August 27, 2021
REQUEST
Ida and Covid… please stay away.
DENHAM SPRINGS JAMBOREE
The Denham Springs HS Football team plays host to Walker HS in tonight’s Denham Springs Jamboree. The Varsity teams are scheduled to kick off at 7:30pm
You can catch all the action on Family Radio, 91.9 FM, Baton Rouge… or on the net at JonFineProductions.com
Our coverage commences at 6pm with Sport N Center Jackets Warm-up
Please read on for more information on our broadcasts.
DENHAM SPRINGS VS MANDEVILLE STATUS
Next week’s game at Mandeville, originally slated for Friday, 9/3… was moved to Thursday, 9/2… only to be moved back to its original scheduled date of Friday, 9/3.
TONIGHT’S INTERVIEW GUESTS
Walker HS Television personality Clint Carver will be interviewed on Sport-N-Center Jackets Warm-up… DSHS principal Wes Howard will appear on the North Oaks Health Systems Half-Time Report—about 7pm tonight.
PRESS RELEASE
DENHAM SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL IS BACK ON THE AIR!
The 2021 school year marks the 26th season that Jon Fine (Sports) Productions will have the privilege of producing and calling play-by-play for Denham Springs HS Football radio broadcasts. In 2021, the broadcast slate will include the Jamboree against Walker, all 10 regular season Denham games, and every playoff game. Broadcasts will air on Family Radio-91.9 FM-Baton Rouge, starting at 6:00 pm Friday nights with Sport N Center Jackets Warmup. All broadcasts can also be heard on the Internet at JonFineProductions.com (click Listen Live on the Denham Springs Football PBP page). The first broadcast is Friday, August 27,, when the Jackets host Walker HS in a Jamboree.
Mario Jerez will be the play-by-play announcer of the Jackets. He takes over for Josh Ward, who is on a one year sabbatical. Jerez will be joined by Mitch Covington as the color commentator. Producer Jon Fine will contribute to the pre-game, half-time and post-game programming.
“Sport N Center Jackets Warm-Up” will feature an interview with Jackets Football Coach Brett Beard conducted by Mario Jerez. Jon Fine will speak with a prominent Denham Springs community and/or sports figure. Mario Jerez and Mitch Covington will also offer a preview of that night’s game and other pertinent information.
The “North Oaks Health System Half-Time Report” will include Fine interviewing another Denham Springs personality. In addition, Jerez and Covington will provide a recap of the first half and a look ahead at the second half of action.
During the “Ralph Sellers Chevrolet Post-Game Show”, there will be an extensive game recap, final stats and a look ahead.
When Denham Springs picks up a first down, they’ll achieve a Big Mike’s Sports Bar & Grill First Down”. All guest interviewees will receive a gift certificate from Buddy’s Bar B Q.
Sport-N-Center owner Stacy Phipps (Baseball) and Big Mike O’Neal (Football) were athletes at Denham Springs HS. Covington was a star Baseball, Football and Basketball player with the Jackets and is a former DSHS assistant football coach. Ralph Sellers Chevrolet Parts Manager Jim McChristian says he was an athlete at Denham Springs HS, but we have had a difficult time verifying this claim! LOL
Fine expressed that he is especially appreciative of the loyal commercial and name mention sponsors the broadcasts have had on Jon Fine Sports Productions’ Denham Springs HS play-by-play broadcasts throughout the years. Many have been with the broadcasts on a year-in, year-out basis. Fine expressed hope that listeners will have the opportunity to patronize these businesses and let them know they heard about them on DSHS Football radio broadcasts.
Jackets play-by-play announcer Mario Jerez is the New Orleans Saints Spanish radio play-by-play announcer. He co-hosts a weekday program, “Early Line’, on ESPN Radio, 104.5 FM, Baton Rouge. A former Brother Martin football player, Mario is a graduate of LSU, where he majored in Broadcast Journalism. He is single.
Mitch Covington, a 3 sport star at Denham Springs HS, would later serve as a Jackets assistant football coach. He is presently the head football coach at Denham Springs Junior High School. He is a graduate of McNeese State, where he played baseball. He is married and has 2 children.
Jon Fine co-hosted and produced daily 2 hour drive-time radio sports-talk programs in the Greater Baton Rouge area for close to 20 years. His programs (first SportsTalk, which changed its name to SportsGumbo), aired, at times, in New Orleans, Lake Charles, Monroe and Alexandria, in addition to the Baton Rouge market. His company, Jon Fine Productions, has produced numerous Denham Springs HS and area HS sports programming on television, radio and internet. Fine presently has an EBay store—ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides. He is a native of Valley Stream, New York and a graduate of Penn, where he majored in Marketing. He is single.
For more information on Denham Springs HS Sports programming and Jon Fine Productions, please visit JonFineProductions.com.
