LISBON WITHSTANDS BOMBERS RAID

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LISBON OH- Lisbon found ways to continue positive energy in 2022 with a season opening victory over Windham on Friday night. Ever aspect of the game was working for the Blue Devils as they ran away with a 40-25 win.

Lisbon’s offense was a machine on the day. They finished with 462 total yards of offense. 318 of those yards came on the ground, as Lisbon ran the ball 49 times. Haiden Colvin led that running attack by gaining 129 yards on 17 Carrie’s and a touchdown.  Trevor Siefke threw for 144 yards on a 9/13 day.  He threw one touchdown pass.  Austin Dailey scored three touchdowns.

A big highlight for Windham was a 82 yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Chase Eye.  Eye would also throw for a Bomber touchdown.

Lisbon moves on to Week 2 as they travel to Fairport Harbor. Windham will get ready for a Week 2 matchup with Rittman.

GLS: MARCH SADNESS

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By Dave O’Malley and Scotty Mincher

Did you know that it’s seventy thousand times more likely to pick the correct Powerball numbers than it is to fill out a perfect NCAA tournament bracket?  I mean, probably.  I didn’t actually do the math, but people have won the Powerball and, to my knowledge, no one has even come close to filling out a perfect bracket. (I do take pride in the year only two of my teams made it to the Sweet 16). So, what makes this impossible activity so popular? Why does the “madness” seep into the lives of, seemingly, reasonable people every March? We hope to find out in this installment of “Goal Line Stance” with Scotty Mincher and Super Dave O’Malley. Allow me to continue…

Whenever YSN hosts an event, it’s always special. Anything can qualify as an event: high school football, the NFL Draft, National Signing day…anything.  So, when we were invited out for the first day of the 2021 NCAA tournament, we were naturally stoked. I compare the feeling to going on a class field trip. It was exciting. We had three TV’s, a table stupid with food and the #2 seeded Ohio State Buckeyes slated for the second game. It was going to be a good day…

Scotty Mincher is the quintessential Ohio sports fan. A Cleveland season ticket holder with a scarlet and grey bloodline. Scotty has experienced his share of memorable sports moments. Both highs and lows. So, when we settled in at YSN on that first Friday of the tournament, with the Buckeyes game looming, Scotty was both nervous and confident. (A rare combination for the Ohio sports fan with confidence usually being the odd man out). YSN was buzzing. After getting our fill of buffalo chicken dip and an inordinate amount of dental jokes during the Colgate game (“If they win they get a plaque” -A. Hartwig) it was 2:07 eastern time and the Buckeyes took the court…

Fast forward two hours…

There is nothing worse than your team getting bounced out of the tournament on the first day. Making matters even worse is if it’s a colossal upset.  Nine times a #15 seed has taken down a #2 seed, a winning percentage of 5.71. It is also a certain bracket buster. The Buckeyes lost to Oral Roberts. It happens…

And this is where the conflict of the NCAA tournament comes into play. For years, I never filled out a bracket. I felt this would compromise the excitement of the games. Everyone loves an upset but very few people will pick upsets. This is the classic head versus heart story. I never wanted my picks to dictate my interest in the games. So, with Scotty’s beloved Buckeyes falling in the first round and his South region obliterated I wondered which hurt worse.  For Scotty, it was definitely the Buckeyes, his favorite team, losing. But this is not the case for most…

Each year when the tournament begins there are, basically, about a dozen teams with a legitimate chance to win it all. Maybe less. In 2021, 37 million Americans filled out a bracket. Unless all 37 million people are pulling for these same twelve teams, most fans leave disappointed due to errant picks. Scotty is an anomaly. Like many people filling out this year’s bracket, I picked Gonzaga to win it all. For many reasons. For one, they entered the tournament as the #1 overall seed at 26-0 with an excellent mix of upper and underclassmen. Plus, the name Gonzaga is cool. It’s like the sound when Batman punches a villain (unapologetic boomer reference). As of this writing, Gonzaga is in the Final Four. The Buckeyes are not…

And this is how March Madness evolves into March Sadness over the course of a few weeks (or a few hours). Whether it’s due to your favorite team losing (rare) or because of poor picks (epidemic), at the end of the day only a handful of fans are truly happy. (Hopefully, this year, most of these fans live in the greater Tacoma area). But one thing we can be sure of is next March the “madness” will inevitably return and millions and millions of fans will flock to fill out losing brackets. In a way, it makes sense because as we all know, sports is just an endless loop of madness and sadness that, if you’re lucky, comes with buffalo dip…

GLS: THE POWER HOUR

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Written by Dave O’Malley and Scott Mincher

It’s fourth and goal at the two. There are six ticks left on the clock and you desperately cling to a five-point lead. The late afternoon sun casts a violent shadow on the end zone as you dig deep within yourself. You have worked towards this moment your entire life. The crowd is a sea of deafening silence. The time is now…the time for… “GOAL LINE STANCE”  with Scotty Mincher and Super Dave O’Malley!!

