Division II: Class A Favorites

[oline]

St George fumbled it 6 times against Davidson. Davidson did not stop St George - St George had their worst offensive game of the season. There is no one that can match St George man for man. St George only has to concentrate on stopping one running back for SBEC and don't turn the ball over. SBEC defense is their weakness. Their offense is efficient, they carry out their assignments well, but defense wins championships. St George just has more players that play at a higher level than anyone else in the league and Coach Netherland gets the best out of each. Davidson and SBEC will likely meet again for a trip to Murphreesboro against St George - however, SBEC must overcome Byrne who has haunted them except the 2004 state title.

 

 

 

for the record 4real.....3 fumbles...only lost 1....da played okay at times on D

[4real72]

 

Question for you, as an apparent St. George's fan/supporter. Who would worry you the most b/w Davidson, Harding, and SBEC if you were going to worry at all....and couldn't really blame the Gryphons for not worrying about anybody in that group? I know Harding went down pretty hard against St. G but my guess is that they win out and get the #4 seed.

 

Davidson doesn't match up offensively, their defense can only hold so much. Harding doesn't have the defense nor the running game. That leaves SBEC. They are the best team of the rest. If they don't fumble on the opening drive, it could have been a different game. They were moving the ball effectively. Honestly, and I don't intend this to sound arrogant, just my opinion, but I think our greatest enemy is ourselves. A team naturally has a tendency with the success of the first game to make only minor adjustments. We played about as close to a perfect game as we can. Everything was jelling that night. I would not expect (as an example) a pass to bounce off your player's hands, off our receivers helmet into his arms the next time we meet.

SBEC on the other hand will make significant adjustments, they will have a greater determination than before. I believe IF SBEC can believe in themselves through the good and the bad and play without getting down on themselves, the game will be closer next time. That first fumble took a lot of wind out of their sails and the 2nd half kickoff was devastating to any enthusiasm they had left after the half time pep talk. So perhaps SBEC's worst enemy is themselves as well. Will they believe they can still win after they get behind? Also someone else is going to have to make a significant difference other than Greer. Pls don't take this the wrong way, but I was surprised, how little difference the rest of your skill players made. I know we were expecting a greater impact from others on your team as they had had previous success.

[Trojan Fan]

Pls don't take this the wrong way, but I was surprised, how little difference the rest of your skill players made. I know we were expecting a greater impact from others on your team as they had had previous success.

 

 

Not a problem. I honestly felt like the defensive scheme (and players) that St. George's ran made all the difference. Nobody has run-blitzed and shot LBs through the gaps against us like St. George's has. Some will try it every now and again but H.R. Greer can break tackles and go the distance if you miss and leave an opening. The FB Jeremy Carson can break tackles at times and he's a strong runner but needs a little more growing to become a bruiser. He's a 10th grader. The other guys (RB Michael Ford, QB Garrett Sneed, WB Taylor Chambliss) can all go but they aren't going to break many tackles. Give them a little hole and they'll go, though. St. G just didn't provide any holes. Others have tried to stack the line more like that but we made them pay with big plays...couldn't do it against the Gryphon D, though.

 

They did a great job on the line clogging things up and the linebackers very simply were as salty as can be and just made tackles. If I hadn't been rooting for SBEC I'd have thoroughly enjoyed watching the clinic St. George's ends, LBs, and safeties put on making tackles. They just didn't miss and wrapped up beautifully. We just don't throw the ball that well and especially not without establishing the run first and the defense from St. George's was perfectly designed and the players execute perfectly to stop us...very impressive. I'm not sure what we can do different IF there is a next time....but I'm sure Coach Veazey will try something. We tend to run some power football with a good helping of misdirection thrown in. I think we're crazy not to run some option. The personnel is really made for it...but they didn't ask me. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

 

LOL, that play with the ball bouncing off our player and your's helmet and into his hands was classic. I tried not to laugh b/c I was supposed to be upset but you just can't help it....just classic. Good teams are lucky b/c they put themselves into position to take advantage of luck. That was just great. I'm almost glad the game wasn't close so I can laugh about it.

 

On the kick coverage? We haven't covered one well all year. It's flat amazing how badly we cover kick-offs.

 

...and I have to ask about the ejection. I never knew for sure what the call was that brought Jessen's punt return back and got the coach so irate. I was told that somebody came on the field during the play for St. George's but the ref called it a sideline warning instead of illegal participation but that sounded pretty bogus. I couldn't believe a ref would call that and not get it right. Surely it wasn't truly a sideline warning getting a play called back? I've only seen that even called a penalty once (as opposed to the typical warning b/w plays) and it was when a ref got knocked down by a coach accidentally as he was running down the sideline covering a pass play. No one on our side could figure out what kind of penalty it could have been other than a block in the back or clip or maybe a face mask on us. We were completely stumped.