Knox Halls @ West

[TheGoldenBoot]

I also thought the 2pt conversion by 18 after his TD gave West a boost. Going to half up one must of really boosted morale.

[devilsden]

No way should we have lost this game tonight. Our defense didn't stepup when they had to. Our offense has sputtered and stuttered all season long except when we play against a lessor opponent. If we continue at this rate we want win 5 games.

I am just like all of the Halls faithful, I had such high hopes for this season, and now unless we right the ship, we are looking at tumbling backwards. We have the players in place now we need to get an offense and defense in place tha can run the ball and stop the run against GOOD teams. We haven't dune that yet.

Not quite sure if the players are giving there 100% each and every day in practice and in the games. Maybe this is just a frustrated fan, but I expected more, a lot more than what we have shown. I will never go against the Devils, but I can for sure let my feelings be know.

Last but not least, we have always been known as a smash in the mouth football team. Am I stupid or do we get away from that when it comes down to crunch time?

Sorry but I just thought of another question - This is Coach J's 4 th year and I am in no way blaming him for the recent struggles, but how does he measure up with other coaches in the region in there 4 th season. For that matter how does he measure up with the history of Halls coaches in there 4th season.

[ZCAR]

Ironman, maybe I'm getting a bad attitude but this is what I see....

 

Our offense isn't consistent and very easy to predict. Against better teams we will struggle throughout the year we have not been efficent on pass blocking and execution and now after this game conditioning is coming into question.( Two blowups in the fourth quarter) I agree with your earlier post if M'laughlin hadn't had that great kickoff return this game wasn't close and this was a big game in our District. I am very dissappointed we didn't take some chances that they did, West wanted it more and they succeeded. We lack the intangibles to succeed at the moment and I'm afraid that Bearden will be tougher than West. I'm glad it's not a District game next week. We need to find ourselves and get back on track.

 

I had this bad thought the other day we could easily have two 1,000 yards rushers and not even make the playoffs. It gave me a very hollow feeling. Powell, Clinton and South Doyle are now on alert that we are not hitting on all cylinders. Setting at 2-3(1-2 district) this team is far better than this and we have most of our players back from injury. We need to kick it into gear now or be watching the playoffs on Friday Night Hits.

 

Come on Halls lets step it up start believing in yourself.

[4merhhsplayer]

from my past knowledge, if you miss a practice, even a monday practice, yet alone every practice for that week, then you don't start that week. you still play, but just don't start.

[Ironman80]

4mer... -

- Thanks again for the rule clarification. Is that a Knox county rule or just Halls? It's just sad that the whole team had to suffer (more than likely cost us the game)

 

- I was always taught that your best chance to win was to have your best 11 on the field, PERIOD. In a close game like last night, it would have been nice to see that happen. (How do the kids handle knowing we are going to "waste"quarter because of this rule??)

 

- Someone told me today that #10 did not play any offense. Is that true? I know he practiced last week, and caught the ball very well. With his play making ability on offense, it seems like a waste to have him on the sideline. Watching the same WR's drop passes and get no seperation is tough. I think he (#10) is an answer to our prayers, just a shame the coaches didn't know how to get him involved in the game plan. It was nice watching him break up plays and basically take away one side of the field on defense.

 

- I'm tired of hearing people blame #2 for not making his block on the "boot" leg. This was a true "trick" play. As such, no one on our team knew what was happening. The play was called to #6 on a sweep, and everyone was blocking for that. Coach told #4 to keep the ball, thus "trick" everyone. #2 was watching the play to see how it worked. Had he known the ball was coming his way, he would not have been just standing there. He knew on a sweep the other way, he didn't have much impact on the play. Great kid, and played his heart out. He would have tried to make a block, or even went out for a pass had he known. IT IS NOT HIS FAULT.

 

- Our offense is boring and predictable, yet without the "trick" plays being called with the game on the line, we would be 4-1 instead of 2-3.

 

- Finally, devilsden makes an excellent point. After four years our records: 7-4, 5-5, 8-4, 2-3. Overall it's 22-16 (through out Gibbs and L. Citry it drops to 15-16). The question is, what direction is this years team going?? Clinton, Bearden, and even Powell are probably as good as West or better. South Doyle will be tough also. A 3-7 year is looming if we don't make some changes. I expect several close games, just wonder if we will continue to rely on the "trick" plays. Again, is this team getting better or worse??

