#6 would be much better at WR, than at RB. I do think he'd be a beast taking snaps out of the Wildcat, and he can be a factor in the return game too. There's ways to get him the ball, without just throwing it to him. I do think he can be more than just a deep threat though... he has the tools to be pretty good. If he can run routes, he'll be a complete WR.

The offensive line will probably look something like this...

LT: Patterson
LG: Pape
C: Arranz or Baron
RG: Pape
RT: Wagner

Attendance for the team workouts have been ok... I think they're getting like 25-30 a day. They've been working hard though.

The coaches have been taking the workouts very seriously. I haven't been there to see first hand, but I know that Coach K and Co. have really been stressing the importance of offseason lifting.

And rumors are that Anthony Lariccia and Eric Kosmo (former Mooney Cardinal), among others, are gonna come out for football this year.

The Cats defense also needs to step up. They need to start sticking people again. Too much grabbing last year.

Diet Coke;1074938 wrote:The Cats defense also needs to step up. They need to start sticking people again. Too much grabbing last year.

I agree. They really need to start hitting hard again... but more than anything, they need to start wrapping up, finishing tackles, and gang tackling.

These kids believe. If you have the right attitude, you can big things. The whole team has to buy in though, not just a few. I always feel like there's a few kids who believe, and then a bunch of cancers on the team. Hopefully they don't exist this year. With such a brutal schedule, i really feel like the kids need to take initiative to be successful. Yeah 5-5 is ok, but thats just it. Its OK. The basketball team beats Canfield and Poland, why can't the football team? No reason they can't!
Has anyone heard anything on the pre-season games? I feel they need to get thumped at least once. Maybe a Catholic school like Mooney can get them ready for their brutal schedule. Hopefully they don't schedule stiffs for those games..

Spread All Day;1075403 wrote:These kids believe. If you have the right attitude, you can big things. The whole team has to buy in though, not just a few. I always feel like there's a few kids who believe, and then a bunch of cancers on the team. Hopefully they don't exist this year. With such a brutal schedule, i really feel like the kids need to take initiative to be successful. Yeah 5-5 is ok, but thats just it. Its OK. The basketball team beats Canfield and Poland, why can't the football team? No reason they can't!
Has anyone heard anything on the pre-season games? I feel they need to get thumped at least once. Maybe a Catholic school like Mooney can get them ready for their brutal schedule. Hopefully they don't schedule stiffs for those games..

I've been saying that for years. Glad to see you're coming around.

A scrimmage against Mooney would be awesome.

Let's hope that they can find at least one Juggernaut to scrimmage. They don't play any cupcakes, so why scrimmage any? Both contact scrimmages should be against tough teams.

For what it's worth, they did scrimmage 3 pretty good teams last year... Indian Creek (8-3, #8 seed in D3R11), Southern Local (9-1, finished #9 in D5R17), and Steubenville (11-1, #1 seed in D3R11).

True, but they need to keep doing it!

Spread All Day;1075935 wrote:True, but they need to keep doing it!

Agreed.

Coach really has these kids looking up! Not settling for bad or mediocre seasons. I feel an attitude from this coach, as if he has something to prove. Brutal schedule, but the Cats have a ton coming back. Looking forward to an exciting fall in the Jungle!

Struthers will be on the bubble in 2013, with the addition of the 7th division.

They may drop to D4... they may stay in D3.

They're currently at 296 male students. The cutoff for D3 is 288. 3 years ago, they were at 284. They're going to be either a big D4 school, or a small D3 school.

Looking at the other teams in the AAC, Canfield, Howland, and Niles, will comfortably fit into D3. Hubbard will be D4... they're currently at 279. Poland is in the same boat as Struthers. They're currently at 300, but that number is expected to decrease if Poland starts charging $500 per student, per sport. Beaver Local is leaving the conference after the 2012-2013 school year.

Struthers is at 296. That number will probably go down some, with Struthers getting rid of open enrollment. The question is, will they lose enough kids to drop down to D4?

I'm also wondering how the Harbin points will be set up...

Here's some controversy...

Struthers/Campbell is the oldest rivalry in Mahoning County. But when you compare the schedules in 2013, Struthers will be a D3/D4 school playing mostly D3 and D4 schools. Campbell will be a D6 school playing mostly D5 schools.

Campbell has more to gain by playing Struthers, and Struthers has very little to gain... as far as Harbin points are concerned.

