Veteran coach Phil Annarella has Austintown Fitch out to 5-1 record this season, including a 34-33 win last week at Massillon that came down to a missed field goal by the Tigers on the game’s final play.

The Falcons are ranked third in the Division I, Region 1 computer ratings headed into this week’s game against East High.

Q. The win over Massillon, was it a case in which the game plan worked or did you guys make a lot of adjustments during the game?

A. You always have to make adjustments during the game, both sides of the ball, because you are never sure exactly how somebody is going to come out and play offense or play defense or special teams. They did a few things that were unexpected but for the most part we did stick to our game plan, and we were fortunate. We had enough things go our way to win by one and get out of town.

Q. Was there a particular area in which you were pleased with how your kids played?

A. If there was one thing I would have to say it would be the effort of the kids. We made our share of mistakes and Massillon made their share but our kids didn’t quit, they kept playing hard. As things go wrong you just have to go on to the next play. Someone said to me after the game that we came back seven or eight times when we could have quit at that point of the game. And that person was right, our guys kept fighting and fortunately it worked out to our advantage.

Q. After a big emotional win like that when do you start to put that behind and begin to focus on the next opponent?

A. The next morning. We always show the game film and the discussion is about pats on the back for things we did right and kicks in the butt for what we didn’t do right. Then it’s OK, now what to we have to do to get ready for Youngstown East. So that was the message, which it is after every game. Wins are nice but they don’t count toward the next game. We try to keep our kids on an even keel and remember, you’re dealing with 16- and 17- and 18-year-old young men and you hope you can get through to them. I’ve been doing this for close to 45 years now and I still have no definitive answer how to do it or if you are getting through or if you’re saying the right things to them

Q. To follow up, after you beat a highly ranked team, the kids see the records, they know East is 1-5, how do you keep the focus where it needs to be?

A. The first thing we did was on Monday we showed them film of the first half of last year’s game with East. They played us tough, it was only 9-0 at halftime. They got after us well and certainly it would make their season to beat us. That was the focus, it was the emphasis and you hope those are the kinds of things that make them understand that we’ve got another opponent and we’d better be ready to play. No one is going to step on that football field and lay down for us and just let us beat them.

Q. What is the strength or your team?

A. To have the success we’ve had this year everyone has had to do their part at various times. You can go right down the line and everybody has played their parts. Obviously a big part is going into this year we only had two starters back on defense. We did have four starters back on offense and the four starters are very good players, very skilled, talented kids. Certainly, Antwan Harris, Joey Harrington and Darrin Hall are very valuable skill players. Now we’ve lost Darrin and Joey has missed some time too, so we’ve had to pick up the slack with other people. I think the glue to our offense has been our quarterback, Antwan Harris, there’s no question about that. Other than that it’s been a bunch of guys. I tell people all the time you’re always going to have one or two or three outstanding players, but it’s the supporting cast that wins you games. I think that’s never been more true than this year. We’ve used four sophomores on defense, a couple more on offense. Everybody’s had to pick up and do a little bit more.

Doug Chapin, The Vindicator