2005 GAMES AND SUMMARIES
FOOTBALL GAME SUMMARIES & INFORMATION|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CLICK HERE FOR 2004 GAME SUMMARIES AND INFORMATION
|
|
|
***2006 SEMI-FINALIST
HIGHLIGHT DVD's READY - SCROLL TO BOTTOM
2006 FOOTBALL RESULTS Game 1 9-1-2006 Nat Greene 34 Piedmont 28: A very tough "AA" team comes in very prepared and ready to play in the rivalry. To a neutral spectator it may have looked like both teams were trying to give the game to the other with big time turnovers. The NGA turnovers were absolutely needless with a lack of concentration on several occasions, 2 of which no contact was involved. This must improve. However, the NGA defense was swarming and created their own turnovers on aggressive play and tenacious football. Some uncharacteristic mistakes were made by some big players for us and some tremendous plays were made by the same guys. We'll write this one up as a thankful win and kiss the first game blues goodbye. Now its a scrappy Hancock to deal with. Offensively I'd give us a B- and must do a better job of blocking and sustaining blocks and blocking the right people, but we had some great highlights and huge outputs by Chris Eddy leading rusher with 116 yards, Zeb Duvall with 88 hard yards, Casey dove with 39 from scrimmage but a great job of returning kicks for 98 yards. Dustin Bashore had 18 really tough yards as well. Jimmy Easley made some huge plays on both sides of the ball and on offense was 3 of 6 for 76 critical yards and clutch catches were made by Chance Rhodes with the longest of 46 yards, Daniel Moore with a great grab for 13 clutch yards and a huge 4th down connection to John Duvall who played great on both sides as well. Our surprise of the evening was Jared Chamlee's job at Nose Tackle, as he was just tearing it up all night punishing the Piedmont Center and make life tough for the cougars. Daniel Dowdy had his usual all out rip roaring game playing with great heart. Jordan foster, Gray Holcomb, Hunter Bickers, and Dustin Bashore also played well on both sides. OK, first game done, now we settle down and start playing solid Nat-Greene football. We come out next week poised and ready to take care of the issues we learned about, tweak it a bit and head down to Sparta. Oh yes, its a region game and though Hancock lost their opener to a good "AA" Brentwood Team, believe me, they will be ready with guns a blazing next Friday night. They always do.
Game 2 9-8-2006 NGA 42 John Hancock 22. Hancock is as billed, very short on numbers but very big in heart and is always ready to play. We played pretty good but are still having problems tackling. Besides a couple of blown assignments, not many but a few, we just aren't tackling. As I watch the film I see the defensive scheme working very well and we have our untouched guys smacking the man with the ball at the line of scrimmage but we aren't tackling. We just have to improve in that area without beating each other up too badly in practice. It's really a balancing act when you are so thin and can't afford to loose anyone to injury. Last night It was the Casey Dove show (198 yards) Co-starring Chris Eddy (113 yards) Zeb Duvall (102) and a fine surrounding cast of backs Dustin Bashore (21 yards) , Chance Rhodes (14 yards) and Jimmy Easley 1 of 4 for 26 yards. Defensively we had some impressive numbers tackling with Gray Holcomb 9, Hunter Bickers 8, Dustin Bashore 6, along with Patel, Easley, Duvall, Dove, and Eddy all having 4. Our total offensive output was huge considering we didn't have the ball long and gave it away a couple of times. We had 474 total yards including the 26 yard pass completion. "I think we just had trouble getting up for them as Hancock is a little down from past talent and they lost their first game pretty soundly. I don't think we'll have trouble getting up for Flint River, the 2005 defending undefeated "AA" state champions, but our task this week will be competing with the best compilation of athletes we'll see this year.
Game 3 9-15-2006...Nat Greene 22 Flint River 47. Flint brought in probably the best football team we've played since I came to NGA in 2004. We did not play our best game, but fairly good at times, poorly other times, but the results was a barn yard whuppin. It is really tough on a group of guys that has to pound guys 75 to 100 pounds heavier, much taller, and quicker all night long. But even with all that, If we don't give them GIFTS time and time again, and could make a few seemingly easy tackles, we would have had a ball game. But it happened the way it happened. It takes a tremendous effort and flawless play to compete with this caliber of team and even then they can beat you badly. There were several points in the game that could have changed the whole complexion of the game if we could have made the play or caught the pass or this or that. There were about half a dozen just bad plays by us at critical times in a close game that would have gotten us beat by several teams in our league. So it wasn't all Flint River. We gave them all they needed. The killer call was when we stopped Flint River on our own 12 yard line or so and they miss kick a field-goal, and our two ends collided in front of the kicker and the ref flags us for roughing the kicker. Worst call I've ever seen...The kicker was never touched,... But it gave them and extra set of downs to really put the game out of reach. At that point it was 26-14 we were moving the ball well on offense and we could have possibly put a drive together that could have made it a different game for sure. Flint is a great team with many great players getting college football scholarships, and have several heading there this year as well. There are reasons Flint River Has played in the last 2 "AA" Championships and has won 28 straight, and was the UNDEFEATED "AA" CHAMPION last year. The reason why they are now in class "A" is peculiar to all coaches in our class. We did have 346 yards of total offense with Dustin Bashore leading the way this week with 83 yards on 11 carries.
