That is why it's good to play a team like Dunbar. No one is asking these questions playing another team FH beats by 35.
Livestream of FH-Dunbar
- Thread starter Red Dude
- Start date
I'm happy to see people aren't on here with their red kool-aid spilled down the front of their white shirts saying nonsense like FH could've, should've. Dunbar is ahead in the series for many reasons, regardless of excuse. They historically have our number. And yes they have athletes, per usual. But credit their coaches as well. They know football. But it also doesn't take a Harvard grad to come up with a defensive scheme vs a basically 1 dimensional opponent. When FH gets beat, regardless of yr, it's against teams that stack the box and make them throw. Fact check me....comb your memory bank. FH went spread in 2nd Q and forced them to back off. All I could say was YES!!! Oddly enough, it was effective. Give space, give opportunity to display talent, play some chess....1 bad play resulting in a pick 6 and it gets abandoned. Run out of it!!! Run the QB out of it. Use motion to get better matchups/numbers on the edge. The kids played hard. The young kids on the line got an education and grew up on the fly. The d line kids were getting held often, blind side pancakes, but they kept fighting and were still effective. I saw heart in the heat!!
Pass coverage, same story. Go man, and instead of moving feet and collisioning receiver off the line, we give them free release,, let them run to us while our feet are planted, then wonder why or how they got behind us? Again, not a Harvard grad. U can't stand still and catch someone with 2 or 3 steps on you......move your feet, hips, collision off the ball if ur going man. But defense isn't a focus in practice I'm told. Anyone else remember the golden rule of don't let anyone behind you??? Impossible when you're set up for failure. Good thing I haven't been holding that rant in for years or I might be confused as someone passionate about well played football. Whatever shortcomings identified or recognized....it isn't the kids fault.
Pass coverage, same story. Go man, and instead of moving feet and collisioning receiver off the line, we give them free release,, let them run to us while our feet are planted, then wonder why or how they got behind us? Again, not a Harvard grad. U can't stand still and catch someone with 2 or 3 steps on you......move your feet, hips, collision off the ball if ur going man. But defense isn't a focus in practice I'm told. Anyone else remember the golden rule of don't let anyone behind you??? Impossible when you're set up for failure. Good thing I haven't been holding that rant in for years or I might be confused as someone passionate about well played football. Whatever shortcomings identified or recognized....it isn't the kids fault.
I agree. They will learn and develop more effectively with matchups like this. I expect with these reps the Sophs are getting that this team is going to be seriously strong on both lines by next season. Whoa nelly, the following. These kids ain’t done growing, you know? 👍🏻
Yes! Think Bridgeport and their bevy of backs...they just aren't concerned about having a qb that can throw as much as he can hand off and run.
Excellent post...and rants are allowed. I agree completely that Dunbar has our number. It has nothing to do with any of the number of excuses that have been made, it has everything to do with their adaptability and in game coaching. They will take what you give them and force you to adjust, and sometimes a team like FH just can't adjust. If FH goes into that game saying "if they stack the box we'll throw" then they really had no idea what their capabilities are. The best thing that can come out of all this is you find out who are practice players and who are game players. There are a few areas where there can be changes that would make this team better. ..we'll see soon.
You made some excellent points, but let’s not forget that not a lot was expected of this team. Myself and everyone I talk to said Fort Hill may lose three to 4 games this year.. if this was last year, I believe Dunbar gets beat by three touchdowns. The quarterback from Fort Hill last year could throw the ball and the Dunbar quarterback would not have had nearly as much time to throw. This Fort Hill team is actually better than I thought.
I get the fact that Dunbar has had our number but I wouldn’t blame this loss on the coaches. As a matter of fact. I will keep a standing bet for anyone who will take it. I will wager 100 on Fort Hill against Dunbar in next years game to as many people that will take the bet.
Fort Hill usually doesn’t have a passing game or pass defense and Dunbar took advantage of the weakness. The only pass defense Fort Hill uses has sack the qb, get to the qb don’t let him throw
The last two years the FH secondary has been exceptional. Even last year after losing their entire secondary from the year before, they shut down some incredible spread passing teams. Getting pressure has to be a part of any great pass defense.
Against Dunbar, FH was in a scheme to stop the run point blank.
Not a smart bet. Dunbar has athletes, size, and a little talent to boot. I don't see them being any less talented nor us being much more talented. Without a QB, FH is one-dimensional and predictable. Easy to deal with pound-it-up-the-middle football when you stack nine in the box. And each DL being 100lbs heavier helps out quite a bit, too.
Let face it. We never seem to get the luck of the draw, playing Dunbar when we have a passing team of any kind along with a solid offensive line. All Dunbar needs to do is send their 4.4 tight ends and 4.3 WRs sprinting and bomb. Only one play is going to catch the ball and they aren't going to be red and white.
Agreed. There is nothing wrong with going in a different direction once you see real live game performance. The only thing that is odd is FH can only improve their running game with a running qb. The little qb sneaks and draws have worked out really well in the past. I get the senior thing and the safe thing but honestly when somebody looks like a deer in the headlights and they don't have great protection can that situation improve?
Lastly on Dunbar, they are going to get better and better as the season goes - just like FH does. I think it was a good apples to apples matchup and at the end of the year when FH has improved remarkably and we're all very happy and proud of them I really hope nobody says "if only we had played Dunbar later in the season".
That is part of why I believe #11 being prepared to play QB gives you a better upside. FH could probably direct snap it to any back they want to carry the ball and beat the 1A teams. It's when they level up they need a more balanced, and consistent QB.
