Rod's Wednesday Ramblings 8/12/09

The first ESD Conference pre season football poll that I have seen does not paint a pretty picture for the Governors. 7th in the poll of the conference coaches. Watertown and Aberdeen Central are the 1-2 picks. Brandon Valley third. After that it is Brookings and Yankton. Mitchell is ahead of Pierre and Huron behind us in 8th. I am not surprised in Pierre's placing in the pecking order. The Poll was conducted by the Mitchell newspaper and has coach Kramer saying the same thing we have heard from Coach Busch and before him Coach Gusso and all the way back to when Ken Koistinen coached. It comes down to the line. And that is the question mark for Pierre this year, like it is most years. Last year, the line was supposed to be the strong point with all of the seniors, then things started happening and what do you know, Pierre gets 1 win and doesn't make the playoffs. 1 returning starter on defense and 6 on offense. Graham Schuetzle goes into pre season camp that begins on Monday as the starting quarterback. Pierre has 4 home and 5 road games this year including 4 of the first 5 on the road. At S.F. Lincoln, the defending state champs, at Watertown, at Brookings, at Yankton (for a 2nd straight year) and at Huron. We have Mitchell, R.C. Stevens, Brandon Valley and Aberdeen at home. This will be the third time in the last 4 years that Pierre has had more road than home games. No other AA team has had that happen to their scheduling. Just taking a look at the schedule, the key games I see that Pierre will really, really need to win are Mitchell, R.C. Stevens and Huron. Mitchell and Huron for sure.