Game 4 9-22-2006...Nat. Greene 48 Griffin Christian 6 Griffin is just starting football has some good looking kids and will get it going soon, but our experience got to them early in a 48-6 coaster. Our success this year will be on the backs of our seniors, Jimmy Easley, Gray Holcomb, John Duvall, Zeb Duvall, Daniel Dowdy, and Chris Eddy. These are our leaders and have been keys here at Nathanael Greene since the 10th grade.” Although we are relying on our seniors, we have a big number of younger guys that are equally important for our success. Hunter Bickers, Jordan foster, Daniel Moore, Kanhaiya Patel, Clayton Hardman, Dustin Bashore, Casey Dove, and Jared Chamlee.
Game 5 9-29-2006... Nat. Greene 48 Heritage Hawks 0. Another new "AA" football team comes in on our homecoming and we got busy early on a 48-0 win. We spread 459 yards of offense between 7 running backs and only 36 yards were passing. We were just scoring too easily to turn Jimmy loose throwing the ball so maybe this week. The tough road to the playoffs are upon us.
Game 6 10-6-2006... Nat-Greene 12 Gatewood 14. Many have called them certainly one of the best teams in "AA". I have to agree. this will be one of the toughest games if not THE toughest games we play. Buckle 'em up!!!!! Now that the game is in the books, I have to say that Gatewood is the best compilation of athletes I've faced since coming to NGA. Defensively they are the best team we've faced in two and a half years or so it seemed. We fought them at every turn and on the 5 yard line with a play and a time out left we had a chance to win but on the 3rd down Jimmy was hit as he was trying to unload a pass and it took just enough off the ball to keep it in play and they intercepted in the back of the end zone. There were many heroic performances throughout the night. Casey Dove with a 75 yard kick-off return for a TD for starters. Jimmy Easley with some terrific plays under fire on offense hitting on key pass plays throughout the game and in the clutch, but as great as his offensive performance was, his defensive game was just as stellar. Zeb Duvall played hard and tough though Gatewood took most of our inside game away with 250+ pound athletic players blasting the gaps end to end leaving us with the outside to try their speedy secondary and the pass. Man, we had a hard time with their front and inside LB's giving up in some cases over 135 pounds per man on the front. Asking these size kids to block these monsters is a tall order for a junior or sophomore giving up that kind of size, range, and just brute strength, and these guys were good football players, not just big boys. Our defense got better as the game went on and on. I sure hope our preliminary report that the Gatewood QB's wrist is broken is a wrong diagnosis. He is a great player and I hate it when a kid goes down on any team. I wish him a quick recovery for Gatewood simply won't be the same without him. With him they are a "AA" state contender NO DOUBT. Our fine defensive players were: Daniel Dowdy, Jimmy Easley, Gray Holcomb, Jordan Foster, Jared Chamlee, John Duvall, Daniel Durham, Casey Dove, Dustin Sanchez Bashore, and Zeb Duvall. Offensively, we have to mention some incredible clutch play by Jimmy Easley, John Duvall, Daniel Moore, Zeb Duvall, and Chris Eddy. Also fine work was seen by Kanhaiyah Patel starting at offensive right guard.
A couple of kids I'd like to high lite just because of their rising very high to the occasions and milking their abilities to the limit. These men are Dustin Bashore, Hunter Bickers, Casey Dove and Jimmy Easley. These guys have shown up to make a statement about how they play the game and how heart is more important than muscle mass. I really could high-lite many more for we epitomize the word TEAM but for this week, these 4 players I will salute, for MAX Performances.
Game 7 10-13-2006... Nat-Greene 12 Thomas Jefferson 37. I look at the film and just can't get over how well we played 85% of the time and just go rookie at times. I guess that comes with coaching inexperienced players, but when you are playing the defending state champs, and I mean every one of their players were there last year, you can't afford any mistakes. Well, we made some big time doozies but they were in between some really brilliant play, especially on defense. So we know we can play very well, now to do it every play! I have to feel like we are learning and growing every week and hope by the end we'll be hitting on all cylinders like last year. Remember last year?, we had some pretty stinky performances in the midst of injuries and other things but kept plugging at it and plugging at it and by the end of the year, we were right there, as good as anyone. That is what we have to strive for this year as well. We know we give up lots of size and experience to these previous state champions so we will just have correct our mistakes, and sometimes it just means just one step in the wrong direction, and continue to improve. Offensively, we aren't staying on task and aren't quite up to the effort level we must have, or have had in the past. I can't say it any better or more accurately than that. We will go to work on that for sure for I don't want to get technical here, but I feel with our size, we must be much better with technique, but the real deal we must address is our effort. We have some very bright spots and guys stepping up huge this year really keeping us going. Among them are Dustin Bashore with 12 tackles Friday, which is the highest number of tackles since I've been here. Casey dove is playing very well. Hunter Bickers is playing very tough and when he gets his reads down, he will play more like a senior than a sophomore. Now with that said, we need some other folks to step up and play to their abilities. We get that taken care of and we'll be fine. Though loosing always disappoints me and the guys, I am encouraged by what I've seen on the field the past two weeks in large part, for if we get fixed what needs fixin', stay healthy, and crank up the effort, we may be pretty good down the stretch. Seniors, its your team!
