Eaton, Brookville, Franklin win; everyone else falls in SWBL Southwest Division
A recap of Friday’s Southwestern Buckeye League Southwest Division action…
Tippecanoe 21
Milton-Union 7
Match-up wise, this was about as boring a game as I’ve seen in a while on the high school level. It has nothing to do with the quality of the two teams, but watching two teams run the same runs, with the same backs to the same side of the field for the same result time after time just gets old.
The first half was quick. Both teams opened with 3 and outs, both teams rarely went to the air – I count 14 times in about 60 or so plays – and for good reason: neither Tipp or Milton had any idea what to do with the passing game.
You stick to your guns, which is fine. It worked out great for Tipp – the game was tied until late in the 2nd quarter when SR RB Jake Budding ripped off an 85 yard TD run on the first play of the drive. Tipp scored two more times – one on a very good pass that I unfortunately could not see, due to being crammed and subsequently fallen on.
Tipp was the better team, there’s really no doubt about that. It was a race to a lead tonight: neither team could score quickly – okay, Tipp did once, but that was the ONLY big play of the evening. When Tipp went up 14, it was over.
That’s the problem with being so unrelentingly reliant on the run game. If you get down, it’s hard to come back. MU’s defense got tired and sloppy, and then their offensive did too.
They started throwing blindly late in the 4th QTR, and no offense to QB Chris McCoy, but he doesn’t have the arm for it – on deep balls – and it was painfully obvious that the team hadn’t worked on passing enough to be successful. That falls on Bret Pearce and the coaches, not McCoy.
Both teams did the same thing all night, and Tipp was just better at it. I wasn’t real disappointed with Milton-Union and I’m not terribly thrilled with the Red Devils, both are quality teams.
The Bulldogs are a good team, but they are not a great team.
Valley View 26
Monroe 41
Whoa, guys. Just looking at the score-by-quarter data, it looks like the Spartan defense didn’t show up, and QB Kyle Pohl and the offense couldn’t keep up.
Being down 41-6 at the end of three is not impressive. But, as we’ve seen so far this year, no SWBL SWD team is really all that much better than the other.
MU is flawed, Valley View is flawed, Eaton is flawed.
Preble Shawnee 18
Brookville 42
I’m detecting a pattern here for the Devils. If they can successfully run the ball on you, they will beat you. If not, they are like MU was tonight. Hopeless, for lack of a better term.
They have to rely heavily on a young and very beatable defense, and that works against TCN and Shawnee, but it ain’t going to work against the top tier.
Xenia 23
Bellbrook 20
Hey, they scored! That’s a plus, right? But, 0-3 is 0-3, regardless of opponent.
I don’t know how bad they are, though. I might pick them to beat Brookville and Franklin. That says a lot about the Devils and Wildcats, though.
Oakwood 17
Carlisle 54
The Indians run to the playoffs continues while Oakwood’s run to 0-10 continues. Seriously, they could pull a Detroit Lions kind of disaster. I’m not being mean, I’m being honest.
Carlisle is 3-0, kids. Oakwood is 0-3. Who had that in August? Bueller? Bueller?
Eaton 48
Greenon 14
Greenon had no answer for the Eagles’ skill position talent, and as such were blown out.
Greenville 21
Franklin 41
I’m starting to think that I was dead wrong about Franklin. They are far better than Oakwood, slightly above Bellbrook and nose to nose with Brookville.
Losing to Carlisle is no longer an insult. In fact, it’s becoming a staple of the SW Division.
Adam’s Rankings
This makes it tough, because we have no clear great team. There’s Eaton-View-Milton at the top, then Brookville-Franklin in the middle and Bellbrook-Oakwood at the bottom. But, let me give it a try anyway.
1-Eaton Eagles (2-1)
2-Milton-Union (2-1)
3-Valley View (2-1)
Milton-Union over Valley View is purely about opponent. I think we all agree that Tippecanoe would defeat Monroe, right?
4-Brookville (2-1)
5-Franklin (2-1)
Totally interchangeable.
6-Bellbrook (0-3)
7-Oakwood (0-3)
Poor Oakwood.
Am I crazy? Let me know at adamdadkins@gmail.com.
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