I'd be really concerned moving forward. All the talk of "well we dont really know how good the FH defense is". Well we pretty much do now, and well it's not looking good. Still "survive and advance" as Jimmy V would put it.
FH over Brunswick
- Thread starter CumberlandHSFB
- Start date
Can you imagine what Dunbar would do against the defense we saw tonight, or the one we saw at the end of the game last week? It could be worse than the Cathedral game at this point. Instead of improvement it looks like regression.
Maybe, and this is a long shot, they took last week and this week for granted, just thought showing up would get it done so why worry about it. Can they flip some switch and all of the sudden get to a qb, stop missing tackles, defend the pass....I really don't think so.
If FH does not adapt, then we won't survive. Make the adjustments, stay focused and beat Williamsport.
Who cares about Dunbar right now. The focus is Beating Williamsport. Nothing else matters at this point. But you do make some good observations.
I will say that they did have some defensive starters hurt, but they certainly haven't improved since we saw them against a solid opponent. That's where playing absolute nobodies in the last 5 weeks hurts
But Fh has injuries and play under classmen. Isn't that #1 allowable excuse ?
They've got so many young guys out there. Big difference from last year where it was all seniors
Still no excuses for that defensive effort. Chunk plays right up the gut, QB running free, guys losing contain. If they want any shot at a title that'll all have to tighten up. It certainly wont be a wash as some have been saying.
I think the recipe to beating Fort Hill this year was dialed up tonight by Brunswick. Long, time consuming drives that end in touchdowns. It is something that the Baltimore Ravens have gotten good at under Lamar Jackson and Brunswick used it tonight to stay within two scores of Fort Hill. There is nothing more demoralizing to a defense then when you give up a score on a long, time consuming drive. It really takes the sting out of you. It is a little less effective in high school due to most players playing offense and defense already. But you could see a few Fort Hill players get chippy when Brunswick took the third quarter kickoff down the field and score on them.
If FH plays Gwynn Park or Dunbar they will have to outscore them. They will both probably put 40 on the board FH will have to put 50
FH defense is so young. They lost all 11 starters from last season. They had 3 starters out tonight with injury. Their best DL is out for the year which really hurts the defense. It's been a struggle all season on that side against the better teams on their schedule. Yes, the offense will have to be where they win and lose.
Crazy part was the defense couldn't catch a break. You get a 3rd and long stop with a horrible pass interference call as the Brunswick punter was running on the field. Watching the Commercial Video replay, it was a really bad call. Brunswick gets a new set of downs, go and score. Opening drive of the 2nd half. FH gets the stop then runs into the punter. 1st down. Brunswick scores. You can't keep getting stops and then hand the ball over on 3rd and 4th down. Those are like turnovers.
But yes, the pass defense is in shambles. Playing armchair QB...the coverage scheme is bad. Tight man to man with a deep safety. That's all they run regardless of the down and distance.
The Brunswick QB was very quick and elusive, only a junior. I would have run him more out of shot gun. He was hurt the first half of the year.
Crazy part was the defense couldn't catch a break. You get a 3rd and long stop with a horrible pass interference call as the Brunswick punter was running on the field. Watching the Commercial Video replay, it was a really bad call. Brunswick gets a new set of downs, go and score. Opening drive of the 2nd half. FH gets the stop then runs into the punter. 1st down. Brunswick scores. You can't keep getting stops and then hand the ball over on 3rd and 4th down. Those are like turnovers.
But yes, the pass defense is in shambles. Playing armchair QB...the coverage scheme is bad. Tight man to man with a deep safety. That's all they run regardless of the down and distance.
The Brunswick QB was very quick and elusive, only a junior. I would have run him more out of shot gun. He was hurt the first half of the year.
Boo Hoo Hoo!! You can pass all over Fort Hill! Boo Hoo Hoo!! Fort Hill must be overrated! Boo Hoo Hoo!! They'll never beat Dunbar! Boo Hoo Hoo!!
Same shit we have heard the last six years. Meanwhile all Fort Hill continues to do is win.
Same shit we have heard the last six years. Meanwhile all Fort Hill continues to do is win.
He was the best QB FH faced all season. Might be the best in 1A. Not only a very accurate passer, but elusive as all heck. Michael Vick comes to mind. And Brunswick's #6...the QB and #6 could've run the option the whole game and gained 10-15 YPC.
FH has to cut off the slant/seam passes. But, I think with the speed they have in the secondary, they only chance of that is to blitz. Of course, that gives up the slant/seam pass.
