MySpace Blog from 11-01-06

Week Ten

I'm curious to know what everyone thinks of this week ten situation. Personally, I thought it was great when I heard this year that teams were going back to a ten-game regular season.
However, this was before I learned that the games wouldn't count in the playoff points. I'm not sure what is to be gained by playing a game in between your ninth game and the first round of the playoffs.

Personally, I feel this is a gaffe on the part of the PIAA and District 6. They should have had the games count in the points, or start the playoffs week nine like in the past.

I think it's good to have the team have a game rather than have an off week in preparation of the playoffs. Everyone else is in AAA, but the games seem odd to me. It would be terrible if a team lost a player to injury in a meaningless game. Hopefully the coaches of all the teams involved in week ten will play it smart.

I'm interested to hearing from some of the players on the team and what they're thoughts are on this. I'm sure they want to play. When you're that age you want to play as many games as you can. However, I'm sure the bigger goal of getting back to the District Championship AND winning it, is tops on the priority list.

I'm also curious to see what the vibe is at the school these days. Is the student body behind the team or are there a lot of naysayers being negative? If so, you'll just have to prove them wrong.
Either way, holler at your boy. Word is the Nation will have a good fan following at Tyrone Friday.

I don't much care about that. What I do care about is PACKING Trojan Stadium next weekend for that playoff game with Hollidaysburg!

MySpace Blog 10-25-06

Playoffs and Stats

I love this time of year. As a number cruncher and analyst by trade (i.e. "day job") I enjoy very much figuring out all the scenarios that go into the playoff hunt.

Rather than get in all the details, it's safe to say that a Johnstown win clinches the first seed in the 6-AAA playoffs. The other scenario that is favorable to JHS is if both the Trojans and Huntingdon lose Friday night. I'd never wish for a loss obviously, however, if the Trojans do fall to the Rangers AND Huntingdon loses to Philipsburg-Osceola, it appears that bonus points and the 10 point lead JHS has going into the week will be enough for the Trojans to hold on to the top spot.

Not only is hosting a first round game at Trojan Stadium a huge deal (we've mentioned that before) but the difference between playing Indian Valley (or Bellefonte) versus playing Hollidaysburg in the first round is HUGE. 1-2-3 are tight but there is a considerable drop off after that.

Now for some stats.

Brandon Hody has passed for 901 yards and is 6th in the LHAC. I'd look for him to surpass the 1,000-yard mark this week.

Antwuan Reed has 1,261 rushing yards which not only leads the LHAC but is ninth in the state.
Demetrius Young (417) and Adonis Jackson (325) are the 5th and 11th WRs in the conference.
Reed's 86 points are third in the LHAC.

Aaron Brezovic's 75 tackles are 7th in the LHAC while he is tied for the lead with Mitch Blackwell of Central Cambria for the league lead in sacks with 11.5. Brez and Blackwell's numbers are good enough for a tie for second in the state in the sack column.

MySpace Blog from 10-18-06

Recovery week?

I don't have that much to say this week. Nowhere to go but up for the Trojans.

Let's look at some stats:
Brandon Hody's 798 passing yards are 6th in the LHAC.
Antwuan Reed's 1,119 rushing yards are 1st in the LHAC.
Demetrius Young's 357 receiving yards are 6th in the LHAC and Adonis Jackson's 290 are 10th.
Reed's 84 points are third in the LHAC.
Aaron Brezovic's 70 tackles are good enough for 4th in the LHAC while LaVarr Stephens-Howling's 62 stops are 11th.
Brezovic's 10.5 sacks are first in the LHAC and the state. Devon Huddleston has 3.5 sacks and is 10th in the LHAC.

MySpace Blog from 10-11-06

I didn't get a chance to post this last night because I was traveling back to Pittsburgh after attending the Johnstown vs. Bishop McCort freshman game. I must say, it was a very intense battle and a very close game. We'll talk more about the game in next week's "Bullet Points" but Johnstown fell 22-18 in what was their first loss of the season.

I never cease to be amazed at the stupidity of some parents out there. The way they were yelling at the coach AND players last night, you'd have thought the team was 0-5 going into the game rather than 5-0. Sometimes it scares me that some of these "adults" are the role models and examples our young kids have at home. It's no wonder kids do drugs, get pregnant, etc!

