South Warren 3A Sleeping Giant

[Doubletake1906]

One team no one is talking about, and that I have yet to see an article about is the South Warren Spartans that return the #1 Defense in the State from a year ago. The also return 7 starters that were only Sophomores last season... What are your thoughts?

Edited August 10, 2014 by True blue (and gold)

[Cynical]

I'm gonna say no on this one...they lost pretty much all of their major producers.

 

Gone are:

Eblen who led them in Rushing, Passing, Scoring, and Interceptions...and the only one of those catagories where he was not by far the leader was Picks, where they lost the other leader (Chaffin) too.

Wilken who led them in receiving and was 3rd on the team in tackles.

Chaffin who lead them in tackles by over 50 tackles, and picks which he was tied with Eblen on.

Iggy who signed DIA...those don't come along often.

Middleton who signed SEC...those don't come along hardly at all.

 

Gone is all of their leadership from the last three years of Varsity play. Leadership is even harder than talent to replace...and they lost a LOT of talented players.

 

Gone is their veteran coach...and yes, I know the spawn of Chuck Smith is taking over, and he's shown himself to be a dang good coach so far, but you're talking a 1st year HC vs. a guy who had done it for a long time. That counts for something.

 

I may be wrong, but I'm going to say that South is welcomed back to earth this year.

[Doubletake1906]

I'm gonna say no on this one...they lost pretty much all of their major producers.

 

Gone are:

Eblen who led them in Rushing, Passing, Scoring, and Interceptions...and the only one of those catagories where he was not by far the leader was Picks, where they lost the other leader (Chaffin) too.

Wilken who led them in receiving and was 3rd on the team in tackles.

Chaffin who lead them in tackles by over 50 tackles, and picks which he was tied with Eblen on.

Iggy who signed DIA...those don't come along often.

Middleton who signed SEC...those don't come along hardly at all.

 

Gone is all of their leadership from the last three years of Varsity play. Leadership is even harder than talent to replace...and they lost a LOT of talented players.

 

Gone is their veteran coach...and yes, I know the spawn of Chuck Smith is taking over, and he's shown himself to be a dang good coach so far, but you're talking a 1st year HC vs. a guy who had done it for a long time. That counts for something.

 

I may be wrong, but I'm going to say that South is welcomed back to earth this year.

 

I agree with you as far as talented players being gone. They will also be loosing players that had developed themselves as leaders, but they will also be returning several starters from last year that should be ready to fill those roles as leaders... I mean, isn't that the natural progression of every high school program, so that shouldn't be an issue either...

Iggy only played the first 3 games of the season last year, and they were fine without him then so that is a non issue....

Wilken was 3rd in receptions last year on a team that only averaged about 5 passes a game so there was not very many opportunities for any reciever to be successful in that system. I have heard that will change this year and the recieving team they have this year is definitwly the most athletic they have ever had.

Eblen was the leading rusher last year only because it took them half the season to realize what they had in the Junior, Julius Allen. If you look at statistics by game, the second half of the season Allen was their leading rusher and he is returning this year.

Chaffin will be missed, but Mclwain will move from Safety to line backer to fill that void easily.

The only player that I feel is hard to replace is Middleton. He is a Major D1 player and virtually unstoppable on the Defensive side. Other then his position, I feel like they will actually improve from last year.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Doubletake1906

[mcpapa]

Good info - we would love to see more from the left side of the Commonwealth.

[Cynical]

Eblen was the leading rusher last year only because it took them half the season to realize what they had in the Junior, Julius Allen. If you look at statistics by game, the second half of the season Allen was their leading rusher and he is returning this year.

 

I'm going to beg to differ here. In the last five games of the year, per the KHSAA stats, Eblen and Allen rushed the ball exactly the same number of carries...Eblen in that same stretch gained 218 more yards and scored 10 more TD's.

 

Chaffin will be missed, but Mclwain will move from Safety to line backer to fill that void easily.

 

You're going to replace an All State player EASILY with a player who made 57 tackles last year? I know he's a safety, but EASILY?

 

The only player that I feel is hard to replace is Middleton. He is a Major D1 player and virtually unstoppable on the Defensive side. Other then his position, I feel like they will actually improve from last year.