Game 8 10-20-2006... Nat-Greene 48 David Emanuel 14. A very improved and very very talented team comes in Friday and is a must win for us in our region, if the play-offs are in our future. They have big time size and good speed and a very talented QB that can strike at any time. They came and we took care of business. Yes they had some really good athletes and some great size but our quickness and execution prevailed. I really thought think have the talent to win in a big way this year and compete for the title but it isn't coming together for them. As for us, we still have some blocking issues to tighten up on but we showed a considerable improvement over the past. Our offense got back on track after struggling this season in comparison, but our defense played well and the pressure we put on the very good DEA QB was too much for them. They made a few plays but we made many. We are moving folks around a little to secure all of our positions the best we can to cover for injuries and rest. After looking at the film I notice that we need work on pursuit angles. We are beating each other up in pursuit of the football and we must get better angles. We knocked our own guys off the play several times due to odd angles, but I do like the aggressiveness we showed. I think all of our backs had big plays as Zeb Duval tore up 185 yards on 13 carries, Casey Dove 76 yards on 9 carries, Dustin Bashore 88 yards on 10 carries, Chris Eddy 37 yards on 6 carries and a TD pass reception on a screen for 30 yards, Chance Rhodes 2 carries for 13 yards, and Jimmy Easley passing for 64 yards. A total of 464 yards of offense and 74 yards of kick returns by Zeb and Casey. Defensively we had great efforts by the whole defensive team with the leading tacklers all within 1 tackle of each other. The leading tacklers were Jimmy Easley, Dustin Bashore, John Duvall, Daniel Dowdy, and Gray Holcomb. Pressure on the QB by Hunter Bickers all night. We'll take it and move on, and hope to improve as the weeks roll by. Hard to beleive we've been through 8 games.
Game 9 10-27-2006... Nat-Greene 36 Curtis Baptist 0 A deluge and a slopper but a fun game for all the guys as we go to 6-3 on the year with 2 regular season games left. We need them to secure a 3rd seed in the playoffs. Within the sloppy conditions we had some big plays by several Partiots. Chance Rhodes had a 75 yard TD run on a kick off and some other nifty carries as well. Dustin Bashore got in the end zone a few times as did Zeb Duvall. A big 55 yard TD catch from Jimmy Easley to Daniel More capped the first half scoring as everyone got some playing time in the second half. I felt like under the circumstances and the fact that we work so hard every day to stay competitive, I let the kids have some some fun and kept it loose (halftime antics) if you witnessed some of the silliness. You just go to throw in some silly fun sometimes in the mix of the hard work we do daily. We will get to work Monday on the stretch run and the playoffs. LH
Game 10 11-03-2006... Nat-Greene 60 Heirway Christian 0 It doesn't happen often, but I found myself and others pulling for the Heirway kids at times. They had a good group of guys out there and with some number growth and some more experience, will be fine, but its tough being in a first year of football with very little experience. Good luck to Heirway in their final game against another first year football program Griffin Christian. For us....Rushing Offense: Dustin Bashore 144 yards on 7 carries, Zeb Duval 116 on 9 carries, Chance Rhodes 137 yards on 7 carries, Hunter Bickers 25 yards on 4 carries, Russell Turner 36 yards on 5 carries, Gray Holcomb 25 yards on 2 carries, Chris Eddy 89 yards on 7 carries, Daniel Dowdy 3 yards on 2 carries, and we had 2 for 2 passing. Jimmy Easley completed a 9 yard TD pass to Daniel Moore, and Cavin Collins completed a 6 yard pass to Hunter Bickers. Total offense of 589 yards with 574 rushing.
Game 11 11-10-2006 Nat-Greene 56 Dawson Street 36. We got em but it wasn't easy. We had to out score them in a thriller of sorts. We put together a great offensive night with Zeb Duvall leading the rushing game with 274 yards on 33 carries. We ended the night with well over 500 yards of offense. A total team effort.
Game 12 PLAYOFF ROUND 1 11-17-2006 Nat-Greene 58 Fullington 24 . We beat a very good football team Friday in Fullington for they have such an explosive offense and solid defense. It was a shootout from the beginning and I didn't think we would ever stop them. Every time we'd get close they would make a great play. Our offense kept on coming back time and time again and finally we just wore them out. It is really hard to believe a team our size would be wearing teams out, but we do. Now we meet Flint River in the Semi-finals. Flint River hasn't lost a game in so long no one I know can remember. But being the defending undefeated "AA" state champs, and remaining undefeated through this year leads any normal thinking person to think they will sweep again. But then, I'm not necessarily the most normal thinking person, I've been told. Friday, David goes to Goliath and David must play a perfect game.
VS Fullington, Our brilliant line blew the Trojan defense apart with guys like, Daniel Dowdy, Daniel Moore, Gray Holcomb, Hunter Bickers, Kanhaiyah Patel, Daniel Durham, Jordan Foster and John Duvall. Our offensive line has played exceptionally well as of late. Zeb Duvall-224 yards-22 carries, Casey Dove-152yards -19 carries, Dustin Bashore 67yards-9carries. Jimmy Easley was 3 for 8 for 65 yards with 1 TD pass to John Duvall for 28 yards. Our total offensive output was 517 yards.
My special thanks to my friends Kevin Latham and Willie Jordan, better known as "Special Forces Squad" for coming down and helping from the box Friday, and a big help they were!
