Wednesday, October 19, 2005
The Mighty Pablo Creek Saints
Aahhhh.. the good old Pablo Creek Saints. This has been a very fun and interesting season. Coaching these kids has been a kick in the pants! I'll see if I can remember (I'm getting old you know)... and try to recap what happened in our games up to this point. At the time of this writing we are 3-4... 3 wins and 4 losses. I wish I would have thought of this earlier... I was going to write my own application to log these events, it would not be very difficult it would just take some time to do it... just signing up for a blog and starting writing seemed like a much easier route (make that lazy route) at this point. :~)
Jamboree Day - We started off the year with 2 quarters of less than stellar football. I would have to blame us as coaches. We did not have the right people in the right positions, and if I remember correctly, both quarters (against 2 different teams) started out with touchdown runs off tackle by the opposing team. At the time, on offense, we were still using index cards in the huddle. As an offensive coach i think we were talking over the kids heads. We got drilled both quarters by about 14-0. We had a lot of delay of games penalties on offense. It wasn't pretty.
The Practice Game - We played the St. Johns Silver Bears in a practice game down at their field in Julington Creek. Just like in the Jamboree, again we started off on the wrong foot... I think they scored on the first play running off tackle. On offense we couldn't get it going consistently... we did get inside the 20 at least 3 times but stalled. The defense stepped up though and held them for the rest of the game. I think we lost that one 6-0.
Game 1 vs. Arlington Warriors - We got the regular season off to a decent start by beating the team from Arlington at their field, 7-0. Marik scored on a 35 yard scamper off the left tackle and we added the extra point on a hitch pass to Jason. This was a good read by the QB as the play was called to be thrown to the right... the cornerback was way off the ball on the left side so Jake threw to Jason on the left for the extra point. A hard fought game all the way down to the final plays of the game.
Game 2 vs. PAL Jaguars - We went downtown to play this game... and got handed our 1st regular season loss. This was a game we should have won. Our defense beat them up all day, and they scored on a fluke sweep where our defensive end got caught inside, the only score of the game. Other than that the Saints defense had the PAL offense moving backwards the whole game. The offense performed pretty well and was able to move the ball up and down the field, but stalled inside the 10 yard line at least twice. This was a disappointing loss, a game that we won everywhere except on the scoreboard... we lost 7-0.
Game 3 vs. Normandy Cowboys - We finally found a home field at Abess Park, and this was our first home game. Coach Bob and Coach Doug did a bang up job on the field, painting the lines and the Saints logos on the field. Darn it this was another disappointing loss... we had serious trouble with the QB/Center exchange and our offense never did get a rhythm going... most of the snaps ended up on the ground, so we did not get many real plays off. Can't knock the defense, for the 4th week in a row the BIG D held them to just 6 points, which should be enough to win the game. We lost this one at home, 6-0. After seeing so many snaps end up on the ground during this game, I went home and banged my head on the wall after this one. :~/
Game 4 vs. Wesconnett Wildcats - We traveled to the West Side for this game, and again was denied victory. This was my first game coaching the offense on the field, and even though we lost it was a blast. We scored twice... and I'll never forget the look on the kids faces on the field, on offense, when we scored the 2nd touchdown... BIG GRINS! They were finally starting to get it... you block your man, Cameron & Jermaine runs, we score! The offense was starting to get it's groove. We had made a switch and put Jermaine at tailback, and had stressed to the backfield during practice the idea of hitting the hole at full speed... we really saw it at this game. No dropped snaps either - that made a WORLD of difference. We really sped up the offense this week and got off a lot more plays than we had in any games prior to this. Unfortunately, the defense had problems in this one. We got burned on a couple of trips formations (3 receivers flooding one side), 2 of those quick passes went for touchdowns against us. Our defense had not faced trips formations until this game. Wesconnett ran out of the shotgun the whole game, and really, other than the scoring plays, the defense TOTALLY shut them down. I was totally bummed about losing this one. There was a problem with the game clock, and I kept asking the referee what was the deal with the clock continuing to run when it should stop... we would go out of bounds, or make a 1st down, and the clock continued to run (2 instances where it should have stopped). He assured me he had the "game time" on his stopwatch and was keeping track of it. At the end of the game, we had the ball, we were moving, driving... we were on their 30 yard line and were ripping off 8-yard runs... I was watching the clock wind down and knew we had more "game time" according to what the referee had told me... I figured we had another minute left after the scoreboard clock reached "0"... plenty of time to score from their 30 yard line. We were on their 30 threatening to score again when the horn sounded and the ref called "game over"... I ran up and was asking what the heck how much "game time" he had left... and he said "that's it, game over". Man I was pretty hot about that, I thought we were robbed. I just knew we were going to punch it in and win by 1 point. Darn it... or DADGUMMIT!!! We lost, 18-12. >:^/