FH better not slack off on practicing the passing offense, though. Danny K is an accurate qb, so let him throw slants and seams. Just don't wait till a bigger DL shuts down the run to do it.
And, as someone else said, if they beat some of the teams down the road it will be by outscoring them somehow.
Finally, I liked that flea-flicker throw to the qb by brunswick. Danny K is an athlete. Let Stubbs hit him on a fly pattern.
Watching FH stay in man all game with 1 safety drives me nuts against passing teams. The opposing coaches must love it. I specifically like it when we're in man and they have trips (last nite quad at times) and we have 1 less player in position than the offense. Efficient passing teams are going to move the ball, that's ok. Giving up home runs and 3rd and longs bc you're out schemed, that's inexcusable. I firmly believe FH has survived over the years against better competition soley on player effort, which is great. But when a coach laments about not having the athletes or whatever, that's garbage. Truth is, you have athletes, or at minimum overachievers that have consumed the kool-aid and worked hard to be as good as possible....what you don't have is a good grasp on defending the pass. We're in a 5 man front and the opposition is 5 wide? I'll take a boot off to help with the math but.....this is 1A so many of our kids are playing both ways. The best athlete, in superb condition, can't maintain tight man to man and be successful all night and most coaches wouldn't expect them to. Bottomline, this is a coaching deficiency that good teams exploit and it's tough to watch bc the kids are battling. Among friends, I was the only person that thought this game would be close. I told them Brunswick will give FH problems bc they pass and scramble. When it was 21-0 they were giving me looks and smiling....when it was a 1 score game, they were like, we've gotta pull this out. I've seen this too many times and I can't understand why the coaches haven't learned lessons from years past. Definition of insanity....clearly it isn't a priority
Comparing FH's obvious deep bench and defense coaching laxity to a Camper team decimated by some quitters and injuries is perverse, despicable and predictable.
When the ring is the thing rather than the game itself, then competition becomes a problem. Young athletes rise to the occasion, as Allegany did at homecoming. I think Lombardi actually said something like, "Wining isn't everything... striving to win is." You don't strive when you cake-walk.
I wish the young men playing for FH continued success. If Alco's JV team can pull it together quickly, then FH's varsity surely can.
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To be exact on Lombardi - this speech hangs on the wall in my basement
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"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place."
Wow....Allegany mentioned in a Fh thread. WHHHAAAAATTTTTTT (lol)
Yes. When I see tight bump and run pass coverage (with no safety help on the perimeter) with 9 seconds left in the game (see Homecoming), or on a 4th and 16 where the other team is going for it (see Homecoming) that is the stuff we are referring to in regards to bad schemes. FYI, Alco scores on both those plays with a deep up-for-grabs pass. If FH has Cover 2, I have yet to see it. They ran some Cover 3 Zone last night about 20%, that's where each guy has a third of the field. You can tell when FH is in this package by where Stubbs is on his guy.
Here is the summation of this pass coverage: When you run tight man coverage and the DL isn't getting the QB to the ground...nobody, NOBODY at any level can man cover for 5-10 seconds. Cathedral Prep made a nightmare out of it. The pure definition of death. And FH paid for it again and again last night especially on 3rd and 4th down.
I think the DL got some pressure last night but that QB was way too quick and elusive for them to get him down. His feet bought him time on many occasions. I was super impressed with his wheels as much as I was disappointed in the FH abililty to get off the field on 3rd and 4th down. Again though, you get the 3rd down stop twice and get a bogus pass interference and a roughing the punter call - those were literally turnovers that Brunswick turned into scores. FYI, Brunswick scored twice on 4th down.
I am not a disappointed in FH as some people seem to be however. I think people are used to seeing these 42-0 scores by halftime against really poor competition and figure that's how it's suppose to be. They were beating and shutting out Alco 31-0 and fans were mumbling about not being up by 50. LOL.
This is a year where the FH defense has struggled at times. Keep in mind Brunswick had Catoctin tied at 28 near the end of the 3rd just last Friday. Then the Brunswick defense shut down and Catoctin went two tight end and rammed it down their throat. Well because for as pesky as the Railroader offense can be the defense is their demise. FH didn't punt as expected and scored on every possession but two (fumble and missed FG).
Side note: for as much as I have praised Breven Stubbs running with the ball, he has to learn to trust his speed. Only a sophomore, he will. He puts the brakes on way too often. He is easily the fastest kid on the field...just run to the pylon. If they catch you, they catch you. But that's not going to happen often.
