Yuku free message boards

Week 3 (3-0) (1-0):

Marine City - 55
L'Anse Creuse - 23

Offense: Not much to say, they did whatever they wanted to do. The offense is firing on all cylinders. They amassed nearly 450 yards rushing.

Defense: Much improved defense. There were still moments in which the Corners did not seem to know where they were supposed to be, but those moments seem to be fewer and farther between.

Notes: This game was ugly early. 21-0 at the end of the 1st Qtr. 34-0 with only 0:08 in the 1st Half, which is when the Lancers got on the scoreboard with a kick return. Marine City's kicking game continued to struggle, with two missed extra points and a couple of poorly covered kick returns.

MVP: Jamel Abrams. The Sophomore wrecking ball was unstoppable. 200 yards rushing and plenty of plays where it took all 11 defenders to get him to concede the play.

Next Week: Very bad news for the Trojans from Clawson, as they are the Mariners' home opener (for real this time). Clawson will be outmatched in every aspect of the game, and will be walking into an electrified East China Stadium, where the fans will be welcoming home their first ever state champ team. Expect to see the clock running through the deadballs for most of the 2nd Half.

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Week 2 (2-0)(0-0):

Marine City - 42
Marysville - 7

Offense: The Mariner offense again looked good, but not until the 2nd half. Surprisingly, the passing game looked better than the running game. Sophomore QB, Anthony Nickerson certainly looks to be catching onto the varsity game, as he looked very comfortable in the pocket against the Vikings.

Defense: It's hard to say a defense looked bad in a 42-7 game, but it did. Only a very poor passing game on the part of the Vikings made the Marine City secondary look respectable. This defense is still looking for its identity. It's early in the season and they should have time to improve before they meet their first real challenge in week 6 against Clintondale.

MVP of the Game: Steve Chuhran. The big Offensive Lineman was used on key defensive downs and saw double and triple teams as the Vikings struggled to keep the big guy from making their O line look like swiss cheese.

Next Week: The Mariner's have their home opener against L'Anse Cruese. The Lancers are 0-2 and probably aren't going to pick up their first "W" against Marine City. Edit: The game is at LC, not a home game for the Mariners.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Week 1 (1-0) (0-0):

Marine City - 35
Sterling Heights - 34

Offense: The Mariner offense looked terrific in the opener. The Stallions had no answers for an offense that put its first play from scrimmage between the tackles for a 50+ yard Touchdown run. The Mariner offense lined up in the Wing-T and the Spread and looked effective in both.

Defense: Marine City's defense looked horrible against the run early on. They tightened things up a little, but had no success in defending the pass. The secondary has a long way to go.

Special Teams: Kick returns looked good. The kicking game and kick coverage teams, however, left a lot to be desired. Two very makable Field Goal attempts barely cleared the line of scrimmage. The Stallion kick returners had time to program their coordinates into a GPS device to find the best route to Marine City territory before the first wave of coverage reached them.

MVP of the Game: Chad Allemon, no question about it. He had a great game rushing and made a clutch reception to put the Mariners up for good with less than 2:00 in the game. The only weakness shown by Allemon is that he needs to find the handle on the ball. He had fumbles on two key plays, losing one on a play that should have been a huge gain.

Other Notes: Anthony Nickerson looked pretty good for a Sophomore starting his first varsity game. His stats might not be jaw dropping, but he showed a lot of poise and even a few flashes of greatness. The final Mariner score came on a 60+ yard fly pattern that saw Nickerson deliver a laser beam to Chad Allemon 30+ yards in the air - it was quite Brendon Kayesque (I'm contacting Webster's to have "Kayesque" added to the English language). While Allemon had the big numbers, Abrams looked like he's growing into the star he will soon be. More aggressive running from Jamel in 2008 than in 2007 will make Allemon's home-run potential a lot easier to obtain. Steve Chuhran also looked very good on the line. As an offensive lieman, Chuhran made the move to D to seal the game with a sack on a crucial 4th and long play.

A win is a win, but the Mariner faithful have to be very concerned by how easy it was for Sterling Heights to move the ball and score. Of course, it's all relative; if the Stallions can go out next week and hang 30+ points on Cousino, it might make the pass coverage issue of the Mariners look a little less problematic.

Next Week: At Marysville. Marysville dropping their opener to a historically mediocre Warren Lincoln team, coupled with the ease with which Marine City's offense gobbled up yardage against a much bigger Sterling Heights squad, spells blow out in the first ever game played at the new Marysville stadium.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Marine City Preseason Team Capsule - 2008
2007 Record: 13-1 (Division 4 State Champions)

2007 Offensive Starters Lost to Graduation:

Brendon Kay - QB

Joe Wesley - RB

Sean Rentz - Receiver

2007 Offensive Starters Returning:

Robert Salisbury - OL

Bruce Boulier - OL

Travis Calu - OL

Justin Whiting - OL

Steve Chuhran - OL

Brent Weil - TE

Jamel Abrams - RB

Chad Allemon - RB/Receiver

New Offensive Faces to Look For:

Anthony Nickerson - QB (linked to article from Port Huron Times Herald)

Although Weil handled the backup duty at QB in 2007, I think he'll be used elsewhere in 2008, as he was for the majority of 2007. Weil is too valuable as an every down defensive player to saddle him with the QB responsibilities. Nickerson, who started on the JV team in 2007 as a Freshman, is my best guess as to the replacement for Kay.