Game 5 vs. LaVilla Sportsmans Club (LSC) Saints - We traveled again past downtown, over near Moncrief Rd. to face the "Saints". This team was coming into the game against the Pablo Creek Saints as an undefeated team. We were facing an undefeated team in a hostile environment. I have to hand it to our boys in this one... they played with a lot of heart. The opposing team was playing "dirty" and getting away with it... punching, holding, pinching, using foul language. We only has 2 refs on the field, we are supposed to have 4, so they missed a lot of calls. Our boys... I was with the offense on the field, it was the 3rd quarter, and I saw them, the whole offensive unit, start to get mad and play with some anger and fire in their hearts. I think we were down 13-12, and they got mad and fired up we just shoved the ball down their throats for another score and extra point to go ahead and keep the lead for the rest of the game 19-13. It was cool to see them in the huddle just get... really mad and fired up and be looking out for each other. They wanted to kick some butt and put Jermaine in the end zone, which they did beautifully! The other coach, I remember him telling me it was starting to get out of hand and that we needed to "cool it down" some. I told him "yeah ok will do", then went back to the huddle and told the offense that they were starting to kick their butts good, and that even their coach was getting scared of them... "keep it up" I told them in the huddle, "don't let up"... That's having in football what is known as a "killer instinct" - you don't let your foot off the gas in a 6 point game. We were driving for what would have been our 4th TD of the game, but fumbled the ball away to them on about their 5 yard line. This was a hard fought game and I was very proud of the boys for stepping it up and playing hard mean football. This was another game where we did not drop any snaps and again it made all the difference in the world. Yeah, we won this one, 19-13, handing LaVilla their 1st loss in a game down to the wire.
Game 6 vs. St. John's Sports Association (SJSA) Silver Bears - We were scheduled for a 9am game in this one, but the game was pushed back to 3:30pm. This was our 2nd home game at Abess Park, against the team that beat us in the preseason practice game. As it turned out, it was to be the Saints day for revenge! We won the toss and that was the beginning of a very long day for the Silver Bears. I had told the offense over and over before the game what our opening play was going to be... "Power-I-Right 36 Lead" (Jermaine off the right tackle with Cameron as a lead blocker)... and tried to convince them that if they came out fired up like they were against LaVilla, that there was no reason we couldn't score on the 1st play, or on that play every time. "If everyone blocks their man, we should get a touchdown every time" I remember telling them. We received the kickoff and started at about the 50 yard line. We had again been practicing speeding up the offense... the huddle, getting up to the line of scrimmage, the handoff... everything. Sure enough, 1st play - BAM! - Jermaine off right tackle for a 50 yard run for a touchdown! I remember Jake running up to me before Jermaine had even made it into the end-zone... "Dad! We scored on the 1st play! We scored on the 1st play!" ha ha! That was VERY exciting to watch. Jermaine actually ran into his offensive lineman, then shrugged off of him and totally outran the Silver Bears secondary the rest of the way. By the time he reached the end zone the next closest man was 10 yards away! We kicked off to them, we had finally found a place-kicker in Darius, and he booted it down to about their 30 yard line. Our defense held them and now it was Coach Terry's turn on the field with the offense. The first play we picked up about 3 yards, the 2nd play we jumped offsides and got a 5 yard penalty. The 3rd play on our 2nd possession... same as the last TD but to the other side... "Power-I-Left 35 Lead" - BAM! - Jermaine off left tackle this time for about 60 yard run for a touchdown! This was a clean play where he and Cameron hit the hole quickly and he was gone through the Silver Bears secondary before they knew what had hit them! The offensive line was opening up HUGE holes in the Silver Bears defense! It is often said that a football game is won or lost at the line of scrimmage... this was a classic example. Our offensive line was "owning" the Silver Bears! The defense was kicking booty too, they held them to a scoreless day and spent most of the day in the Silver Bears backfield. We went into halftime up 12 or 13 to nothing, the kids were jacked!