DSHS ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
The Denham Springs HS Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place Thursday, September 9 at Forrest Grove Plantation in Denham Springs. Tickets are available at Denham Springs HS. The classes of 2020 and 2021, with one carryover from 2019 will be inducted.
SPORTS PUBLICATIONS GALORE!
ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides offers media guides. programs and baseball cards. Please visit JonFineProductions.com and click on icon to get to the store. Check out a full array of New Orleans Saints media guides and LSU media guides and programs and publications from much of the entire sports world. Over 7,000 publications listed.
TODAY’S COLUMNS:
Scott discusses the New Orleans Saints
Dennis talks about Catholic HS coaching legend Dale Weiner
Please scroll down below.
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
The cards did not come up in Taysom Hill´s favor. In reality, they were never in his favor.
Winston and Hill are on opposite ends of the spectrum in regard to style of quarterback. The question should never have been whether Hill could be a drop back quarterback. To limit Hill to this style would be to take away his greatest physical attribute.
The question to me has always been whether Payton would embrace changing the style of his offense for Hill. The model team in the NFL for this style of offense and quarterback play is Baltimore. In order to succeed, you must have a dominant defense.
I know the Saints defense has looked good for two games, but look closer (sorry to be a downer). The Ravens did not play Lamar Jackson and the offense the Jags rolled out in the Superdome has less talent than LSU 2019 and Bama 2020.
The Saints could have a very good defense if they could stay healthy and Onyemata was not sitting out six weeks. Every time I think of the Saints defense in 2021 and the two glaring weaknesses (interior defensive line and corner) I feel bad for Pete Werner.
The Saints drafted him in the second round and hindsight is not pretty right now. Kwon Alexander is about to make an amazing comeback from injury and Zack Baun has looked great. Most of the time, NFL teams play nickel which means they only play two linebackers. Three linebackers is plenty, and Davis, Baun, and Alexander will make a quality group. Werner has yet to make it on the field due to injury, but if he was healthy it is doubtful he would play beyond injury or special teams.
To be fair, I thought Baun was a wasted pick last year and he just needed a redshirt season to develop. Werner could be in the same boat, but with the Saints salary cap situation they cannot afford redshirts in the second round. Not when the interior defensive line and cornerback are so thin.
Can Payton Turner save the day for the defensive line? When he was selected the Saints highlighted his versatility to play outside and inside. Due to injury, we have yet to see him play. Though, media reports have said he has been effective in practice. The Saints desperately need him to be a first round star this year as injuries continue to take their toll on this roster. Jalen Dalton was the best interior lineman on the field Monday night, and he is out for the season.
The point I am trying to make is that the defense could be solid, but it cannot be dominant without more interior defensive lineman and cornerbacks (a position where the Saints can never seem to stay healthy). Combine this fact with the reality that Sean Payton never really wanted to turn his offense into the Ravens offense.
Payton actually wants to go the other way and get back to more downfield passing to balance his short passing game. Payton wants to start the game with quick, short, efficient passes. Passes that he considers as effective as runs. Once the defenses get out of the box to play the pass and the width of the field, he comes back to the run. And if the running game is on, then he lights up the defense with deep passes off of play action. The exception to all this are teams that come out stacking the box and blitzing, and he will throw it over the top early and often.
This entire style is where Winston always had an advantage and just needed to play to his strengths. There are just some teams that you have to be able to score with to win in the NFL, and Payton´s offense under Winston can do that. The style with Hill at the helm requires a physical running game and a dominant defense to win. The Saints are not built for that.
In reality, I still think the weaknesses at receiver, tight end, defensive tackle, and corner are so glaring that the Saints will have a tough time winning early in the season anyway. As I have said for a while, the best chance is with Winston and Hill on the field which means Winston at quarterback. After watching the game on Monday night, I wonder if Hill can be the player he was before he had a chance to be the starting quarterback. It will be a tough punch to the gut to put his whole off season into being a starting quarterback, then go back to his old role which is not an easy one mentally.
With injuries, suspensions, and more injuries I hope Hill can make it happen and Winston can play consistently to give the Saints a chance at a good season.
Hey Ref
By Dennis Dearie
This week we start playing jamborees and next week we start on a journey to a championship. Before getting any deeper in this last season for me I must stop and think of the things that made my career so very satisfying. As I look forward to my final season of working high school football here in south Louisiana I feel I should share with everyone one of the things I’ll always be thankful for. In this business you meet all kinds and the sad fact is many of those I’m meeting at the end of my career for the very first time are simply not worth mentioning. But that’s for another day and time.
Over some 30 years I’ve been very fortunate to work with some great officials and coaches. I want to share one column that is by far my favorite since this man is nothing but CLASS and someone all coaches should try to be like. My words were true back in 2015 when I first delivered this article to my editor and I’d never think that after all these years it’s truth rings so very loud. So, I don’t think I need to add much more of an introduction to THE one and ONLY column in “Hey Ref’s” Hall of Fame.
