Saturday morning quarterback
I'm catching up on stuff for this week's print edition, but wanted to check in quickly and introduce a new segment to the blog – Saturday morning quarterback. Every Saturday, I'll check in and give my thoughts on every aspect of the EAHS football game from the night before. I was a little lazy this week and didn't post immediately followed E-town's thriller against Muhlenberg, but the SMQ will give me a chance to digest the game and break it down.
Here's a little info. on last Friday's game. This thing will be more expansive in the coming weeks. Like I said earlier, I'm swamped with the print edition today, so here's an abbreviated version of it:
Overall:
This was one of the most entertaining high school football games I've covered in my time here. Perhaps the only one that was more dramatic was when Garden Spot beat the Bears on a Hail Mary at the end of the game on Homecoming two years ago.
Both teams played well, but both teams made their share of mistakes too. Muhlenberg got beat deep a couple of times against E-town's passing game, and the Bears had some problems slowing down Muhlenberg's quick passing game and stopping the run.
This one was a knock-down, drag out battle. And you have to give Muhlenberg credit for coming back after trailing 13-0 in the first quarter. The Muhls stuck to their game plan and the defense dug in and held E-town scoreless for the second and third quarters, which is no easy task. The Bears had a bit of trouble running the ball by their standards. They finished with 200 yards on the ground as a team, but with only a 4.5 yards per carry average, and had three runs of more than 10 yards. But there were quite a few times that the Bears' runners were stopped for no gain or even lost yardage on key third and fourth downs that kept them from sustaining drives.
E-town's offense:
We already pretty much went over the running game. It was a steady diet of Shane Rosenberry, Conrad Heisey and Mitch Weidman, with each getting a 20-plus yard run and all getting at least 60 yards. Weidman scored E-town's only rushing touchdown on a nice 29-yard run in the fourth quarter on a third down. He's got game-breaker skills.
The offensive line had its hands full all night with Muhlenberg's huge defensive front. The Muhls were blowing E-town off the line for the most part, and held E-town's three feature backs to 10 runs of 1 yard or less, including three runs for negative yardage. They also got to QB Kyle McNeil quite a bit, sacking him four times.
Speaking of McNeil, the passing game looked very good. McNeil was 9-for-12 for 158 yards with three TDs and one interception. He hit Steven Nunez on a 57-yard TD strike on E-town's first possession and had several other balls that were perfectly thrown, including a huge two-point conversion to Jeremi Jones that made it 21-14 E-town in the fourth quarter. If teams aren't careful with E-town and just decide to load up to stop the run, the Bears will burn them deep with the passing game. McNeil has show fantastic touch and arm strength so far, and Jones and Nunez can go get the ball with the best of them. If McNeil keeps burning defenses, that'll open up the run game later.
E-town's defense:
It seemed like E-town had trouble with Muhlenberg's quick passes and running game pretty much all night long. The Bears did get pressure on QB Nate Daniels to make up for it though, as Alex Kirchner and Shaun Buller each had two sacks, and Rosenberry had one sack. But Daniels and the Muhls just looked like a good football team. They have a lot of weapons, and they know how to use them. They're going to be a tough team out there in Berks County. Daniels and company also showed that they don't get flustered, despite trailing by two touchdowns in the first quarter on the road. All in all, E-town did a decent job, but got confused a few times and gave up some big plays to the Muhls. Again though, it seemed like Muhlenberg's running backs were getting 8-12 yards a lot of times, which is something you usually just don't see from an Elizabethtown defense.
Muhlenberg also converted on a bunch of third downs, going 6-for-11 on third down plays, which is better than 50 percent.
However, despite what could be considered an "off" night by the E-town defense, they still were in the game throughout and had a chance to win.
E-town's special teams:
Here's the bottom line for the Bears' special teams. They have to find a way to convert their PATs. Period. End of sentence. E-town has scored 12 touchdowns in the first two games.
• Of the 12 TDs, they have successfully made four PAT attempts.
• 2 of the 12 attempts have been blocked (one in each game).
• 2 more were nearly blocked and were subsequently missed.
• The Bears have gone for two-point conversions four times, and are 2-for-4 on those.
Missed kicks happen, and there's not much you can do about that. However, blocked PATs shouldn't happen very often, and it's happened to E-town two straight weeks now, forcing them to attempt two-point conversions. They've got to block better on those PAT attempts, or it is going to come back to haunt them again.
That said, I think head coach Jeff Polites' decision to go for two in overtime was absolutely the right call. It's not a knock on the kicking game, but the bottom line is that he had to go with what he felt was his team's best chance to succeed in that moment, and he felt that a conversion attempt had a higher chance of success than a PAT.
OK, that's all for now, but I'll check in later with a look at the E-town vs. Manheim Township game, and plus some news and notes on EAHS field hockey, boys soccer, the Wall of Honor and the upcoming Pep Rally Bonfire....
