Blue Darters hold on

Apopka loses 3 fumbles but manages to top Miami Jackson
By Sam Gardner

Staff reporter

October 3, 2009

APOPKA — Apopka had a hard time holding onto the ball, but they were able to secure a victory Friday night at Roger Williams field, defeating Miami Jackson 29-15 to advance to 5-0 on the season.

The Blue Darters put the ball on the turf six times in the victory, losing three fumbles in the first half.

"We played about as bad as we can play, but we ran 40 offensive plays," Apopka Coach Rick Darlington said. "We knew if we could keep running plays we might be able to wear them down, and the defense played a lot better in the second half."

Junior running back Tom Smith muffed the game's opening kickoff, and the Generals (4-1) recovered the ball at the Apopka 18. Five plays later, an Alejandro Davila field goal put Jackson up 3-0.

Smith finished the game with 119 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries.

On the second possession, the Blue Darters drove 76 yards in 13 plays, but quarterback Keon Brooks fumbled the ball at the Jackson 2-yard line to hand the ball back over to the Generals.

After forcing a Jackson punt, the Blue Darters offense took the field. This time, Quay Barnes coughed the ball up on the first play of the drive for the third Apopka turnover in as many possessions.

"We've only turned it over like once on a fumble all year, but today we struggled," Darlington said. "It's just fundamentals."

Jackson jarred the ball loose again on the next Apopka rush, but Smith recovered his own fumble, and seven plays later took a Brooks handoff six yards for the Blue Darters' first score.

A halftime jersey switch may have helped the Blue Darters to victory. After playing the first half in alternate black jerseys, Apopka came out for the second half in blue.

"Whenever we play in the black we're a little bit shaky, so at halftime I decided that's it they're retired," Darlington said. "We may burn them at midfield."

The Apopka offense finally got moving in the fourth quarter. A Donte Williams interception set Smith up for an 8-yard touchdown run, and after a Generals punt, Smith scored again from 28 yards out to put the Blue Darters up 29-15.

Barnes had 86 yards rushing and Brooks had 83 on the ground for Apopka.

Apopka 29, Miami Jackson 15

FIRST — J: Davila 28 FG. SECOND — A: Smith 6 run (Brooks run); J: Jasper 99 kick return (kick failed); A: Griffon 8 pass from Brooks (Catron kick); J: Mintz 5 pass from Therezie (kick failed). FOURTH — A: Smith 8 run (Catron kick); A: Smith 28 run (Catron kick).

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Varsity Orlando



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Single Wing the building block for Wildcat system

By RON GRILLO
Telegram Correspondent

Sunday, October 04, 2009

There’s one thing in football, college and pro, that makes me gag, and it’s hearing someone refer to the “Wildcat.”

That is supposedly the newest creation on the offensive side of the ball.

The always over-the-top Mike Tirico on Monday Night Football gushed unabashedly, intimating the “Wildcat” was the most innovative imaginative aspect in football in recent memory.

Folks, the “Wildcat” has been around for more than a century.

It probably deserves the title as football’s first offense.

It has, however, before last season, been referred to as the Single Wing.

Jim Thorpe was a Single Wing tailback for the Carlisle Indians nearly 100 years ago.

The essence of the Single Wing is you put your best runner, usually not your quarterback, and have him take a direct snap.

It’s based on raw power.

Nobody has lined up strictly like the old Single Wing, but there’s a close facsimile. Some teams split the player who would be the wingback. The ends both can be split.

We ran the Single Wing untra-successfully for two years in grammar school when I attended St. Charles Borromeo in suburban Philadelphia.

I was the fullback in the formation, standing a yard in front of tailback Larry Sullivan. I could be standing to his right or left depending on the formation called, which could be as simple as “Off-tackle smash left.”

Our quarterback Doug DeCarlo called the plays. He usually was situated as close to the line of scrimmage as conventional quarterbacks are, but usually in the gap between the guard and tackle.

Besides calling plays, Doug’s most important role was as a blocker.

The other person in the backfield was our wingback, Bob “Hoagie” Haggerty. The wingback always lined up one yard behind and one yard outside the end on whichever side the formation was called.