Who says “Good guys finish last”? Whoever that may be I’d like to introduce them to Catholic’s Head Football Coach Dale Weiner. He made a giant impression on me many years ago while he was the top man for Catholic High Pointe Coupee. In our pregame conference our referee had told us that Dale will keep you on your toes tonight. If you think Les Miles is unpredictable all I can say is that he’s got nothing on Dale.
In a previous game or I should say games he would try something off the wall and something you’d never expect a team to do so early in the game. Just a week earlier he started that night’s festivities with an on-side kick off. He caught that entire crew with their collective pants down. But in those very early days the officials in Baton Rouge’s association were so good they were able to regroup and never flinched for the remaining 47 and a half minutes.
That night one of my main duties was to stand on the receiver’s restraining line (usually the 50) and make any calls in that 10 yard span. So, I’m remembering what we’d talked about and as Dale would do he had his kicker try and put it out of the endzone. So, I’m feeling good since I was all over that opening kick and thought I’d passed my first test. I was as proud of myself as I thought to myself “this coach can’t get one by me”. Oh, how wrong I was because I only had five years under my belt at the time. Dale hadn’t even looked into his bag of tricks as the crew went mistake free all the way to halftime.
As we walked off the field there was this collected sigh of relief and we just knew Dale was scheming something big because of who was sitting in the stands on my side of the field. This is telling my age because the Governor at that time was Mr. Dave Treen. The rest of the game went about as easy as a game could be. We were all thinking we’d get out of that game unmarked. And we wanted to do the best we could since Governor Dave Treen was on hand.
Then “IT” happened, the “IT” I was dreading for over five days since I got my game assignment went down big as day. Well the “IT” started off as a member of the offense coming out of the huddle and LEAVING the filed on my side. I thought nothing of it since I saw a new player go into the huddle and one left the game. Dale ran what’s known as a “HIDE-OUT” where the player coming off the field was actually one of the eleven players.
Dale was talking to the player and my attention was on the offense and getting ready for the snap. Well the snap was a beautiful one and then all of a sudden the quarterback steps back about ten feet and unleashes the most perfect spiral down the field somewhere in the neighborhood of fourty to fifty yards. As I’m watching this admiring the pass I took a glance at the receiver and wondered why they had two guys wearing the same number and then that ‘ole “punch in the gut” feeling takes over and all I can hope is that he drops the pass.
As it would turn out that was one prayer that went unanswered as the ball and player were downed inside the ten yard line. My white hat wasn’t too happy with me and I didn’t try and make excuses as I just “manned-up” and said I blew it. There was nothing to do but own it. To correct my blown call we met at midfield and talked our way through the play.
As I stated earlier our association had the best officials in the state. My counterpart across from me saw the play as I had my back to it and made the correct call as this is an illegal play since the rules state you can’t use a replaced player to deceive. The ball was brought back and if I remember correctly we penalized 5 yards from where the pass was thrown (for an illegal forward pass) and a loss of down.
I thought I was in for one huge chewing out but Dale looked at me, didn’t say a word for a couple plays then just said in a calm voice “most crews don’t have what it takes to penalize that”. I have to respect a coach that in this type of situation stayed calm, knew what he’d done, got caught and penalized yet just went onto the next play. If this type of play would happen today you can bet the house most if not all coaches would be screaming and cursing the crew. But Dale was and is nothing but class both on and off the field.
These kinds of mistakes either make you better or cause you to walk away. The biggest thing I learned from that game wasn’t in any rulebook because class isn’t something you get out of books. It’s something you earn on the field in tough situations. From that game all the way to the final game I worked in Baton Rouge Dale was always at the top of every official’s list for the classiest coach to work for. He hasn’t changed in all these years.
You ask anyone that’s played for Dale and the first thing they’ll say is how much they respect him. That’s because Dale knows how to return respect. It’s something that seems easy for him. His players go the extra mile for him year after year. He’s one of those few men that no matter how old his players are they always call him “COACH”. His influence goes well beyond the playing field. I feel very fortunate to have worked some of his games.
Some say good guys finish last but I can say without hesitation Dale Weiner is one of the best and he surely will never finish last. Thanks Coach for letting me in to see the class act that you are. You’re one in a million!!!
Till next week…
DENHAM SPRINGS HS FOOTBALL RADIO BROADCASTS ARE A JON FINE PRODUCTION ON FAMILY RADIO, 91.9 FM, BATON ROUGE and JonFineProductions.com.
JON IS THE OWNER OF AN EBAY STORE. ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides, SELLS SPORTS PUBLICATIONS. YOU CAN LINK TO IT BY VISITING JonFineProductions.com