9/6/10

Admittedly, this will be a short report as I’m only going on what I heard on the radio and from a few people that I know that attended the game as well as the game reports from the Tribune-Democrat and Altoona Mirror.  

According to the halftime stats, the Trojans were doing a nice job spreading the ball around and from the end results this was clear:  six different players recorded at least one reception.  That’s pretty nice depth.

The report from Running Back by Committee from Week 1 shows that Tyler Arsenault led the way from a yardage standpoint with 57 yards although QB Gervon Simon was close behind with 52.  Nine different Trojans carried the ball Friday night.  

It’s probably too early to award a “Catch of the Year” but surely the Catch of the Week was Dwight Andrews’ one-handed grab on a ball thrown behind him.  WJAC missed it but it was available on WTAJ’s highlight package (both links appear in the “Updates” page.

I was just a little bummed that with a mere nine seconds to go the Trojans lost the shutout bid (it would have been the first since week eight against Bishop Guilfoyle last year) but give credit the Highlanders’ backups for going hard to the final gun.

Two areas of improvement from the contest are penalties and the kicking game.  The team amassed 18 penalties for over 100 yards.  Of course, some penalties are unavoidable but pre-snap penalties and anything perceived as a mental error must be corrected.  As far as the kicking game, after seven or eight years of solid kicking from dedicated placekickers, it might a shock to Trojans’ fans to have the team struggling to kick extra points.  For a program that had a very shaky history of inconsistency from the kicking game, we may have taken that aspect of the game for granted in the nation.  That should not be the case.  Hopefully this is an area that will improve, because being forced to go for two exclusively can really bite a team in the butt in the long run.

Non-play related:  the Trojans were sporting a little bit of a new look.  First, the return of the white jersey to the set.  A NFHS rule went into effect this year that dictates that one team (the visiting one) has to wear a white jersey for contrast purposes.  In recent seasons, the Trojans used their pale blue jersey on the road as it contrasted with every other teams’ set and opted for black on the road.  It is a nice looking jersey, with a little bit different of a font and striping pattern.  I’m excited to see what the Men of Troy will wear at home this week (Will it be black or blue?  What color pants will the team wear also?).  Also, and I’ll need to get a closer look to verify this but it appeared that the helmet logo received a slight modification.  The helmet itself is the same, no stripes down the middle, simply the logo on either side.  It just appeared that the logo was slightly different.  More on that next week after I get a better look.

One final observation from Friday night:  how is the decision made to hold homecoming during week one?


Recap of the LHAC:

Central Cambria 23, Westmont 7
The Red Devils opened up Coach Bussard’s swan song with a big win over their visitors from the Hilltop.  Nick Wissinger’s 154 yards on 29 carries led the way for CC.  

Forest Hills 41, Bedford 6
I honestly don’t think the Rangers will fail to win a game by more than 20 points in their entire LHAC schedule.  Word around Sidman is this is a very special, talented and level-headed group of kids.

Penn Cambria 16, Bishop McCort 14
Is the long-awaited down year of Bishop McCort upon us or is this PC team that good?  Some feel it’s a little bit of both, but more leaning on the former.  The Crushers had a chance to win this game in the waning minutes and failed.

Bishop Carroll 27, Richland 20
The scuttlebutt is the Huskies, after several sub-par seasons, are back.  It may be too early to tell but they won a big game week one.  The Rams had the ball, driving for a potential tying or winning drive but a pass was intercepted to seal the deal.

Bishop Guilfoyle 8, Somerset 2
Odd game here as a baseball-like score of 2-0 held for most of the game for Somerset.  That was until Chris Damiano Jacob Karnes for a 26-yard touchdown.  The two-point conversion was good and the final was set.

Recap of the rest of District 6/9-AAA

Indian Valley 36, West Perry 22
This game was not as close as the score might indicate as the Warriors rolled up 308 yards on the ground against the visiting Mustangs.

Punxsutawney 27, DuBois 7
But far the best win of the weekend in the subregion goes to the Chucks.  Not only did they beat their rival with the added spotlight of being the WJAC game-of-the-week but they pick up a whopping 120 points for defeating a Quad-A opponent.  Punxsy sees itself in first place in the district standings after week one.

Bellefonte 14, Penns Valley 8
The Red Raiders start the season with a slim, six-point victory over Penns Valley, picking up 80 points (AA team) in the process.

Brookville 15, St. Marys 14
The Dutchmen were the sole member of the 6/9-AAA subregion to lose week one.

Clearfield 42, Central 14
The strongest of the 9-AAA squads flexed their muscle, blowing out a Central team that has been highly touted in the Class AA scene.  

Bradford 47, Olean (NY) 0
The Owls had zero problems with their visitors from New York.  

OK, that’s all for this week and I’m sorry this really isn’t Monday Morning Ramblings, more like Monday night ramblings, but with the holiday, my schedule got pushed behind a bit.  I’m looking forward to being in attendance for JHS’ home opener this Friday at Trojan Stadium.

Trojan Nation 2010