We came out the 2nd half and drove the ball well, our offensive line was drilling their defense, we were on about their 10 yard line, we called "Power-I-Left 43 Dive" and Cameron pummeled his way 10 yards right up the gut for his 1st TD of the season! Cameron is a great fullback, he does a lot of lead blocking and is definitely NOT afraid to go put a hit on somebody. I was glad to see him score. Then... maybe you saw my circus act on the field where we were going to try to kick the extra point... sorry about that, I did not know the rules for attempting this and the referee would not tell me the procedure. Anyway, we tried to kick the extra point but it was a little low - no good. We exchanged possessions, and had been running the off tackle stuff pretty well, Coach Terry was on the field with the offense. He called a "Power-I-Left Fake 35 Lead Bootleg Pass". This play has worked pretty well for us all year. We sell the defense on the 35 Lead running play over and over, and Terry's timimng on this call was perfect. We fake the 35 Lead handoff to the left, just like the 35 Lead we had been running successfully all day. Jake fakes the handoff to the left side and bootlegs back around to the right. The weak side defensive end always bites on the fake handoff and Jake runs right by him going back the other way. Tyleek starts on the left side, the left Tight End, and drags across the middle to the right, pretty much running parallel to the QB. Jake cleared the weak side defensive end, spotted Tyleek, and fired a nice crisp pass to him... it was a little high but Tyleek made the grab and then... I don't know where this came from, but Tyleek put on the afterburners and outran the Silver Bears secondary for a 60 yard touchdown! Just outran'em! This was a marquee game for the Pablo Creek Saints... I just wish there had been more people around to see it, the boys played VERY well on both side of the ball. The offensive line just kicked butt. The Silver Bears coach after the game commented to me how much better our offensive line had gotten since the preseason game. Good work boys - all that practice can pay off. We won this one at home, 25-0.
Game 7 vs. Southside Sports Association (SSA) Seahawks - We knew we had our work cut out for us in this game. I had been paying attention to our division standings, and noticed that these Seahawks kids were just mauling everybody they played... 35-0, 44-0, 30-0, 21-0... nobody had even scored on them all year. Well, we were going to fix that. After the last 2 games against the LSC Saints and the SJSA Silver Bears, I just knew our offensive had come into its own and that we were going to travel to their home field and put a whoopin' on them. Well they say hindsight is 20/20... nothing had changed for them after our game against the Seahawks, they were still undefeated and still unscored on. I was embarassed as a coach... no, not by our boys, but by the fact that I felt I was out-coached in this game... we were out-coached. Yeah the Seahawks were deep, and yeah they had some big kids, but their coaches were prepared and seemed to be very sharp as to how they went about things with their boys. Every kickoff was a well prepared onside kick (you gotta have the ball to score).They were running some kind of 4-4... like 4 lineman and 4 linebackers or something, it was confusing our offensive line as far as their blocking assignments, and yes I admit it was confusing me too! I will say this, their defense was VERY QUICK! We were barely in the hole and 3 guys were hitting Jermaine at the line of scrimmage. Not just tackling him, but laying some hits on him. Jermaine is one of our most agressive hitters and I saw him starting to stutterstep into the holes instead of just blasting into them. It was like a suicide mission for him every time he heard 35 or 36 Lead. We made some adjustments in the huddle and tried to exploit what appeared to be holes in their defense, but... well those kids were just good athletes with a nose for the ball, plain and simple. They were hitters. In the huddle I saw what I can only describe as our offense starting to get scared. Sorry, don't mean to be mean or rude or hurt anyone's feelings or whatever, but that's what I saw in the eyes of our offense. The Seahawks were lighting us up and I did not see the same anger and fire that I saw during the game against the LaVilla Saints. We got timid. I was kinda bummed over this... no very bummed. I tried to get the offense fired up but the boys just seemed flat all the way around this day. We got down to around their 20 yard line while Coach Terry had the offense, but that was about it. It was pretty much a good old fashioned butt kicking... but that's football... you gotta bring your "A" game every time, just ask the Silver Bears. It could only have been worse if the Seahawks coaches came over and punched us in the mouths after the game. As Coach Terry put it, the Seahawks "pretty much stomped a mudhole in us" this day. We lost 33-0. I can't wait to play these guys again, really, I can't wait for a chance to return the favor.
