Big Games in Memphis ... Week 13 (Quarters & Semis)

[kwc]

Well everybody ... i'm off. I'm hitting the road in a few and I won't know the results of the gqme until it is all said and done. Have a good night of football everybody!

 

Whitehaven ... beat White Station!

[fourthree]

Safe travels KWC!

 

Well, I planned on attending the Mitchell/Melrose game, but now feel compelled to attend the White Station/Whitehaven game. Thanks KWC!

 

I want to be perfectly clear about tonight's game- WH/WS. Regardless of the result or score, when it comes to Whitehaven, I just want to walk away from the game feeling that the coaches did their jobs in preparing the kids, and giving them the best opportunity to win the game; nothing more, nothing less, as simple as that!

[CoachT]

Anyone have a final from Mitchell-Melrose?

[CoachT]

Mitchell won 42-26

[BigSneaky]

Mitchell 20 @ Melrose 26

Whitehaven 21 @ White Station 34

Knoxville Webb 17 @ ECS 35

Father Ryan 13 @ MUS 38

 

Looking back at the past two threads I'm 20 for 20 picking playoff games...24 for 24 has a nice ring to it.

 

My streak comes to a crashing halt.

Actual results

 

Mitchell 42 @ Melrose 26

Whitehaven 16 @ White Station 21

Knoxville Webb 42 @ ECS 28

Father Ryan 15 @ MUS 23

[Galilee]

Mitchell/ Melrose was full of fireworks. I have to give our DC coach Johnson his props for adjusting with a Cover 2 the seconf half. All year long our DB's would play man with 1 safety. Poole made us change in the 2nd half and Melrose never adjusted. Our head coach N. Cole had an excellent game plan with running the draw and screens with the twins. Another high scoring firsr half with Melrose leading 26-21 thanks to their QB(he is big time and onlly a soph, with a a rifle am) who picked us apart in the 1st half. The second half our D Line shut down their running game and they had to pass and our cover 2 worked. Tonight our special teams was big. We recoverd a fumbled punt and in the 4th qtr and also downed a punt on the 1 foot line, both by the same person. In the locker room at half time down by 5 coach Cole made a great point, he said they scored off quick strikes and we scored by driving the ball, their defense was getting tired and we would wear them down in the 2ndhalf. He was correct. Hats off to the Melrose players for having great class, they told us to bring home the goild ball.

[Galilee]

Sorry double post

[TraderB]

Mitchell/ Melrose was full of fireworks. I have to give our DC coach Johnson his props for adjusting with a Cover 2 the seconf half. All year long our DB's would play man with 1 safety. Poole made us change in the 2nd half and Melrose never adjusted. Our head coach N. Cole had an excellent game plan with running the draw and screens with the twins. Another high scoring firsr half with Melrose leading 26-21 thanks to their QB(he is big time and onlly a soph, with a a rifle am) who picked us apart in the 1st half. The second half our D Line shut down their running game and they had to pass and our cover 2 worked. Tonight our special teams was big. We recoverd a fumbled punt and in the 4th qtr and also downed a punt on the 1 foot line, both by the same person. In the locker room at half time down by 5 coach Cole made a great point, he said they scored off quick strikes and we scored by driving the ball, their defense was getting tired and we would wear them down in the 2ndhalf. He was correct. Hats off to the Melrose players for having great class, they told us to bring home the goild ball.

 

Galilee,

 

Kudos to Mitchell for a CONVINCING win over Melrose!!!

 

You gave an excellent summation of the critical elements of this game. I would like to add a few other things:

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1) Mitchell had too many play-makers for Melrose (QB, Twin #1, Twin#2, WR #1, Malone).

 

-- (I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be saying that about a Melrose team.)

 

-- All 5 of them took turns gashing Melrose's defense.

-- The diminutive, elusive Twins would have to get my vote for Co-MVP's, hands down.

-- Man, they float like a butterfly and dart like a bee, you can't tackle what you can't see!

-- The twins frustrated (and demoralized) the heck out of Melrose's defenders!

 

 

2) Mitchell's coaching staff did an outstanding job of maximizing all its offensive weapons.

 

3) Melrose's inability to consistently corral the twins out in space, and contain the QB bootlegs....this led directly to their demise. This trio looked must have converted over 90% of all 3rd-downs, regardless of the distance!

 

4) The Road Runner versus Wile Coyote.......Mitchell's "jitter-bug" twins versus Melrose's defenders reminded me of that old Looney Tunes cartoon, seriously!

 

5) The Melrose defenders' heads must have been spinning all night, chasing and chasing....just when they thought they had the "enemy" all bottled up, they'd just squirt away--time and time again.