Now, that’s an opening!  Welcome to Goal Line Stance with Scotty & Super Dave, a bi-whenever column with an ever-changing playbook.  When we started this column, it was an attempt to delve deep into the psyche of the Mahoning Valley sports fan. We quickly discovered that psyche to be a little on the fritz. (valley colloquialism).  So, in an attempt to cause no further damage we decided to focus our attention on YSN, more specifically our experiences at YSN.  So, from this play forward, GLS will be the adventures of Super Dave & Scotty at YSN. Allow me to continue…
By the way, if you’re wondering how the fourth and goal from the first paragraph turned out, all I can say is the final play involved an errant pass, a late flag, and a ten-second run-off. (I can’t make this stuff up).  On with the show…
For those of you familiar with YSN, and I assume most of you are, you are aware of the afternoon juggernaut that is the YSN Power Hour, the sixty-minute jewel in YSN’s crown.  For the uninitiated, the Power Hour is a daily sports round table that airs at 3:00 pm and hosted by YSN honcho, D.J. Yokely.  It is a must-see for area sports fans. The topics can range from high school lacrosse to Super Mario Brothers all in a single show. It’s high entertainment.  Having already made several appearances on the Power Hour, Scotty felt I was ready to join him. So did I. Showtime…
So, on a faceless Wednesday afternoon in March of 2021, Scotty and I made our Power Hour debut as a team. It was all very exciting. On with the show…
My understanding of local sports has grown exponentially over the last year and a half. Between the insightful banter among the YSN staff and the remarkable coverage on the YSN website (shout out to Anthony Hartwig!) I was now equipped with a working knowledge of area sports and was ready to square off against the best and brightest.  Of course, I was sharing a screen with local legend Scotty Mincher and was more than willing to allow him to do the heavy lifting. Scotty would provide the facts and the hard-hitting opinions and I would add the nonsensical commentary and the inability to adjust the volume of the mics. We were special…
It just so happened that our first show fell on National Mario Day and we were to begin the show by discussing our favorite Mario character. More out of my lane, I could not be. As I sat nervously waiting my turn, I listened intently to the others for any scrap of information I could add to my vacant videogame database. It did not look good. I was Mario challenged.  I decided my best course of action would be to echo the person before me and laugh about how we shared the same character. It would prove to be an ill-advised strategy as Alissa and I now share an affinity for Princess Peach. I should have said, Mario…
“What is the most difficult thing to do in sports?”  This was the next question posed to the Power Hour panel.  And this is when Scotty stepped up and delivered.  As he did with his eloquent homage to Luigi in the Mario segment, Scotty gave what I felt to be the most accurate answer: NFL quarterback. It makes sense. There is a reason an NFL quarterback is the highest paid, the most publicized, the most credited, and the most blamed. It is truly the most demanding and difficult position in sports. (Despite how easy Brady makes it look). Point to the GLS team…
Some of the other sports mentioned in this discussion were Hockey (I, regrettably, questioned the difficulty of Ice Skating), Gymnastics (extremely difficult) Soccer Goalie (I was surprised by this answer but I guess the thirty seconds of actual game action they endure can be grueling) and my answer, Hitting a major league pitcher. I chose my answer based on a quote by Don Mattingly, who told Sports Illustrated “Randy Johnson is throwing it at 103 and the ball is starting from behind your ear. You better get your head right, boy”. Sounds difficult…
And just like that, the hour was nearing its end.  We wrapped things up with a Power Hour staple, the inspired “Beef or Fillet?” (applying the love/hate paradigm to sports), and then it was time to hit the showers. Hopefully, Scotty and I will be back on the Power Hour soon and often. We had a blast. We are also looking forward to future YSN adventures that I hope you’ll read about in the next Goal Line Stance. Friends, until then…
Epilogue: For fun, we tried to create the most difficult position in sports. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but picture Ben Roethlisberger on ice skates wearing a catcher’s mask…