Game 13 PLAYOFF FINAL-4 11-24-2006 Nat-Greene 6 Flint River 42 FRA simple beat us physically and with a couple of miscues at important times, this one got out of hand late. There were two plays in particular that could have changed the whole complexion of the game. We make those two very doable plays and it could have gone another direction or even been a 1 TD game, and not the score we ended up with. But playing a tremendous team like Flint River, you have to make those critical plays and play mistake free football. Now the season is sadly over, I must say that I am so proud of our players, cheerleaders, and parents and all involved with the Patriot family for another fantastic year finishing no worst than the final four all of my three years. 2004-State Runner Up, 2005 Semi-Finalists, 2006 Semi-Finalist. To the great seniors, I'll never forget you and you will be among my greatest football memories for sure. I salute the following for a tremendous football ride: Zeb Duvall, Jimmy Easley, Gray Puddin Holcomb, Daniel Dowdy, John Duvall, Chris Eddy, and Chance Rhodes. It's been a tremendous gift for me to have coached and been around you fine student athletes. Thanks for your tremendous spirit, incredible hard work, and wonderful attitudes, representing your school, your family and your coach with amazing integrity and heart. Thank you guys so much. To the upcoming Patriots, we have work to do and I'm excited about our possibilities. I'll be meeting with parents fairly soon to set up some things for us to do without interfering with other sports. LH
2006 = 9 Wins - 4 Losses & the Final Four. Not too shabby for arguably the smallest team in the GISA.
|
2005 LEAGUE GAME RESULTS 6-4 Regular Season League Record (and 2nd seed in the playoffs) 7-5 league Overall (eliminated in Semi- Final Game) Game 1 8-19-2005 Piedmont: Gave one away. TURNOVERS. Pretty simple and clichéd but that is it in a nutshell. After viewing film, I felt though we didn't play all that well in spots, we could have easily won the game by two TD's instead of loosing by one. We had some bright spots for sure, though the maturity issue I've been talking about is key. Fumbling simple snaps from center, simple handoffs is totally inexcusable and that is football immaturity. We did that and we got beat... Simple. The bright spots include a forth quarter 93 yard drive in 2:20 minutes that just failed to get in for the possible tie and overtime. Other bright spots include a terrific performance under the circumstances by Casey Dove at QB. Of course after only a week and a half of practice there, and being a sophomore, there is improvement room but I was very pleased at his poise and leadership and performance. Casey was 5 out of 7 for 112 yards and add a 20 yard TD pass to Casey's credits. Zeb Duvall was having his usual great game until severe cramps got him in the second half, and despite that he still made some big plays basically dragging one leg. Dustin Bashore appears to have risen into a Varsity starter running the ball with great determination and vision. Forrest Pettay had 2 very nice catches for about 60 yards and a TD and when the rest of his game gets tuned up, he could be a big factor for us. Rather than mentioning disappointments, I'll just say we'll be at work Monday getting our flaws worked out and getting ready for next week for our goal is non wavering. Other than going to sleep on 4 or 5 plays, we defended the double wing offense as well as I've ever seen it defended. We gave up 5 or 6 big plays but the film showed that our miss-reads and just bad individual play on occasions, hurt us. Still, I'm not too unhappy with the defense but every play counts and in a tough game like this, its bigger than normal. After watching the film, We have lots to improve on "discipline" mainly, but I believe the worst performance of the year is behind us. This great group of kids will be back, I just bet ya! LH Game 3 9-2-2005 We get another win Friday with a win over Curtis Baptist. We could rush the ball at will and did but we are still having a little difficulty in hanging on to the ball and being 100% smooth. Some of this is due to the marry-go-round of QB's we've had to use but If we could get everyone back one day, we'll be deep in many positions including 4 deep at QB. We started ninth grade Hunter Bickers at QB friday, and be did a magnificent job with only a few miscues and made some very nice passes that were only broken up by good defense. Hunter led the team like you'd expect from a senior. Hank Carlton had a huge night rushing for 194 yards and Zeb Duvall rushed for 145. We got the FB John Duvall into the mix with 51 yards on 7 carries and Dustin Bashore for 31 yards, with a big 25 yarder called back. Our defense went completely asleep on an early QB keeper play that went 70 yards, and gave Curtis Baptist a 6 point game beginning lead. That was most their offense for we only allowed 110 yards total on the night. John Duvall, Casey Coile, Win Corry, Matthew Wheeler, and James Mann had big defensive plays all night and others also got into the swarming such as Daniel Moore Jack Jarrard, Jordan Foster, Chris Eddy, Kanhaiya Patel, and Daniel Durham. Others seeing playing time was Clayton Hardman, Brad Pettay, Trey Durham, John Moon, Chance Rhodes, and Conrad Richards, If we are to stay in the game next week against "Toombs" who just tied "AA" powerhouse "Bullock", we are going to have to play a perfect game and cut out every single mistake. We are not where we should be mentally, and that is effecting us physically on the field. If we can just keep improving, get a few of our injured back, by the end of the year I hope we can play with anybody. I really am high on this team and the talent we have but we have been far from playing our "A" game. All in all, I'm proud of our kids but I'm still looking for some maturing by some. LH Game 5 9-16-2005 We get the win but it took all 48 minutes. Down 3-0 at the half, I'm thinking I'm in the twilight zone (for those who remember that classic show) about the strange and weird things that happen. The officiating was even stranger. We are having some really good efforts every play by most, but just aren't getting 11 playing great at the same time. It seems we have one person breaking down somewhere at crucial times and I guess we are just going to have to keep plugging at it. Everyone wants to compare us to last years team who seemingly had an easy time of running