What's more important? Tradition and rivalries... or Harbin points.

Struthers could easily drop Campbell from the schedule, replace them with a bigger school that'd bring more Harbin points to the table, and still have the Struthers/Poland rivalry to fall back on.

But it'd mean turning their back on a very fierce and storied rivalry...

What do the Campbell guys think? Would you blame Struthers if they dropped Campbell from the schedule? I'm guessing the week 1 deal, and really the entire rivalry, is only scheduled to run through the 2013 season.

Should Struthers/Campbell continue into 2014 and beyond? It's worth discussing.

If Struthers is going to play one smaller school each year, then it should be Campbell.....

Depending on the new computer points system, I would think beating a Campbell team with 7 or more wins would give the
Cats enough computer points towards the playoffs.

The real concern would be playing some fairly good non-conference teams. Some good DIII teams could be out of the Stark County area...
Louisville, Canton South, Alliance, Marlington, West Branch, Minerva,etc.....

If you are looking at DII....then we'll have to get on the bus and head up to the greater Akron-Cleveland area.....

or we could take our chances at the DI level with Boardman, Fitch, or East I guess....

Struthers problem is that under the new alignments starting in 2013 is they are still one of the smallest DIII schools enrollment wise....

Latest numbers I saw show the Cats at 296......DivisionIV starts at 287 I believe....so it may be possible that the Cats could be a "bubble" team
each year when the fall enrollment numbers come out.....

BTrev;1144130 wrote:Here's some controversy...

Struthers/Campbell is the oldest rivalry in Mahoning County. But when you compare the schedules in 2013, Struthers will be a D3/D4 school playing mostly D3 and D4 schools. Campbell will be a D6 school playing mostly D5 schools.

Campbell has more to gain by playing Struthers, and Struthers has very little to gain... as far as Harbin points are concerned.

What's more important? Tradition and rivalries... or Harbin points.

Struthers could easily drop Campbell from the schedule, replace them with a bigger school that'd bring more Harbin points to the table, and still have the Struthers/Poland rivalry to fall back on.

But it'd mean turning their back on a very fierce and storied rivalry...

What do the Campbell guys think? Would you blame Struthers if they dropped Campbell from the schedule? I'm guessing the week 1 deal, and really the entire rivalry, is only scheduled to run through the 2013 season.

Should Struthers/Campbell continue into 2014 and beyond? It's worth discussing.

What are you serious? Man BTrev you almost got me there... LOL... It already happen before. The rivalry was killed off after the 93 season. and it was brought back cause of the reason every knows. These two schools are bitter rivals. the best rivalry in my mind. there have been a ton of wars between them. last years game should be a example. they killed Campbell's playoffs. Although i still think a few kids quit before the game was even started. But wow you guys got to feel that pride of sticking it to Campbell. A very good Campbell team. At least when they felt like being a good team. The Cats are the only team last year to beat Campbell by a big margin. As Diet Coke said Campbell will have more wins then L's with our coaching system. So No way i would ever kill the rivalry. I will feel very bad if you guys don't get to drop a division cause you are either going to be a very very low Div 3 or one of the top div 4. With getting rid of Open Enrollment as you said will sure to lower the number some by then... I look for Struthers to drop to Div 4.

BTrev;1144130 wrote:Here's some controversy...

Struthers/Campbell is the oldest rivalry in Mahoning County. But when you compare the schedules in 2013, Struthers will be a D3/D4 school playing mostly D3 and D4 schools. Campbell will be a D6 school playing mostly D5 schools.

Campbell has more to gain by playing Struthers, and Struthers has very little to gain... as far as Harbin points are concerned.

What's more important? Tradition and rivalries... or Harbin points.

Struthers could easily drop Campbell from the schedule, replace them with a bigger school that'd bring more Harbin points to the table, and still have the Struthers/Poland rivalry to fall back on.

But it'd mean turning their back on a very fierce and storied rivalry...

What do the Campbell guys think? Would you blame Struthers if they dropped Campbell from the schedule? I'm guessing the week 1 deal, and really the entire rivalry, is only scheduled to run through the 2013 season.

Should Struthers/Campbell continue into 2014 and beyond? It's worth discussing.

