vs. 

 

The Broncos of Frederick Douglass coming off of last season's 15-0 and 5A state championship are upping their schedule big time. They have moved to 6A and with the Fayette BOE dropping the requirement that all city schools must play each other it allowed Douglass to add 7 games to their schedule instead of just 1 as they have had in past seasons and add they have. This year Douglass has added Louisville Trinity, Cathedral (Indianapolis, IN), Corbin and this week's opponent Archbishop Hoban who is one of the best teams no matter what class in the state of Ohio.

Hoban is ranked pre-season #5 overall in the state of Ohio and was the DII state-runner-up last season. The Hoban Knights are coached by Tim Tyrrell who is in his 11th season coaching the Knights his record at Hoban is 116-20. In his first 10 seasons at Hoban, they have played in 7 state championship games going 5-2. The Knights return 28 players who played significant minutes last season. The majority of their experience is on the defensive side of the ball. They currently have 5 players already signed to play at the next level with 4 of those 5 on the defensive side of the ball. Those 4 are Ricky WIlliams (WVU) who heads a star-studded line-backer group. The other LB is Devin Bell (Univ. of Miami). They have a very good DB in Ty Campbell (Cent. Mich.) They also have on the D-line 6'1 and 280 pound Jordan Prichard-Swell (Holy Cross) he led the defense last season with 20 sacks.

The one top offensive player returning is a very good one in senior right tackle William Satterwhite he is 6'3 and weighs 302. Satterwhite has signed to play college ball with the University of Tennessee. They did lose some very good players on the offensive side of the ball from last year's team including Ohio Mr. Football RB Lamar Sperling who graduated. They also lost starting junior QB JacQai Long who went back to his home state of West Virginia for his senior season. They have also lost big time sophomore OT prospect and Ohio State recruit Sam Greer is 6'1 300 pounder broke a bone in his leg in practice on July 31. Coach Tyrell says he expects Greer to be out 8-10 weeks.

The Broncos and Coach Nathan McPeek have a lot of new starters this season that are going to have to be ready to play out of the gate this season. Frederick Douglass graduated 28 seniors with 18 of them going on to play at the college level. They have to try and replace 5 starters on offense and 6 starters on defense. Douglass lost their 2 top rushers from last season as well as their top three wide receivers as well. The defense is probably will be the stronger part of the squad in the early going led by two D1 Power 5 DB's in Jeremaih Lowe (Michigan) and Terrion Hicks (Northwestern) also LB Demerco Kennedy. On offense Douglass does return starting QB Cole Carpenter (EKU) as well as Arkansas commit Zuri Madison as well as the excellent PK Cooper Ranvier.

This early part of the season will be some big test in August and early September. Two of Douglass's five opponents are ranked in the MaxPreps pre-season top 100, Hoban is ranked #40 and Cathedral of Indianapolis is ranked #70. There in state schedule for 2023 includes state powers Trinity, Corbin, and Boyle County as well as district opponents Bryan Station, GRC, and Madison Cent. Coach McPeek hopes that these major upgrades in their schedule will prepare them for their 6A district schedule as well as the 6A playoffs. This game this coming Saturday is by far their toughest opponent in the school's history. Both teams probably have 10 or more players other than those listed in the article that have committed to play college ball. They should be a bunch of very good athletes on the field for both teams.  It will be a great experience for the team to get to play at the Pro Football Hall of Fame field and go through the facility. Best of luck to the Broncos!

This is the kind of scheduling that will have Douglass ready for the big school playoff gauntlet, so good on them for taking this challenge. Ohio football is a different animal and Hoban is truly one their elite programs. I look for a competitive game with the Knights winning by 10-14 points. 

FCPS really did FD a disservice in previous years by dictating who they could (or couldn’t) play. This is a schedule that many wanted to see from FD and they have stepped up to the call. Love to see it. 

I'll be hoping Frederick Douglass wins but I will go with Hoban in a close one. I know Hoban better have some good receivers because FD secondary one of the best.

I don't know what Hoban looks like on the field, what type of offense they run, what type of defense they run. 

I don't know where Cole Carpenter's head is at this moment, and how he will play on Saturday. 

But after the X scrimmage, what I DO know is we have a LEGIT receiving corp. All they need is someone willing to throw vertical passes farther than 10 yards downfield for them to make plays.