over some teams such as DEA, Piedmont, and Monroe etc. Lets not make that comparison. This years team in some ways is better than last years team and in some ways maybe a little shy. Last years team had maybe a bit more team speed while this year we have a bit more team power. Friday we made half time adjustments that got us back to the game it should have been... A 28 point half and about 300 yards in the second half. Not a bad half of offense considering they had the ball an awful lot. The difference this year is that every team, except maybe Monroe, is much better this year with better coaching and we are having to work for all we get. True, we are making way too many mistakes but our team is pretty good. We will continue to work hard and get better but the comparison of the 2004 and 2005 team can't be made. Two totally different set of circumstances. On the night, Zeb Duvall rushed for 192 yards on 20 carries, Hank Carlton 156 on 18 carries, Dustin Bashore 40 on 8 carries. Our total offensive output was 396 yards, with about 65 yards called back. We had some big time individual tackling going on with John Duval with 7&1 assist - Forrest Pettay with 6 &1 assist - Matthew Wheeler with 6 & 5 assist, Hunter Bickers with 3 & 5 assist - Jordan Foster (another sophomore stepping up big) with 5 & 2 assist - Dustin Bashore with 4 & 2 assist - Hank Carlton with 5 & 2 assist - Zeb Duvall with 3. I would like to note that having lots of tackles is mighty puffy when it comes to a stat sheet but one must be real, and watch film, and find out where the tackle is being made, where it should be, or somewhere else, and if you were in the right position... It's just the coach in me coming out, not to diminish these fine accomplishments. We have some spots that need major attention on defense and we'll address it Monday, for we see Gatewood this Friday. Gatewood is a very good team obviously playing well as they demolished Hancock last night. We will have our hands full and will NO DOUBT, have to play our best game of the year to win. To sum our team up so far is still to say, Lots of potential, and still questioning the overall heart of the team, but honestly, I think we have it! LH 9-30-2005 A Non-League Filler Game replacing a BYE. Game 8 10-14-2005 It never helps a huge underdog, to give up the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but we did just that. However, Thomas Jefferson probably had all of us they wanted Friday as they were out in front all night long, but we just wouldn't go away. When it seemed that class"A" top runners, Thomas Jefferson, was going to pull away, here would come the Patriots battling back, doing what ever it took to stay in the game and keep it close. Well, not only did we keep it close, we stormed down the field 4 times during the game on long drives and one 90 yard drive at the end to score and then a two point conversion to tie, only to "supposedly", fall short of the 2 point conversion that we thought we made. This was a character builder for us and I think we took something really positive with us. We all hate loosing and we made enough mistakes to a good team Friday to get blown out, but our kids just kept on battling back under the leadership of Jimmy Easley's 180 yards passing, and hard nosed, never say die playing of Matthew Wheeler, John Duvall, Hank Carlton, Forrest Pettay, Daniel Dowdy, and Win Corry. We also had great efforts from Kasey Coile, Gray Holcomb, Jordan Foster, Chris Eddy, Hunter Bickers, Dustin Bashore, Daniel Moore, James Mann, Jack Jarrard, and Kanhaiya Patel. We must keep improving and maturing as football players to make the playoff run. We will be facing some tremendous teams this year in the playoffs for the way it lines up, the top 5 or 6 are equals. Congratulations to TJ for a great group of kids and very fine athletes, showing great hardnosed football and sportsmanship along with our guys. Coach Wimberly, a class act himself, was very gracious and had nothing but fine things to say about our team and the class shown on and off the field. We went home on the short end of this one but we took away the mindset, that we can play with anybody! Though we are hurt, missing several, and are very thin, I am very proud of the way we are coming together down the stretch. LH Game 10 10-28-2005 It was no surprise to us that our cross town rival, John Hancock would bring their "A" Game to us as fight us to the end and they did. Great Job to Coach Sumner and Bob Peck and crew for the great job they have done with that group. We have similar schools with similar numbers and are really up against it so to speak playing teams with 2 time the number of athletes to pick from. We got us a great win in spite of insisting that we keep Hancock in the game for 48 minutes with one goofy mistake after another sprinkled in an otherwise superbly played game. We earned the win, but I was looking for a more close to perfect performance, but as a coach, I guess that's just what I do. A terrible fumble inside the 5 as we were going in for a score, and mis-touched punt turnover inside our 15 giving them a score and several awfully timed penalties, kept Hancock in it all the way. I was really proud of some special efforts Friday and we'll have to have everyone ready if we are to compete with Westwood. John Duvall, Jimmy Easley, Hank Carlton, Zeb Duvall, Gray Holcomb, Daniel Dowdy, Win Corry, Matthew Wheeler, Jordan Foster, Kasey Coile, and James Mann all had top of the line games. Jimmy Easley threw for 86 +- yards and completed 2 of 3 for 2 TD's, both to John Duvall. Jimmy set the Nathanael Greene record with the longest TD pass in history with a 75 yard TD Pass to John Duvall. Zeb Duvall had his usual rushing night of well over 100 yards along with Hank Carlton slashing out first down after first down pounding the defense. Gray Holcomb and James Mann were making some hits that were so loud, the sound echoed through the stadium, so you can imagine what it sounded like inside the helmet of the recipient. All in all a really great game for us minus the 5 or 6 miscues. We will be playing a very strong and massively huge team in the first round of the playoffs in Terrell Academy and from what I've seen so far of them, they are a definite force to be reckoned with for sure. They run a multiple set "I" based offense that can beat you down physically and have good backfield speed with brutal upfront guys with sizes in the 300 lbs. ballpark. Oh yeah, They can throw it also. Needless to say, nothing but our very best game will get this one, and i hope we've saved our best for last. LH