If Struthers is going to play a smaller school each year, it should be Campbell. We are not talking about a rivalry that just started or is dominated by one school over the other. This has been a great rivalry for many decades. It's always a tough, physical game that usually has a great deal on the line, like the games have over the past couple of years. In 2010, Campbell beat Struthers which qualified the Red Devils for the playoffs. In 2011, Struthers beat Campbell which kept the Red Devils out of the playoffs. If Campbell's program were in the gutter like it was 5 or 10 years ago, I could see Struthers possibly considering dropping them from the schedule. But Campbell's program is on the rise.

I don't like Campbell. I never want to be in Campbell. Unless its seeing the cats beat them. Struthers should keep playing them as long as Campbell's program is s still decent. How long will sikora stay? Not sure. So they very well could be in the gutter again. Let's hope not for the sake of the rivalry.

Spread All Day;1144206 wrote:I don't like Campbell. I never want to be in Campbell. Unless its seeing the cats beat them. Struthers should keep playing them as long as Campbell's program is s still decent. How long will sikora stay? Not sure. So they very well could be in the gutter again. Let's hope not for the sake of the rivalry.

If were 'decent' with 2 league titles and 2 playoff appearances in 3 years......what does that make you?

I agree with most of you. If there's any small school that they should keep on the schedule, it is Campbell.

When they stopped playing each other back in the 90s, it was because there were hard feelings between the schools after the MVC folded and Campbell wasn't invited to join the MAC. I don't think it had anything to do with the two cities moving in opposite directions, in terms of enrollment... did it? When they started playing each other again in 1999, they were both D4.

I don't know that they've really ever been further apart in enrollment as they are now... I mean Struthers probably has twice as many boys as Campbell. If Campbell keeps losing students like they've been, it won't be long before they do drop to D7.

It just seems like there's more for Struthers to lose... there's more risk than reward. We won't know for sure though, until all the details are ironed out and the new Harbin system is in place.

Yes decent. Not great. Not as good as you think. Clearly. 22-3. forget? Okay. Shhhhhh.
The point i was making is that Struthers being a D3 team HAS NO REASON to play a D6 school. Especially if they're not a contender, which i speculate they won't be. Yes play them for tradition, but if they discontinue the rivarly for now i would understand.

All risk, little reward. Doesn't make sense.

See... I think there's a possibility that if the rivalry dies, or even gets put on hold, Campbell might die too. I know some of you are worried about Campbell going the way of the old Youngstown City schools... Chaney, North, Rayen, Wilson, etc.

It might be wise for them to try and get the old Warren JFK rivalry going again, since both schools are more comparable in size. That might be a possibility when their deal with South Range is up. That way, if the Struthers/Campbell rivalry is put on hold, at least they'd still have a traditional rivalry game on the schedule. Is it Struthers Campbell? Nope. It's probably a close 2nd though, what with JFK being a Parochial and all. That rivalry had its hay day before my time, but I'm sure you guys would like to see it spark up again.

Ideally, it'd be great for Campbell to add JFK, and keep Struthers.

What would be in the best interest of Struthers though?

Spread All Day;1144424 wrote:Yes decent. Not great. Not as good as you think. Clearly. 22-3. forget? Okay. Shhhhhh.
The point i was making is that Struthers being a D3 team HAS NO REASON to play a D6 school. Especially if they're not a contender, which i speculate they won't be. Yes play them for tradition, but if they discontinue the rivarly for now i would understand.

I see Campbell being a contender in the AAC National for the foreseeable future. Campbell's Middle School and JV teams have all been pretty good. They get a little more credit/respect from me.

But I'd also understand if the rivalry was put on hold.

Not saying I think it should, but I'd understand and it wouldn't come as a big surprise if it did happen.

But that's still 2 years away. Like it or not... Struthers and Campbell will have to cross that bridge together, when it comes to it. Right now, I expect to see Campbell on the schedule every year.

I say dont play us if its such a problem...the only risk is if you lose to us. all risk little reward correct? so if you are afraid you are going to lose to us then dont play us plain and simple, but lets be honest...apples to apples...public vs. public...a D3 should beat a D6 9 out of 10 times. so yes if youre scared we will beat you then you prob should dump us because the risk outweighs the reward. but like spread predicted we wont be a contender so it should be an easy W. You speak out both ends of your mouth...on one hand you say we suck on the other struthers should dump us because its all risk little reward. if we suck wheres the risk???? this is what you should do take your struthers alumni card and go tell the administration what you think....oh wait thats right...

