Maryville vs Maplewood

[mapperman]

Nice.

 

Reguards to the Board,

 

Mapp

[Flash Gordon]

All do respect man, but it was anything but dominating, and it didnt look easy to me. Take away that last TD off a trick play and Maplewoods last drive is going for the tie, not saying they didnt clearly won, but it was a decent game and not easy or dominating like you are making it out to be.....

 

 

Maryville had 22 first downs, Maplewood 10. Total yardage was Maryville 389, Maplewood 225. It maybe wasn't total domination but the statistics are in line with a final point differential of 15 points. If the game had ended at halftime, I wouldn't have used the word dominating but Maryville gradually took control of the game as it wore on.

 

Don't let the "trick" play bother you too much. Actually, it is a sign of great respect for your team from Coach Quarles that he felt it necessary to use a "trick" play against Maplewood. He normally only uses these type of plays against the most worthy of opponents ( i.e. Melrose, Hillsboro, etc.). The amazing thing is they always work perfectly.

 

I know it wasn't an "easy" game. My "make it look easy" comment was referring to how wide open Maryville's receivers were on all 3 TD passes. Maryville does indeed make it look easy even though it really isn't.

 

Anyway, I thought Maplewood gave a fine performance and my previous comments weren't intended to be a knock on them in any way. They went toe to toe with the Rebels and didn't back down at all. My comments were intended to give well deserved praise to Maryville for once again proving that they are unquestionably the best program in Tennessee.

[Lost Old Dad]

Congratulations "CHAMPS". Make room in the trophy case........AGAIN! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

[Kevin38]

Maryville had 22 first downs, Maplewood 10. Total yardage was Maryville 389, Maplewood 225. It maybe wasn't total domination but the statistics are in line with a final point differential of 15 points. If the game had ended at halftime, I wouldn't have used the word dominating but Maryville gradually took control of the game as it wore on.

 

Don't let the "trick" play bother you too much. Actually, it is a sign of great respect for your team from Coach Quarles that he felt it necessary to use a "trick" play against Maplewood. He normally only uses these type of plays against the most worthy of opponents ( i.e. Melrose, Hillsboro, etc.). The amazing thing is they always work perfectly.

 

I know it wasn't an "easy" game. My "make it look easy" comment was referring to how wide open Maryville's receivers were on all 3 TD passes. Maryville does indeed make it look easy even though it really isn't.

 

Anyway, I thought Maplewood gave a fine performance and my previous comments weren't intended to be a knock on them in any way. They went toe to toe with the Rebels and didn't back down at all. My comments were intended to give well deserved praise to Maryville for once again proving that they are unquestionably the best program in Tennessee.

 

 

That is more like it, I felt it was a good game and Maplewood did prove that they could play w/ the Rebels. I feel that the game was closer than the stats might indicate as well, and you are right those 3 TD passes were way to easy b/c no one was anywhere around them, but outside of those 3 plays I think Maplewood played really well considering who they were playing.....

[Philster043]

Actually, this was Maplewoods second trip to the championship game. I know because I was on the 1975 Oak Ridge team that beat Maplwood 46-22 for the state title, even though Maplewood was the heavy favorite that year.

Congrats to both teams on a great year!!

 

 

These kids were first-time participants though. Compared to Maryville, who had sent their seniors to three state championship games before this game. Not to mention the coaches having been there 8 out of the last 10 years now.

 

But yeah, Maplewood have gone two times. I wouldn't be surprised if they came back next year, assuming they don't lose too many starters. They didn't seem to have a whole lot of players on the sidelines waiting in the wing.

[Flash Gordon]

That is more like it, I felt it was a good game and Maplewood did prove that they could play w/ the Rebels. I feel that the game was closer than the stats might indicate as well, and you are right those 3 TD passes were way to easy b/c no one was anywhere around them, but outside of those 3 plays I think Maplewood played really well considering who they were playing.....

 

 

I think Maplewood's game plan was very sound. It appeared that they intended to play smashmouth football with a big offensive line and mix in a little play action passing here and there. It was very successful at times. Had they been able to get the lead, they could have really made this game interesting.

 

I personally think a conservative, ball control "milk the clock" offense is the way to attack Maryville, as Maplewood attempted. It is obviously is easier said than done and you have to be big and physical to attempt this style of play. People think Maryville is a finesse team because of all GQ's passing schemes but they are usually very physical upfront and don't allow teams to establish the run. Teams then get impatient trying to play catchup and the rout is usually on for Maryville.

 

Maplewood's downfall with their strategy was having too many penalties causing bad down and distance situations. The 4th down holding call early in the 2nd half on the play that took away the 1st down was also a backbreaker. Also, as you alluded, you can't give up big plays/easy touchdowns if you want to play ball control football. You end up getting behind and you have to eventually abandon the running game.

