Glenwood's motto: Just win

Glenwood's motto: Just win
BY ROBERT SPRUCK

rspruck@ledger-enquirer.com

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There are a couple of scenarios that would secure Glenwood a home game in the first round of the Alabama Independent School Association Class AAA playoffs.

The simplest scenario is the one that Glenwood coach Tripp Henderson is preaching to his team -- beat Edgewood tonight and defeat Pickens next Friday. The Gators can actually lock up the second seed in Region 2 tonight with a win and a Macon-East loss to Bessemer.

"We should be the favorite in the next two games, and we are trying to win them," Henderson said. "After last week's win, we are hoping not to have a letdown. We have told them that we want to take another step. After an 8-2 season last year, the next step is 9-1. We are in a position to do that, if we finish strong."

The Gators clinched a berth in the Class AAA playoffs with their 48-20 win against Pickens on Sept. 28. Glenwood (6-1, 4-1 AAA, Region 2) hosts Edgewood tonight at 8 with the opportunity to get a little closer to a home playoff game.

The Gators hosted a first-round playoff game last season and knocked off Cottage Hill 42-16.

"This is something that is really important us," Henderson said of opening the playoffs at The Swamp. "It's a little different atmosphere in the playoffs, and everyone gets a little more excited."

Willis will play

After injuring his groin during the Jordan game on Sept. 29, Shaw defensive back Bryan Willis is expected to play against Hardaway.

Shaw will try to win its fourth straight game when it takes on Hardaway tonight at 7:30 at Kinnett Stadium.

The Raiders held Willis, who also plays running back, out of the game against Kendrick last week to give him extra time to rest, Shaw coach Scott Newman said. Newman said Willis played one series in the Raiders' 36-14 win against the Red Jackets.

"We want to make sure that he is at full strength when he comes back," Newman said.

Willis, who intercepted nine passes as a junior, is a versatile player for the Raiders. He's got an interception and 18 tackles this season. Willis has also rushed for 266 yards and four touchdowns.

Time to work

Losing its final two games in the Region 2-AAA tournament has Hardaway softball coach Bill Stohr feeling that his team needs to improve in all areas.

"We are going to work on everything," Stohr said. "We will work on hitting, pitching and defense. We have to rededicate ourselves. The good thing is that we are in the sectionals."

The Lady Hawks finished third in the Region 2-AAA tournament that ended with a 1-0 loss to Northside. Hardaway lost 8-2 to Harris County on Tuesday evening. The Hawks will open the Class AAA south sectional against the No. 2 team from Region 4.

Hardaway scored two runs and had 10 hits in its two losses. The Hawks never really threatened to score in the final few innings against Northside.

"You try to learn from every loss," Stohr said. "I don't know what we will learn from this one, but we are going to try to."

Streaking

Harris County enters the sectional as one of the hottest teams in the state.

After breezing through the Region 2-AAA tournament, the Lady Tigers have won 14 straight games. Harris County enters the sectional tournament in Dublin, Ga., with a lot of momentum after outscoring its opponents 23-2 in the region tournament. The Tigers will open against the fourth seed from Region 4.

"Being a senior and it being my last year, it feels great to win," third baseman Baillie Temples said after winning the region tournament for the second straight year. "It's a good way to start the playoffs."

The only AAA team that might be hotter is Oconee County. The Warriors, who have won the AAA state title the last three years, have won 23 of their last 24 games.

Another step

Northside will take some time off before beginning preparation for its second straight trip to the sectional tournament.

The Lady Patriots will go into seeded second after entering as the fourth seed last year. They were one win away from advancing to the elite eight in 2006.

Northside returns seven players that were a part of last year's team that came up a little short.

"We know what it takes," Northside coach Chera Riles said. "They want to take it one step further this year... . They got a little taste last year."



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Glenwood's football team, led in part by quarterback Branden Williams, can clinch at least second place in Region 2 for the Alabama Independent School Association Class AAA playoffs with a victory tonight against Pickens. That would give the Gators a home playoff game in the first round for the second year in a row. (Ledger-Enquirer photo)

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Glenwood Gators -- P.O Box 310, Phenix City, AL 36868

Ledger-Enquirer - 17 W. 12th St. -- Columbus. GA 31901

Why The Wedge

10/16/2007

Why The Wedge
Dan Spain
The Single-Wing Sentinel

Over the years, coaches who are intrigued by the Single-Wing, question the Wedge play. They wonder, why the wedge. If you are asking the same question, below is your answer.

