Thoughts on the upcoming season...

[beall02]

I know that someone posted a little while ago a thread that attempted to get the ball rolling on what everyone thinks will happen in the 2015 season. I did see a little bit of replies back and fourth but nothing like what we are all used to reading on here. I didn't see much record predicting. I saw no pre-season Area Top 5's. What does everyone think?

I personally think that until Fort Hill is defeated by someone they are the area favorite. This could be the year that they are dethroned however, they lost a ton to graduation, and some other area teams have lots of returning players from decent to pretty good teams a year ago. The good thing about the Sentinels is they will have plenty of tests early in the season to see where they stand. Pretty tough open to the 2015 campaign for Big Red.

Allegany has a couple of interesting games in the first half of the season. Their schedule could get a little tougher depending on how good Mountain Ridge ends up being. I look for the Campers to be the most improved team of 2015. Record wise you may see only a slight improvement based upon the fact the didn't have that bad of a year in 2014. But in overall play, what you actually get to watch when you attend the game, I believe they will be the most improved. In the end it might be the Campers year in 2015.

Mountain Ridge is a complete mystery to me and yes I do a website for the team so take that for what it is worth. They lost a lot of starters to graduation. They haven't been anything to write home about for several years. And to be honest with you... it is a little rough to see coming from this Miner fan. I don't think that many Mountain Ridge fans would of anticipated this 3 to 4 year stretch after seeing the first 5 years in Miner history. All in all we are talking about high school teenage athletes and it isn't the end all be all. But it would surely look nice to put a winning season on the books. They do have a bit of a rough schedule. Gone are Jefferson and Juniata from this year's schedule. The Southern Rams are now also off of the Miner schedule. A big step for them would be a .500 or better season and to see some improvement in play from a season ago.

Northern had a pretty decent year last season. Just missing out on the playoffs to the two Carroll County teams. With them now gone it is going to be pretty hard for the Huskies to miss out on the playoffs in 2015. A season similar to what they had a year ago would almost assuredly put them in the post season mix. I will be honest however and say I don't know what they lost from last year at all so I am pretty much saying this based upon what they did last year and their track record over the past couple years. They also have a pretty decent schedule to deal with.

Frankfort is coming off of one of if not their best seasons in school history. I don't know what they lose from that team. But as with Northern, Frankfort too has been good for several years now. As a matter of fact you could argue they have been the third best team in the Area over the past 3 to 4 years behind only Fort Hill and Keyser. It is ridiculous how easy their schedule is in 2015 though.

I don't really see any other area team surprising us with anything spectacular. As I look at the teams constructed today I would say preseason Top 5 would have to be... 1.) Fort Hill 2.) Allegany 3.)Keyser 4.) Northern 5.) Frankfort. But if I am being completely honest with myself. I don't believe that any of those five teams will be in the position I just put them in at the end of the season. I believe the Campers are the team to beat but Fort Hill has earned the #1 spot and they will have it for me until they lose. I think that Northern could be a surprise team come October and I honestly am not sure about Keyser or Frankfort.

Alright guys... there it is... go ahead and rip me apart!!!

 

[Lagmeister]

Since this isn't boxing and there is no championship belt to lose I think you should rank them based on the upcoming year's talent and potential to succeed. For the regular season I think it's a no brainer Alco/FH/Keyser and pretty much a toss up for the rest. FH will either come out strong for the playoffs or have a couple injuries and not make the playoffs at all. If Appel has another year like last year with this schedule and a rebuilding team they should change the name from Greenway to Appel Stadium.

 

[bleedred]

1. As I said before, Fort Hill is the best in the area. They have the athletes that no one else has. Brown will be the player of the year, and then they have Poland and Smith to go along with him. The Jr. QB will develop as well. They will need to replace three linemen. I'm hearing that they will be fine in that respect. Fort Hill does have the three best line coaches in the area.

2. Alco will return the most experience. Their line will be big and they know how to play. Their problem will be a lack of a game breaker on Offense. Their lack of speed also hurts them on D as well.

3. Keyser will be my number 3 for this year. They too will be big. Some Keyser fans are boasting about having speed . I really don't remember Keyser showing alot of speed from any underclassmen last year. I guess that we'll find out in a few months.

