First hour was alternating 10 plays format that did not lead to any scoring.

 

Both teams ran basic plays and the defenses were ahead of the offenses.

 

Neither team moved the ball all that well and both coaches used all the players eventually.

 

 

Second part of the scrimmage was down and distance. Each team's starting unit got 3 possessions.

 

Holy Cross went first and scored after facing a 3 and 7 early on. Then on 4th and 8 from the 32 the Holy Cross receiver simply outjumped the Dayton defender at the 1 yard line for a nice completion. 6-0 Holy Cross.

 

Dayton then went and fumbled on the second play.

 

Holy Cross took over and when facing a 4th and 8 had the QB lose the ball while scrambling. Dayton picked it up and went in for a TD but as the runner crossed the 5 yard line somebody did a no-no 25 yards away and was flagged for the personal foul.

 

So Dayton took over around the 50. Drove the ball nicely and they would score on a nice pass and run from about the 15. PAT was ummm ...short. 6-6.

 

Holy Cross took their third possession in for a score after a huge run from the QB as he avoided about a 15 yard sack and turned that into about a 25 yard gain. Eventually punched it in for a 13-6 lead.

 

Dayton's third possession went for some yardage but Holy Cross was able to stop them on 4th and 12 from about the 50.

 

Then they went to the #2s so I left.

 

Overall thoughts:

 

**Dayton misses Heightchew as expected on offense. Their best play is the option straight down the line and pitching the ball.

 

**Holy Cross is big on offense, but goes smaller on defense as I expect they are trying to not have players go both ways. Interesting if that will last throughout the season.

 

**Dayton is not deep, not all that big, and that will be a problem versus Beechwood. If this were a regular season game I think Holy Cross would have worn down the Devils in the second half. They should be okay against Ludlow and Bellevue because they hang in their well.

 

**Holy Cross QB is a slinger but his running on scrambles accounted for more yards than any other type of play for the Indians.

 

**From what I saw HC should be in the mix for the 2A district and Dayton should be in the mix for the #2 spot in the 1A district

Excellent report APNW!

Excellent report APNW!

 

If they would have had a concession stand it would have been better. No Pepsi is not a good thing.:bunny:

LOL

Daytons defense was nasty at the beginning but sitting on the sideline while the jv played looked like it bored them. But one of Daytons runningback ran a sweep and would have scored an 85 yrd TD but they had meshes on which was hanging and he got choked so he had to go down. HC and Dayton both wore white

Big problem here that isn't being mentioned is Dayton played their #2 and #3 QB's... Ellis was out... he was wearing a knee brace and instructing from the sideline... he's important... has been preparing for this job for two years behind Hightchew(and under Lickert)...

 

and while were on the subject, the little lightning quick receiver and punt returner was out also... Young I think is his name...

 

and while were on the subject, Dayton's center was also out with an undisclosed injury. He's not big, but has good technique and is important cause it allows them to put their bulkier experienced players at their natural postion (guard) instead of center because they are the only option...

 

bottom line is, I don't know about Holy Cross, though I did see one kid in crutches on the sideline, but bottom line... Dayton is pretty beat up right now, especially for a class A school... they need to get healthy fast if they want to play with those big schools they have at the beginning of the season...

 

While I thought Holy Cross' line was pretty big, and their QB was decent, I thought the Greendevils did a poor job of applying pressure... they have a couple big kids of their own on the D line but someone needs to tell those big tall boys to coil up and fire out on D...

 

Holy Crosses running game is most effective when they put a big strong body a step behing the QB and run dive... or power... or when they line up 2 fullbacks and lead them to the hole and dare any filling linebacker to split them...

 

As I said, HC's QB was decent, but his receivers aren't as good as the boys from last season IMO, so sometimes he seems a little quick to take off... seemed a little arrogant to me sometimes in his body language towards his teammates on the field... JMO...

 

in reference to above... the "nastiest" defense all night was HC's in the second series... and I viewed it as almost excessive for a scrimmage. While it is football, there are unwritten rules for scrimmages. A Dayton receiver absolutely LIT UP on the sideline after a clearly uncatchable ball was thrown his way. Yes, he jumped, but the ball went sailing over his head, and the hit came after the ball hit the ground... right in the kids open ribs as he was reaching upward... borderline bush IMO...