|
|
NGA BIG WIN over Terrell NGA 55 Terrell 32 NOW to the SEMI-FINALS Game 2 8-26-2005 Monroe Academy: It wasn't easy as we met a stubborn defense of the Mustangs, flying around the ball and kept us mixing it up. We got back on the winning track with a big 36-14 win even though we played our " C " game. WE played very well at times but blew some assignments and was very fundamentally UNSOUND defensively. We had a big game from senior Hank Carlton with 178 yrds on 13 carries and Zeb Duvall with 132 yards on 21 carries. Also Dustin Bashore added another 40 yards and John Duvall with 18 yards. We threw 5 of 6 passes complete for 69 yards with big catches by Daniel Moore for a 22 yard TD and Forrest Pettay with a big 31 yard grab. Casey Dove filling in for Jimmy Easley at QB had a terrific game making play after play and running the offense to near perfection. We ended the night with 377 yards rushing and 69 yards passing for a total of 446 total yards of offense. On the surface it sounds like we are back to last years standards but NOT so fast. We still have too many breakdowns on both sides of the ball to compare this group to last years team. We are very immature as football players and really, that is the big thing for us. If we can grow up together as a team and become more business like, and serious about this game, we could be pretty darn good. We'll just have to see. We also had good games from James Mann, Kasey Coile, Chris Eddy, Daniel Dowdy, Gray Holcomb, Win Corry, Hunter Bickers. We will have to get much better to contend for our region but it is doable with great work habits and dedication. I'll be looking for that in the practices to come. Great Win Guys !!! LH Game 4 9-9-2005 We played the state's best team Friday and got clobbered or so it appeared. Once again, I have a hard time conceding victory when it was our gifts that made them rich. Yes they are a good team with very good speed and Yes they are physically the strongest team in "A" and easily could be in contention for the "AA" crown and Yes, they beat us soundly, but the whole game hinged at every turn on our giveaways. Their greatness didn't beat us, our lack of discipline and immaturity did. We had great looking drives going and fumbled the ball away, we had good pass plays called with receivers wide open and under threw for interceptions at critical times. Toombs seemed to dominate us at times because we insisted on it, not because they were just so dominating. To the untrained eye, one may just conclude that Toombs just pounded us but if you give any decent team 5 of your ball possessions which eliminates your offense from 5 possessions, you are in deep poop, and that is were we lived last night. We had 231 Total yards of offense which is way off our norm but we had 5 less possessions and gave them the ball. We had good offensive stats considering that. I'm not going to sugar coat the fact that we have people that think they are playing well and hard, and simply are not, but Monday we are going to do some hunting for answers. This may make a few folks upset, but loosing makes a lot of caring folks upset, especially when large portions of the problems are unnecessary. Some of our personnel deficiencies will probably have to still exist for the lack of people ready to play at this level along with the injuries, and we are already playing some ninth graders. They are good ninth graders, but they are ninth graders! I will say though that this year, up till now, our competition has been much stiffer that this time last year and also remember that this time last year, a Toombs team, not this good , beat our eyes out. That was the turning point of our very successful 2004 season, and I have no reason to believe that this can't be repeated. We are much better than our 2-2 record and I think the guys are going to be very anxious to prove it. We'll see how we respond to the changes, and if we are about SELF or about TEAM. We need to find that out about this group anyway. In conclusion, Thanks to all the parents for making the absolutely brutal trip, endurable, with great planning and organizing our trip, with the stop for the meal and the survival food coming home. I can't tell you how important you were. You all deserved a better out come SO WE OWE YOU!!!! Highlights later, I'm going to take out my frustrations, and beat up a large tree, then review film for next week! LH Game 6 9-23-2005 We played a pretty darn good football team in Gatewood. To be honest, they had superior talent in many critical areas. We were getting beat on the line on both sides. They were just better football players. Our scheme was working but they were just overwhelming us at the point of attack. I couldn't really do anything about it, because I was already taking chances and over-committing. We still could have won the game minus the little break downs here and there. We had some terrible offensive line efforts in critical situations that killed drives. This team is simply football immature at times , and don’t realize how important every play is in a close game. We’ll keep working like always and get better. We really are better than it appears and I hope we can show it down the stretch when it counts most. I really believe that if this team played last years scheduled teams, the record would have been the same as last year with similar scores. The breakdowns we are having this year , we had last year, but the competition was just not anywhere near as good as what we’ve been plying this year. Even a novas football man can see that our 3 losses were to far superior or shall I say, more mature talent. We are getting out hit, and out manned and out matured, for we are putting a pretty young team on the field. Our lack of Linebackers is a screamingly obvious and I can say, there is no one on our schedule starting and playing a ninth grader as we are. Even with the injuries and youth, I can pin point where 25 seconds of football has cost us 2 games. To beat superior talent you have to have a sound plan, and play mistake free, and sometimes even that isn’t enough. Good athletes find a way to win many times. I think the guys will come back and be ready for another good week of practice, and get ready for the the playoff run with teams in our "A" region. We have a really interesting game coming