 

If you're better at QB next year, I will buy you a steak dinner. If you have a LB better than Chaffin next year, I'll buy you two.

 

Please also understand that I'm not saying SW is going to be awful, but it is not BG or WC. You don't just replace what they lost. We'll see a lot about them when they open with my Raiders. Both teams have a lot to prove.

[ATLCat]

My biggest issue with South Warren is that they were a mediocre at best team offensively last year. Their defense was nails, but the offense was very pedestrian. Even with a defense constantly giving them great field position and a ton of extra possessions they lumbered against a weak schedule.

 

With the quality of teams in 3A playing good defense is a pre-requisite and goes without saying, so teams who compete for the title have to be separated by who has the playmakers and ability to grind wins out with just enough big plays and sustained drives. I simply can't see SW being that team with how bad their offense was and what they lost off it.

[tsyoung7]

Well said. South will have their hands full with Monroe this year who is returning all but two starters. They will be second in district and get put out second in region. Just my opinion. They lost way to much on an already disappointing team that should have walked through 3a last year with the talent they had then. Not often khsaa hands a team the map to state and you get lost...

[Doubletake1906]

I will agree that their offense was not great by any means last year, and that has been their main focus area during the offseason. If the QB gets the starting job that I think will get it, then not only will they be as good at that position but they will be better. He is Jay Eblen 2.0. Same running ability with a better arm, and more willing to throw the ball....

 

Now one thing I want to make clear is that I am not saying they will have the same success on the defensive side as they had last year because that kind of magic is tough to recreate.... Even if they had ALL THE SAME PLAYERS RETURNING, that would be hard to do again. But what I am saying is with a more balanced offense, more depth at their skill positions, and 7-8 returning starters; they will not be a team to overlook...

 

East Raider I will be looking forward to my Steak Dinner sir.... LOL!

[kypride]

All of these comments are a year too late. This season is going to be a rebuilding one for the Spartans.

[kypride]

They can still finish 2nd in the weak 3a district they play in. Many of the games will be more of a struggle though and playoff wins will be. .... Tougher.

[Blockbuster]

I can see the Spartans falling back to the pack significantly this season. Lost a lot of talent and replacing an entire coaching staff without much experience. Can see them finishing anywhere from 4-6 to 6-4.

[DragonFire]

I see their regular season schedule breaking out thusly:

 

LOCKS

 

Logan County

Hart County

Edmonson County

Adair County

 

Just outside Lock

 

Greenwood

 

Toss-ups

 

Warren East

Elizabethtown

Daviess County

 

Likely Losses

 

Monroe County

Russellville

 

I expect them to beat Greenwood, but you just never know. GHS can be a bit Jekyll and Hyde sometimes and can pop you when you don't expect it. I think South Warren should beat Daviess County as well, but then, they should've beaten them last year. I have a tough time envisioning SW beating either Monroe or Russellville, and I expect that the East and E-Town games will be their most likely swing games of the year. My guess is they end up 7-3, with 5-5 being their floor.

 

I certainly hope for better from them, but again, we really don't know what to expect. I think the notion that in most spots they are BETTER than last year are incredibly optimistic.

[Blockbuster]

If they start the season off beating a Warren East team with 20+ seniors returning including a big time player in Eli Brown (albeit coming off knee surgery) then i'll fall in line with Doubletake1906.

[Doubletake1906]

What I think is funny is that many people are ranking BGHS and Warren Central at the top of their Regions in their class when both of those teams loss much more then South Warren... Even articles being written about their Recievers being top in the state that have barely made a varsity reception... Seems a little biased.... But hey what do I know. At the end of the day, we will see when the season starts.

[Blockbuster]

What I think is funny is that many people are ranking BGHS and Warren Central at the top of their Regions in their class when both of those teams loss much more then South Warren... Even articles being written about their Recievers being top in the state that have barely made a varsity reception... Seems a little biased.... But hey what do I know. At the end of the day, we will see when the season starts.

If you don't understand why....then well....you just don't know. You sound a lot like the Greenwood contingent in the late 1990's early 2000's.