Recap: North Shore

Posted by KT2000 at August 30, 2008

First, I have to take my hat off to the Tigers for a strong effort overall. People questioned what this team’s motivation would be, but tonight I saw a Tiger team playing like it expected to get a positive result. They got after it following a slow start, and stayed in the game when it could have gotten away from them late. Congratulations to North Shore as well.  Much is made of the weaker schedule they’ve played over the years, but a program doesn’t win 71 consecutive regular season games by accident.

I thought the decisive factors tonight were North Shore’s superiority in the trenches and Katy’s inexperience. North Shore’s defensive line caused problems the entire game. The Tigers didn’t have an answer for their pass rush. This was a big concern before the game given the Mustangs’ speed. The Tiger defense beat North Shore most of the night until the Mustangs decided to give the ball to their Aundre Dean clone (junior Tracy Woods) straight up the middle. North Shore went to C-gap football in the second half, and they were getting five yards a pop on push alone.

Katy’s inexperience showed in costly mistakes, such as the dropped TD pass in the second quarter and the botched kick off return after North Shore’s third quarter touchdown. The Tigers could have approached those final possessions in a much more calculated fashion if they only need a field goal to win as opposed to a TD. They were able to get the four points of separation thanks to a field goal after that botched kick return. For those who weren’t there, North Shore landed a kick off between the return men and the upbacks. The return men didn’t go get the ball and let it bounce (always a cardinal sin on returns). The ball hopped towards North Shore’s pursuit instead of going towards the end zone. The oblong-shaped ball does weird things when given a chance.

I thought the Tiger defense played a great game overall. They got worn down on North Shore’s only scoring drive, but I don’t know if their effort could have been much better on the night.  North Shore had a one dimensional game plan, and they will struggle for points against teams who can cover their run like the Tigers.

Katy had a clear advantage in the kicking game. North Shore will have problems in this area all year unless they can find some solutions to their problems.  Offensively, there is plenty of work to do.  We may not see a defense with the speed North Shore had the rest of this season, even if we play 16 games, but we will face some very good units nevertheless (The Woodlands, FM Marcus, Cy Bay in particular).  Aside from the typical Hawg rustiness at this time of year, the offense has to find a way to generate some explosive plays. I was surprised the fullbacks weren’t more involved tonight. However, we never really got the ground game going and everything else branches from that. If we can’t run consistently, there isn’t much we can go to in order to open things up. That is especially true against a defense with the speed Shore had on the DL. Their DEs are both returning starters from last season at 6′4, 200+ apiece who can move. Their senior MLB Daniel Salinas was in on every play it seemed. He really impressed me last year as well.

Overall, I think North Shore’s physical superiority and our inexperience settled the result in the end. The Tigers were certainly capable of winning this game, and, without the costly mistakes, they likely would have. I think this is a great game for the Tigers to learn from as they move forward. I think the Tigers should be proud of their effort tonight, although obviously disappointed at losing a game they had a legit shot to win.