Russelldad

The argument was, the russell player waved for a fair catch and they ran into him. It should have been a flag and Russells ball.

I sure hope that our student's and fans come out this week. Last week's crowd against East C, was pitiful by Russell standards. I was running late and got there about 30 minutes before kickoff and went ahead and parked far away to save time trying to find spots close to the HANK, only to walk past 6 or 10 prime spots still not taken. Student section was not even 1/2 full. I know it was 1 vs 4, but it is playoff time and the more noise we make, the more the boys feed off that noise, and I believe they play with a tad bit more energy. --- As far as comparing the 1st meeting with this one, Not only did Russell make numerous mistakes on special teams and pass plays, but they also shot themselves in the foot 3 times inside the Mason 10 yard line with penalties(block below the waist, hold and false start). That cost us a potential 21 points, because of all 3 occasions the penalties resulted in us getting 0 points. Then we had the long run by Bates with the game tied, only to lose the ball on a fumble. If I could give any advice to the team this week, it would be to just "play within yourself". Do not try to make a 6 yard completion or run into a 70 yard gallop when 3 guys are hanging on or surrounding you. Just take what they are giving and go back for the next play. Oh and one more thing for those players who read these posts, "We are so proud of YOU!!" :thumb:

I believe that if Belfry loses to Johnson Central they will stay right where they are at. Unless Brethitt pulls off a huge win, and shows that they are at the caliber to beat Belfry. Then maybe Brethitt will move up to number 1. Although dont look over Ivan Mcglone and his squad, they came alive second half against Raceland and just from sitting in the stands I could see a team that might end up in the Ville.

my apologies LRCW. I just thought they were in poor taste. Oh well onward and upward. Congrats to Mr. Farley the AD for putting on a great pre-game. Senior night was really good, the honorary captains and coach were a nice touch. But the best was having "bottomline" do the national anthem. Food was great too! Just checked the russell site. Mr. Meadows has some really nice pictures from last nights game. The first 40 to 50 were all pre-game shots which were a nice touch

I too was very proud and impressed with the sportsmanship that was shown on the field last night. Numerous times players were helping other players after plays. I saw Terry and Foster (both 53's) lock horns during a play and then after the whistle help each other up. Then at the end of the game I purposely watched each player during handshakes and saw several kids give not just handslaps but hugs as well. :thumb::thumb:

Thought I was just making an observation, but I gues it could be looked at as a "little" criticism. But if I remember right, we didn't handle 1 punt or kickoff clean . After 1st score - Kickoff went through up-man's hands (Recovered) After 2nd score - Went off up-man's hands (Recovered) 2nd half kickoff - (I think we got that one clean- but not sure) After 3rd score - Went off deep mans hands (Recovered -returned only a few yards) After 1st punt - went through return guy's hands (Lost fumble) 2nd punt - don't remember 3rd Punt - muffed but recovered. As the weather gets a little chillier(sp?), it is SO important to catch and hold onto punts/passes/kickoffs. And for that fact (handoff's, runs and snaps)That's why I made my suggestion about getting what you could on the play and go down. (I heard Ivan make the exact same comment on the radio after the lawrence co game-so it must be good advice)

I could not agree with you more!!! That play took all the momentum from one side(Mason) of the field and moved it back over to the other (Russell). On Russell's radio post-game show they awarded that player with their "hit of the game". I also was sort of surprised that Mason didn't pass as much as I thought they would, but the run was there as you mentioned. Good luck to Mason next week against Fleming. Is it as big a rivalry as Russell /Ashland ?

6 oclock it is then. Of course I could just have my "driver" drop me off and pick me up after the game (LOL).

The last time I talked to the Raceland AD, he told me that he was going to have all the portable stands from the other facilities brought in for the game. That includes the Baseball,softball, JFL and tennis facilities. My concern is the parking. How early can raceland folks tell me, I need to be there to get a decent spot and not have to park down by the new high school. --- Now my 2 cents on the Jones debate. If his ankle is as bad at everyone seems to think, If I was going to play him, it would only be 1 way (offense or defense) and since he was moved back to DE last week, I think another week on defense would probably be better for him than offense where he may be forced to run/scramble etc. I do believe that Cordle can do an excellent job of running the offense. Our backs/receivers need to get better at holding onto the ball and to know when to go down instead of fighting for that extra 1 yard when 4 guys are on you holding you up while the others work on stripping the ball. I believe it will be a great game with a great atmosphere.

