A Closer Look with Mark Miller – Week 1
“A Closer Look” with Mark Miller
Week 1 of high school football in Stark County is in the books and it was a very interesting one for sure. The locals went 8-11 in the first week of play with 3 games being between Stark teams (someone had to lose).
Saturday morning my wife asked me if there were any upsets this weekend. I said no because we still do not know how good the teams are this year. We think we know who should have good seasons and who might struggle but until we see them play 3-4 games, we are just guessing.
A few games did get my attention though. I thought Lake-Alliance would be closer than 41-14. GlenOak scoring 51 was a good sign for Coach Garcia’s crew. Jackson’s win over a talented Akron East team was impressive. Fairless beating season opener rival Sandy Valley 31-0 tells us AJ Sarbaugh has another good Falcon team. Perry running the football like Perry wants to was a good sign for Panther fans.
As always there were some individual fireworks as well. For example – the GlenOak Burt brothers combining for 263 yd. and 5 TDs on just 16 carries. Another Green QB throwing for 5 TDs in the first half alone on 12-16 and running for another TD shows they are still a force offensively. Hoover’s Mason Ashby returning the 2nd half kickoff 99 yds. for a TD along with having another 64 yd. return – oh, throw in 2 TD receptions on the night. The Lake QB combo of Cale Jarvis and William Butler has defensive coordinators in the Federal League scratching their heads already after they combined for 5 TDs. Willtrell Hartson from Massillon rushing the ball very well vs. a real good Moeller team. Many others had good nights too and look to be off to great seasons.
A quick check of some rules changes for the ’22 season so we know what to expect. The biggest change is eliminating an intentional grounding call for QB’s that are out of the pocket and throw the ball away across the line of scrimmage. Before if they were not throwing to a receiver with the ball landing in the vicinity of that receiver, it was a penalty. Players can now wear the number 0 on their jersey. Two game clock variations in the last two minutes of each half or following a foul by the defensive team may affect the way a clock runs. And the chop block has been altered slightly in an attempt to make play safer. You will not notice much change.
This week the WHBC radio crew is at Northwest for the Marlington game. Give us a listen, it should be a good one.