Game 8 vs. Mandarin Football League (MFL) Tide - We were practicing running out of the shotgun this week for this game... unfortunately this game has been canceled. The Tide folded and we won this game by forfeit. Stay tuned as our next (and absolute last) game of the season is November 12th... some sort of bowl game against an unknown opponent... don't know where yet either.
Jr. Jaguar Bowl vs. North Jax Sports Association (NJSA) Panthers - The Saints finished the season with a BANG today, defeating the North Jax Sports Association Panthers by a score of 33-0. The defense played awesome, allowing... I would guess only 3 first downs the whole game! The defense spent most of the day in the Panthers backfield, recovered 2 fumbles and intercepted a pass. Outstanding play by these boys, they were fired up for this, the last game of the season, and it showed on the field. The offense was firing on all cylinders, the Saints offensive line was dominant and we were able to run the ball at will. Everything worked... off tackle, up the middle, the trap plays, and we finally ran the reverse flawlessly for about a 40 yard gain! It was fun to watch (if you were a Saints fan)! The score was 20-0 at halftime. Our quarterbacl played extremely well today, I guess he was about 6 for 10 with no intercepions and no touchdowns. Of those 2 were blown routes by the receiver and 1 dropped pass that hit the receiver in the facemask on a quick slant from the 10 yard line that would have been a sure touchdown. After that incompletion we ran a bootleg pass to the tight end that put us at the 1 yard. We put our offensive tackle in at tailback and he scored on an off tackle play. We put our center at tailback for the extra point attempt but he was stopped at the 1 yard line. At this point in the game we were up 27-0 and were trying to just have fun and give everyone a chance to touch the football. It was the perfect cap to a hard fought season. I am sad it is over and already can't wait until next year!
Jamboree Day - We started off the year with 2 quarters of less than stellar football. I would have to blame us as coaches. We did not have the right people in the right positions, and if I remember correctly, both quarters (against 2 different teams) started out with touchdown runs off tackle by the opposing team. At the time, on offense, we were still using index cards in the huddle. As an offensive coach i think we were talking over the kids heads. We got drilled both quarters by about 14-0. We had a lot of delay of games penalties on offense. It wasn't pretty.
The Practice Game - We played the St. Johns Silver Bears in a practice game down at their field in Julington Creek. Just like in the Jamboree, again we started off on the wrong foot... I think they scored on the first play running off tackle. On offense we couldn't get it going consistently... we did get inside the 20 at least 3 times but stalled. The defense stepped up though and held them for the rest of the game. I think we lost that one 6-0.
Game 1 vs. Arlington Warriors - We got the regular season off to a decent start by beating the team from Arlington at their field, 7-0. Marik scored on a 35 yard scamper off the left tackle and we added the extra point on a hitch pass to Jason. This was a good read by the QB as the play was called to be thrown to the right... the cornerback was way off the ball on the left side so Jake threw to Jason on the left for the extra point. A hard fought game all the way down to the final plays of the game.
Game 2 vs. PAL Jaguars - We went downtown to play this game... and got handed our 1st regular season loss. This was a game we should have won. Our defense beat them up all day, and they scored on a fluke sweep where our defensive end got caught inside, the only score of the game. Other than that the Saints defense had the PAL offense moving backwards the whole game. The offense performed pretty well and was able to move the ball up and down the field, but stalled inside the 10 yard line at least twice. This was a disappointing loss, a game that we won everywhere except on the scoreboard... we lost 7-0.
