Monday, October 13, 2008

We Came Up Short : 14- 21

Whew. Ever feel like a vein was going to pop out of your forehead? I had that feeling a lot Friday night.

Turnovers, a hot, humid evening, failure to score in the Red Zone, and a very athletic and well-coached defense combined to help defeat us Friday to the tune of 14 to 21. A 4-4 cover 3 and sometimes a 4-3 man cover 0 was the defense de jour Friday. It was obvious from the first series that they were determined NOT to let our fullback have another 198 yard night (he finished with just over 100.) Our QB picked up the slack with a 100 yard rushing night himself and also threw for just over 100. In fact we rushed for over 260 yards and our total was around 370. But we didn't look as sharp as the week before... either on the line or at the skill position. Having a few skill guys sit out most of the week due to injuries didn't help. Our play-action passing didn't look "ready for prime-time." Our halftime adjustment to running Belly Dive lead to 38 yards on two carries... but we fumbled the drive away and there it was. We had 5 fumbles and lost 2 - but all served to either stop or complicate drives. I will say that one happened on a slant where 3 DB's held up our split end for almost four seconds (yes, I timed it on film.) The ball came out at four. I guess forward progress wasn't a priority Friday. Oh, well...

One thing is for sure, we might not know how to handle a big win, but we have shown in the past that we do know how to get ready after a close, disappointing loss.

Coach Smith

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Week 7 (Or Week 6 if you start with week 0... I'm very confused!))

Well, we managed to do it right Friday night to the tune of 48-28 versus Sevier County. Our fullback was a marked man and still racked up 198 yards. All our running backs had a great night with our rushing offense coming in at around 430 yards. We threw twice for 16 yards. Each week we have installed a new component of the offense and continued to fine-tune what already is installed. Self-scouting is a continuing process and it's nice to find what should be an advantage for the defense and instead turn it into a liability.

I'm purposely being a little vague as all the teams in our remaining schedule are quality opponents... and it's amazing just how much a Google search can turn up! I'll get into X's and O's once the season is over.

I hope that is a long time coming! :-)

Coach Smith