Wheelersburg @ Portsmouth week 3

[wink]

IF THE BABY IS UGLY, CALL THE BABY UGLY!! Someone needs to LIGHT a fire or expect more of the same each game!!

:122246 :122246 :122246

[fbnut]

I think that is 8-2 burg in the last ten matchups.

[yabbadabbadoo]

Great win Pirates. Burg came out in the 3rd qtr and took over. The young line of the Burg was just getting enough of a push back on the Trojan defensive front to allow Mark O'Brien to get 4-6 yards a carry.

This game was a huge confidence builder for the young Pirates. If they can win the next two games, they will be 4-1 going into league play and then who knows. They have Minford and Northwest on the road and Waverly, Valley and West at home. If they could squeak out a big win against one of those last two and win the other games, they can go to the playoffs. Still a long season to go so we'll jsut have to sit back and watch.

Was kind of shocked to hear that Whitley for Ptown only had one catch and it was the one for 24 yards and the TD. Ptowns offense is basically just get it into Evan's hands and hope he can use his speed to turn it into a big play. They have no running game at all.

[28Buck]

From what I gather following updates this game was more of who could turn the ball over the least would win this game

[biggdowgg]

5 turnovers for Portsmouth again,,,,even the bad teams will beat you with that many turnovers

[seasick80]

Ptown has alot of talent on this team! Playmakers all over the place. I liked the effort in the 4th Qtr late by the Ptown passing game. Burg may have been playing alittle soft, but Ptown can get the ball down the field if they get it into the hands of the playmakers. As for Ptowns D, rushed the LBs it seemed every play. Trying to capitalize on Burgs inexperienced Oline. Worked really well. Shears was running for his life early and throwing the ball in the dirt or throwing it away, or taking the sack. I think the Oline for Burg got alot better in the 2nd half imo. They really did a good job. Shears didnt get harrassed as much. Cudos to the burg Oline. I was really impressed by burgs defense. Very aggressive and seemed to fly to the ball.
A work in progress for Burg. I liked the effort, and after seeing this team for the first time this year, understand there is alot of work to be done tho before the SOC play begins. Great job tho!

[wobycat]

5 turnovers for Portsmouth again,,,,even the bad teams will beat you with that many turnovers

Hopefullly you are not refering to Burg being a bad team. They are not a power house but they are far from being bad.

Burg also had three turnovers. All lost. Portsmouth had no chance at winning this game tonight. They only had four first downs up
until the their last 2 scores, when burg went a little lax thinking the game was out of reach. Portsmouth has some nice weapons but they play with no emotion or discipline.

[biggdowgg]

5 turnovers for Portsmouth again,,,,even the bad teams will beat you with that many turnovers

Hopefullly you are not refering to Burg being a bad team. They are not a power house but they are far from being bad.

Burg also had three turnovers. All lost. Portsmouth had no chance at winning this game tonight. They only had four first downs up
until the their last 2 scores, when burg went a little lax thinking the game was out of reach. Portsmouth has some nice weapons but they play with no emotion or discipline.

thats not what I meant at all,,,,,we have had 4 turnovers or more in the first 3 games,,,Im saying you can not beat ANYONE with turnovers like that

[ManitouDan]

1st half was terrible football by both squads, 3rd quarter Burg cleaned things up while PHS still misfired. I didn't see anything really special that Burg did , more a matter of PHS self destructing in the 3rd. But like I predicted , Burg will do what Burg does and PHS will do what they do. the ship at PHS needs a new rudder . MD

[trojandave]

Congratulations to the Pirates on the win........

As biggdowgg said, once again turnovers continue to plague the Trojans........you cannot win games turning the ball over the rate that PHS is........for the second game in a row, Portsmouth allows a kickoff to be recovered by the opponent........and they were not onside kicks.

Until the Trojans can minimize mistakes, their schedule will prove to be very difficult for them to post W's.........I do honestly believe that we have some better than average talent at some positions, but mistakes are absolutely killing PHS's chances of winning.

Portsmouth is now 2-9 in PAT's (including 2 point attempts).........another big problem area.

