October 18, 2018
DENHAM SPRINGS HS at Walker HS…
Denham Springs returns to action this Friday night, September October 19, as the Jackets travel to Walker HS. You can catch all of the action on Family Radio, 91.9 FM and on the net at JonFineProductions.com. 6pm is Sport N Center Jackets Warm-Up, with Josh Ward, Andy Duckworth and yours truly, Jon Fine
Brusly HS vs Glen Oaks HS
Brusly faces Glen Oaks HS this Friday night and you can tune in on KBRS, 106.9 or on the net at Jon FineProductions.com… Lionel Franklin will be calling play-by-play, with Jason Manola on color commentary. Airtime 6:30pm
SULPHUR HS vs Acadiana HS… Tomorrow night with Bruce Merchant on play by play, with Patrick Frey on color commentary on SportsRadio, 1310AM—KEZM—Lake Charles and on the internet at KEZMonline.coM.
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BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, 10/19, 6pm… Denham Springs HS Football at Walker HS… Family Radio, 91.9 FM and on the net at JonFineProductions.com…
Josh Ward, Andy Duckworth, Jon Fine
FRIDAY, 10/19, 6:30PM… Brusly HS vs Glen Oaks HS… KBRS,106.9 FM…
Jon Fine Productions.com
Lionel Franklin and Jason Manola
SPORTSRADIO-1310-KEZM-LAKE CHARLES (AND KEZMONLINE. COM) BROADCASTS
Friday, 10/19, 6:45pm… Sulphur HS vs Acadiana HS, Bruce Merchant, Patrick Frey
Friday, 10/19 10am—Noon… Pigskin Preview… Patrick Frey and Scott Holtzman
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
LSU crocks! That is not a typo. LSU crocks. Sure, LSU is great, they rock, but I am referring to my LSU crocks. I went full superstition on Saturday’s win. Once LSU started rolling, I sat in the same spot, did the same thing during commercials, and yes, wore my LSU crocks.
Don’t worry, I know the LSU football team deserves more credit than my 15 year old crocks. Specifically, LSU deserves credit for milking every ounce of ability from every pore of this team.
Jontre Kirklin is an explosive athlete who has been on the bench as a cornerback. The offense has lacked explosive plays. The coaches are now finding a place for him on offense. While he didn’t provide an explosive play against Georgia, he had an impact on the game. The willingness of the coaches to give players opportunities is what helps LSU bounce back from a loss and stay motivated.
The effect is similar to what Coach Mainieri does with the LSU baseball team. When the batting order gets stale he is willing to shuffle the lineup to keep things fresh and give different players opportunities which is necessary to keep athletes competitive during a long season.
Many Tigers fans have wondered when the coaches would find a way for Jacoby Stevens to make an impact. Stevens was one of the top athletes in the country coming out of Tennessee, but has bounced around from receiver to safety and linebacker. Against Georgia, his fresh legs came off the corner and got a “hustle sack” as Grant Delpit said.
Against Florida, Adrian Magee struggled at left guard. On the first drive of the game Saturday, he struggled again surrendering a sack. Chasen Hines played left guard the rest of the game and the negative plays that cost LSU at Florida were almost non existent against Georgia.
Little details that allow coaches to learn about their team are revealed over the course of being challenged by Miami, Auburn, and Florida. Georgia, playing a soft schedule, had not been challenged. Maybe that is the reason Georgia only gave their best running back on Saturday, Holyfield, 7 carries in the game and just 3 in the second half.
Georgia had LSU on the ropes twice on Saturday. On their second drive, they were running down LSU’s throat. Then they went to the air and settled for the fake field goal.
The second time was in the second half. LSU’s lead was cut to 10, LSU went 3 and out, and a short punt followed by a good return had Georgia in great position to make it a one score game. I thought for sure LSU was about to see Fields and Holyfield. Instead, Georgia went with a jet sweep to a receiver on first down. On second down, they gave it to their 3rd string running back. Then Stevens got the sack on 3rd down which took Georgia out of field goal range.
In the first games, when LSU needed plays on offense, they may have tried Giles. Against Georgia, when LSU needed to respond, they rode the hot hand at running back in Edwards-Helaire. The pass went to Jefferson.
As fun as it was to watch LSU beat Georgia, the Tigers might have a larger challenge this week. Mississippi State has already been challenged this year, had to look in the mirror, and decide what they are going to be this year. The Bulldogs are coming off of a bye week. As talented as Georgia is this year, it turns out that they may have actually been a good matchup for LSU. Deep passes, running out of run formations, and the best players on defense in the secondary. Mississippi State’s best players on defense are on the line and at linebacker, just like Florida. Mississippi State will spread LSU to run right at them with Fitzgerald.
I know LSU is receiving praise for its run defense after the first quarter. But objectively, Georgia abandoned the running game early and that had as much to do with LSU’s run defense numbers as anything. Mississippi State’s running attack is the one LSU has yet to prove it can slow down.
In addition, it is easier to be motivated coming off a loss and playing the #2 team in the country. After a win, playing at home as the favorite is a challenge. It reminds me of the challenge LSU had after upsetting Florida in 1997, and then faced Ole Miss in a day game the next week. It didn’t go so well for the Tigers. Besides, this team has already talked about playing with an edge as an underdog.