Say D6 Campbell goes 5-5 and loses to Struthers. Struthers could schedule and beat a D3 5-5 team, and get more Harbin points for it. Campbell could beat a 4-6 D3 Struthers team, and still get a decent amount of Harbin points... probably more than Struthers would get for beating a 5-5 Campbell. If Struthers beats Campbell, and Campbell goes 6-4, the points would be around the same as if Campbell beats a 4-6 Struthers.

Struthers could always beat the Hell out of a Canadien team too. A lot of Canadien teams are pushovers, sure... but they're worth a ton of points. I'd hate to see Campbell dropped in favor of a Canadien team... that just seems sacreligious and un-American. And I strongly doubt it's even an option... but it's something to talk about.

Campbell has more to gain... fact.

That's why we say the risks outweigh the rewards. It has nothing to do with being afraid to play Campbell. Struthers is 6-2 against them since the trophy was brought back.

At least with schools like Howland, Canfield, Niles, Poland... even Hubbard... the rewards (Harbin points we'd get for a W) are equal to, or greater than, the risks (the difference between the points we'd get for a W, and what we'd give for an L). Not that there's a choice in the matter, as all those are conference games... but still.

Struthers could possibly get more points for beating a 6-4 Field, than they'd get from beating an 8-2 Campbell.

omemorial... your posts are always interesting. I'm paraphrasing here, but one that stood out to me, was from a few months back... Struthers was a bad place to go for a coaching job, and they'd be in rebuilding mode for at least 5 years. You also said that anyone who took the job at Struthers would be taking a huge step back.

Not only was it a huge step forward for Coach Kuntz, but Struthers received 33 applications for the HC job. Why would they get so many applications, if it's such a coaches nightmare? They've also attracted assistant coaches away from Poland, Howland, and Canfield.

Anyways... the issue isn't fear, or talent, or who's better than who, or even D3 vs D6... it's all about Harbin points.

Speaking solely from a Harbin points perspective, it's obvious what the best move for Struthers would be, especially if Struthers stays in D3. You guys just don't want to admit it.

JMO... but the schedule should always be appropriately challenging, while still providing the maximum potential for Harbin points, so that 7-3 (6-4 in some cases) would comfortably get you into the playoffs. Even if you go 0-10... at least the points are on the table.

I've been saying it all along... but you'd think that Campbell would've learned that after last year. Their weak schedule killed them, in addition to all the head cases and off the field distractions. I know they didn't have a say in the Liberty, Champion, and Newton Falls games... and South Range had a down year... but Mineral Ridge and Ashtabula Edgewood didn't exactly do them any favors either.

It raises the question though... can you continue playing a school just because it's tradition?

It's a no brainer for Campbell. History is on their side, and if they win, they get a ton of points... if they lose, they were supposed to lose anyway because Struthers is the bigger school.

Struthers has to weigh the pros and cons, and consider any trump cards.

Like I said though, I do expect to see Struthers/Campbell continue.

omemorialhigh;1144480 wrote:I say dont play us if its such a problem...the only risk is if you lose to us. all risk little reward correct? so if you are afraid you are going to lose to us then dont play us plain and simple, but lets be honest...apples to apples...public vs. public...a D3 should beat a D6 9 out of 10 times. so yes if youre scared we will beat you then you prob should dump us because the risk outweighs the reward. but like spread predicted we wont be a contender so it should be an easy W. You speak out both ends of your mouth...on one hand you say we suck on the other struthers should dump us because its all risk little reward. if we suck wheres the risk???? this is what you should do take your struthers alumni card and go tell the administration what you think....oh wait thats right...

Struthers graduate. Thank you. If you beat a D6 school, as a d3 school, you get very little playoff points. Do you understand that? I wouldn't expect you to. No i dont see Campbell being good, i actually see them starting next season 0-3 and if you don't you're funny. Campbell's jv and Middle school teams have been good for YEARS. The coaching you people cry about brought the program back to life, (struthers guys may i add) and once it leaves, (probably after this season) Campbell will be a bottom dweller once again.

"It has nothing to do with being afraid to play Campbell. Struthers is 6-2 against them since the trophy was brought back."

It's not like everyone in the two towns doesn't want the teams to play. We do. But if its discontinued for now i would completely understand. Like i said. All risk. Little reward.
Didn't you people pick cmhs by like 35+ over struthers last season? How'd that work out? Even last season, if Struthers was in contention beating Cmhs wasn't going to help them much. That's not opinion, that's fact.