 

6) At the end of the day, once Mitchell took away the deep ball, Melrose's just did not have enough other weapons.... to keep pace with Mitchell.

 

Great (over-achieving) season Melrose!

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If Coach Cole continues to use his plethora of offensive weapons (especially the slippery twins) this efficiently, and the defense plays half-way decently, the remaining 5A teams are going to have an ENORMOUSLY difficult time outscoring Mitchell and preventing them from bringing that Gold Ball back to Memphis.

 

One other thing-this STILL baffles me: After Mitchell scored a TD, going up 34-26 (8 points = ONE posession), WHY in the world did Coach Cole decide to go for a 2-point conversion, instead of just kicking the extra-point and making it a sure-fire 2-posession game???? Please note: up to that point, Kewone Malone had effortlessly and flawlessly kicked EVERY single P.A.T (he was 4 for 4)! He was not hurt.......The 2-point conversion failed, of course. It remained a 1-posession game, needlessly!

 

As it turned out, that bizarre move did not come back to haunt Mitchell.....THIS TIME.

[Spartansfan]

It seems the quarter final matchups across the state (except Maryville vs Farragut) had one thing in common....they all went down to the final seconds to be decided.

 

WS vs WH was no different. WS seemed to seize momentum from the begining, by driving down for a 7-0 lead on their 1st drive. Followed that up with recovering a well placed short kickoff and on their way again....until, from inside WH's 10 yrd line, the Tigers got an INT! Long return....down to around WS's 30. The momentum shifted as the 1st half became a defensive battle. WH managed to secure a 9-7 halftime lead with a last second 43 yard field goal that just did clear the crossbar. (nice kick!)

 

The 2nd half got underway with WH still controlling momentum. They scored another TD to go up 16-7. WS got the ball towards the end of the 3rd qtr and got deep into WH's territory as the 3rd ended. With a bit over 10 minutes left in the game, the Spartans got their TD to pull within 2 pts.....16-14, WH still leading. The Spartans defense had to come up big....and they did. They got the ball back for the offense and you could sense WS had regained momentum as they marched down the field in big chunks. They scored to make it 21-16 with about 6 and a half minutes remaining.

 

WH started off rough by mis-handling the kickoff, and giving their offense a start from their 15 yrd line. They marched down the field, typically taking 3-4 downs to secure a 1st down to keep the drive going. They would have a 5 yrd penalty on a couple of instances, some tackles were made for no gain or short losses, then WH would make a good 10-15 yrds on a 3rd or 4th down to move the sticks. They found themselves arounf the WS 40 yrd line, about 1:20ish left with a 1st and 10. That went to 1st and 15 with a procedure penalty. Then 2 plays resulting in no gains, 3rd down gain of 5 yrds made a 4th and 10. The Tigers QB tried to pass, found no one open, took off to the left side.....he had some room, but managed to gain about 8 of the 10 yrds he needed. WS got the ball back on downs with 32 seconds left. One kneeldown finished it off.

 

I was impressed with what WH brought into the game. They looked much better, and more disciplined than they did earlier this year. FFor those that don't believe in the coaching for the Haven....I'm not sure I saw any deficiencies in the play calls or game plans. I'm not saying you couldn't get a better coach somewhere and win that game...but, speaking realistically, they did what they do...They had a passing game that was effective at times, but when they lean on it too much, it loses potency. Why? because the defense is focusing on stopping it....makes an offense one dimensional. When WH was running and passing, they found success. When they became run oriented, or pass oriented, the defense was able to put a stop to it. Sometimes the outcomes of these games simply comes down to the internal motivation of those young men executing the plays that are called.

 

I'm very proud of WS's overall effort, especially the way they closed out the game. They HAD to get the 2 scores, and it HAD to be on their last 2 drives, or WS loses. The defense had to step up and stop WH on their last 2 drives....and you could see and feel the desperation, the maximum efforts from both teams as they gave EVERYTHING they had to decide this game! While I feel great the WS is advancing, I fele for the WH players and staff, because they had a great season, and really left everything out there last night! I'm sure this will sting for awhile, but that will soon pass because they won't look back with regrets of having a bad game or poor effort. They know they competed at their best, and it just didn't work out in their favor.

 

Now WS travels to Brentwood.....and that's a game we aren't supposed to win. The old "West Tn is inferior to Middle Tn" thing......we'll see how that goes!!