 

I don't think it was a guarantee the referred to sweep would have went for 6. Yes, it was bound to be a 15 or 20 yard gainer, but we didn't get to see what happened with the safety and backside corner pursuit who are often TD savers in runs like that... the part about the meshes, well... thats part of the scrimmage... and I in no way am a HC supporter...

ESPN Guy,

 

What do you think of Dayton using the shotgun formation always? Do you think they need to line-up under center occasionally and just be able to run the ball? Heightchew could always get some positive yards out of that formation but I can see teams stacking and sending and daring the Greendevils to beat them with the pass.

 

I thought Dayton got some decent pressure on the QB at times but didn't contain him. Pass defense was decent coverage-wise and quite frankly they dropped a couple of picks. They did give up some yardage on first down when HC ran the ball but stiffened and plays after that.

 

Agree on the Holy Cross QB. He reminds of a little of Farve in that he will try to gun it in there where it ain't going to fit (then again why not in a scrimmage) and he does have that swagger that QBs have. Some balls look great, others look bad, but its early and as you mentioned the wide receivers aren't as good as previously.

 

Dayton can't have any injuries especially when they meet the Beechies.

Is Dayton running the triple exclusively like last year.

good reporting ESPNguy and APNW....look forward to you guys giving us good game analysis on the Greenie Weenies this year. : )

ESPN Guy,

 

What do you think of Dayton using the shotgun formation always? Do you think they need to line-up under center occasionally and just be able to run the ball? Heightchew could always get some positive yards out of that formation but I can see teams stacking and sending and daring the Greendevils to beat them with the pass.

 

I thought Dayton got some decent pressure on the QB at times but didn't contain him. Pass defense was decent coverage-wise and quite frankly they dropped a couple of picks. They did give up some yardage on first down when HC ran the ball but stiffened and plays after that.

 

Agree on the Holy Cross QB. He reminds of a little of Farve in that he will try to gun it in there where it ain't going to fit (then again why not in a scrimmage) and he does have that swagger that QBs have. Some balls look great, others look bad, but its early and as you mentioned the wide receivers aren't as good as previously.

 

Dayton can't have any injuries especially when they meet the Beechies.

 

They can occasionally go under center if they want to... teams stacked the box against them last year also and they came out ok sometimes, sometimes they didn't...

 

the coverage actually I thought was good... seemed like they were usually in the right spot, but sometimes just got out jumped or "heighted"... they did drop a couple picks that would've been nice plays had they been made...

 

yeah the #1 goal for the next 2 weeks has to be to get those guys healthy and on the field...

Once again, HC provided some questionable cheapshots (IMO). On the other hand, one of Dayton's guys failed to utilize his brain when they were clearly going to score and was called for unnecessary roughness when the closest defender to the would be scorer was 25-30 yards away. That kind of play needs to be cleaned up, or the zebras are going to have a field day when the season starts and the coaches are going to have mega doses of blood pressure medicine. BTW, I can assure you that the zebras with nads won't stand for the amount of whining exhibited by the HC coach once the season starts

The bad thing about the kid who had a cheap shot is he is a 3 year starter and should no better. No excuses for that but yes Young and Ellis would have made a difference with providing more speed to a Dayton team that was already fast and getting after it all night. It will be interesting to see how teams handle the speed of the recievers.

Once again, HC provided some questionable cheapshots (IMO). On the other hand, one of Dayton's guys failed to utilize his brain when they were clearly going to score and was called for unnecessary roughness when the closest defender to the would be scorer was 25-30 yards away. That kind of play needs to be cleaned up, or the zebras are going to have a field day when the season starts and the coaches are going to have mega doses of blood pressure medicine. BTW, I can assure you that the zebras with nads won't stand for the amount of whining exhibited by the HC coach once the season starts

 

Did anyone see the cheap shot that was taken on a HC receiver across the middle? Well for you that didn't see it...a HC receiver got his jimmies racked.

I dont remember any HC receiver being cheap shoted. But Dayton should be healthy to start the season Young and Ellis were out with the coaches choosing not to risk re-injury when they need to be healthy to start the season. In the first five games including pre-season they play HC,Sk,Holmes,Scott, and the beechies to start the season. Thats a a difficult scheduele for a 1a team to start the season with most of there players starting both ways so they need to be healthy. If not its going to be a long season for the devils.

How about the big DI(?) lineman Dayton has, how did he look? or did anyone notice?