The wingback could go out for passes, block for the tailback and fullback or run the ball himself on reverses, inside and outside. There was never anything prettier in our offense than the wingback winding up with the ball on a reverse.

There was plenty of misdirection but most of all, the focus was on stuffing the ball down our opponents’ throats with power running and blocking. I could get the snap from Richie Boyle, plunge into the line and hand the ball to Doug who could then pitch it wide to Larry or hand it off to Hoagie.

The year we were in eighth grade, St. Charles went through a regular season nine-game schedule unbeaten and unscored upon. The aforementioned were aided nobly by talented players such as Warren “Butch” Winterbottom, Nick Robak, Joe “Bozo” Bozone — and the three Frannys- Gallo, Cosello and Lake.

The next time you hear someone refer to the “Wildcat,” prove how superior you are by saying out loud or to yourself, “It’s the Single Wing, stupid.”


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Rocky Mount Telegram
P.O. Box 1080
Rocky Mount, NC 27802



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Tigers defense devours Warriors

Edwardsville forces five turnovers in homecoming win
BY CAMERON HOLLWAY
Special to the News-Democrat


Contrary to what you might have heard, the Edwardsville Tigers did not have their homecoming dance in the Granite City backfield. It just seemed like it.


The Tigers had three sacks, forced five turnovers and consistently put a body on Granite City's biggest weapon, Lavonce James, in a 34-6 homecoming victory Friday night.


Senior linebacker Bryan Reller was a one-man wrecking crew, with an interception, a fumble recovery and a sack; and fellow linebacker Ryan Knight had a sack and a fumble recovery for the Tigers, who limited Granite City to 167 total yards.


Edwardsville improved to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in Southwestern Conference play on the strength of a defense that limited James to 12 yards rushing on 11 attempts. James, who had a team-high 455 yards rushing before Friday, was caught in the backfield or for no gain on six of his 11 carries.


"The defensive line did a really good job on him," Reller said. "We considered him their best player, so we focused on bottling him up. We also had linebackers spying on him on every play, and we did a good job with that."


Four of Edwardsville's five touchdowns were the result of turnovers, three of those on drives following a Granite City (1-5, 1-3) turnover -- the final one a fumble recovery in the end zone by Sean Keasey.


"We put the ball on the ground and dropped it all night long," Granite City coach J.D. Lorton said. "It was a recurring theme, and you can't win ball games doing that. ... We were caught on our heels most of the evening. They definitely were the aggressor and we weren't."


The Tigers built a 21-6 halftime lead on three short drives, each set up by a turnover.


Midway through the first quarter, Reller positioned the Tigers for a one-play drive by intercepting a James pass at the Granite City 44 and returning it 38 yards to the 6. From there, Reggie Box scampered into the end zone, and Sam Fink's kick made it 7-0.


Edwardsville's next drive wasn't much more difficult, as Box recovered a Cody Spanberger fumble at the Granite City 28 to put the Tigers in motion. Box did it all from there, going 20 yards on a draw play, then overcoming an illegal procedure call with a 13-yard draw when he ran through the middle, bounced left and raced to the pylon.


Fink's strong leg on kickoffs and a stout Edwardsville defense kept the Warriors pinned deep for most of the first half. In fact, Granite City's first snap on Edwardsville's side of the field was with 4:30 remaining in the second quarter. As if they knew they wouldn't get many chances, the Warriors made the most of the opportunity, Spanberger going 39 yards around the left corner and into the end zone.


Knight blocked the extra point, and it appeared Granite City would go into the half trailing by only eight points. But with 1:29 remaining, a bad snap in a shotgun formation hit James around the ankle, and an alert Knight pounced on it at the Granite City 37.


Edwardsville, a single-wing team that relies on a lot of deception in the backfield, had completed one pass for zero yards to that point, but junior quarterback Chase Westra proved he can throw the ball if he needs to. On three successive plays, he connected with Mason McBride, Josh White and Kaleb Schlueter for 7, 10 and 12 yards. Two plays later, on third-and-goal at the 5 and with 12 seconds left, Westra rolled right to look for a receiver, turned upfield and powered just over the goal line for the 21-6 halftime lead.


