Buckeye Community Midget Football League - BCMFL

Since I like to talk about sports, how about a little mention to the little guys of the gridiron? The recent weekend of games for the BCMFL saw our upper division team of Upper Grey shut-out the team of Jefferson Red 20-0. Our lower division team of Lower Red also blanked their opponent of Jefferson Black with a 24-0 win. The final game of the league's teams was the Lower Grey who won a thriller in overtime 24-18 over the Geneva White! I can only give some stats from the Lower Grey team since I was at that game (Of course I was, my son plays for them!). We started right out of the gate with Aaron Pocatko rumbling for a 65 yard touchdown only to have it called back due to a block in the back halfway down field. All was forgiven as the offense then resorted to running the ball straight up the middle on three consecutive gains of eight yards or more. The offensive line was superb in getting off the ball and opening up running lanes for our backs. By halftime the score was now 12-6 with the Grey leading. The second half saw a turnaround as the Geneva team gave up trying to run in the middle against our stout little defensive line and found that if they could break on the corner, their running back could rip off yards in big chunks. He led the Geneva team to take the lead 18-12 until the fourth quarter when our Grey team made a discovery of their own...they could pass the ball and do it effectively! The score was tied 18 all when with time running down, the Grey began a drive at our own 17 yard line and through some serious moxie had driven all the way to the Geneva 20 yard line before a bad snap got away from our QB and was recovered by Geneva. Overtime was now on. We have a one possession each set-up from the 10 yard line...four plays to make it happen and happen it did for the Grey when on fourth and 14 (we lost yards on consecutive run attempts) we connected for a lead taking touchdown. All that was left was for our defense to stop the Geneva sweep play that was working so effectively. We shut down the attempted sweeps on three straight plays and forced them to try a pass play of their own on fourth and 8. They pass was completed but, the receiver was immediately swamped by our defensive end who had intelligently spread out wide to maintain the edge and help on pass coverage! With pressure coming from up the middle the Geneva quarterback threw a desperation pass to his receiver and that was all she wrote as our end took him down with no gain on the play...the celebration was on! Quite the exciting game for the young guys and we had to give credit to Geneva for hanging in there when down early and not giving up after our overtime touchdown. Well played guys and the Lower Grey now has an even 1-1 record. Aaron Pocatko was the offensive star with almost a hundred yards rushing and over a hundred yards passing connecting on 9 of 11 attempts! Way to go Aaron! I wouldn't be a Dad if I didn't give my son Dale Sheldon and the rest of the line some credit for both giving the quarterback time to pass and opening the running lanes on offense (Dale is our center) and being stout in the middle on defensive side as well (Dale also plays the nose guard position). The whole team played very well and they deserved the win for their effort! We can't wait to host our first game next week as we begin a three game home stand at Corlew Stadium. As a side note, our local High School (Edgewood) has invited all the players and cheerleaders from the BCMFL to the Friday night game and will be introduced to the fans in pregame activities! Thank you to Edgewood for giving them some public notice! Good luck to all our teams this weekend!

Pre-Season game three review...

 Jake Delhomme looked pretty darn good and that's good for us. A veteran quarterback may be what this team has needed with a solid line. The left side of the line isn't going to allow a lot of hurries or sacks from what I've been able to see. The right side is better but, after the last couple seasons, better is all they could do so we'll see. Our recievers still look young and at times a bit confused. I believe Jake will help with that department. The backfield isn't going to scare defenses but, they will have to be aware of them as Jerome Harrison proved at the end of the year last season. Ignore them and you may pay in a very big way. Lawrence Vickers has got to be one of the most punishing blockers in the NFL! You have to believe that Rob Ryan is keeping his blitz packages close to the vest and doesn't want any offenses to see what he may or may not do in a regular season game (I hope!). BTW moment of the week for me-I bet my wife ten years ago we would see Bernie Kosar in some type of coaching position with the Browns by this season. She won and now I get to give her a movie, and dinner of her location choices. Not a bad bet on my part. We tend to like the same movie types and food for that matter as well, so not a boo-hoo moment for me. Does anyone think that Big Ben's suspension without any type of conviction legally will open the eyes of many players as to how they will behave publicly in the future or, have the players already gone over the edge with their collective ego's and it's going to unfortunately take a much more serious downfall to wake them up? I love watching these atheletes do things I could NEVER dream of and the entertainment value has been steadily climbing each season with their continued improving abilities. However, the number of law clashes, press clashes, and outright stupid behavior seems to be on a meteoric rise and I am afraid of how far they may go thinking they are entitled because they are who they are. The generation of "Don't you know who I am? I'm fill in the blank! So you give me what I want now or go #*$ yourself!" sadly seems to be getting larger. Their boorish behavior is a serious black eye to the sport and one can only hope that commish Goodell contiues with his holding players responsible for their disrespectful behaviors and also continues to drop the hammer on those that deserve it! End of this daily or weekly or whatever blog! Have a great thing that you do!

2010 Season inching closer

 The Browns have completed two pre-season contyests and the results are mixed. Looked fairly decent in game 1 and looked fairly troublesome in game 2. I have no visions of granduer as far as our season record goes but, I would like to see us compete at a higher level than seasons past and be a team that others can no longer afford to look past. I like the veteran QB pickups and the LB additions. The draft was favorable for building a defense that can intimidate and as always we have a Special Teams corp that really is special. Don't believe the preseason power rankings as I believe after the top five, most writers are just filling in the blanks randomly. I've seen us ranked as low as 30th and as high as 24th so, that's about what we deserve based on previous performance. Questions leading into game 3 of the pre-season...Is Colt McCoy really on the bubble when it comes to a roster spot? Will we see a little more of a blitzing packages to pressure ANY quarterback or are we waiting for the actual real games? Will the Browns dump Mangini if we hit the skids right away or will he finish the season? Is Montario Hardesty a true future NFL running back? <--(we need to see him to judge don't we?) Anyhow, 5pm tonight we'll get a look at which team shows up...effective ball movement team or drop the ball at every opposing contact team. Much more to come all!