[4merhhsplayer]

i believe it is a halls team rule.

 

you don't have to sit out a quarter, you just don't start.

[Ironman80]

An interesting Halls statistic:

 

-Last year we averaged 31 pts per game against Maryville, Central, Seveir Co. and West. This year we averaged 16 pts per game. To say our offense has gone way down this year is an understatement.

[ZCAR]

Why are we resorting to trick plays?

 

If we have no confidence in the passing game shouldn't we work our butts off in practice until we position Turner and his receivers were they can depend on each other or have we just written that part of the offense off completely?

 

Also, if we know when we are down and need some big yardage and 6 yards a run isn't enough to quickly move the chains when time is running out it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that you have to work on passing the ball to gain some big chunks in a quick amount of time. Coming up is a non-district game with Bearden shouldn't we start now to get some confidence with this game so we can use it against upcoming District foes?

 

Five games under our belt and I believe we still don't have 100 yards in pass receptions. Has to be rock bottom in the KFL this year. How can this be with all the talent we have? This is the big reason why we are 15 points below our offensive production from last year against common opponents as Ironman stated earlier. Let me make it clear I'm not suggesting Spurrier ball but if you fear passing the ball you will certainly will fail when it counts the most and pretty much reflects our sub-par start.

 

We can throw some suttle adjustments in our game plan every now and then. Tap into the mind of the master Coach Ward.

[Ironman80]

Zcar -

 

- I took up for the lack of a passing due to injury theory early. But like you, I feel it should be much better by now.

 

- I have seen several practices, and more time is spent on pass plays than run plays. What you see on Friday night is what I see when I watch practices. Same Wr's can't catch during practices. You can call a mule a racehorse all you want to, but after 5 games everyone can see they are mules.

 

- Now that we have #37 and #10 healthy (our racehorses), it's sad to see them sitting on the bench. We can't say it's due to injury anymore. Anyone who has seen these two kids (#37 and #10) play sit in amazement as the passing game continues to stink.

 

- As I've said before, we must have no confidence in our Offensive Line at crunch time. I'm sure they feel the coaches have NO CONFIDENCE in them, since both games we decided smash mouth football won't work for us at the end.

 

- Make no mistake, that's not Coach Williams decision. That comes from the head man, Coach J. It's his team, and these new "tricks" reflect his message to the team. Side note - we had three RB's averaging over seven yards per carry, and not one of them touched the ball on the last series in either game (#23's last carry against West was for ten yards, and his last carry against S. county was for 15. I'm still amazed that we didn't let him touch it in cruch time in either game)

[DiverCity]

Ironman, while we've averaged fewer points this year, if you eliminate the kickoff return for a TD it's even lower.

 

I really think Coach J is a good coach and some of his assistants are as well. The trouble IMO is that he hasn't aggressively gone after excellent assistants and let poorer ones go elsewhere, instead choosing some of them based on personal likes or dislikes without adequately considering playing experience, coaching experience and maturity. I know of one very experienced coach who wanted to assist (for free) and he was turned down, having been told that there wasn't a spot. A very, very young assistant was chosen instead. Believe me, if you knew who I was talking about getting turned down and knew of his background and experience, you'd be flabbergasted.

 

With all of this said, the players have got to stay up. They have a lot of talent. I'd like to see them rise up, become leaders and forge ahead and make this year one to remember. I know they have the ability. And I'll stand behind them all the way.

[gutsdad]

If Halls can get on track its good that 2 or 3 teams are better than West in the Region this means they can still finish 2 in the region because the other region teams can beat West. Halls just has to win out and that is very possible. The coaches may not be the ones out there running, tackling, blocking, and throwing but they are the ones who put the players on the field they think can get the job done. Good luck

[deablo]

Just a quick reply to Ironman80. I was also wandering why we went away from the run? Looked to me like we were moving the ball.I would like to see some more players step up into leadership roles. # 23 Waggoner & # 4 Turner as well as # 62 Leanord & # 32 Hodge are showing signs of being our leaders. Don't get me wrong we have good young players too but players tend to look towards seniors. Speaking of # 37 & # 10 it is good to see #10 Gresham back. I was kind of surprised to see # 37 Bright not on defense after leading the team in tackles going into the West game. I hope we get our ship righted because I feel like it is gut check time. After this Friday against Bearden we are in must win situations.