A lot of QB talk but 1 in the secondary misses tackles and blows the coverages. He seems to be a better running back than corner. Maybe there’s someone on the sidelines that can cover and actually wants to make tackles other than teams like Northern or Southern. Overall the coaches will make adjustments. They are good at what they do but some changes need made
The over reactions to this game are funny. This team was wayyy too young to take on a team with as much experience back as Dunbar. Dunbar did stack the box and yet FH still ran for just shy of 200 yds. Yes, the passing game needs work, but with a new QB, new OL, what did some of you expect? It's only the second game. Poets have won 39 straight now and FH held them to under 100 yds rushing. They've beaten a lot of schools not just Fort Hill. I think overall FH played better than I thought they would. It was the three turnovers that beat Fort Hill and Dunbar had the team to take advantage of them.
The goal again is to win the 1A Championship. BECAUSE THEY ARE A 1A SCHOOL. They still have the team to do that. I know people on other boards put too much emphasis on polls. Some of you seem to be caught up in how they look against bigger schools. That's not the point and it's not going to win them a championship in their classification.
The goal again is to win the 1A Championship. BECAUSE THEY ARE A 1A SCHOOL. They still have the team to do that. I know people on other boards put too much emphasis on polls. Some of you seem to be caught up in how they look against bigger schools. That's not the point and it's not going to win them a championship in their classification.
I haven't seen any overreacting. People sharing facts and observations is what I've seen. I don't think anyone has said they won't be competitive or in the running for a 1A state championship this year. I think most people figured this game would be a loss. But it's also OK for folks to point out that you historically get beat by the same team in the same fashion. The FH coach stated they needed to limit the big play in an interview. They couldn't, so they lost. That's all. Go Big Red!
the QB play needs to be better and I don’t think 8 is the right kid for the job and house should be starting but those 2 were getting under 2 seconds to throw. I don’t care if Tom Brady is at quarterback; no one can make reads and throws with that little of time. Dunbar was a better team this year but everyone knew that going in. FH put up a hell of a fight, didn’t get blown out, and more importantly; no one was injured. There will not another team the rest of the year on the schedule as good as Dunbar so the season goals are all still in front of them.
I agree, let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Our line was outplayed on both sides of the ball Friday night. I watched Dunbar in their week one game, and I didn't think that we'd see many passes. I was wrong, but so were a lot of us. Their line was bigger, stronger, faster and more athletic than ours. We started out moving the ball, but they made an adjustment, and we had no counter punch to give. Fort Hill uses assignment blocking, relying on angles etc... The problem is that if you have the horses, you can scheme against the offense. This happened. Too many times on Friday, assignments were missed, or the linemen were confused. This led to plays being blown up. Now some of this was due to being mismatched and some was because of youth. With all this said it was still a good game, Fort Hill will again have a chance to beat Dunbar, but they will have to be almost perfect. For the rest of the talk about who is or is not on the field, that's for the coaches. I trust them, after all, they are on the field with them every day. (BTW, I still think that they are a pretty darn good group of coaches, they just met a great group called the Dunbar coaching staff.)
But now it's time to focus on the rest of the schedule. They still have Hollidaysburg, Briar Woods, and EWOI to line up against. None of those teams are going to be" give me" games!
But now it's time to focus on the rest of the schedule. They still have Hollidaysburg, Briar Woods, and EWOI to line up against. None of those teams are going to be" give me" games!
I stated last week before the game...7 sophomore starters is not the team you want to put up against Dunbar any season.
Still feel last year's FH team would have beaten just about any public school in the state outside of the 3A/4A or 4A champion. Felt the 2018 team would have beaten Dunbar but they lost to Douglass. Can't seem to catch the Poets on the better years it seems.
Would rather have played this game and lost however than not played it at all. I would be in favor of playing this game for another 4-6 season contract. Everyone makes the playoffs.
Also would like to see any Frederick County team pick up FH next year. Need a game to replace Briar Woods (they are now full next season with district games) and the team from NY. But no one in Frederick County will play FH. Not Oakdale, Linganore, Urbana, Middletown, Walkersville, etc. Not even when we have the same open dates. The beat down FH put on Oakdale both years pretty much sealed that fate. It is what it is.
Still feel last year's FH team would have beaten just about any public school in the state outside of the 3A/4A or 4A champion. Felt the 2018 team would have beaten Dunbar but they lost to Douglass. Can't seem to catch the Poets on the better years it seems.
Would rather have played this game and lost however than not played it at all. I would be in favor of playing this game for another 4-6 season contract. Everyone makes the playoffs.
Also would like to see any Frederick County team pick up FH next year. Need a game to replace Briar Woods (they are now full next season with district games) and the team from NY. But no one in Frederick County will play FH. Not Oakdale, Linganore, Urbana, Middletown, Walkersville, etc. Not even when we have the same open dates. The beat down FH put on Oakdale both years pretty much sealed that fate. It is what it is.
Take it easy, they may be our rival but let's give them some grace, they are very young and inexperienced and will get much better as the year goes by.
No, I was referring to Oakdale, not Alco. I think that once Alco gets healthy, they'll be all right. They will not be the Alco of old, but they're coming along. On the other hand, Oakdale has the talent to be a much better team. In watching them, they reminded me of the old Jefferson teams. Plenty of talent, but couldn't put it together on the field. IMO the actual game was closer than what the score indicated. In the future, I'll have to watch how I phrase things.
Apologies, I was joking. I knew exactly what you meant. Just kind of having a laugh about the fact it's mentioned that Oakdale wasn't a very good team but they won 29-6....imagine how bad the other team must be. Anybody can be better after injuries or with more experience but I'm sure the Oakdale side would say they are going to be better too.
No apology needed; I didn't get it at first. I want to see Alco get their swag back, so I do try to watch what I say about them. I really long for the days that we could banter back and forth about each other.
