November 1, 2018
DENHAM SPRINGS HS vs Scotlandville HS…
Denham Springs concludes its regular season this Friday night, November 2, as the Jackets face Scotlandville 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 Madison Prep
Brusly faces Madison Prep 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 at Comeaux 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, 11/2, 6pm… Denham Springs HS Football vs Scotlandville HS… Family Radio, 91.9 FM and on the net at JonFineProductions.com…
Josh Ward, Andy Duckworth, Jon Fine
FRIDAY, 11/2, 6:30PM… Brusly HS vs Madison Prep… KBRS,106.9 FM…
Jon Fine Productions.com
Lionel Franklin and Jason Manola
SPORTSRADIO-1310-KEZM-LAKE CHARLES (AND KEZMONLINE. COM) BROADCASTS
Friday, 11/2, 6:45pm… Sulphur HS at Comeaux HS, Bruce Merchant, Patrick Frey
Friday, 11/2 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
7:00 to 7:00. 24 hours from Saturday night to Sunday night (technically 25 since we fall back this weekend) that can turn good to great in Louisiana. The two most significant football games of 2018 are being played in Louisiana this weekend! Let’s begin with LSU.
Will this be the year? I doubt it. I know that is harsh, but let’s be real. LSU was supposed to win 6, 7, or if you were really optimistic, 8 games this year (I predicted 9). Alabama is the best team in college football history with the best coaches ever.
Seriously, Alabama has an excellent team. Their domination of severely inferior opponents has been impressive. Then again, Oklahoma looked amazing before losing to Texas. Ohio State was crushing teams before losing to Purdue. Georgia before losing to LSU was crushing everyone in their path. But those teams are not Alabama.
Alabama gets every advantage. They get a bye week before playing LSU, though LSU gets a bye week as well. They don’t face Devin White for a half. They really do have better overall talent.
So how can LSU give themselves a chance to win this game?
First of all, just like the Miami, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi State games, LSU needs a fast start. Alabama has been up 7-0 with 14 minutes to go in the first quarter almost every game this year. Especially away from home, playing with a lead is much easier. Bama has created huge plays off play action early in games, which leads to the second key.
LSU must limit Alabama’s explosive plays. That was a huge key to the Georgia victory. Fromm missed a big play early and after the second Georgia drive, LSU was able to stop the run without committing safeties to the run. Tua and the Bama receivers make huge plays on seam and deep post routes.
I keep hearing how LSU has to get pressure up the middle, but that is where Tua does most of his passing damage. I agree that every deep pass Tua throws has him stepping into a clean pocket, but LSU cannot overreact to run fakes. Whether LSU can stop the run while protecting against the big plays will determine if LSU can slow down Alabama.
LSU didn’t have to worry about the quarterback running against Georgia. LSU didn’t have to worry about the pass against State. Tua can normally do both, but an injured knee has slowed down Alabama’s quarterback runs.
In reality, these aren’t the reasons LSU has lost to Alabama 7 times in a row. The game two years ago in Tiger stadium was similar in that Alabama was crushing teams with Jalen Hurts at quarterback. Bama was fortunate to score ten. LSU didn’t score a point.
LSU’s inability to sustain drives is the reason LSU hasn’t beaten the Tide. The last time LSU did win, LSU’s option game was successful enough to flip the field and generate some first downs. Last year, Tiger fans felt decent after losing to Bama because the offensive line held their own and there were some opportunities for big plays though LSU didn’t connect.
When LSU has had success against the great defenses (especially defensive lines) on the schedule this year, Coach Ensminger has been able to catch the other team off guard with a wrinkle or two.
Against Miami, the whole offense was a new wrinkle. Against Auburn LSU threw on first down and broke out the Wildcat. Of course we know Georgia was caught off guard by the tempo and the fourth down sneaks. I don’t have any inside information, but from observing at a distance, these are a few of the potential wrinkles Coach Ensminger may try.
Jontre Kirklin at the Wildcat. The Wildcat itself is probably going to happen, but LSU is not going to throw the ball with Edwards-Helaire. Kirklin could actually throw the ball since he was a high school quarterback. Going back to the Russell Shepard days, LSU has rarely used the Wildcat formation and has been extremely reluctant to pass out of it. The Saints showed how effective it can be to just do it once in a blue moon.
Another option would be to give Alabama a piece of their own medicine and try to hit some seem routes off play action. LSU is short on tight ends, but don’t lack for big receivers that could be big targets in the middle off the field.
The final undervalued element of potentially defeating Alabama is the players for LSU will have to make plays. Eric Reid’s interception in the game of the century changed the game. Rueben Randle’s long catch the last time won at home against Alabama was necessary sice driving 70 yards on Bama doesn’t happen often.
Last year DJ Chark had opportunities, but couldn’t make the play. This year, a few receivers are going to have to catch some balls in traffic they shouldn’t catch like Dillon did against Auburn. Edwards-Helaire, Brossette, or Burrow will have to make someone miss.
I am not crazy enough to predict a win for LSU on Saturday, but I certainly expect LSU to go toe to toe with the Tide.
The Saints game against the Rams isn’t as significant. NFL regular season games simply are not as important. Still, the Rams are undefeated. The NFC West is so pathetic, it is hard to imagine the Rams finishing worse than 13-3 even if they lose to the Saints. So, I don’t even think the number one seed is on the line in this game.