Game 3 vs. Normandy Cowboys - We finally found a home field at Abess Park, and this was our first home game. Coach Bob and Coach Doug did a bang up job on the field, painting the lines and the Saints logos on the field. Darn it this was another disappointing loss... we had serious trouble with the QB/Center exchange and our offense never did get a rhythm going... most of the snaps ended up on the ground, so we did not get many real plays off. Can't knock the defense, for the 4th week in a row the BIG D held them to just 6 points, which should be enough to win the game. We lost this one at home, 6-0. After seeing so many snaps end up on the ground during this game, I went home and banged my head on the wall after this one. :~/
Game 4 vs. Wesconnett Wildcats - We traveled to the West Side for this game, and again was denied victory. This was my first game coaching the offense on the field, and even though we lost it was a blast. We scored twice... and I'll never forget the look on the kids faces on the field, on offense, when we scored the 2nd touchdown... BIG GRINS! They were finally starting to get it... you block your man, Cameron & Jermaine runs, we score! The offense was starting to get it's groove. We had made a switch and put Jermaine at tailback, and had stressed to the backfield during practice the idea of hitting the hole at full speed... we really saw it at this game. No dropped snaps either - that made a WORLD of difference. We really sped up the offense this week and got off a lot more plays than we had in any games prior to this. Unfortunately, the defense had problems in this one. We got burned on a couple of trips formations (3 receivers flooding one side), 2 of those quick passes went for touchdowns against us. Our defense had not faced trips formations until this game. Wesconnett ran out of the shotgun the whole game, and really, other than the scoring plays, the defense TOTALLY shut them down. I was totally bummed about losing this one. There was a problem with the game clock, and I kept asking the referee what was the deal with the clock continuing to run when it should stop... we would go out of bounds, or make a 1st down, and the clock continued to run (2 instances where it should have stopped). He assured me he had the "game time" on his stopwatch and was keeping track of it. At the end of the game, we had the ball, we were moving, driving... we were on their 30 yard line and were ripping off 8-yard runs... I was watching the clock wind down and knew we had more "game time" according to what the referee had told me... I figured we had another minute left after the scoreboard clock reached "0"... plenty of time to score from their 30 yard line. We were on their 30 threatening to score again when the horn sounded and the ref called "game over"... I ran up and was asking what the heck how much "game time" he had left... and he said "that's it, game over". Man I was pretty hot about that, I thought we were robbed. I just knew we were going to punch it in and win by 1 point. Darn it... or DADGUMMIT!!! We lost, 18-12. >:^/
Game 5 vs. LaVilla Sportsmans Club (LSC) Saints - We traveled again past downtown, over near Moncrief Rd. to face the "Saints". This team was coming into the game against the Pablo Creek Saints as an undefeated team. We were facing an undefeated team in a hostile environment. I have to hand it to our boys in this one... they played with a lot of heart. The opposing team was playing "dirty" and getting away with it... punching, holding, pinching, using foul language. We only has 2 refs on the field, we are supposed to have 4, so they missed a lot of calls. Our boys... I was with the offense on the field, it was the 3rd quarter, and I saw them, the whole offensive unit, start to get mad and play with some anger and fire in their hearts. I think we were down 13-12, and they got mad and fired up we just shoved the ball down their throats for another score and extra point to go ahead and keep the lead for the rest of the game 19-13. It was cool to see them in the huddle just get... really mad and fired up and be looking out for each other. They wanted to kick some butt and put Jermaine in the end zone, which they did beautifully! The other coach, I remember him telling me it was starting to get out of hand and that we needed to "cool it down" some. I told him "yeah ok will do", then went back to the huddle and told the offense that they were starting to kick their butts good, and that even their coach was getting scared of them... "keep it up" I told them in the huddle, "don't let up"... That's having in football what is known as a "killer instinct" - you don't let your foot off the gas in a 6 point game. We were driving for what would have been our 4th TD of the game, but fumbled the ball away to them on about their 5 yard line. This was a hard fought game and I was very proud of the boys for stepping it up and playing hard mean football. This was another game where we did not drop any snaps and again it made all the difference in the world. Yeah, we won this one, 19-13, handing LaVilla their 1st loss in a game down to the wire.
