Midway Remains Unbeaten, Controls NoJo Throughout Game
September 20th, 2008 Posted in High School Football, North Johnston Football
Last night would have been the 18th birthday of Nick Creech. Above, the team enters Midway’s new football stadium with Nick’s old helmet leading the way via the outstretched arm of #73 Charlie Young. As many of you remember, Nick and his best friend Reese Richardson, were tragically killed in an auto accident last fall.
With Nick and Reece in their memories, It would have been really nice to have come away from Spivey’s Corner with a win. Yet, the Raiders move on to 4-0 and the Panthers are still trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be, with a record of 1-4. Have no doubt, it is never as easy to write about a loss as it is a win. This reporters fingers desire to type out smack and smirk at the plight of our opponents ineptness. However, here I sit just trying to figure out how to say what I want to say without stepping on too many folks toes. It’s difficult to criticize the play of a bunch of 15,16, and 17 year olds. Nevertheless, at some point, a bit or responsibility must fall at the feet of the people wearing the pads. It’s not always the coaching staff.
Discipline
Desire (The Want To)
Sacrifice
Pride
These are the big words that every HS football coach attempts to instill into the hearts and minds of his young men. Some are receptive and as always others prefer to walk their own path. They simply seem satisfied to be allowed to wear the uniform on Friday night so they’ll look good in front of Mom and Dad and maybe get a few grass stains. If the kids who are afflicted with this attitude are given an opportunity, their bad habits eventually spill over and the epidemic eats the team from the inside out like a cancer. Believe me Panthers when you read this. It is not all about you. Success on the gridiron comes from a team mentality. If you are standing on the sideline, pouting about not getting the playing time you think that you deserve do something about it in practice. Don’t poison the atmosphere by running down your team mate just because you wish the coach had enough faith in you to place you out there instead.
OK, I’ve said more than enough and I’ll probably have parents who will be bringing rotten fruit to the Southern Nash game to throw at me next week. I’ll bring a poncho just in case…. Now to a brief outline of the game with a few pictures and even a video of the straw that broke the Panthers back.
Midway won the coin flip to start the game and elected to defer to the second half. The opening kickoff is returned up to approximately the 25 yard line and it didn’t take long for the first bad omen of the evening. The first play from scrimmage for North Johnston resulted in a 5 yard false start penalty. Then, two plays later, we fumble the ball and give the Raiders a early gift on our own 22. The defense does a good job early and holds the Raiders to a field goal attempt that they miss wide left. The first quarter of the game appears to be setting up a defensive struggle as the period ends with no points on the board for either squad.
The end of the opening quarter of play showed Midway driving the ball down the field and beginning the second period of play on the NoJo 24. With only a minute and thirty seconds gone in the second, Midway rushes in for their first score of the night from the 2 yard line. After spending a good deal of the first quarters offensive possessions playing around with a direct snap to #1 Lequan Cox, #7 Joe Harned enters the game at his regular QB position and the offense shows progress. #28 EJ Knight picks up some yardage and the Raiders appear to question their coverage assignments. At 6:28 to go in the half, Harned delivers on a 49 yard touchdown pass to #36 Glenwood Watson. The extra point is tacked on and we are tied at 7. By all appearances the game begins to take on a interesting stir.
For all intents and purposes, that “interesting stir” must have been the sound of the Raider coaching staff and players saying to themselves…Enough of this. In the remaining 6:28 of the first half, Midway would take maximum advantage of a Panther pass interception and a fumble to drop an additional 14 points on our heads. Half time score 21-7 Midway.
The start of the third quarter of play so no let up from the rampaging Midway Raiders. 55 seconds into the half, Midway QB #10 let loose with a 40 plus yard strike to score another touchdown. With almost the entire second half remaining to be played, the score was 28-7 Midway. Don’t run off, we hadn’t give up yet.
After going 3 and out and forcing the enemy to do the same on their next possession, a little light did shine on the good guys. At the 5:58 mark in the third, the Raiders were forced to punt and #36 Watson decided to thank them for their willingness to give up the ball by returning it 75 yards for a score. The extra point attempt was successful and the score was 28-14 Midway.
Hold tight, this quarter isn’t done being good to us yet. On their next possession, the Raiders eat up a lot of the clock by sustaining a long drive down the field. Short passes and runs around the left end of the D-line were working pretty well. However, with 1:05 left in the period, #10 Ivan Trevino, picks off a pass in the end zone and running hard gets back to the Midway 48 before being forced out of bounds. The start of the fourth quarter begins with NJ still in possession and driving deeper into Raider territory. With 9:12 remaining on the clock, #7 Joe Harned scrambles over to the far left of the line of scrimmage and fires a rifle shot into the open arms of #2 Jacob Lewis standing in the end zone. Again, the extra point is good and the score now stands at 28-21 Midway. The breaks are falling our way and we’ve been able to capitalize on the Raiders mistakes to this point. On the ensuing kick off, there appears to be a fumble by the Raiders, hopefully opening the door for yet another opportunity. However, the home cooking for the referees gets the best of them and the player is ruled down by contact. To say that their opinion was not shared by the NoJo faithful would be a gross understatement. However, that was the last site of any hope in coming back on this night.
Midway controlled the ball and the clock from there out. With 3:53 remaining in the match up, the Raiders threw for another touchdown over the middle and sealed the fate for NJ on early fall evening. The truth is that we (NJ) failed to do anything positive on offense in the first quarter of play. We turned the ball over throughout the second and dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t climb out of. Needless to say, at times early in the game we seemed listliss and without desire. Coach Nelson had some choice words for his team following the game as it was quite evident that he knew we had an opportunity and didn’t make the most of it.
“We lacked discipline tonight and we lacked emotion. When you decide that you want to be a good football team, we will. Until then we’ll continue to stumble around in mediocrity. I don’t know what I’ve got to do to get you guys to want to play on Friday nights.”
I think that just about says it. You could see the hurt in Coach Nelsons face tonight and he’s entitled to get frustrated just like the rest of us.
We put this one behind us and move on to Southern Nash next week.
