Recordpub.com - Week 1 PTC Metro Division football report

It was a tough opening week for the teams of the Portage Trail Conference's Metro Division as only two teams - Field and Roosevelt - recorded victories.
PTC schools have another two weeks of non-conference play before settling into divisional contests on Sept. 12, which should provide plenty of time for the six teams with 0-1 records, to work the kinks out before the games really count towards a division title.

SOARING DEBUT - Kudos should go out to new Field head coach Patrick Youel for his 28-0 debut win over the Waterloo Vikings. Some questioned whether the Falcons could rebound from the loss of a number of All-Metro Division selections off of last year's playoff squad, and I think Friday's win helped silence that talk.
Talking to Youel - formerly the team's offensive coordinator - after to the game revealed that the young head coach shared much of the same butterflies that his young squad no doubt experienced.
"To be honest, the butterflies were pretty bad leading up to kickoff," he said, jokingly. "We took the ball first, though, so I didn't have much time to be nervous. After getting the kick, we started getting the play calls from (offensive coordinator) Joe Peterson, and we just had to get to business."
Peterson and Youel made the right calls for Falcons quarterback Matt Eldreth, as the senior was in on all four of Field's scores on the night. In his first start since his sophomore year, Eldreth ran for two scores and passed for another two, taking full advantage of Waterloo's four turnovers.

DEFENSE RULES - This year's Rough Riders looked more like the Roosevelt team of two years ago, as John Nemec returned as head coach and led his team to a dominating 35-0 victory over Kenston in Week 1.
For all the talk about the Rough Riders' offensive weapons, it was their defense that stood tall.
In holding Kenston to under 100 yards, Roosevelt recorded its first shutout victory in 21 games, dating back to Week 10 of the 2005 season (a 41-0 victory over Norton).
Junior Samuel Thomas led a Roosevelt defense that held the Bombers to just 55 yards passing on the evening " a stat that is a dramatic change from a 2007 team that gave up an average of 27.8 points per game.
In talking with Nemec before the season, he mentioned how he saw a Rough Riders team that was willing to put in the work to erase the 3-7 season of a year ago.
After shutting out a Kenston team that hung 35 points on them just one year ago, consider step one to redemption complete.

LOOKING AHEAD - The highlight of Week 2's non-conference schedule come from Ravenna's (0-1) PTC cross-division meeting with the Streetsboro Rockets (1-0).
Streetsboro's offense looked mighty impressive in a 37-20 victory over Independence last week, as senior quarterback Carrington Hanna was all over the field. Living up to his preseason billing, Hanna threw for 239 yards and four touchdowns - proving he can make plays with his feet as well, the 6-foot-1 Hanna ran for 115 yards on only 15 carries.
For Ravenna, the defending PTC Metro Divisoin champs, they totaled under 200 yards of offense in a 29-15 loss to Louisville in Week 1.
So a high scoring affair with the Rockets might not pay to Ravens' current strengths. While their defense seemed capable against the spread-powered Leopards, a true test of where they stand should come this week against arguably the PTC's most athletic team.
On the flip side, the Rockets, who struggled to a 3-7 record a year ago, will no doubt be looking at this game as a chance to prove that they're worth all the hype.
Ravenna is at the top of the mountain in the PTC, and while in a different division, they represent the success that Streetsboro is aiming to equal.
Other area highlights include Aurora, and their Ohio State-bound offensive linemen Adam Bellamy, traveling to Mantua to take on Kent State-bound Bryan Wagner and the Crestwood Red Devils in what should, if nothing less, be a battle of very big men hitting each other very hard.
Also, Field must travel to Akron Manchester for a rematch of last year's 27-0 Falcons victory.
Manchester is a very good team and according to those in the Field program, has had this game circled since one second after walking off of Kenneth W. Lohr Field a year ago.