Wedge Mix

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Snow Plow Wedge


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Sundevil Wedge

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Wedge Gone Wild

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fAKE fUMBLE wEDGE

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Now, I bet you're saying "Wow the Wedge"


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"Bounce Pass" provides "Pick" me up

“Pick-me Up” Preserves Park View’s Perfect Record


By Dan Sousa
LoudounPrepSports.com Editor


Sterling (Oct. 16, 2007) – If a football team ever needed a “pick-me-up” it was Park View High School Friday night with 2:07 left as upset-minded Potomac Falls had just scored its second touchdown in less than four minutes – on a blocked punt no less – to take the lead, 14-13.

Enter Patriot senior wide receiver Ryan Pick, who had two big catches in the game at the time but one of them, a 51-yarder in the second quarter ended in a fumble as he tried to make a move and turn the play into a 86-yard score.

“We have been telling ourselves all season that we need to play like state champions and I entered the huddle and said ‘state champions find ways to win these types of game’,” said Pick.

Showing the guts of a Texas Hold’Em player bluffing his way with a 2-7 in the hole, Park View coach Andy Hill called for a trick play that would require Pick to field a backwards “bounce pass” from C.J. Leizear and then the WR would throw across the field to running back Eric Johnston.

“I wasn’t worried about the bounce,” said Pick who had to wonder, however, about the pass as the last time he attempted one in a game was back in 8th grade. “The coach made a gutsy call on the play.”

Indeed. The play worked as planned as Leizear’s spiral skimmed past sophomore receiver Tommy Sedeski, who did a bit of play-acting as if was truly a failed pass to him, and Pick fielded the lateral which made it legal for him to heave the pass to Johnston along the Patriot sidelines for a 25-yard gain.

The previous week the same play had been botched against Freedom for a turnover as the bounce pass deflected off Sedeski’s leg. This time it was just the “pick-me-up” the Patriots needed.

Before the Panthers even had time to calculate what had just happened. Leizear took the snap from the PF 46 and rolled to the right. With plenty of time to look downfield as the Panthers had little pursuit on the senior quarterback, Pick drifted all the way behind the Panther secondary and caught a 50-yard heave by Leizear in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. A two-point run by Johnston made the final score 21-14.

“We played as a team tonight; a team that left everything on the field,” said Potomac Falls coach Scott Woodlief. “There are a lot of broken hearts in the locker room.”

Park View (3-0 in AA Dulles District, 6-0 overall) came in as a heavy favorite against Potomac Falls (1-2, 2-4), but the Panthers, despite five turnovers and a blocked field goal, hung around in the game thanks to four turnovers, the blocked punt and a dozen penalties by the error-prone Patriots.

“We’ve been saying all year that we can’t play careless with the football and expect to win,” said Hill.

Park View dominated the firs half with Leizear throwing for 213 of his 294 yards and the Patriots out-gaining the Panthers in total yards, 242-94. Park View, however, led just 6-0 at the half.

That scoring drive was very impressive as the Patriots went 97 yards on 12 plays after Sedeski picked off Potomac Falls quarterback Greg Woodlief on the Park View 3.

The scoring drive, which took over five minutes, started with four straight running plays to four different runners – Leizear for five yards on a keeper, lineman-converted-fullback Thomas Mulabah on a 7-yard dive, Sedeski for six from the wideout spot and Johnston stopped for a loss by Potomac Falls senior Dominic Turner who had a good night on the defense.

Trying to slow down the PF blitz on 3-and-6 from the Park View 19, Leizear hit Sedeski (93 yards on four catches, all in the first half) on a screen pass for eight yards. Leizear then hit Danny Foley (4 receptions for 63 yards and two touchdowns) for eight yards.

Turner was again the backfield to throw Johnston for a loss. Both starting running backs in the game had trouble getting room to run with Johnston limited to 13 yards on nine carries and Potomac Falls junior Michael Baker held to 18 yards on 12 carries.

On 3rd-and-3 from their own 34, Leizear (46 yards rushing on 13 attempts) kept the ball behind the blocking of Johnston to net eight and a first down.

Leizear tried to hook up with Foley on a crossing route, by the two-way started Woodlief was waiting and he laid a bone-jarring hit on Foley to separate him from the ball.

PF tried to go after Leizear as he dropped back to pass on the next play but the Pats again had a screen pass called at the right time and Johnston collected the ball and rambled 19 yards to the Panther 39. Foley then had the best revenge for that earlier hit as he picked up 30 yards on the next play to put the Patriots just inside the 10.

Two plays later, Leizear hit Foley in the end zone with 1:08 remaining in the half. The extra point attempt failed and it was 6-0.