Still, this is a measuring stick. The game is in the Superdome. Assuming major injuries don’t overtake the Saints or the Rams, it is hard to imagine the Saints can win in Los Angeles in January if they can’t win in the Dome in November.
The Saints have the formula from the last two weeks. The defense cannot stop these offenses. As a result, to keep the Rams and Vikings type offenses down a few things have to happen. The Saints can’t give up big plays, they need a turnover or two, force some field goals, and play with a lead. If that isn’t enough, there is one more key. Stop the run. That last key is the one that the Rams are uniquely suited to break because of Todd Gurley.
The offense has to play complimentary football as well. Sustaining drives and running the ball keeps the defense off the field. Our best defense the last two weeks has been our offense. That will have to be the case again this week.
Finally, in playing with a lead, Davenport, Rankins, and Jordan have to continue to do what they did against Minnesota. I wish I could say Eli Apple is the answer. I wish there was another option in the slot for PJ Williams (of course he did make the two biggest plays on defense against Minnesota). What I know for sure, is the pass defense looked way better in the second half against the Vikings when the pressure increased and forced Minnesota into 2nd and 3rd on long.
25 hours or pure fall bliss leading into the holiday season or an ugly wake up call showing us that we are good, not great. That is what is in store for us this weekend.
HEY REF
It seems the high school football season goes by faster and faster each year or so it seems that way. This final week will fill out some of the playoff brackets and for many schools they’re just one win away from making it. Instead of talking about the game, the players and/or the coaches I want to talk about the parents of the athletes on the field. This past week I was working the game clock and since my brother that lives in Dallas was in town on important business I invited him to “tag along”.
We made our way to the top of the stadium 30 minutes before kickoff and took our seats in the press box. It just so happened to be Homecoming last Friday and both bands were rocking it as the stadium’s parking lot kept getting smaller and smaller with all the extra trappings that Homecoming brings with it. For a few minutes I wasn’t too sure we’d be able to make our dressing room on time since there had to be an extra dozen or so tents setup cooking everything from Bar-B-Q burgers, chicken and turkey wings to name a few.
As I began to unpack my bag and start putting on my stripes, etc. we noticed that there was a strong sent of hickory in our dressing room. But we failed to realize that the hickory smoke that we’d just walked through had in fact made itself at home in our cloths. Stopping for a few quick seconds I thought about going back to the parking lot and grab me some of the chicken sizzling on many of the grills just ten or so feet from the dressing room. But we knew we had a job to do first so we fought all that temptation and got our minds back on football.
Coming from Texas where high school football is almost like a religion he’s used to a packed stadium. I glanced at my watch and it was just ten minutes till we teed it up and started the game. We stood for the prayer and our National Anthem then I adjusted the clock to twelve minutes, took my seat and we’re ready to begin the game when I noticed my brother had a strange look on his face. So being the caring brother that I am I inquired if there was anything wrong?
I thought he’d be excited to watch high school football Louisiana style but he just looked all confused. After the opening kickoff he explained to me that he noticed there weren’t but maybe 30 people in the visitor’s stands. He asked if the low number was because of a wreck on the I-10 bridge but I told him this was normal for many of our high school games. He came back at me as if there was another reason for such a low turnout on the visitor’s side but I insured him that “NO, many times there are more band members in the stands than parents”.
It is very embarrassing to know that there are more kids on the bench than there are parents in the stands at many high school football games here in the Baton Rouge. I’ve seen times where stands are in fact jammed with both students and parents but those are usually playoff games where a traveling team will bring twice to three times more fans than home standing Baton Rouge teams.
So parents how can you continue to allow this to happen? Why aren’t parents going to their children’s games both regular and playoff? I know it just kills a player to practice their butts off all week yet when a game is played their parents are home watching TV. My father saw one of my games in the 7th grade and once when I was a sophomore. That was it. He just so happened to be working a mid-watch at the airport (he was an air traffic controller) and had to pass the stadium on his way to work that night so he stopped for 15 minutes. Just long enough to see my extra point attempt blocked.
I couldn’t explain to my brother why high school stadiums are at times less than 25% filled. So, I’ll just ask those parents that “see” themselves as ones that stay home while their sons play football WHY? It is more important now, in these horrific times of senseless shootingsand rapes that we show our children they mean the world to us. But if you don’t feel that way about your kids it’s too bad, get off your collective rear-ends and at least show up for games your kids are involved in. It’s sad to say but life is very cheap these days.
Parents take an hour out of your time for once and watch a program on the A&E Channel called “The First 48”. It details actual homicides and the investigations there of. You’ll get an inside view of detectives trying to find those responsible for killing an individual. Life is cheap on the streets as one kid was shot and killed for a $20.00 drug deal. I’ve seen some where the so called debt is just $5.00 and it’ll sicken you to see families struggle to understand “WHY”!
I’m closing this column since most parents are mature enough that they don’t need a high school football referee to “school” them on spending more time supporting their children. And if you are one of those parents that never miss a pitch during baseball season or a down during football season then try to bring along another parent. Who knows you may just start a trend in the Baton Rouge area where we fill stands every Friday night.
Till next week…
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