Game 6 vs. St. John's Sports Association (SJSA) Silver Bears - We were scheduled for a 9am game in this one, but the game was pushed back to 3:30pm. This was our 2nd home game at Abess Park, against the team that beat us in the preseason practice game. As it turned out, it was to be the Saints day for revenge! We won the toss and that was the beginning of a very long day for the Silver Bears. I had told the offense over and over before the game what our opening play was going to be... "Power-I-Right 36 Lead" (Jermaine off the right tackle with Cameron as a lead blocker)... and tried to convince them that if they came out fired up like they were against LaVilla, that there was no reason we couldn't score on the 1st play, or on that play every time. "If everyone blocks their man, we should get a touchdown every time" I remember telling them. We received the kickoff and started at about the 50 yard line. We had again been practicing speeding up the offense... the huddle, getting up to the line of scrimmage, the handoff... everything. Sure enough, 1st play - BAM! - Jermaine off right tackle for a 50 yard run for a touchdown! I remember Jake running up to me before Jermaine had even made it into the end-zone... "Dad! We scored on the 1st play! We scored on the 1st play!" ha ha! That was VERY exciting to watch. Jermaine actually ran into his offensive lineman, then shrugged off of him and totally outran the Silver Bears secondary the rest of the way. By the time he reached the end zone the next closest man was 10 yards away! We kicked off to them, we had finally found a place-kicker in Darius, and he booted it down to about their 30 yard line. Our defense held them and now it was Coach Terry's turn on the field with the offense. The first play we picked up about 3 yards, the 2nd play we jumped offsides and got a 5 yard penalty. The 3rd play on our 2nd possession... same as the last TD but to the other side... "Power-I-Left 35 Lead" - BAM! - Jermaine off left tackle this time for about 60 yard run for a touchdown! This was a clean play where he and Cameron hit the hole quickly and he was gone through the Silver Bears secondary before they knew what had hit them! The offensive line was opening up HUGE holes in the Silver Bears defense! It is often said that a football game is won or lost at the line of scrimmage... this was a classic example. Our offensive line was "owning" the Silver Bears! The defense was kicking booty too, they held them to a scoreless day and spent most of the day in the Silver Bears backfield. We went into halftime up 12 or 13 to nothing, the kids were jacked!
We came out the 2nd half and drove the ball well, our offensive line was drilling their defense, we were on about their 10 yard line, we called "Power-I-Left 43 Dive" and Cameron pummeled his way 10 yards right up the gut for his 1st TD of the season! Cameron is a great fullback, he does a lot of lead blocking and is definitely NOT afraid to go put a hit on somebody. I was glad to see him score. Then... maybe you saw my circus act on the field where we were going to try to kick the extra point... sorry about that, I did not know the rules for attempting this and the referee would not tell me the procedure. Anyway, we tried to kick the extra point but it was a little low - no good. We exchanged possessions, and had been running the off tackle stuff pretty well, Coach Terry was on the field with the offense. He called a "Power-I-Left Fake 35 Lead Bootleg Pass". This play has worked pretty well for us all year. We sell the defense on the 35 Lead running play over and over, and Terry's timimng on this call was perfect. We fake the 35 Lead handoff to the left, just like the 35 Lead we had been running successfully all day. Jake fakes the handoff to the left side and bootlegs back around to the right. The weak side defensive end always bites on the fake handoff and Jake runs right by him going back the other way. Tyleek starts on the left side, the left Tight End, and drags across the middle to the right, pretty much running parallel to the QB. Jake cleared the weak side defensive end, spotted Tyleek, and fired a nice crisp pass to him... it was a little high but Tyleek made the grab and then... I don't know where this came from, but Tyleek put on the afterburners and outran the Silver Bears secondary for a 60 yard touchdown! Just outran'em! This was a marquee game for the Pablo Creek Saints... I just wish there had been more people around to see it, the boys played VERY well on both side of the ball. The offensive line just kicked butt. The Silver Bears coach after the game commented to me how much better our offensive line had gotten since the preseason game. Good work boys - all that practice can pay off. We won this one at home, 25-0.
