By Ali Kochik
Staff Writer Penn State fans’ hope for the 2015 football season came to a roaring stop at the beginning of September when the Nittany Lions suffered a devastating 10-27 loss to Temple University. The loss came as a big shock to most of the fans as they watched the team lose big in their season opening game. “I was very disappointed in the team’s performance,” said sophomore, Josh Taylor. “In 74 years, they have never played like that against Temple.” Since that game, Penn State has done much better with wins against Buffalo, San Diego, Rutgers and Army. However, they will have to face some much harder teams like Michigan and Ohio State in the near future. Some of the players have a lot of proving to do such as third year starting quarterback, Christian Hackenberg. Though he was projected first in the 2016 draft, he has yet to display that talent on the field. “I think he needs to make better decisions with his passing, but it is not all his fault.” said freshman, Ben Hornberger. “The play calling is bad and the line can’t block.” Many fans haven’t been all too thrilled with the calls from Head Coach James Franklin either. “To be honest, every single game, I question Franklin’s offensive play calls.” said sophomore, Micah Davis. “But he’s got a fire in his heart for the game and he’s one of the best leaders I’ve ever seen.” Though PSU got off to a bit of a rocky start, their fans continue to support them and hope that they can finish out their season better than the way it started. “Go Blue!” said Davis.
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By Paul Jones Staff Writer Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens enter the 2015 season with high expectations. Under head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens have only missed the playoffs one time since 2008. After a very good 2014 season, the Ravens still did not meet their goal of a Super Bowl win. The team lost wide receiver Torrey Smith, linebacker Pernell McPhee, and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata who have all been staples in the Ravens organization. But never fear, General Manager Ozzie Newsome is here. The Ravens bring in a very promising draft class with top picks wide receiver Breshad Perriman and tight end Maxx Williams. Getting through the early part of the schedule will be tough for the Ravens but after that, the amount of good teams they play will lessen. Possible key games will be against the Chargers. Philadelphia Eagles Saying the Eagles have had a busy off-season would be an understatement. Head coach Chip Kelly has drastically changed the Eagles’ roster to his liking. The Eagles traded away their best running back LeSean McCoy for line backer Kiko Alonso who is known to be injury prone. G Evan Mathis departed as did wide receiver Jeremy Maclin who had been mainstays in the Eagles organization. But there is a reason why they call Chip Kelly the “Mad Hatter”. With LeSean McCoy leaving, the Eagles signed Demarco Murray, who was the best runningback in the league last year. They also added cornerback Byron Maxwell from Seattle and drafted WR Nelson Agholor with their first pick in the NFL draft. Quarterback Nick Foles was traded to the Rams in exchange for quarterback Sam Bradford, who is coming off of multiple knee injuries. Some NFL analysts have doubts about the Eagles roster. Key games for this team may include the Cowboys, the Patriots, and the Giants. Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are in prime position to have one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL with the trio of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown. The Steelers will have a tough start to the season due to suspensions. Key players Le’Veon Bell and Martavis Bryant will both serving suspensions because of substance violations. This season will also mark the end of an era in Steeler nation. Safety Troy Polamalu retired this offseason and rookie safety Shamarko Thomas will fill in for him. While the offense will be prolific, the defense will not be the like past Steeler defenses. They did however draft linebacker Bud Dupree. They will have tough games against the Ravens, against the Colts, and at the Patriots which can go either way. By Taylor Bosley
Sports Editor As the NFL continues to hand out punishments to players for off-the-field offenses, the debate on the consistency of their disciplinary measures is growing, and more players are starting to join in on the conversation. In February earlier this year, a video was released of former Ravens running-back Ray Rice dragging his unconscious then-fiance out of an elevator at an Atlanta Casino. After the video was seen by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the Ravens coaching staff and the public, Rice was given a “harsh” two game suspension and received lots of backlash from around the league. After the NFL brought the hammer down on Rice, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was also suspended for an entire season after he tested positive for marijuana in the offseason. That was later reduced to 10 games once the NFL implemented a new drug policy in the wake of Gordon’s crime. Current and past NFL players expressed their opinions on both players via Twitter after Rices’ suspension was announced. Former NFL center LeCharles Bentley expressed through a tweet on Sept. 8 that he thinks Ray Rice should be in jail, and showed disapproval toward the original lenient suspension of two games. He also mentioned in the tweet that he would rather have Josh Gordon on his team, who was suspended for the season for failing a marijuana drug test, than a guy like Ray Rice who was accused of domestic violence. Ray Rice was eventually given an indefinite suspension and cut from the Ravens when the footage of Rice actually striking his girlfriend was released by TMZ. Terrence Knighton of the Denver Broncos also expressed his opinion of the punishment given to Ray Rice through Twitter. “That man should be thrown out the the NFL and thrown into jail. Shame on those deciding his punishment. Smh,” tweeted Knighton, going on to say that if there is a way to open the case back up it should be done. Other instances of inconsistent punishments in the NFL include when Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault in 2010 in Georgia by an unnamed woman. The NFL gave him a six-game suspension, which would eventually be brought down to four games after he convinced Roger Goodell that he had turned his life around, reported USA Today. Terrelle Pryor, who played for the Ohio State Buckeyes and was involved in an autograph-for-money scheme, had a suspension from college carried over into the NFL. He was given a five game suspension as a result and rather than serve that his senior year, he opted out and entered the draft. Roger Goodell took the college punishment and transferred it over to the NFL; he did not want people thinking they could hide behind his league to get out of punishments. Junior Dominico Vano, a color commentator for RLA-TV football game productions, feels the punishments for rules broken in the NFL do not match the act committed. “I think they [the NFL] should be more consistent in their punishments,” said Vano. As a result of the harsh criticism the NFL has received since Ray Rices’ suspension, the NFL has now implemented a new domestic violence policy, a six game suspension for the first offense and a lifetime ban for the second offense.
By Adrianna Clinton
Copy Editor In a special edition of Monday night high school football, Red Lion faced off against the offensive powerhouse of Spring Grove; unfortunately for the Lions, the Rockets lived up to their name. Red Lion dominated in the first half, beginning with senior quarterback Blake Cahill scoring from 1 yard out on their second possession. However, Spring Grove’s new all-time leading rusher Jeff Delaughter answered back with a 30-yard run to tie up the game. The Lions allowed Delaughter alone to run for 307 yards in the loss, giving up 457 total yards to Spring Grove. In the first half, the Lions were able to hold the Rockets with a 20-13 score after capitalizing on a junior receiver Theo Thomas 34-yard reception and a 19-yard run by fellow junior Kenny Holloway. Holloway finished the night as the Lions’ leading rusher with 93 yards, as well as a sack and fumble recovery. Coming out of the locker room in the second half, Spring Grove made it clear that they were not going to be held by only 20 points. Red Lion, however, was not going down without a fight. A Lions fumble resulted in a Rocket touchdown that would tie the game up with 33 seconds left in the third quarter. The Lions gained back momentum when they recovered a Rocket fumble with 11:11 remaining in the game, but had to punt it away on fourth down. The next play, Delaughter took it to the house with a 93-yard touchdown, giving Spring Grove the lead for the remainder of the game. Only five minutes later with 3:16 left in the fourth quarter, Spring Grove struck again, securing their defeat of the Lions, 34-20. Poor mistakes, good defense and a lacking rushing game were defining points of this game. Both teams were plagued with fumbles, each losing three and recovering two. Penalties also cost both team a bundle, with Red Lion losing 90 yards and Spring Grove 85. In the second half, Spring Grove did not let Red Lion score a single point and held them to only 70 yards offensively. Red Lion has relied heavily on Cahill and Holloway’s legs this season for several of their wins, which didn’t have much of a presence on Monday night. But despite that, Blake Cahill still was a passing leader in the YAIAA, throwing 17-34 for 171 yards and one touchdown. In week eight (only four days after their Spring Grove matchup) Red Lion will face off in their homecoming game against South Western, who got manhandled by Central York 42-0 and were held to only 30 passing yards and 81 rushing. Red Lion 7 13 0 0 -- 20 Spring Grove 7 6 7 14 -- 34 First Quarter RL -- Blake Cahill 1 run (Evan Miller kick), 6:58. SG -- Jeff Delaughter 30 run (Andrew Luckenbaugh kick), 5:10. Second Quarter RL -- Theo Thomas 34 pass from Cahill (Miller kick), 11:45. SG -- Luckenbaugh 34 FG, 9:50. RL -- Kenny Holloway 19 run (kick failed), 1:47. SG -- Luckenbaugh 40 FG, :02. Third Quarter SG -- Seth Hildebrand 3 run (Luckenbaugh kick), :32. Fourth Quarter SG -- Delaughter 93 run (Luckenbaugh kick), 8:11. SG -- Logan Hall 45 pass from Hildebrand (Luckenbaugh kick), 3:16. |
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