I'm not saying that I've NEVER been critical of coaches. I had some choice words for the Head Coach in the days of Corky McCabe and Bill Cacciotti. Personally, those two never deserved to don the black and pale blue. McCabe was an embarrassment, towards the end of his tenure he'd actually argue back and forth with fans that yelled at him at the Point. Oh, and he tried to bring that friggin' Wing-T and install it in one summer! How the school board even hired him is beyond me, the guy was subpar at two programs that have improved greatly since he left (Penn Cambria and Bishop Carroll).

Cacciotti wasn't much better, I don't think I've seen worse clock management ever but at least he acted properly on the sideline.

Those two are where they belong. McCabe is an assistant coach at Portage and Cacciotti is coaching Middle School at McCort.

But I digress!

I've been looking forward to this Johnstown-McCort game since I woke up Monday morning and being at Trojan Stadium last night was just an appetizer.

I'm ready for the main course!

MySpace Blog from 10-4-06

I'm done with message boards

Recently, some things went down over in the LHSports boards and I need to take a brief moment to address it. Apparently someone saw one of my previous blogs here on the MySpace page that was reposted on the Trojan Nation blogspot site. To make a long story short, people started posting about what I said here and I got involved in some lengthy back and forth posts.
I want to make something perfectly clear: I am NOT backing down from my original statements about Guru and the comments that he made that upset me. This is not an apology. Whoever the Guru is, (and apparently his ego is hurt since I don't), he has legions of fans that follow him and his picks blindly and feel he can do/say no wrong.

I don't care who you are, if you can't take a little criticism, you shouldn't be making posts, picks, etc. One person called him out and he decides to quit doing LHAC picks and is now doing WestPAC picks. What happens when a Windber or Portage fan gets upset with something he wrote? Is he going to move on to the Heritage Conference?

What I am sorry that I got involved in was the back and forth on that board. Really, I should have just let the post go with a grain of salt and ignored it. I felt the need to defend what I said. Furthermore after a few days of posting, the Guru never responded to the comments that really set me and some others off. He got a pass when it came to saying the Trojans were going to go on a downward spiral because LaRod was gone. He got a pass when it came to saying the Trojans were an "undiscplined Flood City team". He got a pass when he made the remark that Brezovic's Mom must be keeping sack stats.

But I probably shouldn't have jumped in the message board and got caught up in it. I will write more about this Monday for MMR, but from now on, the only message board I'm going to particpate at all in is going to be the one for Trojan Nation. I shouldn't be jumping into different message boards and debating people. It's time consuming and takes focus away from the website, which in turn, takes focus away from the kids.

In other site news, I'm looking to start a new feature as well as add something to an existing one. I am working on a "Coaches Corner" piece that I will put up each week either on Wednesday or Thursday. I'll pose five questions to Coach Arcurio and post them with his response. I'm also making an addition to the Thursday Helmets and Sweats. H&S has become a weekly preview of what's to come outside of the JHS game in the LHAC, District 6-AAA and the City League teams that are AAA. Starting this week, before we dive into that, I'm going to give a quick rundown of the LHAC leaders in statistical categories. We'll do this for the rest of the regular season in a similar fashion that we have started updating the Nation on Geroy, LaRod and all the other former Trojans on Tuesdays.

Don't forget, this Friday's game will be broadcast tape delayed on PCN on Saturday as part of their Game of the Week coverage. Nation, pack the stands this weekend, make extra noise and come out and support the team in it's quest to improve to 6-0. I want all the Penny Jug Divas to put an extra roll of pennies in your jug! I want more cowbell (I've got a fever, and the only prescription...!!!) Airhorns are not allowed, I think, but bring 'em anyway. Blow 'em until they make an announcement to stop. The guys on the team work hard enough, they don't need 15 yards penalities from the crowd!

And most of all, let's really take it to the Huskies. They're having a down year and I'd love to just shove it down their throat. I'd love to get back at them for that loss last year. I'd love for the Trojans to return the favor and shut them out this year. Just like we did two years ago... in a game that was also at Trojan Stadium. In a game that was also on PCN's Game of the Week.

