Newberry at Cedarville

Oh, I almost forgot. Newberry at Cedarville. Newberry 6 – Cedarville 20.


This was a good game. The weather sucked. It rained most of the game. Off and on, off and on. We had some issues on offense and defense that caused our loss this week.

Defense: Defense played a great game overall. They were playing tough, but there was 1 huge issue. Number 1 reason on defense that we gave up 3 TD’s was a match-up issue. Our corners are little fast guys. Actually, the 2 smallest kids on the team are our corners. This is because most teams don’t pass often. Well Cedarville does. And one of their wide receivers is taller than Ash-boy. A lanky streak of lightening that towered over our corner. All they had to do was lob it out there. He made 2 TD’s and many first downs. I don’t know why we didn’t make a switch there? Bad decision, that was for sure. It was obvious to us parents on the sideline, which were discussing the problem, so I don’t know why the coaches didn’t make a change. We play them once more this season and at practice this week, they have already said that there will be a better match-up when next we meet. They will put taller corners out there. The 3rd TD was just a topper during scrub-time. The whole 4th quarter we played the 2nd string guys and so did they.

Offense: Offense was horrid this game. The 1st 2 quarters the offensive line wasn’t getting their blocks, they were standing straight up on the snaps instead of coming out of their stances forward. They were being pushed back and letting guys through. They also weren’t opening their holes so the runningbacks had nowhere to go. Our offense was stagnant. The 3rd quarter was the only time that the team played well all around. The Coaches gave a good pep-talk at half-time. He told them that they better do what they could, because the 4th he was putting in 2nd string no matter what. The boys came out raring to go. The Offensive Line came out and held the line for the whole quarter, thus allowing the backfield to execute their plays. They made a real nice drive and finished the quarter down just one TD.

Ash-boy’s 1st half performance was well below standard. He wasn’t holding the line worth a shit on offense. 1st quarter wasn’t too bad, but the farther time went on the worse he played on offense. Finally one of the coaches came to the stands midway through the 2nd quarter and started hollering for me. I heard him and came over. He said that Ash-boy wasn’t performing because his jammed finger was killing him and had gotten re-injured during the 1st quarter and that I needed to tape it up so he could play well. He was nursing it after each play. I couldn’t tape it because he plays offensive and defensive 1st string so he never came out. At half-time I taped it up and told him it was time to get in there and perform like he does in practice all week long, that he had the hr and a half ride home to whine about that finger. He was in bad pain. He was close to tears as I taped his fingers. As they were going back to the sideline getting prepared for the second half, the coach pulled Ash-boy off to the side along with one of the other team captains, (who is also a big linesman,) and told them both, that if they didn’t step up to the task and perform, the team didn’t have a chance to win, that they were the backbone of the team, and that they needed to show some drive and also get the team pumped up in the huddles. I was proud to hear this. The team came out and played hard in the 3rd. He really is a tough kid. As bad as he was hurting he never once asked to come out. He just steeled himself for the next play and went on. Defense he did well most of the game. The 2nd quarter he slacked off a bit with the injured finger, I think, being the culprit. He said with it not taped, it kept getting hung up on their jerseys and arms, and felt like it was going to rip off. He did get in on some nice tackles throughout the game. He along with everyone on defense, in the 3rd, just crushed Cedarville’s offense. They didn’t get many 1st downs in the 3rd. We dominated the possession clock. Ash-boy was swimming through the line making tackles and stopping their rushes coming his way. All in all, I was proud of his play, 2nd quarter excluded of course. Damn finger. It is still really swollen and has to be taped before each practice. Oh yea, another nice play that he was in on was our TD rush. We were 2 yards from the goal line. They called for Ash-boy to drive forward pushing through the defense with the QB pushing right behind. It worked perfectly. Sucks how Linemen get no credit.

Some solace though, is that this was the 1st time this season that Cedarville was kept under 35 points. As aforementioned, defense played well this game other than the match-up dilemma. We had 3 breakaway (or close to breakaway,) plays that could have easily turned the tide in this game.

1 – One of the 2nd row guys on the kickoff return team (A bigger kid with some wheels,) caught the ball and made a hell of a run. He was finally brought down by the last guy back on defense for their side. He busted through a few tackles, bulldozing his way down field. Just that 1 kid stood between him and a TD. Kid dove for our guy’s legs and took him out at the feet. A real nice tackle by the kid.

2 – Breakaway run where our runningback was run down from behind and brought down. That one really sucked. The runningback kept looking back over his shoulder instead of just running. One of those plays where you are up on the balls of your feet clapping and cheering, then, bang, you’re let down, all of your emotion faltering, as the away stands let out a sigh of anguish.

3 – Ash-boy and his cohort on left side opened a highway of a hole and our QB went through on a mad rush. He does multiple spin-moves, breaking over 3 tackles. And one of our guys makes a nice block on their safety, who was their last chance to stop the run, when the QB, who was coming out of a nice spinning evasion, tripped over his own guy, which made that great block.

So 1st half of the season we stand at 1 win – 1 tie – 1 loss. Next Monday brings the 2nd half and the same teams for a 2nd go at it. Rudyard at Rudyard, Brimley at Newberry, and Cedarville at Newberry. I’m salivating just waiting for these matches. Not being biased, I think we have the skills to win all these games. Whether we do is purely up to the kids and the couching decisions.