up with Dawson Street Christian, and I can only describe it form what I've seen of them as.... "It will be like chasing rabbits in an open field." And just for the record, "I hate losing with such a passion I could spit nails, and that is why my wife falls asleep every single night to the clicking back and forth of game film ! She is a real trooper. LH Game 7 10-07-2005 Nat-Greene 38 Westminster Christian 6. We finally broke out front to stay in a game in which we dominated, and allowed us to play everyone. It was great to see some guys in there playing hard and getting some reps after such a long time of tremendously hard work at practice and after day with no pay day so to speak. They got a little pay last night, though not nearly equal pay for the great job they have done all year running scout offenses and scout defenses helping the older guys get better. Their day will come like it always does and it was just great to see the young guys play. All the guys loved it and we all went "bonkers", when our light but swift, back up wingback, Chance Rhodes, took a kickoff back for 62 yards. Chance has been a real unselfish team player all year long running scout teams running back, taking huge poundings some days, and has never once complained about his thank-less but valuable role on our team. All the guys know and appreciate Chance's courage. as he lines up play after play to run at the first defense, at a slight 115 pounds. Chance has good mechanics and good speed and is doing a great job for us. I'd also like to recognize another youngster who got a pay day Friday. Trey Durham got in the game and played hard for us. His is another great kid with not a selfish thought in his role with us. The Game went great start to finish with the exception of some badly blown coverages. We seemed to be able to do anything we wanted and anytime. Westminster has several really fine athletes and play hard but are just low in numbers this year and will bounce back I'm sure. Chris Eddie had a great night at fullback with 59 yards, Justin Bashore ran hard with 89 yards and Zeb had his usual night with 155 yards on 9 carries, and Hank Carlton ran over folks as long as I would let him.. Our offense rolled up 411 yards on the night with the entire 9th grade playing the fourth and part of the third quarters. We needed a big win for sure and now 2-0 in the region, we face, from the tape I've seen, what could be the best class "A" team in years that is Thomas Jefferson. We will have to strap them on tight next Friday! Game 9 10-21-2005 It rained like crazy before and during the Holy Spirit game but we got her in anyway. Nat-Greene 48 - Holy Spirit 7. A big night for Fullback Chris Eddy with 151 yards of offense paced us to the shellacking of the Holy Spirit team. Dustin Bashore also had a great night rushing for 115 yards on 11 carries, all with a very painful growing pull. Jack Jarrard debuted at Corner and did a fantastic job on coverages and tackling when needed. He is a sophomore growing into our football staplehood that will surely be an impact player down the road. Hank Carlton had to be harnessed early after 122 yards so the score wouldn't get to out of whack. Hank, a senior leader, always comes to play. Win Corry, Daniel Dowdy, Chris Eddy, Jordan Foster, and Hunter Bickers made hole in the middle of our defense NON-existant. Linebackers James Mann and Gray Holcomb were smacking folks at a fevered pace all night. We saw solid play by our youth the whole second half with Daniel Durham, Jon Moon, Clayton Hardman, Jarred Chamlee, and Trey Durham. Kanhaiya Patel shows up big when called on and is really going to be a great player. The game was basically us running up and down the field at will on offense while defensively giving nothing to Holy Spirit to get excited about. We will have the game of the year Friday in Siloam VS Hancock. If you know this game, you know what I mean. It is always a slugfest and this time it means #2 seed in the playoffs. Hancock is coming off their thrashing of DEA 47-13. That should set the mood. Game 11 11-04-2005 Terrell Academy is a coming ! 1st round playoffs Well they came and they went and they took a 55-32 shellacking home with them as our guys simply pounded them for the full 48 minutes. It looked as if they were going to blow us out and very well could have with the tremendous talent, size and strength Terrell displays. The only thing is, they were playing the heart of our kids at Nathanael Greene. It took 552 yards of offense to put Terrell away so we did what we had to do. Our kids have endured watching team mate, after team mate, go down to injury or leave the team to the tune of 5 TWO-WAY starters and others, and refuse to fade into the sunset as many teams would have, given this circumstance. Every single player stepped up to fight Friday night and to choose one or two out to praise would simply fall short. Hank Carlton is our stud and played a tremendous game rushing for 158 yards 2-TD's and 2 interceptions. Not a shabby night I'd say. Chris Eddy was a monster on offense with 2 long runs of 63 and 32, and 3 TD's and a group of other key gainers as he posted his biggest offensive production of 124 yards. Chris is also instrumental in all of our offenses successes for he is one of our key blockers on many plays and is always working hard for our teams success. Zeb Duvall, fighting leg problems gutted it out for 115 yards and 1 TD and 1 interception. Bashore popped for 29 yards in relief as he played a tough defensive game. John Duvall was brilliant once again catching a long 39 yard pass and 1, 12 yard TD pass. Matthew Wheeler caught a long 49 yard TD pass. Daniel Dowdy, Winn Corry, along with Gray Holcomb shinned on the offensive a line as well as great defense, also James Mann, Daniel Moore, and ninth grader Daniel Durham doing a heck of a job for us all night. James Mann again came up with some crunching tackles that make you cringe again adding to the ambiance of the perfect football night. Jack Jarrard is our new comer to the defensive side as a sophomore cornerback, and is having to step up with some valuable on the job training. Jack is doing a fine job and is going to be a big time football player you can bet. Kanhaiya Patel and Hunter Bickers are also standout ninth grade players really contributing big in our winning season. Our team has really done some very fine things in the face of our adversity, and with our youth, having to compete