Game 7 vs. Southside Sports Association (SSA) Seahawks - We knew we had our work cut out for us in this game. I had been paying attention to our division standings, and noticed that these Seahawks kids were just mauling everybody they played... 35-0, 44-0, 30-0, 21-0... nobody had even scored on them all year. Well, we were going to fix that. After the last 2 games against the LSC Saints and the SJSA Silver Bears, I just knew our offensive had come into its own and that we were going to travel to their home field and put a whoopin' on them. Well they say hindsight is 20/20... nothing had changed for them after our game against the Seahawks, they were still undefeated and still unscored on. I was embarassed as a coach... no, not by our boys, but by the fact that I felt I was out-coached in this game... we were out-coached. Yeah the Seahawks were deep, and yeah they had some big kids, but their coaches were prepared and seemed to be very sharp as to how they went about things with their boys. Every kickoff was a well prepared onside kick (you gotta have the ball to score).They were running some kind of 4-4... like 4 lineman and 4 linebackers or something, it was confusing our offensive line as far as their blocking assignments, and yes I admit it was confusing me too! I will say this, their defense was VERY QUICK! We were barely in the hole and 3 guys were hitting Jermaine at the line of scrimmage. Not just tackling him, but laying some hits on him. Jermaine is one of our most agressive hitters and I saw him starting to stutterstep into the holes instead of just blasting into them. It was like a suicide mission for him every time he heard 35 or 36 Lead. We made some adjustments in the huddle and tried to exploit what appeared to be holes in their defense, but... well those kids were just good athletes with a nose for the ball, plain and simple. They were hitters. In the huddle I saw what I can only describe as our offense starting to get scared. Sorry, don't mean to be mean or rude or hurt anyone's feelings or whatever, but that's what I saw in the eyes of our offense. The Seahawks were lighting us up and I did not see the same anger and fire that I saw during the game against the LaVilla Saints. We got timid. I was kinda bummed over this... no very bummed. I tried to get the offense fired up but the boys just seemed flat all the way around this day. We got down to around their 20 yard line while Coach Terry had the offense, but that was about it. It was pretty much a good old fashioned butt kicking... but that's football... you gotta bring your "A" game every time, just ask the Silver Bears. It could only have been worse if the Seahawks coaches came over and punched us in the mouths after the game. As Coach Terry put it, the Seahawks "pretty much stomped a mudhole in us" this day. We lost 33-0. I can't wait to play these guys again, really, I can't wait for a chance to return the favor.
Game 8 vs. Mandarin Football League (MFL) Tide - We were practicing running out of the shotgun this week for this game... unfortunately this game has been canceled. The Tide folded and we won this game by forfeit. Stay tuned as our next (and absolute last) game of the season is November 12th... some sort of bowl game against an unknown opponent... don't know where yet either.
Jr. Jaguar Bowl vs. North Jax Sports Association (NJSA) Panthers - The Saints finished the season with a BANG today, defeating the North Jax Sports Association Panthers by a score of 33-0. The defense played awesome, allowing... I would guess only 3 first downs the whole game! The defense spent most of the day in the Panthers backfield, recovered 2 fumbles and intercepted a pass. Outstanding play by these boys, they were fired up for this, the last game of the season, and it showed on the field. The offense was firing on all cylinders, the Saints offensive line was dominant and we were able to run the ball at will. Everything worked... off tackle, up the middle, the trap plays, and we finally ran the reverse flawlessly for about a 40 yard gain! It was fun to watch (if you were a Saints fan)! The score was 20-0 at halftime. Our quarterbacl played extremely well today, I guess he was about 6 for 10 with no intercepions and no touchdowns. Of those 2 were blown routes by the receiver and 1 dropped pass that hit the receiver in the facemask on a quick slant from the 10 yard line that would have been a sure touchdown. After that incompletion we ran a bootleg pass to the tight end that put us at the 1 yard. We put our offensive tackle in at tailback and he scored on an off tackle play. We put our center at tailback for the extra point attempt but he was stopped at the 1 yard line. At this point in the game we were up 27-0 and were trying to just have fun and give everyone a chance to touch the football. It was the perfect cap to a hard fought season. I am sad it is over and already can't wait until next year!
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Jim, know how much you enjoy football. I remember when you played in Pop Warner with your Dad coaching. Keep up the good work. Wish we were near enough to see Jake play some games. Have fun!
Mom
Mom
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