"We're working on the passing game," Westra said. "I'm not happy with how I'm throwing yet, but we're getting there. On the touchdown, I was rolling out and looking to hit an out route in end zone, but I saw an opening and then just took it."


Edwardsville didn't have an especially prolific offensive game, rushing for 227 yards on 47 carries and managing 32 yards through the air. But 240-pound junior running back Rodney Coe didn't play on offense because a hand injury has his left hand in a large cast. Box had a team-high 99 yards on 14 carries, Eric Vinyard added 56 yards on 10 totes, and Westra tallied 56 yards on 16 attempts.


Spanberger, a 185-pound junior, accounted for 75 percent of Granite City's offense, rushing for 125 yards on 17 carries.


The Tigers closed the door on any Granite City second-half hopes with an epic drive to open the third quarter. Keeping the ball exclusively on the ground, Edwardsville marched 71 yards on 12 plays, eating 4:50 off the clock and taking a 27-6 lead when Westra plunged in from 1-yard out.


Most of the damage in the drive was done behind the right side of the line, with center Brandon Bradford, right guard Andrew Ellington, right tackle Ethan Buford and tight end Garrett Jensen blowing the Warriors off the ball.


"We just methodically moved the ball down the field after making a couple of adjustments at halftime," Edwardsville coach Mark Bliss said. "We can throw if we have to, but it's just one of those things where we like to control the clock if we can and keep the ball in our hands."

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Belleville News-Democrat
120 South Illinois

PO Box 427

Belleville, IL

62220

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Smith leads Heights to rout

BY matt browning
Eagle correspondent


After blowing a late lead to Great Bend a week ago, the word "finish" was used quite a bit in practice this past week for the Heights football team.

Finish plays. Finish drives. Finish tackles. Finish everything.

Following a 35-6 rout of North at Carpenter Stadium on Thursday, the Falcons were able to breathe a little easier and ease some of the pain from last week.

And did they ever finish.

Heights pounded out 372 yards of offense and scored on five of nine possessions, while holding the Redskins to 160 yards.

"We felt like we did everything we could to put us in position to win last week and we didn't do that," Heights coach Rick Wheeler said. "But I'm proud of how the kids prepared this week and we haven't had this kind of record in a while and the kids showed real maturity to bounce back the way they did."

Dreamus Smith led Heights powerful single-wing offense with 196 yards on the ground. He capped the Falcons' first two drives with touchdown runs of three and eight yards.

Along with Smith was Delmonte Ross, who added a 102 yards on just eight carries.

"The key for us was following our blocks and doing what the coaches have been telling us in practice," Smith said. "They told us all week that everybody blocks on offense and we did that tonight."

The focal point of North's offense is mobile quarterback Grail Brewster, but the only running Brewster did Thursday night was trying to escape Heights' dominating front seven.

Despite scoring the Redskins' only touchdown, Brewster was held in check by the Falcons, rushing for 10 yards on 12 attempts before being knocked out of the game at halftime with an undisclosed leg injury.

"They like to run to the inside the tackles, which was good of us because we can close up the middle fast," Heights defensive linemen Dominique Henderson said. "We were always right there and didn't let them go anywhere."

Heights (2-3) 7 13 8 7 — 35 North (1-4) 6 0 0 0 — 6

H—Smith 3 run (Zimmerman kick)

N—Brewster 2 run (kick failed)

H—Smith 8 run (Zimmerman kick)

H—Strand 29 pass from Moreland (kick failed)

H—Moreland 2 run (Taylor from Moreland)

H—Moreland 1 run (Zimmerman kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing—Heights, Smith 25-196, Ross 8-102, Moore 4-33, Taylor 1-15, Deshazer 3-14, Moreland 7-9, Reed 1-3. North, B. White 12-80, Davis 10-17, Brewster 12-10, Dukes 1-5, K. Wright 1-(-5).

Passing—Heights, Moreland 3-9-51-1. North, Brewster 3-6-31-1, B. White 1-8-22-0.

Receiving—Heights, Strand 1-29, Taylor 1-15, Smith 1-2. North, Gray 1-22, C. Wright 1-17, B. White 2-14.