4. My Number 4 is Mountain Ridge. I think that they are the only other team in the area to play the big three.

 

[Lagmeister]

It seems to be a steady drumbeat about lack of speed at Alco. I didn't see it at all in the homecoming match up. Allegany got outside to stop Johnson and in fact ran outside against FH. Sure, Johnson got open deep, but he did against everybody. Most of the long runs, such that they were, against Allegany were cut backs against the pursuit. Okay, Brown will convert from a receiver to a running back. Could be a big change.

 

[bleedred]

I'm one that's beating that drum. I'm not knocking these kids, but last year I said that Alco didn't have a replacement for Shook and Lopez, and it showed against North Carroll. Last year, Alco could spread out on D because of a stud named Mr. Robbinette. As far as the Homecoming went, I think that most would agree that it was a very boring game as both coaches felt that they would see each other in two weeks.

Alco people that I know have not been talking much about what has been going on over there. So I can just go off of what I've seen and the few kids that I know. Alco will be solid, they have kids with decent speed but nothing super fast. They also have some size on the line. The big plus is that there are kids who are good, athletic, and very coachable. That in itself makes them a contender.

 

[Lagmeister]

As usual we can agree to disagree. Shook and Lopez were hard hitters but no quicker than anybody else Alco has put in at DB. Funny you should mention North Carroll. Allegany shut them down and then let them walk down the field. If Alco were slow North Carroll would have burned them the entire game. Didn't happen. And, point of fact the Alco pass defense was pretty much there at homecoming. I also keep reading about FH holding back at homecoming.... even the guys calling the game were surprised to see Johnson go back on the field after getting shaken up. Let's try some reality here okay. Allegany played as tough as what FH faced in the championship game. The biggest difference is that Allegany did what Allegany does and that is hand the ball over inside their own 10 yard line and then make endless penalties. All that I blame on being poorly coached. Last year FH had a stellar team. But Allegany returns their team from last year. We shall see.

 

[bleedred]

Lag, it's not a bad thing to disagree. I feel that Shook and Lopez had quicker feet. They were shut down type of guys. Last year's DBs had NC on the ropes but couldn't stop them when it counted. But, in thinking about it, I may have been unfair in comparing the two sets of kids. Lopez and Shook were seasoned seniors. Last year's DBs for Alco were Jr. who had had limited experience at the varsity level. This year, they may prove to be just as good or better than the two I mentioned.

Now let's look at reality. Last year's FH team did not throw the ball much. I couldn't find any stats on line but I'd bet that they didn't average five passes per game. That's not much to shut down. As far as the game itself, both the paper and Jailer, on his site, mentioned the game as being "conservative" and "no thing of beauty". The total combined offense for both teams was less than 400 yards. No one gained 100 yards and Fort Hill won by three touchdowns. Now I'm not saying that anyone tried to throw the game, but I feel that everyone there expected that Fort Hill and Alco were going to meet again. I'm saying that the coaches on both sides were more interested in how the other team was going to scheme against certain sets, and they weren't about to show anything unusual until the next meeting. Two weeks later, FH beat the team that beat Alco by thirty. But back to Homecoming, I left the stadium that day feeling that both teams were flat because of the lack of offensive production.

Lastly, yes, last year's Allegany team committed a lot of penalties, I think that that is normal for a young team, but it's not a typical Allegany team. Fumbles have hurt Alco the last few years, but I still don't consider that as being something that is typical of an Allegany team. Hopefully, these things get fixed this year. Anyway, it should be another great season for high school football, who knows, we might even agree on something.

 

[kkram]

Pretty sad when Southern is not even close to be considered in this discussion but deservedly so. 16 straight years without a winning season, program in basic survival mode last year which was scary. Maybe new year will mean new numbers of players, lack of a strong schedule may help some. Heard kids are working hard so we will see

 

[TDHelmick]

Consider attending the FH vs. Southern freshman game on November 9 in Oakland. This will be after the varsity teams complete their last regular season game. These Southern boys won the youth league title last year against these same Cumberland boys. I am dubbing it the SNOW BOWL!

If Southern has a chance of saving the program, this class will be the ones to do it. That is why Southern coach/AD decided to keep this group together.

 

[kkram]

That will be a good one. Those teams are pretty evenly matched. Rumor mill is Ft Hill moved some freshman up to fill JV spots, any truth. It is true, Coach is keeping this group together @ Southern but if injuries occur @ varsity level, you may see the freshman QB & a lineman forced to move up.