By dropping a 34-3 decision to Maple Heights Mustangs of the Cleveland area. On the bright side, the Potters got a Travis Coon field goal in the middle of the 2nd quarter, which consituted their first “ones on ones” points since Week 2. Save the drive that yielded those points, the Potters just don’t have any continuity on offense. The wide plays and misdirections don’t work against a team that has more speed than we do. The line doesn’t block well enough for straight ahead running (though I didn’t think we tried enough of that last night against a smaller Maple team). The line also doesn’t block well enough for the slow-ass developing pass plays we seem to like to run, and our philosophy seems to find the concept of quick hitting passes like slants and putting the qb in shotgun to be abhorrent. We do, however, still like to run sweeps, end arounds, and qb rollouts to the short side of the field. Its become crystal clear to Buckeyenewshawk that we need a new coach in East Liverpool.
This game was also marred by a plethora of personal foul penalties. Myself and the rest of the Potter crowd could not help but notice that they were without fail either only on the Potters or offsetting. Then again, this officiating crew seemed unfamiliar with the rules of the high school game. There was a play, a TD by Maple in the 3rd quarter on a punt return where the Potters were called for blocking in the back. Per high school rules, that should’ve been half the distance on the PAT (if not something Maple would have to decline outright). Instead, it was enforced on the ensuing kickoff. Kicking from the Potter 45, the Maple kicker sent it out of bounds at around the 15. The officials tried to spot the ball at the 35 (25 yards from where a kickoff is normally kicked) then had a long conference because no one on the crew knows the rule. A reader may correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure the high school rule on a kick OB is its placed 25 yards from the spot of the kick irregardless of where the free kick was. That would normally move it from the 40 to the 35. In this case, from the 45 to the 20. Well, after a long conference, they decided just to have Maple kick off again. It was going to be from the 45 again, in other words, a do-over. The Potter crowd, including me, went a bit bonkers. Another conference, and this time the assessed Maple a 10 yard penalty and had them kick from their 45.
The mood at Patterson Field, mediocre officiating notwithstanding, is getting very ugly. Parents and other fans alike are getting very angry with the coaches, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. And, there is a reason for that; they have no idea how to call a game. Its not generally something I worry overly about when I attend a game; whether we run the ball or try a wheel route pass on 2nd & 6 doesn’t usually concern me much. But Coach McNicol and his staff seem to go out of their way to design a gameplan and play calls that make offense as difficult as possible to succeed. Also, they don’t seem to know how to coach an offensive line so that it has the ability to block people. Its very frustrating and discouraging. It will be interesting to see what AD Shansky, Superintendent Halbert, and the school board do after the season, but I fear change is necessary.
At any rate, the loss drops the Potters to 0-5 and they still haven’t won a game since 2006. This coming Friday evening Linsly (WV, Wheeling area) Academy comes to Patterson Field for a 7:30pm kickoff. I am frankly not sure what kind of season Linsly is having, but I know they are a relatively small school.
