Mid-week prep football notebook

That Lambert ended up being a good football team despite its status as a first-year varsity program was no surprise to North-west Whitfield coach Mike Falleur, whose Bruins lost 14-0 to the Longhorns last Friday in Tunnel Hill.

Falleur knew Lambert had an experienced leader in former Sequoyah coach Sid Maxwell and good participation numbers, among other factors, that would help it overcome any lack of tradition or experience. What did surprise him was that Northwest proved to be unprepared in some aspects, despite a preseason that left him nervous only because the Bruins had lacked a bad practice.

“I would have never seen that coming,” said Falleur, whose team had won four of its previous five season openers. “They worked hard. It’s not a matter of them not working hard or doing the things we asked of them. It was really kind of a shock.”

Falleur was mostly pleased with defensive execution, and his biggest offensive disappointment was related to blocking.

“It was up front,” Falleur said. “The offensive line didn’t play good. All the rest of them, I can’t really say anything bad. They didn’t have a whole lot of a chance. We didn’t turn the ball over until right there at the end. It was really the line blocking.”

Lambert’s defense mixed it up fairly well with stunts, Falleur said, but that was something they’d expected. Still, he credited the Longhorns for disrupting the plan up front, causing the Bruins to play “too high” and not come off the ball properly.

But Falleur said earlier this week no personnel changes were planned for the group, which includes seniors with both size and experience.

“We don’t really have any choice,” he said. “We only have six or seven linemen and two are hurt, so even if it was a case of needing to change those, we couldn’t.”

Justin Sanders is likely out for a month with a herniated disc, while Marshal Pritchard has a foot injury that leaves his status as day to day.

Still, Falleur was optimistic about seeing the Bruins turn things around when asked how he expected his team to respond. They’ll get their chance this Friday with a trip to Creekview for another Region 7-4A matchup.

“We’ve got to look at ourselves,” Falleur said. “We didn’t do a good job getting ready to play.”

• NAME GAME: Christian Heritage dedicated its new football field on Sept. 1, 2007, with a resounding 58-0 win over the visiting Bartow Generals. On Aug. 27, 2009, the Lions defeated the Paulding Panthers, 48-12, in the first night game on campus.

The Lions will open their 2010 home schedule against Dominion Christian at 7:30 p.m. Friday, but their stadium remains nameless.

“(Christian Heritage headmaster Renny Scott) believes there should be a good reason to name a stadium,” Lions coach Mike Vaden said. “It needs to be someone deserving who has made a significant contribution to the school. It’s not something that should be taken lightly. We refer to it now as Christian Heritage Stadium because we play football and soccer there.

Some at the school have lobbied for the stadium to be named for the late Danny Dantzler, who died after a long battle with ALS in February 2009. Dantzler was the school’s first varsity football coach.

“Nothing at our school is named for an individual,” Vaden said. “We’re just waiting on the appropriate time to name our stadium.”

• DALTON’S MISCUES: The Catamounts found plenty to work on coming out of their video session after last week’s 27-14 loss to Class 2A’s Calhoun. It’s the second year in a row the Yellow Jackets have been beaten Dalton, but the first win for Calhoun at Harmon Field.

Still, Dalton’s mistakes had more to do with Calhoun’s success, and Calhoun’s mistakes had more to do with Dalton’s success.

One of the main areas that Dalton coach Matt Land wanted to address was the play of his offensive line. The Cats managed less than 160 yards of total offense, and Land put some pressure on his line by saying that it all starts up front.

“We will spend quite a bit of time driving ‘Big Mama’ this week with the offensive line,” Land said of the team’s seven-man sled. “I’m not concerned about other teams as much as I am concerned with ourselves. Not to take a single thing away from Calhoun, which is one of the best teams in the state, but we beat ourselves.”

Dalton lost a pair of fumbles and was picked off by the Calhoun defense, which might be the stoutest the Cats will have to face this season. Both Dalton and Murray County — Friday’s opponent in Chatsworth — are coming off season-opening losses.

• MURRAY’S MISTAKES: Much like Dalton, Murray County was the victim of its own mistakes in a 35-6 loss to Southeast Whitfield. Penalties, turnovers and big plays doomed the Indians almost from the get-go.

But Murray County coach John Zeigler found some reasons for optimism.

“One encouraging thing was that we answered when they scored,” Zeigler said. “And then they hit their two big plays and it seemed to get out of hand.”

The Indians added to those Southeast big plays with four turnovers and 11 penalties. However, Zeigler was pleased with the effort, if not the execution.

“Mistakes are something you can correct and work on as a coach,” Zeigler said. “Most of the kids played real well. Offensively, we are still struggling to eliminate the penalties and little mistakes. All I know is to keep working and get it all straightened out.”

• NO TAPE TO TELL: Every coach wants to get plays in for his team each Friday night, and then get video of games of the team from next week’s game.

North Murray’s opponent this week is Region 7-2A foe Rockmart. The Yellow Jackets began the season in a Polk County showdown with Cedartown last Friday, but just after the second half started, lightning halted play. Eventually, it caused the game to be called as a 14-0 win for Rockmart.

“Two plays into the third quarter, it stopped us,” Yellow Jackets coach Dan Duff said. “We were happy with the win, but we want to play some more people.”

Mountaineers coach Larry Cornelius wouldn’t have minded if there were a few more plays to see, either.

“You’ve got to go with what you’ve got,” Cornelius said. “We’ve got some on their scrimmage. But I don’t think you get a whole lot out of scouting scrimmages. Teams don’t tend to run everything in a scrimmage.”

• UNWANTED REST: Southeast’s season-opening win wasn’t just big for this season, but something of a milestone — it was the team’s first victory in an opener since a 17-13 defeat of Adairsville in 2000.

Things didn’t go so well from there for the Raiders, who ended that year with a 3-7 record. They’ll try to make sure this season keeps heading in the right direction on Sept. 10 at Allatoona as they crossover to play the Buccaneers, a fellow Region 7-3A member, though one of the opposite sub-region.

As for this Friday night, the Raiders are “enjoying” an off night. With the momentum of a win behind them and it being so early in the season, however, it’s something Southeast coach David Crane is putting up with more than taking pleasure from.

“To be honest, I would have liked to have had one a little bit later in the year,” he said. “That being said, I’m a guy who tries to find the positive in anything. With us being so young, that’s something we can take from it — it does almost give us an extra week of the preseason.”

Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Progress up front crucial for Bruins

Site Map

Contact Us