Typical of the game was the final 68 seconds – or so as there were major clock operator problems during the game with time added or taken away by the officials at least four times – of the first half. Nothing was every just normal.

First Potomac Falls could not run out the clock as three dives to Baker totaled only seven yards and Park View burned some time outs to give them the ball back with 20 seconds on their own 39.

Then Turner, yet again in the right spot for Potomac Falls, tipped a Leizear pass into the hands of PF lineman Ryan Mehalic, who later would recover the punt blocked by teammate David Zedan in the end zone for a fourth quarter score. Mehalic had a glimpse at making it to the end zone this time but he was stopped on the PV 31 with 11 seconds left. After an incompletion, Potomac Falls trotted out junior kicker Asa Fox, who had made a kick as time expired in the first half the week before that turned out to be the game winner in a 23-20 victory over Loudoun County.

This time, the Patriots smothered the 48-yard attempt before it barely got out of the holder’s hands and for the next 10 seconds the ball bounced around the field and in and out of Park View player’s hands in something that looked like a highlight film from an old Oakland Raider finish. The ball did not find the end zone and the half was finished.

Park View’s lead was not any larger at this point as the Pats had turned the ball over on down deep in Panther territory on their first series of the night, despite a 58-yard pass play to Sedeski out of Park View’s new single-wing look. On that play, one sure to be of interest to future opponents, Johnston took a direct snap and then handed it to Mulabah near the line of scrimmage, who pitched it back to Leizear, who then threw a strike to Sedeski.

Later Park View turned it over on downs at their own 44 on a series that included one play with two turnovers as Potomac Falls junior Chris Pelto picked off Leizear only to have the ball stripped and recovered by Johnston.

The drought conditions left a thin layer of dust hovering over the field and the ball was slippery than a greased pig at times. Later in the first half, the two teams would trade turnovers on consecutive plays as Pelto fumbled after an 11-yard completion and the ball was recovered by PV junior Josh Jones, who would end the night by intercepting PF’s bid for a final comeback.

Pelto would later have a phenomenal touchdown catch in the fourth quarter and he finished the night with 117 yards on eight receptions. PF sophomore Tarrell Owens added 61 yards on six catches. Woodlief was able to throw for 186 yards on 16 of 30 passing despite the loss of top receiver Chad McMichael, still out with an injury.

Right after Jones’s fumble recovery, Pick lost the handle after picking up 51 yards.

PF wasn’t able to establish much of an offense in the first half but the Panthers owned the third quarter, running 19 plays from scrimmage to Park View’s two to start the second half. The Patriots were hurt by a turnover on Leizear’s first attempt of the third quarter, another tipped ball, this time by Mehalic, who had a night to remember, and intercepted by Baker.

The Panthers first drive of the half lasted 10 plays but went just 25 yards as a holding penalty stalled things. The drive after the interception picked up 30 yards on nine plays to the Patriot 24 but a botched snap on 4th-and-1 was recovered by Patriot senior Nash Cook in the Panther backfield.

The third quarter ended with Alexander Rice and Zedan teaming to sack Leizear at his own 10 to force a PV punt.

When PF went 3-and-out and Park View put together a 66-yard scoring drive on 10 plays, culminating on a Leizear-to-Foley 11-yard score, it appeared the game was fairly out of reach with Park View ahead 13-0 and 7:43 to play.

The Panthers, showing a great spirit, stepped up and Woodlief guided the team 68 yards in just six plays with Pelto making a jump-ball catch on one play for a 29-yard gain and then scoring on a catch in the corner of the end zone on a 19-yard pass play that showed a nice touch from Woodlief and Pelto’s great ability to bring the ball down while keeping one foot just in.

The play was good enough that Hill could be heard on the Park View sidelines to say “nice play” as his defense had great coverage on Pelto. Fox’s extra point made it 13-7 with 5:59 to play.

Park View then started playing like a team that was bent on losing the lead. On the first two plays from scrimmage after the PF score, Leizear had a pass almost picked off by Pelto and then Owens and Woodlief tipped around a pass attempt before it hit the ground.

The Patriots elected to go for it on 4th-and-2 from their own 25 with 4:45 remaining and Leizear just got the first down, by the length of a football on the measurement.

PV was going to go for it again on fourth down but a delay of game penalty, the second on the discombobulated series, left 4th-and-9 from the Pats 28. PF which had loaded up on one side earlier and almost blocked a punt, shifted the formation the other direction and Zedan blocked Foley’s punt and Mehalic sprawled on the football in the end zone. Fox’s extra point was good for a shocking 14-13 lead with 2:07 left.

“Our Achilles Heel is special teams,” said Hill. “I think it’s a confidence thing but give them credit on the punt block.”

