It was obviously a frustrating year for the Triway football team as they started 0-8 and struggled to put points on the board. However, the coaching staff and kids never gave up and seemed to improve little by little as the season went on, eventually making large strides, culminating with 2 wins to end the season, scoring 57 points in the final 2 games. This group of seniors may not have had a great senior season, but they definitely contributed to the last 3 years and were part of something very special here at Triway. They should be very proud of what they were able to accomplish here, and I know many are proud of them, as well.
I don't want to dwell too much on this past season - what's done is done - but here are my brief thoughts:
- First, I think the whole season may have taken a different direction had our young team started the year with a win against West Holmes. Who knew that the Knights would start 4-1? We hung in there and battled, but just couldn't get the big play we needed, and thus started 0-1, and it may have hurt our confidence a little.
- Second, it was tough finding a combination that worked for our offense, so we were forced to shuffle some players around (new QB a few weeks in), and then we had some O-line issues. I think all the moves the coaches made were the right moves and paid off in the end... It just took a while for our kids to gel. They were doing much better towards the end of the season; that is a credit both to the kids and coaches for working hard and sticking with it.
- Third, it was GREAT to finish the year on a 2-game winning streak! The only other teams to score 40+ on Tusky Valley were Coshocton, Manchester, and Indian Valley - all playoff teams. And then we held Timken to 6 points after they were averaging over 29 points per game through the first 9 weeks.
- Fourth, I hate to do this, but there was one player on our team for whom I had really high expectations. I was a little let down... maybe he didn't get the chances, or when he did get them, he wasn't able to capitalize. But he wasn't a Senior this year, so I look forward to bigger contributions from him as someone who was somewhat of a non-factor for us. He could really be a game-changing X-factor if he reaches his potential!
So those are my thoughts. Again, I wanted to keep them brief and generalized. It wasn't the most fun of seasons, but there are some bright spots going into the off-season in preparation for next year! Here are some of my going-forward thoughts:
- We have a real QB in Parker Carmichael! As Dorksen said in the Daily Record, he could threaten Derek's records... but it'll take some hard work and consistency, that's for sure. I think if we give Parker another year in the weight room and more time at the varsity level (assuming he gets time in basketball and baseball), he can get even better physically and mentally! He has a great arm and is pretty athletic, so his potential is exciting! And he was only a Freshman.
- We learned that we have some really versatile players on our offense. Lane Drake did OK in the first few games as the signal-caller, but like his brother, I think we found his athleticism was very well suited for other positions in the offense. He's a versatile and athletic player that we were able to use at WR productively, and he proved later in the season that he has some toughness and is able to carry the ball between the tackles, as well. The same goes for Kearney as far as being versatile, as he was an explosive wide receiver while having a good throwing arm when he needed to throw it in odd situations, and ran hard on a few wildcat plays (and played LB, which surprised me!). Coach Lee has to be happy with the weapons he will have at his disposal next year!
- Marcus Bertsch will be missed on both sides of the ball, but I think we will have kids that can fill his shoes on offense, such as Genet, who did alright once he got more targets in the 2nd half of the season, and Sophomore-to-be Miller, on defense (and offense, too, probably). (I'm sure there are others, but those are 2 that stick out right now.)
- Zody, Bertsch, Fields, and Wadkins will be big losses on our defense. However, I think we found a few young'uns that proved we can depend on them to carry the team if need be - Kearney, Schuler, and Boreman stepped up big this season and showed they can be impact players with great consistency at their respective positions.
- We graduated a number of seniors off of our O- and D-lines. That will be THE key unit I think we need to fill in to be a PAC-7 and playoff contender in 2012. Looking at our kids compared to other PAC-7 teams, I think we could benefit from being in the weight room even more than we already are. The kids are working hard, but maybe we need to ask Massillon (or why not Youngstown!?) what they have in their water, and get some!
So what are your thoughts?
All in all, I am excited for next year. It is great to think that, as a Triway fan, I am now thinking "How can we get back to being a playoff contender and in the race for a PAC-7 championship?" That is a credit to all of the Triway program the last few years. Here's hoping to a successful, motivated, and driven off-season that leads to a fun 2012 season!
Go Titans!
It was obviously a frustrating year for the Triway football team as they started 0-8 and struggled to put points on the board. However, the coaching staff and kids never gave up and seemed to improve little by little as the season went on, eventually making large strides, culminating with 2 wins to end the season, scoring 57 points in the final 2 games. This group of seniors may not have had a great senior season, but they definitely contributed to the last 3 years and were part of something very special here at Triway. They should be very proud of what they were able to accomplish here, and I know many are proud of them, as well.
The senior class is disappointed with how the season went for sure. I know they all had higher expectations, and wanted to carry on the tradition. I do believe the 0-1 start made some of them question the effectiveness of the team.