Also talked to Coach Appel last night. He was upset about a few things. One, on a key 3rd down and 4 where they didn't get the first down and tried an unsuccessful 35 yard FG, I wondered why they called a play with Stubbs between the tackles. I mean if you are going to run between the tackles use the big guy. Todd said, they got the play confused in huddle and didn't run what he called. The play they ran using the formation they had would never work. Toss that one up to a mix up. I think there may have been a few of those last night. Learn and move on.
But yes...a good passing team will have FH struggle to keep points off the scoreboard. The offense will have to win the game.
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Both, no doubt, snippets from the same speech... or different speeches entirely. Or, over the years various versions of the many speeches Lombardi made are out there. Touted as the original version about winning is: "Winning isn’t everything; it's the only thing" is a well-known quotation in sports. It is attributed to UCLA Bruins football coach Henry Russell ("Red") Sanders.
Anyhow... the below is as famous as anything else:
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Yes. Doesn't look like a gimme ring for sure. Perhaps this may be the touchstone for a different perspective by the town's young athletes - as in you don't see FH as a guarantor of a championship game or a ring.
I am waiting to see the vid before really offering an opinion.
Hell, I don't even know why those kids even bother to show up and prepare if it is that easy. Or maybe they just make it look easy by showing up and preparing. Otherwise, we can all just assume the South Cumberland football genes are that superior. Just being born must equal a ring. Stop disrespecting kids with your bitterness.
But Fh has injuries and play under classmen. Isn't that #1 allowable excuse ? - money316
Answering your snide innuendo. Happy to do so!
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It was never a gimme ring in the first place. Bad assumption on your part that it ever was.
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Whatever you may glean from my post it pales in comparison to every other red-jacket post in virtually every thread. Surely, after watching Alco's JV team muscle-up against FH's varsity, I don't see superior genes at all. In fact, watching the vid now, I don't see that much difference from Allegany's JV team and Brunswick, sans the quarterback with happy feet.
It has obviously been okay for me to refer to 'quitters' on the Alco team and besmirch their claims of 'mean coaches' and 'lack of water' - but talk about kids riding the bench at FH for what has been walkover football for years... and... Look out! We are disrespecting kids. I would say Appel not giving his varsity secondary an opportunity to rise to the challenge of learning a proper pass defense is disrespecting kids. So, what is worse? Commenting about a weak schedule and stating that kids willingly ride the bench or victimizing kids with low expectations? Maybe take a lesson from Hansel who gets the most out of what he has.
Just being born must equal a ring.
If you were born at the right time in order to be available to ride the bench while the team played mainly patsies.... okay. Sounds right..
How about, Appel coach the offense. You coach the defense and have the mayor manage the team. The team will be better and all the right things would be said publicly.
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I care because in order to beat Dunbar, who owns FH, you have to be way better than you are right now. So what if you beat Williamsport and get slaughtered by Dunbar? Is it about getting to the final or winning it all. I don't think they have a prayer because they will not adapt and adjust to get to where they need to beat a Dunbar, and last night showed that again. The pass rush hasn't improved, the db's haven't improved, the passing game is a joke(how many catched have a wide receiver or tight end made this entire year???) Personally I'd rather just see them upset by Brunswick than get to the final and see Dunbar wipe the field with them.
Understand your position. Hope you enjoy packing it in and see you on the board next season.The rest of us will muddle through the rest of this one however it turns out.
And any book one get through to the defensive coordinator or Apple about
Why is anyone even discussing Alco at this point? It's the post season and Hansel with his JV team is home eating his early turkey dinner watching teams like Clear Spring still playing a game. Campers got their ass beat by 24 points last week and it was a great accomplishment. Thats where you are. Season over. Program over. Move on. All of their gimme rings from the 1980s are 30 years old. Either Dunbar or FH will win another gimme ring this year. Same ole, same ole.
Lags you're part of the muddle with us don't forget. Wouldn't have it otherwise.
But Fh has injuries and play under classmen. Isn't that #1 allowable excuse ? - money316
Your fellow jerkers are gettin' sloppy with their references.
But I can post with all honesty that when you consider the real mission of high school football, Hansel is coach of the year. He has instilled more character and more competitive spirit in his young men than the coach across town who will get his gimme Coach of the Year Award.. Whereas, Appel wouldn't even challenge his team with learning a more competitive pass defense.
Lags. Why does the large majority of your posts mention "circle jerks"?
Actually, they don't. But it is an excellent representation of red-jackets getting off on each other in this forum. Historic literature would call it a group masturbatory exuberance with an end in its self rather than being attached to some real world catalyst. Example being high school football in general and bashing other schools in specific.
