roids idk hahahahaha

Anonymous said...

No anger here - remember (Ha Ha Ha)
Just the facts.

JV kids don't watch the varsity films, & varsity kids don't play JV games. Some of the JV games are cancelled anyway for different reasons - there's your day off for everyone. Plus, our JV usually plays on Friday nights anyway when the varsity kids are pulled to keep the score from getting out of hand.

Cherp was mad for giving up 21 points to BVA last season, (if that was what you meant) - so the kids had practice the next day. By the way - only West Allegheny scored 21 points on them again last year, and that was in the playoffs. You don't like it, but as long as you won, you can live with giving up 21 to a quality team in the playoffs.

I'm not sure what you meant by "save face" - the face of TJ's program doesn't need saving.

The point of my original post is this, (I'll make it short and simple so that you can understand it)...

How can anyone criticize a team's coaching or its players, or write about how poorly run a program may or may not be - then go on to complain in the very same post that they spend too much time getting ready for the games?

Those kinds of posts let you know right away that whoever wrote it doesn't know what they are talking about.

Anonymous said...

well if varsity watches films during jv games, then thats considered practice.. any form of running plays, watching films, competiting constitutes involvement. and if varsity watches films on both saturdays and sundays, practices mondays-thursdays, and compete fridays, then they better be careful because thats clearly breaking the rules and would be grounds for forfeiting their season. thats all im saying, you dont have to go on about how TJ demolishes everyone that they play. and another thing, im sure i can understand everything on here considering im going to MIT next fall.

Anonymous said...

I can't be any clearer with what I was trying to say....MIT - yea right. :)

I had assumed you actually played football - or knew something about the weekly routine of any HS football team. My fault.

You're just some kid!!! :)

Ha Ha Ha!!! :)
I'm done.

Anonymous said...

oh you see, i did play football, every year of my life until 10th grade, (so i know the commitment that it takes) where an injury to my spine made me rethink that academics is a better path for me, rather than risking too much into football, a sport that would not reap me the benefits that academics have done. and yes thank you im going for either chemical or nuclear engineering. prove me wrong please, oh wait you cant. and you strayed from my argument of participating 7 days a week. so while im just "some kid" maybe i'll get a little further in life than some adult who would argue with just "some kid" so just because i no longer play football makes me "some kid". "some kid" that will own a PhD someday. thank you im done