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So, FSUdawg, what are you thinking about tonight's game?

Not 100% sure what to think. Marine City's defense has some serious work to do, but they seem fairly solid when they're not playing a team with a strong passing threat. Johnson, however, is a threat against any defense, good or bad. I think they'll have trouble containing him, but will probably key on him until someone else shows that they can hurt them.

Marine City's offense just has so many guys who can hurt you. Nickerson hasn't been the biggest threat out there, thus far; Scarcelli has. But in that Clawson game, Nickerson showed he certainly can break a game open with his legs. But the Ellul kid (sp?) has shown to be a tough runner, as has Kleckner and others. As usual, I think Clintondale's biggest challenge is in choosing what they want to take away, and hoping the Mariners don't beat them with something else.

I don't see anyone in the Gold holding Marine City to fewer than 28 points. But Marysville surprised me by holding them to 25, and conditions will be wet tonight, so who knows.

If I had to pick a score, I'd take Marine City 35 Dragons 28. I won't be surprised by anything...other than a low scoring game (and even that won't surprise me, I suppose, if the weather stays as poor as it is right now).

EDIT: I didn't even mention Abrams, who clearly is someone you have to worry about at all times, especially on short yardage plays.

And and afterthought - I like Marine City's advantage in the muck. Why? I'd hate to be the poor guy whose job it is to try and push Steve Churhan around on dry land. Add a slick to the mess and I think he will be absolutely dominant. He really doesn't get enough credit for the yards/points that Marine City racks up.

I'm still debating if I will be there, FSU. It's getting harder and harder justifying the time away from family with young kids at home. If I do go, I agree that it should be good, I just don't know what to expect. The Walton kid sounds like a beast; I'll be sure to watch for him if I'm there.

Oh, and I don't think Abrams is overrated. He plays his role, which isn't that of a big play RB, like Allemon was and Scarcelli is. He makes teams worry about the holes between the tackles, which gives guys lik Scarcelli a better chance to break it big. And besides, from all reports (I've never personally met him), Abrams is about the highest quality kid you could ever hope to meet - I will never say a negative word about a kid like that.

Rivard was very tough; the best RB I've ever seen suit up in the orange and black, I think.

The coaching staff and the community is clearly why Marine City has the program that they have, not the talent level. Since I've been old enough to pay attention to such things, I can only name two kids ever to receive D1 football scholarships coming out of Marine City, and only one (off the top of my head) who went full ride D1 in basketball (Wes Kamer to MSU for football; Brendon Kay to Cincinnati for football; and Andy Shorky to Sienna for basketball). To me, that is something for the kids to be proud of; they win because they are a team...a great program...not because they were graced with some supernatural speed or size. It takes character to build that kind of program sans the D1 talent.

Granted, it did take a freak of nature, in the form of Kay, to finally put them over the hump and bring in a state title.

The way things look out my office window right now, I think we're in for an old fashioned mud scrum on Clintondale's natural turf. I'm hoping to be there to see it.