WrittenWord

Nobody listens to newspaper people!

I see that the political situation hasn't changed any in Overton County since I left . . .

Sunbright beat Grace Christian 48-14 (+34) Hampton beat Grace Christian 46-8 (+38) Using this logic, we could conclude that Hampton is only four points better than Sunbright, and Oneida beat Sunbright 20-13 (+7).

Bigtime was right and, as usual, I was wrong. OHS just announced the game will be played tonight.

BigTime, I hope you're right. Last I heard, Greenback wasn't going to make a decision until midday, but I usually hear wrong. Boberick, I ain't gonna be happy about missing the UT/SC game on the tube, but I guess I'll be there just the same. I say PLAY IT, as long as lightning and storming isn't occurring. Sure we're going to get a lot of rain today, but I've seen teams play in more rain than this. Greenback isn't hosting a playoff game next week, so messing up the field a little shouldn't matter too much. I would think that sloppy field conditions would hinder Greenback's style of offense some. Wonder if that will influence their decision?

So what's the over/under on the game being postponed??

Yep, Truth is right. This one is do-or-die for Oneida. It's unfortunate that the tiebreakers are set up in such a way that teams like Oneida and Greenback are, essentially, penalized for playing much tougher non-region opponents, but that's the way it is. Anyway, it shouldn't matter. Oneida controls its own destiny and just needs to take advantage . . .

Listening to the guys on WECO last night, you'd think it was a foregone conclusion that Oneida was going to the playoffs. No knock against them, those guys do a terrific job, but I hope Oneida doesn't go to Greenback with that attitude. The Indians have had trouble winning at Cooper Field in recent years anyway, and while Greenback's defense may be weak, their offense has been playing great. They scored a combined 54 points against Midway and Coalfield. There's no other team that can make that claim. It will take a great effort by Oneida against Greenback -- similar to the effort we saw last night -- and the Indians must take advantage of those opportunities when they have the ball deep in their opponent's territory!

Good effort by Oneida.

You're right about that. Won't be long either!

Hey, I was just going on what I was told. That was before my time; I had only been out of diapers for a few years in '83.

After delving deep into the dusty pages of history (man, 1983 was a loooooooong time ago. I'll bet all those guys are gray-headed and feeble now, eh? ), it appears that the record was 95 yards, set by Phil Newport in 1983. That's what I was told by the fellow doing the research, anyway. He also said that the 95-yard INT return was almost the only touchdown Newport ever made. Whether there's any validity to his report, I have no idea.

The ball was closer to Oneida's sideline than to Sunbright's sideline, which is where the sticks were, and it was only short of the first down by a little less than two lengths of the football. On Sunbright's play, if the first down had been between the 2 and the 3, then the pass play would have resulted in a first down, because the ball was straddling the hash mark of the 2-yard-line. The first down was clearly the one-yard-line. The series had started after Young converted a third down with a two-yard quarterback sneak that left the ball placed at the 11-yard-line. As far as the officials being partial towards Oneida, if that were the case, I'm not sure how Oneida wound up with 7 penalties for 55 yards while Sunbright finished with 2 penalties for 10 yards.

Willy, in all honesty, I'm not sure why Coach Newberry was so upset about the lack of a measurement. I was standing directly across the field from the first down marker. The original line of scrimmage was the 11-yard-line, so Sunbright needed the one-yard-line. Thompson was tackled directly at the two-yard-line. The ball was stradling the hash mark on the two. It was a full yard short and wasn't close enough to make a measurement necessary. If the mark needed for the first down had been just outside the one and Thompson had gotten just inside the two, I would have agreed that a measurement was necessary, even if he appeared to be well short, just to be on the safe side. Given the circumstances, with the game on the line, maybe they should've measured, but the ultimate outcome of the play would've been the same. There's no doubt that it wasn't a first down, although it was a heck of an effort just to get that close.

If the Highlanders have hopes for the postseason, they hinge on this game. This is the game of the year so far for Scott. Kingston is the better team, but the better team doesn't always win. I'm hoping for an upset. Livingston was a great start. Now the Highlanders have a good opportunity to build on that.