Here's a little info. on last Friday's game. This thing will be more expansive in the coming weeks. Like I said earlier, I'm swamped with the print edition today, so here's an abbreviated version of it:
Overall:
This was one of the most entertaining high school football games I've covered in my time here. Perhaps the only one that was more dramatic was when Garden Spot beat the Bears on a Hail Mary at the end of the game on Homecoming two years ago.
Both teams played well, but both teams made their share of mistakes too. Muhlenberg got beat deep a couple of times against E-town's passing game, and the Bears had some problems slowing down Muhlenberg's quick passing game and stopping the run.
This one was a knock-down, drag out battle. And you have to give Muhlenberg credit for coming back after trailing 13-0 in the first quarter. The Muhls stuck to their game plan and the defense dug in and held E-town scoreless for the second and third quarters, which is no easy task. The Bears had a bit of trouble running the ball by their standards. They finished with 200 yards on the ground as a team, but with only a 4.5 yards per carry average, and had three runs of more than 10 yards. But there were quite a few times that the Bears' runners were stopped for no gain or even lost yardage on key third and fourth downs that kept them from sustaining drives.
E-town's offense:
We already pretty much went over the running game. It was a steady diet of Shane Rosenberry, Conrad Heisey and Mitch Weidman, with each getting a 20-plus yard run and all getting at least 60 yards. Weidman scored E-town's only rushing touchdown on a nice 29-yard run in the fourth quarter on a third down. He's got game-breaker skills.
The offensive line had its hands full all night with Muhlenberg's huge defensive front. The Muhls were blowing E-town off the line for the most part, and held E-town's three feature backs to 10 runs of 1 yard or less, including three runs for negative yardage. They also got to QB Kyle McNeil quite a bit, sacking him four times.
Speaking of McNeil, the passing game looked very good. McNeil was 9-for-12 for 158 yards with three TDs and one interception. He hit Steven Nunez on a 57-yard TD strike on E-town's first possession and had several other balls that were perfectly thrown, including a huge two-point conversion to Jeremi Jones that made it 21-14 E-town in the fourth quarter. If teams aren't careful with E-town and just decide to load up to stop the run, the Bears will burn them deep with the passing game. McNeil has show fantastic touch and arm strength so far, and Jones and Nunez can go get the ball with the best of them. If McNeil keeps burning defenses, that'll open up the run game later.
E-town's defense:
It seemed like E-town had trouble with Muhlenberg's quick passes and running game pretty much all night long. The Bears did get pressure on QB Nate Daniels to make up for it though, as Alex Kirchner and Shaun Buller each had two sacks, and Rosenberry had one sack. But Daniels and the Muhls just looked like a good football team. They have a lot of weapons, and they know how to use them. They're going to be a tough team out there in Berks County. Daniels and company also showed that they don't get flustered, despite trailing by two touchdowns in the first quarter on the road. All in all, E-town did a decent job, but got confused a few times and gave up some big plays to the Muhls. Again though, it seemed like Muhlenberg's running backs were getting 8-12 yards a lot of times, which is something you usually just don't see from an Elizabethtown defense.
Muhlenberg also converted on a bunch of third downs, going 6-for-11 on third down plays, which is better than 50 percent.
However, despite what could be considered an "off" night by the E-town defense, they still were in the game throughout and had a chance to win.
E-town's special teams:
Here's the bottom line for the Bears' special teams. They have to find a way to convert their PATs. Period. End of sentence. E-town has scored 12 touchdowns in the first two games.
• Of the 12 TDs, they have successfully made four PAT attempts.
• 2 of the 12 attempts have been blocked (one in each game).
• 2 more were nearly blocked and were subsequently missed.
• The Bears have gone for two-point conversions four times, and are 2-for-4 on those.
Missed kicks happen, and there's not much you can do about that. However, blocked PATs shouldn't happen very often, and it's happened to E-town two straight weeks now, forcing them to attempt two-point conversions. They've got to block better on those PAT attempts, or it is going to come back to haunt them again.
That said, I think head coach Jeff Polites' decision to go for two in overtime was absolutely the right call. It's not a knock on the kicking game, but the bottom line is that he had to go with what he felt was his team's best chance to succeed in that moment, and he felt that a conversion attempt had a higher chance of success than a PAT.
OK, that's all for now, but I'll check in later with a look at the E-town vs. Manheim Township game, and plus some news and notes on EAHS field hockey, boys soccer, the Wall of Honor and the upcoming Pep Rally Bonfire....
Labels: Football, Saturday Morning Quarterback
posted by Chris McCarthy at
1:57 PM
2 Comments:
Where you even there?
Nah, I just made up everything I wrote. Of course I was there. What don't you agree with?
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