I'll say a few words. Not a lot of Girard posters have found this site.
Girard is a member of the All America Conference, Blue Tier. We're located about 10 miles from the Pa. border centered between Youngstown and Warren. As a blue collar community, football has truely become king since the introduction of the spread. (
decimating the BB program after a state title back in the 90's) The fans love it as the Indians score a lot of points even is losses. To add to the excitement, the voters of Girard passed a levy to build a new football complex four years ago with a turf playing surface and 8 lane track as well as a brand new high school. The kids have gratefully reacted with positive results.
The teams head coach is truely a local legend in his own time, Nick Cochran, who was a QB at Girard, OSU and then back to Youngstown State, where he lead Jim Tressels YSU Penguins to a national title game. He knows his offense and is an old school hard nosed coach (
much like his father was at I believe Canton McKinley so the football roots run deep) who expects nothing but 110%. The last four seasons they have gone 9-1 in '08, (no playoffs due to an unusually weak performance by the competiotion, with basically the same schedule that has them in the #1 spot this year) '09 they were 11-1 losing to Woodridge in the regional semi, and last year they were 6-4, blowing two 14 point third qtr leads. This year they are 11-1 to date, so 37-6 over that time span. They had two playoff qualifiers in Manchester and LaBrae on the schedule and two others, Warren JFK and Campbell, who were knocked out of the top eight in week ten. The schedule also included wins over D-3 Hubbard (7-3) and D-3 Niles (5-5) and D-3 Struthers (5-5). The last regional title game was against Youngstown Ursuline in in '03 ???.
Girard is a senior laden team. They have a nice tailback in Amad Eggleston, #1, in their spread one back offense who has run for I'm guessing 1600 yards and has about 30 TDs. Then there's four year starter at QB, Dan Graziano, #2, who has run and thrown for a little less than 2,000 yards each. He makes it all go calling much of the offense himself at the line. The Primary reciever is Brandon Byrd, #3, who is pretty fast and a deep threat. As with most spread teams there are also a bevy of recievers who get the job done including Grazianos brother who just seems to pop up in open spaces. It is a hurry no huddle offense and will run a play every 20 seconds so you better be in shape to run all night because they don't wait for you to set up.
Over all we're on the small side on both sides of the ball. Historically Girard has been primarilly a passing team but this year has relied on a read option running attack with that passing ability tucked neatly in their hip pocket and when they take it out it still works very well. Defensively they bring a lot of pressure with an small but attacking defense with multiple fronts that relies on speed. It's not uncommon to see a defensive front with no linemen at all on the field. Kind of a "you can't block 'em if you can't catch 'em" attitude. They do have some big guys who can step in and plug a hole but in general they are used sparingly. The linebackers are pretty quick and get to the ball well. They have done well against the big back teams they have faced so far, primarily by getting penetration and stopping the play before it gets going. Their only loss, 42-35 to Campbell, came on an off night against a team that played their hearts out and the QB had the game of his life passing while Girards QB had his worst going 3-15. And again blew an 8 point lead late in the 3rd.
(the reaction was a 50-0 blowout the next week against playoff bound LaBrae) The backers make most of the plays as expected with #19 A.J.Devore coming from just about every defensive position (as well as offensive). And look out for that stud Middle linebacker, Jake Carpenter, cut from the mold of Dick Butkus! Unfortunately they only cut the heart out of that mold as he stands an intimidating 5-7, and about 150 pounds. But again, Like lightning McQueen, "I am Speed!"
Going into last night they were +22 in the turnover ratio and Graziano threw his first pick of the year.
Roster and team info is available at MyValleySports.com or Vindy.com Blitz section or Tribtoday.com "underthelights section, if you want it. You can read most of the game stories if you like.
Norwayne will get a lot of respect from Girard and I personally was hoping to get Orrville in this game. Stopping Girard is as easy as 1,2,3. If you can stop them, you can win. But with a quick start offense that has put up an awful lot of points early, 40 plus by half 5-6 times, much like Norwayne I believe, you gotta come out prepared. This could be a very high scoring affair. I'll have to see if I can get some other Girard posters to this site.
Any roster available for this game? I hate bothering the coaches to get one. Have a good week and good luck. Hoping for good weather and a good game!
GO GIRARD
BEAT NORWAYNE
FEAR THE "G"
Good luck, Bobcats! Bring home another regional championship for Wayne County!