Tope - ?

Tope is an athletic kid who was the starting QB on the Freshman team in 2007. I've heard, but don't know for sure, that he'll be on the varsity roster for 2008. If so, he has a lot of athleticism and might be able to contribute to this team as a Sophomore; I'm not sure at what position. He could also be used to fill in some gaps on defense, where the Mariners are losing a lot to graduation.

Edit 8/26/08 - sources tell me that Tope is taking snaps for the JV squad, so it may be another season before he's given the opportunity to show what he can do on the big stage.

2007 Defensive Players Lost to Graduation:

Shawn DuVall - DE

Travis Avers - DL

Edward Johns - DL

Mike Matyniak - LB

Zach Bachler - DB

John Lyszcyk - DB

2007 Defensive Starters Returning:

Russell Ferquerson - DL

Josh Byrd - DE

Brent Weil - LB

Matt Connin - DB

New Defensive Faces to Look For:

Anyone who can prove they can play in the secondary is someone to watch for. I'm not sure who will step up and try to fill the shoes of the lost DB's and, most importantly, Mytaniak, but if someone doesn't do it, 2008 will go down in the books as a "down year".

Anthony Scarcelli - ?

The rumor is that Scarcelli will be on the varsity roster, but I do not know if that rumor is true. Anthony will be a Freshman in 2008, and is said to have very good speed. I saw him over the summer and he's certainly getting his height - he just needs to fill out a bit now. I put him on this list more for his future potential than as a prediction of what he'll do in 2008. With a father and uncle who earned significant time on Big Ten rosters, it's only a matter of time until this kid becomes an absolute monster.

The Scoop on the Mariners:

Port Huron Times Herald Team Preview

Marine City has had a lot of success with the Wing-T over the past 20 years or so. In 2007, they showed the ability to spread things out and pass the ball when teams were showing signs of stopping the misdirection offense. Of course, it's a lot easier to show pass when you've got the Free Press All Dream Team Quarterback, which they no longer have. Will they incorporate the Spread Offense into the game-plan without Brendon Kay? That is a question I cannot answer.

With the Mariners' 2008 schedule, they should win games relying solely on the Wing-T…possibly all of their games until playoff time. Nickerson (I'll assume he's the starting QB) looks to be a very good Wing-T Quarterback; he's quick and appears to have good speed in the open field. I'm not sure how he is passing the ball, or if he has any experience running a Spread. It will be interesting to see if the coaching staff abandons the Spread altogether, or if they just rely on it less than in 2007 (lesser QB's than Kay have certainly been successful running the offense).

No matter what offense this team runs, look for Jamel Abrams to have a breakout season. He's one of only two players in the state recognized by MaxPreps as one of the top 100 Sophomores in the nation to watch for. At 6'0", 200 lbs. he made some noise in Ford Field against Country Day as a Freshman; I don't think we've seen anything from this kid yet.

Despite all the talk about what Marine City will do without Kay, the harder thing to replace will be the defensive secondary. If you watched the undersized DB's of Marine City handle Jonas Gray in the state title game, you know this is no small loss. Coach Scarcelli is primarily a Defensive coach, and he makes some of the best game time adjustments in the business. But he's got his work cut out for him losing so many players to graduation.

2008 Projection:

This team should be 9-0 or 8-1 for the regular season. Marine City has one loss or fewer in all but one of the past 10 regular seasons. The 2008 Mariner schedule does not feature Melvindale or Lansing Sexton, as it did in 2007. Even with bigger schools entering the MAC Gold with this season's conference re-alignment, the 2008 schedule is much softer than that of 2007.

When the playoffs roll around, Marine City will most likely find themselves matched with a fellow MAC team or team out of the BWAC in the first round. Right now, I don't see any of those teams ending Marine City's season. As a result, a trip to the District Finals is a likely scenario. If Marine City is to go any further than the second round, they will need to have some defensive players step up and become playmakers, they will need confidence from their new QB, and (I believe) they will need to prove that they can throw the ball when matched against a team with a bigger, stronger line that challenges their Wing-T set.

Key Games:

August 28 @ Sterling Heights -

Sterling Heights is not a power house team, but they're no cream-puffs, either. With all the new faces in key positions for the Mariners, there will be a lot of growing up on the field against the Stallions in the opener, or the Marine City 13 game winning streak could fall on the road to a larger, Class A team.

October 17 @ St. Clair (a long way to travel for the Mariners) -

While the Mariners' arch-rivals hail from Marysville, the Vikings recent hiatus from winning has made St. Clair the next best thing. St. Clair is making great strides as a program, and has added one of the best Defensive Coordinators around to their staff for 2008. St. Clair is still a few tiers back from Marine City as a program, and they've lost a lot of talent, but for the Saints, their season is defined by what they do against Marine City in East China Stadium. This one could be good.

Edit 8/26/08 - with just two days until kickoff of the 2008 season, word is that Marine City's O Line is looking very impressive in practice/scrimmages.

School Name: Marine City Record / Playoff Point Avg: (1-0) / 80.000 Class: B Enrollment: 810 League: Macomb Area Conference Nickname: Mariners School colors: Orange & Black Head Coach: Tony Scarcelli

Helmets Courtesy Michigan Helmet Project