against mostly Senior and Junior teams. As a coach, I can't be more proud of where we are, from where we came, from all that has happened. Our great kids and hard working parents have made these things possible, and I thank you all! LH SEMI-FINAL GAME (the great heartbreak) NGA 28 Toombs 34 in Double Overtime Game 12 11-11-2005 It took DOUBLE OVERTIME for Robert Toombs, (BY FAR the best talent in Class "A") to get us. It goes down in the record book that way anyway. It also goes down in my soul as the worst and most painful loss of my 29 year coaching career. If you weren't at this game, there is no way you can be enlightened to what went on and what the great kids of Nathanael Greene Academy almost pulled off. A judgment spot on a 4th and inches at the 2 foot line did us in. We ran a QB sneak and got a push, Jimmy Easley pushed the ball out front, every one including me thought he got in the end zone, but even if not, we only needed 6 inches for a first down, they didn't even give us that. This, after Hank Carlton's run before ended up with the top half of his body over the goal line and everyone thought he was in the end zone. We should have gotten the first down then. What a crock. But that was just the item that killed us. With 30 seconds of regulation left, Jimmy Easley and I met in the huddle in a time out, along with the team and figured out our last move being down by 6, 28-22. I called the play and told him how to read it and informed the 4th option receiver Hank Carlton how to run it. Jimmy Easley with the poise of a pro, ran the play to perfection and flung the thing to Hank in the corner of the end zone right where we planned. Hank made a tremendous catch and the game was tied with barely seconds left, and all we needed was to kick the PAT and we are in the Championship Game! They got a paw on it and it went right under the cross bar, just missing for the win. We had to go into overtime where we chose Defense first. We crushed them and stopped them cold thus giving the ball to us for our turn from the 25 yard line. This is where we drove the ball to the half yard line and then the questionable spot happened to kill our second seemingly easy shot for the win. Let me say this. I don not blame this spot on home cooking for the officiating in this game was very very good. This spot was a bad guess on their part ,for the pile was huge at the goal line. The refs had no intentions of hurting either team but they also had no idea where to spot the ball accurately. Actually, this was one of the better officiated games of the year in my opinion. You don't don't here that from the loosing coach often, but they did miss the spot on our surge. It just seemed there was a power that was not going to let us experience this tremendous and major upset. After that though we had to go directly on offense again. We moved the ball a bit and on a 4th and 4, we pop through for a first down and an extra few, and fumbled the dad-gum ball ending that opportunity in the second overtime. They then got the ball at the 25, ran a simple off tackle play, we had a man go completely AWOL on the play and they went in to win. A game that was ours, 3 times over was not actualized and I was in shock. Still am! To preserve my integrity and sanity, I just had to keep walking, and cringed, and gnashed my teeth, and keep it all to myself, to get my composure . The pain was so great, the outcome seemed surreal and I was sure to wake up from that false night mare, but it was real and not a nightmare. I just had to glare into the black hole I was in, that only shock produces I suppose. I was so hurt and empty and angry, my kids were devastated, shocked, and had to be torn up as well, and I felt like they were ripped off a bit, though by no one. Lots of understandable tears and terribly sad good-byes to the 4 seniors that had to end their high school careers on this one. This brave group of guys had the heart and the courage that you only read about in novels, but rarely see in day to day living, short of military service. For those who aren't from football backgrounds, all this may seem to sound like rubbish because its just a game, but the men who have played this game and played it right, know exactly what I mean! It was the most painful loss of my 29 year coaching career, hands down, so I know the kids are hurting. To the guys that didn't get in the game just remember, your day is coming and think about the preparation you need to do, to better yourself, to avoid this thing happening again. To the heroic kids that did give it all, we know what we did!!! I salute the following Patriots: #14 HANK CARLTON, #21 ZEB DUVALL, #24 JIMMY EASLEY, #44 CHRIS EDDY, #7 JOHN DUVALL, #16 MATTHEW WHEELER, #20 GRAY HOLCOMB, #54 DANIEL DOWDY, #12 WIN CORRY, #45 JAMES MANN, #50 JORDAN FOSTER, #10 DUSTIN BASHORE, #75 KASEY COILE, #2 CASEY DOVE, #23 KANHAIYA PATEL, #34 JACK JARRARD, #25 DANIEL MOORE, #15 DANIEL DURHAM, #6 CHANCE RHODES My special thanks to the best scout team anywhere, " the Yellow Dogs" for making coaching more fun, and getting us ready for big games. You guys are our future and I hope this experience shows you how important every single player is when you are the everyday players and another group become, the great "Yellow Dogs" Clayton Hardman, Jarred Chamlee, Chance Rhodes, Conrad Richards, Curtis Crumbley, Jon Moon, Trey Durham, and all the players that overlapped and alternated, while not in the concentrated area of work. You guys are the best! Parents: You have been such a wonderful group, taking care of the kids and myself, getting us ready for games and getting us home, and getting all the necessities taken care of so we could do this thing right. I thank you so much that words don't work! Jimmy Long, Thank you for your magnificent film work, your dedication, and your service to me, taking care of, what to me, is the most important part of my job and that is the film. You had a major hand in our successes. After some time passing and some sleep, I reviewed the film of the Toombs game, I realize why everyone was talking about what a great game it was. That was one heck of a game. I can't imagine having to coach another one like it without needing medication afterwards. Our kids can now know that they are one of the very best teams in the GISA! LH
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
2004 GAME SUMMARIES CLICK
HERE
|
|
This website was brought to you by Larry Harrison and Friends