[TraderB]

 

I was impressed with what WH brought into the game. They looked much better, and more disciplined than they did earlier this year. FFor those that don't believe in the coaching for the Haven....I'm not sure I saw any deficiencies in the play calls or game plans. I'm not saying you couldn't get a better coach somewhere and win that game...but, speaking realistically, they did what they do...They had a passing game that was effective at times, but when they lean on it too much, it loses potency. Why? because the defense is focusing on stopping it....makes an offense one dimensional. When WH was running and passing, they found success. When they became run oriented, or pass oriented, the defense was able to put a stop to it. Sometimes the outcomes of these games simply comes down to the internal motivation of those young men executing the plays that are called.

 

I'm very proud of WS's overall effort, especially the way they closed out the game. They HAD to get the 2 scores, and it HAD to be on their last 2 drives, or WS loses. The defense had to step up and stop WH on their last 2 drives....and you could see and feel the desperation, the maximum efforts from both teams as they gave EVERYTHING they had to decide this game! While I feel great the WS is advancing, I fele for the WH players and staff, because they had a great season, and really left everything out there last night! I'm sure this will sting for awhile, but that will soon pass because they won't look back with regrets of having a bad game or poor effort. They know they competed at their best, and it just didn't work out in their favor.

 

Now WS travels to Brentwood.....and that's a game we aren't supposed to win. The old "West Tn is inferior to Middle Tn" thing......we'll see how that goes!!

 

Thanks for that 1st-hand account, SpartansFan.

 

I listened to this game on the radio, while attending the Melrose-Mitchell game.

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WH's coaching staff appeared to open up its offensive playbook and took advantage of the short passing game. The result was that they performed exponentially better....Once they got the 16-7 lead (3rd Qtr?), however, it sounded like they took the foot off the gas pedal. They seemed to revert back to the conservative approach..... WS promptly took full advantage.

 

It sounded like a very competitive game, with some truly inspired play by Whitehaven! White Station finally dug down even deeper, matched WH's intensity and effort, then pulled out a gritty come-back victory in a hard-fought game.

 

Congratulations to White Station. Great season, Whitehaven.

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Alright, SpartansFan--ya'll, Mitchell and MUS now have this entire (hopefully) Memphis area behind you! It's time for all three teams to represent..... The entire State will be scrutinizing White Station's performance, to see if West Tennessee has closed the "quality-of-football" gap with Middle Tennessee.

[Galilee]

TraderB,

I would have loved to have I met you last night. I was on the field in the gray suit. You are so correct about our weapons. I expected a much closer game. Besides Poole I was shocked at the lack of Melrose speed. The twins started out at Melrose and the coach woud not play them, so they transfered to Mitchell. A lot of Melrose fans were upset that the coach let them leave. Number 1 is only a soph and the coaches son, Nate Jr. The college coaches are already drooling over him. At 6-0 175 and can cover like a blanket. Coach put him on Poole in the 2nd half and he shut him down. I am pulling for WS and MUS next week.

[Spartansfan]

Alright, SpartansFan--ya'll, Mitchell and MUS now have this entire (hopefully) Memphis area behind you! It's time for all three teams to represent..... The entire State will be scrutinizing White Station's performance, to see if West Tennessee has closed the "quality-of-football" gap with Middle Tennessee.

 

I know I'm anxious to see the same thing TraderB! It's so tough to judge that from playing locally. 1st, we don't get to see the other areas teams play, so it's impossible to accurately judge their level of play. Although historically, we have a pretty good idea of how good they are. We've felt really good about some local teams in the past only to see them fall to the Middle Tn schools in the semi's, so I'm feeling pretty cautious about that.

 

The next issue is that we don't have accurate indicators of what we can do against them. I think our games against CBHS and MUS give us a good idea of where we were at that point of the season.

If we play like we did vs CBHS, the answer is obvious. If we play like we did vs MUS, we'd need to win in a high scoring affair. However I do think our 'D' has improved a lot since then.

 

It's also good to see how local teams compete vs others in the playoffs. Example....being a close game in the 1st couple of rounds doesn't give me confidence of being capable of doing well in a semi-final game. If you win comfortably (see Mitchell vs Melrose) you have to like your chances in the later rounds. Maryville put it on Farragut last night 35-14....That's a tough act to follow.

 

Mitchell seems well poised to make their statement for a gold ball. MUS...I wonder if these bye weeks they get isn't hurting them. They seemed to have some errors last night that are unusual for them, and could be brought on by over-confidence, lack of focus, too much time between games. With that performance they had last night vs FR, and no follow up game before the chanpionship game....well, it concerns me. Hopefully they get things straightened out.

 

We did ok in our 3 rounds. Last night I think our players and coaches gained confidence in our ability to come back on a team and get the TD's with the pressure on.....and make defensive stops with the pressure on. Will it be enough to win round 4? hmmmm.....