Friday, September 11, 2009

Week 2 - Games of the Week

Pittsburgh Central Catholic at Canon-McMillan
Tonight's game will be broadcast live on PCN. ESPN Radio from Pittsburgh will be in attendance. That means this non-conference game carries significant interest outside the region.

And why not?

Pittsburgh Central Catholic is the state's top Class AAAA team according to the Patriot-News of Harrisburg. The Vikings, as usual, are loaded with talent. Sophomore running back Damian Jones-Moore, all 5-6 of him, rushed for 204 yards in the season opener. Canon-Mac must find a ways to limit his impact.

I want to see how Canon-McMillan's offensive line handles PCC's defensive front. The five new starters performed well against Trinity as the Big Macs rushed for over 300 yards.

East Allegheny at Charleroi
One thing that sets WPIAL football apart from other regions across the country is tradition and some of the proud Cougars tradition will be on display tonight.

Members of Charleroi's 1959 WPIAL Class AAA championship team will be honored in a pregame ceremony. How good were those Cougars? Well, nine starters went on to play Division I football.

Both teams may be 0-1 but East A played Jeannette and Charleroi faced Greensburg Central in Week 1. The Varsity Letters believes Charleroi is a playoff contender this year. If sophomore Quentin Briggs finds holes behind lineman Zach Hooks tonight, expect Charleroi to even its record.

Greensburg Central Catholic at McGuffey
On paper, this looks like a mismatch. GCC is ranked No. 1 Class AA team in the state by the same publication that has PCC on top of Class AAA. The Centurions have quarterback Trent Hurley, running back David Miller, a massive front line and great receivers.

It's looked like a mismatch on paper the past two years as well but both proved to be competitive contests.

McGuffey upset GCC in 2007 and, last year, were trailing by five midway through the third quarter.

Mt. Pleasant at Washington

Prexies faithful came away encouraged by the season-opening shutout victory at Waynesburg. Wash High utilized several playmakers in the contest, while quarterback Marquis Brown and running back Zach Barnes turned in strong performances.

Wash High will need more of that tonight against Mt. Pleasant, a team which qualified for the Class AAA playoffs two years ago.

The Vikings defeated McGuffey in the season opener and held the Highlanders to 105 total yards.


The Varsity Letters also is looking forward to see how Burgettstown competes at Beth-Center. The Blue Devils look like an improving team. Playing at Beth-Center is a difficult task.


18 comments:

Clairton Alum said...

Clairton will bench a good portion of their starters for the 1st quarter or first half of tonights game with Monessen as a result of their actions last week at Laurel. There was a "come to Jesus" talk this week...if they dont come together tonight their season, for all intents and purposes, is over. I know that sounds ridiculous given the fact that this is the second game of the season and they havent played a conference game yet, but for a team that everyone around the state picked to win the PIAA class A title to start 0-2 will demoralize Clairton and they will not recover.

Unknown said...

The Mt. Pleasant-Washington game should be a good game. Washington destroyed my Alma Mater last week.

The other three games I don't think will be that much of a game..exciting..but not much of a game.

Anonymous said...

CM will lose tonight by at least 2 touchdowns......Mike Hull is a great player but he is not enough to beat this Central Catholic team. The team CM lost to last year was young, this team is older, better, & deeper. They are also better coached. It will be ugly in C-burg tonight.

Maybe they can get revenge next week against Butler for last year's shut-out.

Anonymous said...

Mike, the best news to come out of this Friday night of H.S. football had nothing to do with wins or loses.......the best news is that Chad Hagan was cleared to play. Congratulations Chad. It just shows just how big his heart is....this kid remained positive and worked hard all summer and always believed he would play again. It could not happen to a nicer kid.

Anonymous said...

Can you Trinity fans now face the facts that everyone else sees so clearly, Trinity's coaching staff is bad.

Losing to CM is one thing, losing to Greensburg Salem, of the 0- century Keystone Conference is a whole different ballgame.

This has to be one of the most embarassing losses in Trinty history.

THSfan said...

Yeah.......I will say this though and I don't want to make excuses, but Greensburg had a 4th down at the 2 yd line and the refs call pass int on Trinity in the endzone with about three minutes remaining. Every time Trinity got a good play, the yellow flags flew. It's just sad that the refs would steal away a game like that.

However.....the Hillers never should've allowed themselves to get into that position. The offense stinks. The defense is pretty good. Greensburg was well prepared and did a better coaching job tonite.

I guess you folks on this blog aren't the only ones who don't like Dalton. It seems the zebras don't either.....

Anonymous said...

Hiller fans let's not blame the officials put the blame wear it belongs with a coaching staff that didn't have there team prepared to play the game. They saw this Greensburg team got pounded last week an didn't think they could lose to such an inferior team. Dalton worst game maybe the worse lose in Trinity history I don't think so. The worst bunch of coaches in Trinity history no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Offense stinks, they did score the points. Whole game sounded bad. Guess you have to blame someone. Win as a team, lose as a team. When the finger pointing and the I's come out you know you have a bigger problem.

