Friday Night Scores

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• I appreciate hearing from another fan at the game. While we'll disagree on the caliber of the Marshall backs (perhaps I'm biased with all of the HL backs I've seen in recent seasons), I will agree with you that this looked a lot like a game from Milan's 2014 season. They are close, but they needed to make a few more plays to nail down the win. I'm looking for a nice Week 2 upgrade in execution in Milan's home opener.

• From someone who watched the game, Milan dominated for the most part. The defense held strong and only gave up seven points for three quarters with the exception of two big plays in the 4th and one coming off a turnover on Milan's 30. Barnes rushed for over 200 yds and Gray for almost 100. Passing game struggled, but they didn't even need it. They ran the ball up and down the field at will. The missed extra points and short field goal just can't happen. Even after going down, Milan drove 50 yes in 4 minutes down to the 5 before dropping the shotgun snap on first down. A hard game to lose but the kids played their heart out. Prob should have won by 3-4 tds, but you can't make those mistakes. That's why Milan went 4-5 last season. Marshall was an average team, but would finish in the top 4-5 this year in the Huron league. They were very similar to Riverview in my opinion. To say they didn't have good backs is very wrong. # 33 was a monster and a college football player and # 14 had the speed of any back in this league that's for sure. All just opinion, but that's what I saw. Either way you can't give up a 2 touchdown lead in the 4th and making mistakes such as missed extra points will lose games. Not having Trace really hurt. Milan has a good team, but not much depth llike most in this league has under 30 on varsity which is just really sad. They will have a nice season, if they can cut out the stupid mistakes.

  Milan Fan

• I'd like to hear more from folks who were at the Milan-Marshall game. It's easy to freak out based on that score and Marshall's recent history.

  There was certainly plenty of good and bad in that game. Barnes is a flat out gamer. I'd rather see him in the Lindeman role while Trace is out, but the team doesn't seem to have another answer at QB. Barnes and Cortez Gray ran the scissors play out of the shotgun just about all game, even when the defense started to cheat up to stop it. Barnes was able to do well on a decent percentage of his runs despite the stacked D and Gray was able to rip off a few chunk runs when the D would overcommit to Barnes. Aside from a nice WR screen pass to Eric Price, the passing game was not a threat and it really hurt Milan's ability to keep the defense from cheating up on Barnes. Two missed PATs and a missed FG were killers (seemed like bad snaps each time, which is weird for a team that plays exclusively out of the shotgun and had no other snap issues). Also a bit puzzling was Hoskins' decision to go for one (unsuccessfully) with the score 19-7. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and Marshall did miss one of the two PATs they attempted in the 4th quarter. PATs seemed to go well in pregame, but it's different when it's game time.

  Perhaps most troubling to me in that game was Milan's defense. While Marshall didn't have road graders, Milan still seemed a bit undersized up front. Marshall had two backs that they rotated, one was more of a hard nosed kid while the other was a bit more of an athletic glider. Neither kid had the size or speed of many of the HL backs, IMO, but Marshall did a good job after the first quarter of holding onto the ball and killing clock. Their backs ran inside a little bit but did most of their damage turning the corner off-tackle. Having good-but-not-special runners turn the corner on Milan's linebackers is not something that I'm used to seeing.

  While I really thought the Marshall game was one Milan needed to win to get to six wins, it's not all doom and gloom. Milan will have big running plays on offense, but will they be scoring runs? Will those big plays be enough to win games? If they could get more comfortable running a few different plays or having a few different players touch the ball, it would help to loosen up defenses, but players have to be ready to answer the bell. The defense has to get shored up and stay fundamental (can't turn a 15 yard catch into an 80 yard touchdown), and the special teams needs to be a factor in close games. Of course the kicking game needs to be reliable, but I also think that the return game should always be a threat for Milan year in and year out.

  Will Milan be angry this week against FR? I sure hope so. I know the coaches will be angry, but how will the players respond to the loss? This is where football can be more than a test of skill and ability but a test of character and will as well.

• 21-20 wow Chris you think there that bad

• Purely socioeconomic BN. Plain and simple.

  Many families have one car and many times it is an older model that doesn't run well. Most of our students don't drive. They are 16, 17 or even 18, but don't have a license. I have two kids that drive to XC practice right now. Everyone else is driven unless they catch the city bus. I have a girl XC runner who walks three miles to practice with her brother then does the workout then walks home. I would have her run to and from practice, but her brother isn't an athlete. He walks with her purely for safety reasons. I have one soccer player that drives and he usually brings everyone else that shows. Our varsity volleyball team has one girl who drives.

  The most interesting thing is that, kids are kids. They are no different than other kids. Just a socioeconomic thing that most people don't understand. I have numerous stories that would break your heart.

  The other thing I will add is virtually all of my parents work. Many are in lowing paying jobs. Many of our athletes work because the family needs it. Many parents work a low paying mid-night shift job while the children are home alone with siblings.

• what do you attribute that to Chris?

  -bn

• Lets see how sharp Flat Rock is against Milan, and how they react the next 2 weeks. . Then you can see the real "character" . They're all in the honey moon phase over there. Now reality sets in.

  From looking at last years roster...FR is worse than they were last year, especially defensively. Milan and SMCC will have running clocks at halftime. I hope they are healthy for Airport and Jefferson because I think they can move the ball against them, but they won't stop anyone defensively the rest of the year. Summit Academy is abysmal at best, good W for FR.

  Coach Reume has done a nice job...so far, but his biggest job is yet to come once they start getting banged up and playing real HL Football. If he can over come that and keep them competitive then I will be impressed. I'd say 4 JV teams in the HL would beat Summit.

• Summit is not like a JV team. They had some big kids with some good skill people. The coaching at Summit wasn't the greatest. The two real good charter school programs are Chandler Park and Michigan Collegiate. They both have very good head coaches. Most people don't understand what goes on at a school like Summit. They will get better as the year goes on. Summits kids are from all over. I am willing to bet the a third of their kids miss practice on a regular basis. Once school starts, kids are already at school so attendance goes up at practice. Another thing that hurts, is that kids don't get physicals in on time and they can't practice or play until they have them. They lose pad time if they don't have their physicals in because there is an acclimation period before you are allowed to hit.

  The school I work at has the same problem. I get complaints because we start practice before the first day of school. Our soccer team is a perfect example. We currently have five players with physicals. We had 18 on the team last season and over 20 signed up this year. We practice with 5 kids. When school stars we will get the rest. We have already canceled 2 matches and may have to cancel 2 more.

  We bring a doctor into school the first day of practice for all sports. We had 3 students get physicals.

• I'm glad Flat Rock won a game. Good for them, but please understand that Summit is like a JV team. Thank god Huron doesn't play them anymore...... Or do they???? lol

• Marshall was not a bad team and would finish 4-5 in the Huron league. Traditionally always been a good football school. Won a state title in 09. Milan was up two touchdowns in the 4th and gave up some big plays. Missed extra points, turnovers etc. no excuses. Milan has to be better, but is still a top team in this league. Please overlook us. It's exactly what our kids need.

  Milan Dad