After last night's game, Portsmouth's record vs. West, Wheelersburg, and Ironton in the last 11 games is a horrendous 1-10.........with Ironton coming in week 10........these are schools our size so the argument of being the smallest school in the SEOAL doesn't apply here.

[Burg_Grad_77]

It is what it is, Football don't start in June its a all year around sport now with the extra conditioniong programs offered for athletes in our area. Portsmouth has the total package from facilities to skilled players but when your getting pushed around week after week year after year by schools that shouldn't even be on the field with you something is missing. Dedication to your program to get better as a player and team. We can blame coaches all we want and not to say some blames needs to fall that way. But the player needs to be held accountable for their lack of commitment to the program of getting bigger and faster during the off season.

Are you serious with this statement??? Shouldn't be on the field with you????

Wheelersburg has pretty much owned the Trojans over the years and especially in the last 5 years and they are, and have always been, a smaller school than the Trojans. To say they "shouldn't be on the same field with you" is probably one of the stupidest statements I have ever seen on here.

[TrojanXplosion]

I think Burg is righting the ship after week 1 against Ironton. I see the Pirates making some noise the rest of the season. As for Portsmouth, where to begin? A lot of talent across the board but it's not translating into wins. Kind of like their basketball teams for a few years between 2005-2009. Tons of talent, nothing to show for it. The basketball program righted the ship with a new coach. Does the football program need the same treatment?

I'm sure I'll catch some flack for these comments. But, I don't pussyfoot around.

[West Side Pride]

I believe to trojans are more talented than their stats show also. Need a base offense with all that speed, maybe a wing-t with evans and Whitley at wings and get your toughest meanest lineman at fullback. Just a thought....What p-town is running has'nt
worked last few years, but there is very good skill kids in the city!!!

[wipala]

You know all the talk does not change anything..PHS is NOT good, this is may alma mater and it hurts to say it..The players need to commit to the program 100%! The coachs need to motive the players..the bottom line is, IMO, in high the head coach sets the tone-PERIOD! Just look when Lutz took his break, he comes back and bomm Ironton is right back,,West gets a good coach and look and so forth..the coach at PHS has some great years, as a matter of fact some awesome years, but even Tressel was not above the team,,,it is time to do something..light a fire under this team or just phone in the results and get ready for BB..I know a lot of you will really be pi#%^#ed at this statement but I think I am stating what a lot of you will not say..TICK----TICK----TICK----TICK!!! wipalawalt, a hurting Trojan

[Bleeding Red]

Portsmouth needs to go coach shopping. If Bob Lutz was coaching the Trojans the past 10 years, they would have some really nice trophies in the case. Tons of talent, nothing to show for it.

But Portsmouth will do what Portsmouth will do. The ship will keep sinking and the same ole same ole will go on.

One poster talked about the off season lack of dedication in the weight room and getting ready for football season. Just who do you think that falls on?

[Go Bucks]

PHS has the skill this year to beat a lot of teams on their schedule. If you can not see the skill that the team has then open your eyes. This isn't one of the most skilled teams but SHOULD win some games. IMO they were the better team in all of the games played thus far. OVER DUE FOR A CHANGE!!!! Administration wake UP!!!!! The buddy system is no longer working!!!!!!! PHS will never beat a team that they aren't better than. The coaches answer in the paper after every loss regardless of the year. "THE PLAYERS aren't buying into the scheme and aren't disciplined enough." These are always the types of comments made by head coach. Put the blame on someone else(the players). Other coaches do not put all the blame on their players. After a win,for phs, it is because the players bought into the scheme. Shoulder some of the blame PHS COACHES. After all the scheme is never going to change. The so called spread offense is not even a true spread. Its the same O that they have ALWAYS ran but just from the gun. In cliffords early years the scheme worked so well because of the STUDS he had!!! look at the early 2000s and remind me why we didn't win state with the skill and size that we had!!!!! This PHS Alum is tired of MEDIOCRACY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Go Bucks]