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The Wichita Eagle

825 E. Douglas

P.O. Box 820

Wichita, KS

67201-0820

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Dragons head south to Dickson

Madill’s triplets as advertised in 35-7 romp at Conger Field
By John D. Montgomery Jr. - The Purcell Register
Published: Thursday, October 1, 2009 9:01 AM CDT

Purcell will take its show on the road to Dickson Friday night trying to right the ship after two straight losses.

The Dragons need to find their offensive groove, something that has been missing the past couple of Friday nights.

Dickson will operate out of the single wing when they have the football.

“It’s a really unusual offense,” head coach Mike Wilson admitted.

“But where we’ve got to get going is our offense and our offensive line. We haven’t blocked anyone for two weeks.

“We are who I said we were at the first of the year,” Wilson continued.

“We are pretty athletic. We can run a little bit but we lost some really good linemen that we have to replace.

“The first two games it looked like we found them. But the last two weeks we’ve regressed. I just hope its because of the people we’ve been playing.”

Last Friday night at Conger Field Madill’s triplets in Darryl Fields (5), Spencer Bond (8) and Kevin Roberts (2) put on quite an offensive show and thumped the now 2-2 Dragons, 35-7.

Fields didn’t wait very long before dancing in the Purcell end zone.

He took the games’ opening kickoff back 90 yards for a touchdown, giving Madill a 7-0 lead just seven seconds into the game.

He also scored on a 28-yard run in the second half and finished the night with 223 all purpose yards.

Bond scored on runs of three and 43 and he hit Roberts with a 17-yard touchdown pass.

Purcell trailed 28-0 when Damian Shea burst through the line for a six yard touchdown run followed by a Saul Ibarra PAT.

Purcell was limited to 60 yards rushing, led by Shea with 37.

Sophomore quarterback Cole Swayze completed five of 12 passes for 97 yards while rushing for 27.

“Technically, when you look at the film,” Wilson said, “it wasn’t as bad this week as it was the previous week at Lexington.

“We were much more aggressive. We hit better. We had guys where they were supposed to be. We just couldn’t make a play on their three stars.

“The little guy out on the edge (Roberts) and the two big guys (Bond and Fields) ran through our tackles repeatedly. We were rarely out of position. We just couldn’t get it done.

“Five and 8 are better players than we are,” Wilson said.

“We weren’t able to get anything going offensively. We played hard on defense and would keep them in check. Then they would big play us.”

Madill turned a fourth and 12 into a 13-yard gain. They faced a fourth and five and make six.

Late in the first quarter with Madill still leading only 7-0, the Wildcats again faced a crucial situation.

The made a fourth and four and just into the second period turned that into a 14-0 lead.

Fields finished with 124 yards rushing on 12 carries.

For the most part he was contained by the Dragon defense, but if he got into the secondary it was Katie bar the door.

“Until he went out I thought Garrett Goldsby was having one of his better games,” Wilson said.

Goldsby was battling illness and finally was too ill to continue.

Jon Chavira also left the game due to an injury and Dylan Wilson was only a part time player due to an injury.

“Todd Hudson played well. Cedric Polk played pretty well and (Micah) Estep did a pretty good job on defense,” Wilson said.

“As far as getting to where we needed to be, our secondary guys were there. They just couldn’t get him (Fields) to the ground,” the coach said.

“There’s a reason he’s a Division I guy. He’s 6’2” tall and 220 pounds and is the state sprint champion in the 100 and 200.”

Kickoff Friday at Dickson is set for 7:30 p.m.

The Comets are 3-1 with wins over Tishomingo, Kingston and Northeast. Their lone loss came at the hands of the Plainview Indians, 34-12.

Dragon notes:

The was no nominee for Offensive Player of the Week.

Mike Wilson nominated Cedric Polk as the Defensive Player of the Week.

Polk made 11 tackles against Madill.

The Defensive Lineman of the Week nominee was Shawn Madden, with four stops.

Micah Estep, who graded out at 82 percent, was the nominee for Offensive Lineman of the Week.

Polk was credited with the big hit of the week while Tanner Bell got the special teams player of the week.



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Purcell Register

P.O. Box 191

Purcell, OK 73080

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