Once again you have hit the nail on the head FBall. Those 4 would not let a defender catch a ball in front of them without defending the attempt. They had confidence in their abilities and each other to do that, which is what I think this group is missing. As far as being Raw, I would hope that by 3 scrimmages and 7 games they would be farther along than they are. I know that by next year when they are all seniors that may change, but as you said fball they need help now. I think size has something to do with it as well. None of our current four are very tall in stature and their footspeed is not like the last 4. The smallest player (Frazier) made up for his size with speed and Lewis though only around 6ft (if that tall) was just very good at not letting players get behind him. Clark and Sizemore had both speed and size. I also agree that a cover-2 might help, but that is just our opinion. But I do have the utmost confidence in Coach Morris and his defensive staff that after watching this past friday's tape that he will make any and all adjustments that he can make with the personnel he has. I do believe though that this Friday's game will be close. I hope that our senior players and captains step up on monday and address the team and restore the confidence that some may have lost after the game, because a win on Friday is MUCH MUCH more important in the scheme of things playoff wise than the tough loss on Friday night.

Sorry you can't make it this weekend. Would have loved to catch up on things. We'll see what we can do about that for you. Maybe you and I can root for 2 teams that weekend:thumb::thumb: But first off, it's SK vs Russell. Senior Night. Cool Weather. No grass between the 30's on IMF. Gotta love this time of year.

I'm glad someone finally brought this to the discussion. Senior Night, for these 20+ senior's is hopefully going to bring out that little "extra" spark for Ivan's team that he has been looking for all year. Add that to the fact that this group also does not want to be the one who breaks the streak. I agree that it will be an awesome game to watch.

okay I understand where your going. thanks RaiderNation. I was just going on what I heard Coach Smith saying to the player about not coming to the sidelines on a dead ball. I still think thought that acting that way at any high school level event whether sports, academics or classroom does more damage to a young person's self-esteem, and self-worth about themselves than it does help. I have coached Youth Sports for years and I have never seen one instance when calling a kid out like that in front of teammates, friends, family and fans has ever turned out for the good. Good luck to the Raiders the rest of the season.

(previous quote)There is no staff anywhere in our area that can compare to the wisdom and experience and talent of the Russell staff, particularly the coaching triumvirate of McGlone, Jones, and Morris. I could not agree with you more about these three. I would also have to add Hurley and Locey. All do an excellent job of both coaching and teaching during the game. The only one that really puzzles me is Smith. Two or three times I have seen him get in players faces and rant and rave. Case in point, at East Carter game, there were probably 4 minutes to go in the game and Russel was up 28 to 3. And a flag was thrown on a punt by Russell. At the same time an East player was down on the ground. One of the Russell kids walked over to check on the player and when Smith seen him do that he yelled and got into the face of the russell player berating and embarassing him in front of his teammates and all of the fans, about not coming straight to the sideline and letting the coaches take care of their players. He was yelling so loud at him that I could hear some 50 yards away on the other side of the field. I watched the player try to tell him what he was doing but Smith didn't give him a chance and sent him straight to the bench. Personally, I don't think any coach at this level needs to act that way towards any player. As I said earlier, these are 15,17 year old kids and acting that way can often do more harm than good. Besides embarrasing the player it also makes the rest of the coaching staff look bad. Maybe he needs to take some pointers from McGlone, Morris, Jones, Hurley and Locey.