MySpace Blog from 9-27-06

Sorry this is late, I went out of town after the 1,000th game:


And then there was one!
As in undefeated team in LHAC. As in the Johnstown Trojans. The Men of Troy are also the sole undefeated squad in the District 6-AAA scene.
I know the naysayers will question "who have they played?" but hey, you have to play the schedule the way it's written. At this time last year the squad had two loses to teams they've beaten this year.
Yes, I can hear what people are saying about how hard it is to tell how good the Trojans are but they have been the only team to contain Matt Holsberger and the Penn Cambria line. Those guys have dominated the ground game against every other team they've faced this year.
I'd like to use this forum to congratulate some Trojans who have good numbers this year and are ranked among the best in the area. Yes, it's a team game but these guys individual accomplishments put them in this class.
Aaron Brezovic: his 9 sacks not only lead the LHAC but put him in tie for the lead in the entire state. His 43 total tackles put him at #4 in the LHAC.
LaVarr Stephens-Howling: 40 tackles rank him 11th in the LHAC.
Antwuan Reed: LHAC leading 605 yards rushing. 52 total points put him in third in the conference.
Brandon Hody: 28-48 for 515 yards; 5 TDs and 2 INTs. These numbers put him fourth in the league.
Adonis Jackson: 12 catches; 240 yards; 1 TD (6th in the LHAC)
Demetrius Young: 12 catches; 220 yards; 2 TDs (7th in the LHAC)
Devon Huddleston: 2.5 sacks are good enough for 8th in the LHAC.

And finally this week, the 1,000th game is upon us. This is a real nice opportunity to celebrate the program, it's almost like having a second homecoming. It was very accomdating for Somerset to switch the game to Trojan Stadium. It was the right thing to do but they didn't have to do it. And don't feel TOO bad for them, they will get the right to host Johnstown the next two years.
I'm glad the school changed the game to Saturday as it gets a lot more people that aren't living in the area a chance to get to the game.

MySpace Blog from 9-20-06

The "Guru" had a change of heart and so have I.

It appears that the so-called Guru attempts to have missed the boat on this year's JHS football team. Check out the expert prediction from Week 3:

"W"illtoppers (1-1) at Trojans (2-0) (Turf)

The "W"illtoppers pitched a shutout on Friday night and this week they will do a 180. Reed has a need for speed and on the fast track at GHS look for him to run buck wild on the "W"illtoppers, that is of course if he is healed from his game ending injury against the Devils Friday night. As he gimped off of the field in the third quarter and I couldn't help but wonder why in the heck he was out there in the first place. With 209 yards and up 32-0 at the half, I would have had him in street clothes but not J-Town. Their starters played majority of the game. Their kicker got injured in the third quarter as well and I noticed that they carried him off of the field at the end of the game. If healthy, there is no one who can beat the Trojans but themselves. Bresovick is a "MAN". He can't be blocked and his motor does not stop. Best of luck to Westmont and the entire LHAC. Johnstown will not lose until week 7 or 9, if at all!

Trojans by 12.5

Funny, aside from misspelling the young man's name, I guess all he had to see was one game of action before he's on the bandwagon. Before he was questioning the validity of the sack total from 2005. This guy is a fraud and a phony. (And who is "GHS"?)

If you go to the main site for LHSports you can view a free preview of their webcast (how anyone pays for any content on that site is beyond me!) I'm guessing that the Guru is one of the co-hosts, Vince Pavic maybe, but I'm not sure. This guy is wearing a Raiders jersey and flexing! The Raiders are the LAST team I'd be sporting right now! He mentions in the free preview that Johnstown made him "eat crow". So, I'm just putting two and two together.

So, in one viewing of the Trojans, they went from being undiscplined and suffering a downward spiral because LaRod Stephens-Howling is gone to a team no one can beat except for themselves!

I agree with that last part, I truly think this JHS team could be it's own worst enemy and beat itself before a team beats them. They have the talent to beat every team on their schedule and the goal of an undefeated season is a great goal to have, just so that it is done with a one at a time mentality.

My change of heart has to do with the MTV show "Two-A-Days". A couple of things are bugging me now. First, I had no idea that this was filmed during the 2005 season. I was very confused when I looked at the Super 25 Rankings in USA Today and saw that Hoover was still undefeated despite losing a game in last week's episode!

Second, Coach Rush Probst is off his rocker. Look, I like my coaches with a little ego, but telling kids that you won't recommend them for colleges because they lost, that's over the top. This guy is a power-hungry egomaniac and if the kids don't win games for him, his name isn't mentioned in the paper. Therefore he feels he has the right to badmouth kids to college coaches!

Wasn't this a major plotline in All the Right Moves!?!?!