Ostara said...

I don't want to talk bad about my alma mater. I have to say from what one of the previous gentleman stated it seems there was a blend of bad play by the hillers mixed in with some bad calls by the officials.

To be optimistic, let's hope after two losses (one hard fought, the other seems a little hard to swollow) that they will really feel a need and be hungry to pull of the impossible against "you know who" (TJ) next week.

I get dissapointed, but I don't lose hope. We THS fans are among the best and most loyal because of all the downs the program has had. When there is a win it makes worth it all.

I have faith in the HILLERS! They can be as strong as anyone they line up against they just need to be consistent!

prexie said...

washington is a little un diciplined. backers and lineman did not contain their gaps. the d backs had over 20 tackles. the play calling was a little suspect on offense. they still need to get the right players in the right positions, but this is all a "getting familiar with the players" phase for the new coach.its early. mt pleasant looks like a good team, (football wise) a few players said some derogatory racial slurs on the field and trashed the locker room along with writing racial slurs on the chalk board. unfortunate but these things still happen. they will only make wash high stonger and more determined.

Anonymous said...

At some point, responsibility has to go to the kids in the Trinity Program. No matter who coaches a team, mistakes will kill you.

This is what I was forced to witness Friday night:
1. First drive was 3 and out,
dropped the snap (right in his
hands)on the punt
and the punter was tackled at
Trinity's 20. Defense holds
GS to 3 points.
2. Trinity shuts GS down and on
the punt, it is fumbled and
turned over.
3. #2 happens a second time!
4. Missed field goal yet again.
Just like last week!
5. Roughed the punter on a
crucial 3 and out.
6. Trinity has the lead with only
minutes remaining. They hold
GS for 7 plays inside their
own 15. On play 8, pass
interference is called and
they hold for 3 more plays but
GS Scores

At some point someone has to step up and take some leadership role. The coaches on the staff have been around for years and are the most successful coaching staff Trinity has seen in roughly 30 years (Possibly a lot more!). So to call them the worst bunch of coaches just shows your lack of knowledge.

This is the second child I have had go through the Trinity program and I told my son (Soph) that I see a bunch of selfish kids. Kids need to start making plays and stop making mistakes! This is the first time I have seen a Trinity squad make soo many mistakes. As for the comment "this is the most embarrassing loss in Trinity History", I ask you one thing....Did you miss the 30 previous years excluding the team in 86 or 87?

It is sad to see the Hillers make so many crucial mistakes. Hopefully they get things turned around soon!!

Lord knows I definately dont agree with Dalton's play calling at times, but the staff can't play for them. So the comments in the stands need to stop. At some point we as parents need to hold our kids responsible for their mistakes!

Anonymous said...

In analyzing team performance, you usually find that mistakes and penalties that occur in abundance stem from inadequate coaching.

Anonymous said...

Really? Inadequate coaching??!! I would possibly agree if this were a continuing occurance with Trinity teams but this is the first time I have seen such embarrassing play.

Here is a scenerio for you: Bill Bellichick was 33-46 as the head coach for the Cleveland Browns from 91 til 95. They were a mistake ridden team that was unable to execute! (ie: Trinity)

Bellichick went to New England (after a short stint with the Jets that didn't go so well) and won multiple Superbowls! Now do you think Bellichick was an inadequate coach for his stint in Cleveland or do you think the majority of the problems were personel?!

Bellicheck's record in New England is 102-42! I think I'm going to put the blame on the talent pool in Cleveland!

Just remember parents, sometimes when your little Johnny isn't winning the World Series, you may have to stop blaming the coaches and start looking at your kids actual talent level! Most of the time, that answer comes from a little thing I like to call a mirror! How good were you when you were in high school?????

Anonymous said...

Ed Dalton < Bill Belichick

Anonymous said...

How good were you when you were in high school?????

September 14, 2009 12:02 PM

I agree coaches get far too much blame & grief from parents but how many Trinity & CM kids have gone on to play at Big 10 and other D-1 schools over the past 3 years. Please stop with the not very talented B.S. The talent is there.

Anonymous said...

Trinity is loaded with talent, they have been for the past 5 years. There is NO excuse for the lack of success there, none.

When you have an established program and coaching staff and the level of extremely talented players that Trinity has had there is only one place to look to see where the problem is, at the top.

Hey, if the Trinity administration is happy with 5-5 teams with all that talent then they have their guy, they can count on that annually, but if they want to take the next step and become a truly elite program then they need a change.

I know you Eddie fans are going to state the obvious; they used to be so much worse and they are now respectable, and those are indisputable facts. However, while recognized that you also have to recognize that these kids are working at a championship level preparing for the season, they deserve a legit shot at actually getting one and they won't get it with this guy.

Anonymous said...

Anon. 10:42.

The same arguments could justifiably be made for the top Guy at CM.

Anonymous said...

can we please stop using guy as a pun for a "a man" and "Guy Montecalvo." maybe it was clever the first time, but it has just become inredibly cheesey