Thanks, oldrambler. Just speaking from the heart. I've been reading some other posts about Russell players walking around everywhere, and what people have to realize is that of the 80-90 players on the team, only 15 to 16 are players are playing any significant time. I know that guys like Jones, Foster, bailey, abrams are playing every snap of every possession including special teams. The only rotation I see on offense is Max Rogers, for Bates and Bender at the end position opposite M. Dillon. On defense, Hicks, spells Dixon and Bender for a few plays and Cornwell gets spelled for a couple of plays by Jacob Moore. Other come in for 3 or 4 plays here and there, but that's it. Last year with that crop of seniors, guys could get whole series off on defense sometimes. We just don't have the same depth this year. Hopefully we can have some backup/role guys continue to step up in practice and maybe by playoff time we can give some of those players a series off at the beginning of the game. That way they will be fresher in the 4th qtr and not walking around.

let's see Reason for East's to play hard and with ALOT more emotion; 1. Playing at home 2. It's Homecoming 3. They are underdogs on their home turf 4. They haven't beaten Russell in ???? years 5. The opponent is Russell I don't intend to be mean FBall, but it's the same story every week with your first post at the end of the game. (Flat, Unspired, no emotion, can't play that way, etc etc etc). I stood directly behind the bench and I heard every Sr. Captain walking around telling the other players before the opening kickoff to "ruin their homecoming celebration" "step it up" etc. Yes, East took the ball down deep into our territory on the first drive, but the defense did stiffen up and force a field goal. East did make deep into our territory 2 other times, once on a punt return that should have been called back with 2 blocks in the back in clear site of an official, and the other when the 2nd team defense was in. I do agree with you that the MVP was the o-line tonight. With 11 men stacked in the box, it made blocking lanes hard to create,but I thought they did a good job. Jones was a little long on several passes that were open tonight, but did hit a few shorter passes that turned into long runs. He was most definetly favoring his leg tonight, that's why I'm glad he was only used sparingly on defense. Once again, I apologize if my opening statement is harsh, I just want folks to understand these are 16, 17 year old student-athetles out there and we need as fans to do our part to build them up and talk about the many positives and not dwell on the one or two negatives.

thanks

I agree with you here FBALL. I watched as the devils came out to the middle of the field during the "here come the devils" and the only person seemingly fired up, banging helmets, whooping it up was A Foster. I watched him during that 1st TD drive walking around the d-line trying to pump some life into them. I watched him last week at Boyd, pacing the sidelines back and forth during the opening kickoff, then as soon as the ball was spotted running out to the defensive huddle banging his head with his helmet before he put it on. He seems to play with a chip on his shoulder on defense and offense. I know that he can't stand it when the backs miss their running lane on a pull play. Maybe between his fire and Tyler's intense hitting we can create us a "two-headed" monster combination to light the teams fire from play 1. I did notice that he was back on kickoffs tonight so he wasn't pacing the sideline like last week. But, I do believe the opponent has something to do with the other guys maybe coming out a little flat. That's why next weeks opponent Ashland should not be a let down game, (unless the guys read our posts about scores and an 0-3 record)

does that include special team totals? Because I saw him make at least 2 or if not three unassisted tackles on kickoffs. just curious? thanks for the stats !! I really enjoy them

[quote name= Tyler Jones is just a monster. MONSTER. Fantastic player. Great job by the Devils tonight! :ylsuper:[/quote] Tyler did make some nice plays tonight, but the guy I saw making the big hits tonight was Adam Foster. On 4 straight kickoffs he brought down the return guy. He then had a real nice interception where he stayed home and didn't buy into the belly-fake by the offense. I said this last week, but seems like to me each game he is getting better and better. Evan, Tobey and Adam also opened some very nice holes for the backs tonight. Russell 3-0 Ashland 0-3 (sounds like the making of a "trap" game), but after last year's loss at Ashland, I don't see Russell have a let down against them.

100 % guarantee if they beat Ironton. Even though this is the weakest Ironton team in the last 10+ years. But I must confess the stories have evened up over the last 3 or 4 yrs

thanks gang. I really appreciate it.

does anybody know if the game is being web-streamed on any station? My family is out of town and wants to listen to the game if possible

One thing that the football boosters considered very heavily last year was a "hall of fame" wall. It was going to be opened to any sport or academic achievement that anyone wanted to honor current or former students. We had went through all the channels and had it approved to do, but we put it on hold because we had a few of fund raisers going on and we wanted to get them done first. Anyway, I'm sure that if there was an interest from the public to do so, we could look at getting it up and going again.