I do know our run game will be comparable to last seasons, using a soph and two freshmen behind a strong 2 deep OL. If we have a passer that will throw the ball and force the secondary to actually respect the pass, and allow the run game space to operate, we will be a TOUGH out.

Not including the OH and IN teams (because I know nothing about them), but regarding KY opponents:

If we can't throw any vertical passes (not talking about a defense stopping us, I'm talking about the QB actually attempting/making throws) then it's going to be a season similar to last seasons Wofo/OB games, defense will have to win the game, and we will have to solely depend on the run game to win.

At that scrimmage, I saw a QB willing to make those throws and we got results. Against one of the top teams in the state. We don't need to change QBs, but hopefully that will spark our QB1 out of this funk he is in.

 

14-10 Douglass.

48 minutes ago, Hungover_in_Andover said:

I don't know what Hoban looks like on the field, what type of offense they run, what type of defense they run. 

I don't know where Cole Carpenter's head is at this moment, and how he will play on Saturday. 

But after the X scrimmage, what I DO know is we have a LEGIT receiving corp. All they need is someone willing to throw vertical passes farther than 10 yards downfield for them to make plays.

I do know our run game will be comparable to last seasons, using a soph and two freshmen behind a strong 2 deep OL. If we have a passer that will throw the ball and force the secondary to actually respect the pass, and allow the run game space to operate, we will be a TOUGH out.

Not including the OH and IN teams (because I know nothing about them), but regarding KY opponents:

If we can't throw any vertical passes (not talking about a defense stopping us, I'm talking about the QB actually attempting/making throws) then it's going to be a season similar to last seasons Wofo/OB games, defense will have to win the game, and we will have to solely depend on the run game to win.

At that scrimmage, I saw a QB willing to make those throws and we got results. Against one of the top teams in the state. We don't need to change QBs, but hopefully that will spark our QB1 out of this funk he is in.

 

14-10 Douglass.

It was the same last year. Only difference is, with last years schedule, Douglass rarely started a possession on their side of the field. A few run plays and couple of screen passes and they were in the red zone, if not end zone. I said all last season if a team can flip field position on them they can slow their offense because they can’t/don’t/won’t throw the ball downfield. With teams like Hoban, Trinity and Cathedral, they’re going to need more than just screen passes. I went back and watched the game on NFHS and the sophomore looks like he could be the answer. I hope Carpenter just had a bad game and gets it together but they’re going to need his arm a lot more this season than they did last. I’m looking forward to the Hoban game.  

Does anyone know if there will be any video or streaming of this game?

Looking at Calpreps preseason ratings, Hoban's rating is 19 pts higher than FD.

I'm not trying to be too dramatic or fatalistic here, but if FD wins this game or even keeps it close you could probably send the 6A trophy to Lexington the very next day. I don't know that there is any other team in KY who could be competitive in this game.

Like the @TheDeucesaid, it's nice to see FD finally getting the chance to schedule opponents like this, they've earned it. Now the next step is to go out and win a few of these games.

Hoban will be loaded again. A handful of years back they decided they were going to be a football powerhouse, after being hoe-hum for a long time. They use their advantage of being a private school better than any school here in Ohio.

58 minutes ago, theguru said:

Does anyone know if there will be any video or streaming of this game?

I think ESPN is doing at least one of the games but not sure of anywhere else they can be watched.

There is a thread on one of the Ohio message boards that is 15 or 16 pages deep. I can PM you the site if you want to read through it, to see if they are online somewhere.

33 minutes ago, newarkcatholicfan said:

I think ESPN is doing at least one of the games but not sure of anywhere else they can be watched.

There is a thread on one of the Ohio message boards that is 15 or 16 pages deep. I can PM you the site if you want to read through it, to see if they are online somewhere.

If you find a link to a broadcast please post it, beyond that I'm good. 

1 hour ago, theguru said:

Does anyone know if there will be any video or streaming of this game?

 

6 minutes ago, Tigerpride94 said:

 

Thanks Tp94.

So free if you have Spectrum, I do not any longer, or $9.99 here:

https://ohsaa.boxcast.com/#/broadcasts/wutyrmbegmgtkvzlpo1x?channel_id=gslsjbxbxopgb8rpilyn

FD with the upset!