And yes the TICK---TICK---TICK has been ticking way to long.....WAKE UP

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

OK, everyone keeps talking about all the athletes we have. We do have some but they are NOT FOOTBALL players. They are guys with speed they decided to play football. Wayne Evans is a basketball first guy, Zaide hasn’t played a complete football season since his freshmen year, Dion and Duke both have limited football experience with them both only playing a few games as sophomores then not playing last year.
We may be able to overcome this if we had a big experienced offensive line to run behind. We do not. We start 2 sophomores in Alex Grashel, and Nate Basham, a first year starter in Tyler Scott, then seniors JW Horsely and Kyle Ratcliff. Their weights are 230, 180, 270, 206 240 averaging 225 pounds a man, remove the one big guy in Tyler Scott and the other four drop to an average of 214. West had running backs bigger than this. This make it hard to find a run game when we are young and inexperienced up front, and we have inexperienced running backs, even though they may be good athletes.
I’m sorry but we do not have the guys everyone thinks we have, good athletes yes, good kids yes, football experience NO, size NO. Plan and simple we do not have the studs everyone thinks we have.
The spread is a real spread, and it is NOT the same we always ran just from the gun. Watch the offensive line play, we do not block the same way. For years we made a living on counter trey, and traps, we very rarely see any movement from the offensive line now. We try to use the spread to spread the defense out and create running lanes now instead of the old trap and counter game we used to make a living on. I would like to be able to get out of the spread and get back to the ace split back and I sets, but again with inexperience, and undersized linemen it would be very hard to run the old offense.

[Bleeding Red]

OK, everyone keeps talking about all the athletes we have. We do have some but they are NOT FOOTBALL players. They are guys with speed they decided to play football. Wayne Evans is a basketball first guy, Zaide hasn’t played a complete football season since his freshmen year, Dion and Duke both have limited football experience with them both only playing a few games as sophomores then not playing last year.
We may be able to overcome this if we had a big experienced offensive line to run behind. We do not. We start 2 sophomores in Alex Grashel, and Nate Basham, a first year starter in Tyler Scott, then seniors JW Horsely and Kyle Ratcliff. Their weights are 230, 180, 270, 206 240 averaging 225 pounds a man, remove the one big guy in Tyler Scott and the other four drop to an average of 214. West had running backs bigger than this. This make it hard to find a run game when we are young and inexperienced up front, and we have inexperienced running backs, even though they may be good athletes.
I’m sorry but we do not have the guys everyone thinks we have, good athletes yes, good kids yes, football experience NO, size NO. Plan and simple we do not have the studs everyone thinks we have.
The spread is a real spread, and it is NOT the same we always ran just from the gun. Watch the offensive line play, we do not block the same way. For years we made a living on counter trey, and traps, we very rarely see any movement from the offensive line now. We try to use the spread to spread the defense out and create running lanes now instead of the old trap and counter game we used to make a living on. I would like to be able to get out of the spread and get back to the ace split back and I sets, but again with inexperience, and undersized linemen it would be very hard to run the old offense.

Do you think that Bob Lutz gets all "football players"? I bet most coaches from the area that have successful programs turn "athletes" into football players. Portsmouth has had a bunch of good athletes and football players in the past 6 years. Hell, they sent several linemen to D1 college programs and still didnt have much of a running game!

I like seeing local teams like Portsmouth do good. If they were getting better, it would be one thing. But they seem to be getting worse. At the Minford scrimmage I was in awe in how poorly Portsmouth blocked and tackled. Its the basic things they are lacking, and that falls back directly to coaching.

[TrojanXplosion]

I think a lot of people are spoiled. 10 years ago Portsmouth had some of the best teams that could have competed with anyone. Plain and simple. They had GREAT players at every position. Those types of players and teams come around once in awhile. And frankly, no team they have had nor any other team in the area since could have competed with that talent.

Portsmouth hasn't traditionally been a great football school. They are rich in basketball tradition. As for those two D 1 lineman a few years ago, the one time the coaches used them right ( 1 drive at Wheelersburg), they loaded the right side with both boys and ran behind them. Then, they abandoned it the rest of the year. Sure, it was predictable but Irontons offense is predictable. Can you stop them though??? No.