Sedeski then picked up 26 yards on the ensuring kickoff return after fielding the ball at the 3 to start the game-winning series at the PV 29 and set-up the “pick-me-up” ending.

PF actually was able to move the ball back inside the Park View 10 with, Woodlief hitting Pelto on what would have been a 30-yard pass play with 45 seconds left but a late flag on the play nullified the game on a holding call. The Panthers, moved back to midfield, Woodlief tried two more shots with the second picked off by Jones at the PV 30 and returned to the PF 41.

For Park View, a team that saw a potential state title run ended in the first round of the playoffs last year on a late turnover and then long field goal by Louisa as time expired, the near miss Friday can be a defining moment on the season, either negative or positive.

“We can either go one of two ways after this. There is no middle ground. Either we will be an unstoppable force or we are going to start to doubt ourselves,” said Hill.

Park View will find out this Friday when they host Briar Woods (2-1, 5-1). Potomac Falls travels to South Riding to play Freedom (0-3, 0-6).

Mountaineers adept at pulling off quick kick

WVU Football Notebook

Mountaineers adept at pulling off quick kick
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette




MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Knees bent, torso lowered into full-squat mode, outstretched hands waiting for a pretend snap, associate head coach Bill Stewart assumed the position of a single-wing quarterback the other day. He went back in football time to portray what he learned long ago from former Navy coach and ex-West Virginia assistant Gary Tranquill of Avella: The quick kick.

It is an almost antiquated play that Stewart, West Virginia's special teams coach, and his units used Oct. 6. That marked the first such instance West Virginia had used the quick kick since late in the 2005 season, a span of some 21 games. But the Mountaineers could well pull the trick again Saturday against visiting Mississippi State.

The weekend before last, on fourth-and-3 at the Syracuse 37, quarterback Patrick White left his shotgun spot and aligned as a receiver wide right. Fullback Owen Schmitt, standing alone in the backfield, received the short snap and, much like the way Stewart pantomimed, Schmitt took a step toward the sideline and then kicked the football.

The bouncing punt stopped at the Syracuse 3, though officials maintained that another West Virginia player touched it first at the 11.

"He got gypped 10 yards there," growled the regular punter for ninth-ranked West Virginia, Plum's Pat McAfee. "Those refs were seeing some things."

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez added of Schmitt's first career kick, "It's amazing, a guy punts one punt for 27 yards, and that just adds to the legend. All of a sudden, he's Jim Thorpe."

Nevertheless, Stewart and West Virginia relish the field-position swing and the surprise value gained from such kicks, not to mention the trick plays -- ones that have prolonged drives or scored points -- run from that formation during Rodriguez's seven years as head coach.

"Johnny Lujack did it," Stewart said, invoking another piece of quick-kick history with the 1947 Heisman Trophy-winning Notre Dame quarterback from Connellsville, among other names such as Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh and former West Virginia quarterback Rasheed Marshall. "Hey, it worked for those guys. ... You can't beat it."

It was good enough for West Virginia to use in early 2005, when Adam Bednarik was the Mountaineers' starting quarterback. A punter as well at Bethlehem Catholic High School, he had five quick kicks for a 31-yard average that season before a right foot sprain effectively handed White his big break and ended Bednarik's starting quarterback career. One thing White hasn't been asked to do: Punt.

"It's not something you can pick up like that," Bednarik said, snapping two fingers. "Not too many guys can do it. You have to practice it, too. But most of the time, because you're not a punter, you don't get much time to work on it.

"Defenses don't know what's coming, so they can't get a returner out there. It can really work to your advantage."

Ranking fluctuation


The Mountaineers gained 31 votes in The Associated Press poll but fell in the rankings, to ninth from eighth. However, with all the jockeying at the top of both polls -- after previous Nos. 1 and 2 LSU and California both lost Saturday -- they moved up two spots in the coaches' USA Today poll, to seventh. Kentucky nosed ahead of West Virginia by eight votes in AP, taking over the Mountaineers' eighth spot, but was No. 13 in USA Today.

It marked the third week in the past six in which West Virginia dropped in the polls without losing: After the second week, it fell behind Oklahoma to No. 4; the next week, it fell another rung to No. 5 after Florida passed it; and this past off weekend, when victorious Oregon and Kentucky passed it.

Quick hit


Kickoff for the West Virginia-Rutgers game Oct. 27 at Rutgers Stadium in New Brunswick, N.J., has been scheduled for noon to accommodate ABC/ESPN Regional television.

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pittsburgh post-gazette
34 Blvd. of the Allies
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

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