SWBL Recap: Eaton nets big road win; Valley View bounces back
Valley View 49
Oakwood 28
Wasn’t as bad as I thought. I keep hearing that the Spartans have no identity – which means they can’t sustain anything offensively – but then they go and drop 49 on someone.
Okay, I know, it’s Oakwood. But still, 49 points is 49 points. There’s something impressive about that. As for the Lumberjacks, the road to 0-10 continues.
Eaton 31
Brookville 6
Man, what a bad, bad showing from the Blue Devils. Let me say first off that the Devils have nowhere near the on-field talent of Eaton, but that isn’t why they got their butts kicked on their home turf.
This team played undisciplined football all night long and got killed for it. Listen, I love RB Dalton Caudill – He’s a man, he’s 18! – but a running back in of himself is not that valuable. Without holes to run through, it’s unlikely that an RB is really all that productive. He can’t make 11 guys miss. Name me one great RB of the last 10 years that didn’t play behind a great OL. Adrian Peterson and Shaun Alexander both had Steve Hutchinson. LaDainian Tomlinson has/had Marcus McNeil, Marshall Faulk (go ahead and flame me for it, but Faulk is the 2nd best RB ever behind Walter Payton and just ahead of Jim Brown) had Orlando Pace. Jamal Lewis had Jonathan Ogden. Need I go on? No? Good. So, my point is clear: without holes, the RBs are helpless.
But, luckily for Eaton, the Blue Devil defense was pushed around all night, so #40 had plenty of large holes to scamper through. I’m going to channel the late John McKay here when I say, “The Devils didn’t get through the Eagle offensive-line all night, but they made up for it by not tackling.”
As for the Eaton attack, to quote Dennis Green, “they are who I thought they were.” Not great, but if you give them an inch, they will take a mile. Special credit again goes to Caudill, who had well over 30 carries on the night.
The Eagle defense was fast to the ball and gang-tackled on several occasions. They aren’t going to inspire memories of the 2002 Bucs, but they’re quality. The strength of the team is the offense, obviously.
Brookville has no real playoff aspirations, and if they did make it, chances are they’d play Alter (read: pain) or Carlisle, and they can beat neither team. Eaton could win a game or two in the playoffs with their offense, but more than that is unlikely.
Franklin 14
Milton-Union 6
Folks, this one was a toss-up from the start. They are basically the same team, same strengths and same weaknesses. We often wonder what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object… but what happens when two immovable objects meet?
I guess we get 14-6 Franklin. Oh, and this is yet another example that the 2009 SWBL SWD is totally wide-open.
Monroe 28
Bellbrook 21 F/2 OT
Man, I’d feel really stupid if my paper took Bellbrook to win the SWD now that they are 0-4. And I’d feel really embarrassed if my paper did so in a big spread on the Sports page.
Surely no paper around here would do such a thing!
Anyway, onward goes Monroe. Book your tickets now for the clash with Waynesville.
As for Bellbrook, the biggest school in the league is the second-worst team in 2009. I guess you can thank Oakwood for that.
Just for fun, let me throw in one more:
Waynesville 33
Carlisle 41
Meet the best team in the SWBL, your Carlisle Indians. I genuflect – once again – to the greatness of the Indians.
Adam also writes at www.adamadkins.net and can be reached at adamdadkins@gmail.com.
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