As I said before the Harriman game, I think Oneida will have to score a few points to win this game. The Indians' defense is outstanding, but Brandon Thompson is a terrific offensive player who can make things happen much the same way as Julian Goins and Seth Lyle. Sunbright put up over 300 yards of total offense against a very good Midway defense. I was disappointed that Oneida only put up 7 against Harriman; I felt like they could score at least a couple of times against the 'Devils. But they did do some things in the air that they haven't done before this season, and hopefully they'll be able to employ those things this week before the score begins to dictate what they can and cannot do offensively. The biggest difference between this week's game and the last two for Oneida, in my opinion is this: Against Midway and Harriman, Oneida had to play well to give themselves a chance. Against Sunbright, Oneida has to play well to win. These two teams are very evenly matched, I think. Sunbright probably has a bit of an edge because of their speed, while the game's location should favor Oneida. I guess I'll have to repeat an old and often-overused addage: It's going to come down to who wants it the most. Oneida has done a good job most of this season at creating turnovers, and turnovers has been Sunbright's downfall the past two weeks. That could be the deciding factor.

Lambert is still on the staff. And hopefully will be for a long time to come.

I think this thread and the others like it should prove a perfect example that the best way to get respect is to EARN it. The best way to shut up mental midgets like I Love HS Football is to go out and smack Livingston in the mouth from play one and earn a region win. Show the rest of the region that Scott County isn't just a team you can depend on for a two-birds-with-one-stone region opponent and homecoming opponent. Is Scott High School football for real? The only way to prove that is on the football field. I see the word playoffs mentioned a lot on this thread. I hope that the players aren't thinking about playoffs; leave that to the fans, because talking about stuff that doesn't matter is what we do best. Go out and beat Livingston. That's the only thing that matters. I'm going to take Scott by two touchdowns in this one.

Leave it to Kaz to get something stirred up. How bazar. Harriman is going to be a tough team for Oneida to hold low on the scoreboard; I'm not saying that to knock Oneida's defense in any way. I think Lambert is one of the finest defensive coaches anywhere around. Harriman won't score 50 or 40, and I'd be shocked if they score 30. But they have too many athletes to hold out of the endzone, so Oneida is going to have to score points. I think the Indians need three touchdowns to feel comfortable with their chances in this one. For a team that has only scored four offensive touchdowns in the last five games, that might seem like a tough task to accomplish. But I came away from the Midway game thinking that ol' proverbial glass that everybody always talks about was more half-full than half-empty. Oneida moved the football decently against Midway. And Midway's a doggone good defensive football team; Oneida won't face another defense like that in region play this season. But Oneida had their chances to score; if they avoid turnovers and dropped passes and get the ball into the endzone every time they have an opportunity, the Midway game is much closer than it actually wound up being. Maybe I'm crazy, since Harriman is coming off a game in which it held a Brandon Thompson-led and high-flying Sunbright offense to two scores, but I don't see Harriman shutting Oneida out this week. Of course, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Oneida needs to find something in the passing game that works. Adam Jeffers is a good running back. Jonathan Lewallen is a good running back. But you fill the box full of defenders and it's hard for anyone to run. That ain't no secret, and it ain't like the coaches are ignoring it. They've been working hard in practice on the passing game all season. They have the athletes; it just needs to click. I'm sure that a little tweak here or there would help it click and I'm sure the coaches are searching hard for the right place to tweak. Will it come together in time to beat Harriman and Sunbright? Well, that remains to be seen, don't it? In the meantime, it doesn't matter what kind of offense or defense you have, your success (or lack thereof) is going to be determined greatly by one intangible factor that Kaz already touched on: Heart. Making that long drive down that twisting road to Harriman on Friday night and crawling down into that hole of a football field to play ball might be a little intimidating if Oneida makes the trip thinking they're beat before they even get off the bus. But if they decide to go out with the attitude that's always made Oneida football great, who knows what can happen? Now before anybody starts calling and filling up my voice mail with irate phone calls, let me reiterate that I am NOT criticizing ANYBODY here: Not the coaches and not the players.

It's almost game time. After a week without football in Scott County, I'm looking forward to it. Should be a dandy.

See?!? I told you'uns! I've been schooled.

Don't nobody try to match wits with this fella. With one-liners like that, he could make Jimmy Kimmel shake in his boots!

Photoman, if you're going to be calling a kid stupid, you might want to learn how to spell "sense."

Sooner or later, one side or the other is going to rise above this silliness, I'm sure of it.

Didn't it, though? I'm sure that won't be the last time we see it this year. I pretty much agree with Kaz's assessment. The defense is solid and will keep Oneida in every game they play this year. The offense has looked very good at times, and not good a other times. The components are there — I keep going back to the Wartburg score; Halfway in, Oneida has still scored more against Wartburg than anyone else, and the Dawgs have played some good teams. I realize they came out and laid down against Oneida, but let's give the Indians some credit. The components are there; there just needs to be a little more consistency, some continued improvement on the O-line, and some minor tweaking with the passing game. Oneida could wind up second in the region and earn the opportunity to host their first playoff game in several years, or they could miss the playoffs entirely. It's going to be a very interesting October, that is for sure.