What does Iroquois need to do to improve in 2007? What do they need to keep doing to be successful? Remember, please be constructive.

I doubt many people will reply to this thread due to Iroquois lack of prominence in HS Football lately, however I will since by now most of you know how close I followed them last season...

 

Personally, I think Coach Thompson is a good coach in a difficult situation. Yearly struggle with numbers and an apparent lack of support from the administration makes this a difficult job. Not to mention the fact that I think they graduated something like 14 seniors off last years 4-7 squad. They were very successful last season in the first half of the season going 4-1 and then had to suffer a brutal district (Male, X, PRP, Manual & Butler) to close out.

 

Next season should be a tad bit easier with teams in their district being more on the same caliber of talent and numbers. I think they have Waggener, John Hardin and I can recall who the 4th team is in that district, but at least its more competitive for them.

 

With that said, I know they are returning an solid O-line with 4 starters having at least 3 years varsity experience. They should have some talent returning with Steve Bowen and Dominque Spearman at receivers but like last season, this year they may struggle to find a quality QB to handle the job. Defensively, they run a 3-5-3 which suits them since they lack real Defensive Linemen but have decent sized guys to play QB. Since Thompson is a defensive guy, I expect them to be good on Defense and struggle offensively. Since they lost their OC, I dont know what type of offense they will run in 07 but i would expect it should be something of a running attack (unless they get a good QB in there).

 

Bottom line is, they need to have a good turnout and get some good numbers out there, keep them eligible and maybe they can develop a solid running game behind their O-Line. I look for them to finish 2nd in the district with a

5-5 finish and their first visit to the playoffs since the early 90's. Good luck Raiders in 07!

13...nice report. Numbers is the key.

ttt

Discipline - most boys this age need it, it's espescially important when the numbers are down and the coaches / team are fighting an uphill battle. What I have seen in the past is they get down. The coaches will be able to take advantage of the athletic talent if they can get them all pushing in the same direction without regard for the score. The mental part of the game is hugh for teams like Iroquois. Stay focused and work together.

How are they looking? Did they scrimmage this past weekend? If so, who and did they look?

How are they looking? Did they scrimmage this past weekend? If so, who and did they look?

 

They scrimmaged at Madison Central on Friday......and I honestly felt sorry for them. If the score would have been kept (which it wasn't), it would have been at least upwards of 70-0 through 3 quarters. MC scored on defense and on punt returns, and was scoring every couple of offensive plays.

 

Iroquois had trouble even lining up and running a play. Needless to say it was nasty.....