 

Maplewood played pretty well but Maryville forces you to play pretty much mistake free and Maplewood didn't.

[hvillefootball]

Good job Mairvul, 60 in a row and not looking to end anytime soon...

[Kevin38]

I think Maplewood's game plan was very sound. It appeared that they intended to play smashmouth football with a big offensive line and mix in a little play action passing here and there. It was very successful at times. Had they been able to get the lead, they could have really made this game interesting.

 

I personally think a conservative, ball control "milk the clock" offense is the way to attack Maryville, as Maplewood attempted. It is obviously is easier said than done and you have to be big and physical to attempt this style of play. People think Maryville is a finesse team because of all GQ's passing schemes but they are usually very physical upfront and don't allow teams to establish the run. Teams then get impatient trying to play catchup and the rout is usually on for Maryville.

 

Maplewood's downfall with their strategy was having too many penalties causing bad down and distance situations. The 4th down holding call early in the 2nd half on the play that took away the 1st down was also a backbreaker. Also, as you alluded, you can't give up big plays/easy touchdowns if you want to play ball control football. You end up getting behind and you have to eventually abandon the running game.

Maplewood played pretty well but Maryville forces you to play pretty much mistake free and Maplewood didn't.

 

 

Exactly, they did have the personel to run the ball w/ success but when they fell behind by 2 scores they didnt have the luxury to grind it out. However, I was pretty impressed with their QB Simpson; he was on the money w/ his passes most of the nite and made good decisions for the most part.....

[Solomon]

All right, I have to comment on this.

 

"Trick" plays are a part of football. It's part of it. Good teams use them when they know they can be used to their advantage. Maplewood was fast, flew to the football, could lay a lick, but were undisciplined on assignments on defense. When I read a post saying these things this week, I knew the double pass was coming and that they would hit two or three long passes because their O-line could protect Burnette long enough to let them develop. Did protection break down some? Yes. But Maryville also hit 3 wide open 20+ yard passes because no defender was near the receiver that went for 6 each time. That is why Maryville is so good. They take advantage of the other team's weaknesses.

[rigger101]

Exactly, they did have the personel to run the ball w/ success but when they fell behing by 2 scores they didnt have the luxury to grind it out. However, I was pretty impressed with their QB Simpson; he was on the money w/ his passes most of the nite and made good decisions for the most part.....

 

Yep, Simpson looked really good.

[Philster043]

Flash Simpson and Solomon, good posts and I agree with your analysis.

 

It really was a very nice game. Maryville is not a perfect team by any means, but they do usually make less mistakes than the other team. For most of the game Maplewood did much, much better than I thought they would in staying away from the penalties and making all the tough catches and running hard. They also were very quick on defense. That helped them to a 14-13 score (for a while there I thought that missed PAT might haunt them.)

 

But once Maryville gets a bit of a gap in the score, it's usually over. After halftime Maplewood succeeded in stopping Maryville and avoiding this for a longer while, but they lost the game when Maryville got the score up to 28-13. That's why I said the double pass trick play was the backbreaker. I knew GQ was going to use a trick play somewhere in the game, it was actually kind of one of the more fun things while watching the game - "Is this the play he does it? No, just a run... Is this IT? Nope, a pass..."

 

And sure enough, GQ does the surprise play when I started to least expect it, and I'm sure the Maplewood defense were led into a lull as well. Coach Quarles is just a master of the unexpected play.

 

But when you read about Maryville's season overall, it's unbelievable that they had a 15-0 season considering they had two wide receivers on the offensive line and a guy from the DL who had never played OL before. So I think, not to knock GQ, but this is the year where Coach David Ellis needs to get his just credits. He could be a very good head coach for us if he wanted to be - he is the best OL coach in the state.

[Kevin38]

All right, I have to comment on this.

 

"Trick" plays are a part of football. It's part of it. Good teams use them when they know they can be used to their advantage. Maplewood was fast, flew to the football, could lay a lick, but were undisciplined on assignments on defense. When I read a post saying these things this week, I knew the double pass was coming and that they would hit two or three long passes because their O-line could protect Burnette long enough to let them develop. Did protection break down some? Yes. But Maryville also hit 3 wide open 20+ yard passes because no defender was near the receiver that went for 6 each time. That is why Maryville is so good. They take advantage of the other team's weaknesses.

 

 

I dont think you are referring to me about the "trick play" thing b/c I have no problem w/ a trick play being run and I agree w/ everything you stated. When it comes to these kinds of plays timing is everything, and they work best against teams who have great over-all team speed on defense and at the same time are very agressive. That pretty much describes Maplewood to the T, Coach Q called that play at the exact precise time and it payed off for him. I also felt that 2 scores would be too much of a hill to climb considering MW's offensive scheme and sure enough it was.....