There are a few reasons to optimistically think LSU will be able to meet the challenge this time. First, LSU is playing at night and the environment should be much better than in 1997. Second, LSU is deeper with more weapons now. Third, Mississippi State embarrassed LSU last year.
Still, this week’s game is not just about motivation. Entering the year, the Bulldogs were picked by many to finish second in the SEC West. These are the weeks where that will be needed. Last week, the “stars” showed up and made plays for LSU. Mississippi State will scheme to take away LSU’s strengths, and the Tigers will need others to step up. LSU will not be able to line up 4 times on 4th and shot and sneak behind Damien Lewis.
I have some confidence LSU can meet this next challenge. The main reason is the same reason I believe LSU is headed in the right direction whether they finish 9-3, 10-2, or 8-4. College football games are 3-4 hour affairs with 140-170 plays. Naturally, there will be decisions that the coaches, fans, and players second guess.
When I watch LSU play, I feel LSU is challenging every aspect of their opponent. LSU’s offense is testing the opponent’s run defense inside and outside as well as the pass defense short, long, and wide. If there is a weakness LSU has the ability to exploit, Coach Ensminger will find it.
LSU’s special teams will find a weakness in the opponent if there is one in punt protections, coverage units, or the ability to make field goals.
On defense, the opponent can’t be one dimensional and be successful. The defensive adjustments will be made to take away the strength of the opponent, and to take away something that is working if the defense has the ability.
All of what I just said doesn’t mean to imply that LSU is invincible. It just means that LSU will try everything they can to beat their opponent. No stone is left unturned from the standpoint of the game plan or using the talents of players on the team. Whether that is moving Chasen Hines to the offensive line or Jontre Kirklin to offense (I am ready to see him at quarterback in the Wildcat for the record). As a high school coach, I appreciate that. The Saints are doing it with Taysom Hill.
Speaking of the Saints, I hope the offense can run the ball and control the clock at Baltimore. I suddenly remembered that the defense might not have improved last year after all. Instead, the improvement was masked by the offenses ability to sustain drives with the run and reduce the number of possessions for the opponent. The gauntlet begins for the Saints this week.
On any level, making use of your talent, being creative, and paying attention to details is great coaching. And a better formula for success than counting on the magic from some old LSU crocks.
HEY REF
This week I want to address all of the high school football coaches in Louisiana. If you’ve never heard or read a single column of “Hey Ref” then this should be your first! I want to make it very plain now before we start another playoff season this year the officials working your Friday night games (and all others) have been and will still be concentrating on the elimination of personal fouls and unnecessary late hits.
It’s not just in high school games but every level of play the need for making the game safer is paramount. The National Federation has always taken player safety as the number one goal in any rewriting of their rules. From the opening kickoff our priority has been to curb any hint of excessive aggression and it will not be just against quarterbacks.
High school officials and the L. H. S. A. A. have made it very clear that we will be working on eliminating all unnecessary aggressive play. Football in itself is a very physical game and we walk a very fine line between good hard play and excessive violent tendencies on each and every play. As hard as we try there is no possible way to insure every player will finish a game injury free. The rules in which we operate on any given Friday night have been thought through with just goal in mind; the safety of all the players. With that said I can only hope that our coaches understand there will be no grey area when it comes to “targeting” an opposing player.
During this last off-season the focus has been how best to make the high school game safer. You can be sure rules makers held meeting after meeting in the hopes of keeping injuries to a minimum. Our association spent many hours understanding the intent of these new rules aimed at lowering the number of injuries to high school players that are between 16 and 18 years old. Technology has given us a great tool in which we are able to review films of legal and illegal hits and know exactly what we as officials are expected to watch out for. One of the “biggies” we’ve been told to watch out for is when one player intentionally acts to PUNISH an opponent. That of course is what the term “targeting” is and it will be met with an immediate ejection.
This means ANYTHING to ANY PLAYER that is meant to punish will be rigorously enforced. So please coaches do everybody a favor and get rid of any player that refuses to abide by these strict guidelines. You’ll be doing your school a huge favor because there will be times this fall where I’ll hear coaches say “Hey Ref; that sure was close”. And I won’t argue with any coach that says that because he’ll be correct.
The buzz word in every level of football these days is TARGETING. To many officials, including myself, we aren’t about to take this targeting thing as a rule change since we’ve already been dropping a flag for these “cheap” shots intended to do but one thing; injure or punish an opponent. In our world we’ll allow a hold without calling it (if it doesn’t influence the play or its outcome), we’ll let a guy slide if he’s just inside the neutral zone, again his actions do NOT influencing the outcome of the play. That has always been the number one factor in throwing your flag or leaving it tucked away where nobody can see it. At the high school level of play that’s the major thing we consider when we decide to call a foul or not since these 16 to 18 year olds aren’t professional players.
But what I won’t let go is anything I feel is a cheap shot no matter if the whistle was blown an hour ago. Some coaches feel it’s part of the game but I can’t look a parent in the eyes if I didn’t flag someone that took a cheap shot at their son and now he’s being carted off the field. I’ll close for now because this week there isn’t another issue in “Hey Ref’s” world more important than making crystal clear to all the coaches, players and parents that we’ll be calling TARGETING on those types of plays you feel are close, borderline and “cheap”. Of course you’ll be correct but you should know by the time we get to the stadium that keeping players as safe as humanly possible is at the forefront of every official.
Till next week…
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