The Woodlands Film Review

Posted by KT2000 at September 9, 2008

Film night had a strong turnout, and there were even a few “former” Tiger parents in attendance. The goal sheet, as one would imagine, was pretty ugly for this one (0 offense goals, 1 defense goal, 1 kicking game goal). Mr. Defense was Elvin Tapong (Sr.) and Mr. Special Teams went to Nick Narcisse (So.). There was no Mr. Offense. Cameron Travis got Boss Hawg. Tapong gave great effort when he was in the game and did a good job of standing his ground up front as he usually does. Coach Miller singled him out for praise. The coaches also highlighted Nick Narcisse’s play on special teams. He was the first man down on kick coverage and picked up the Big E award for effort as well. Joey Chapman (So.) and Grant Clifton (So.) got Head Hunter awards for making tackles in kick coverage. Punter Deyvi Hurtado got a coffin corner for the long punt that was down inside the 20 late. Junior LB Terrance Barley and junior LB Sam Holl got Big Mo awards. Barley recovered a fumble. I will put the rest of the awards up on the football page when I have a digital copy.

Coach Joseph stated he felt things snowballed on the team after the first few swings of momentum went The Woodlands’ direction. He said that the team hadn’t been in a position of responding to a loss (North Shore), and he felt like we deflated after we got down early against The Woodlands (”here we go again”) and things snowballed from there. He doesn’t think we’re as bad of a team as the score made us look. From what I gathered, a lack of fundamental execution and an inability to respond bothered the coaches the most. It wasn’t one or two players making mistakes on every play that blew things up. It seemed someone different wasn’t carrying out their assignment on a given play, and that is obviously uncharacteristic of Katy football teams. The coaches stressed that the team can’t have those kind breakdowns. It just can’t happen if we want to be successful. Fundamental execution is stressed every day in practice, and there’s no excuse to have a breakdown on that level. They also gave The Woodlands credit for being a very good football team. The Highlanders got into us physically from the outset.

I have never seen or heard Coach Dowling as agitated as he was tonight in his recaps of the offense. Like I said above, it was seemingly a different player not executing properly on a given play. Basically, just about everything that could have gone wrong execution wise did go wrong. From missed blocks, to missed holes, to wrong routes, to botched snaps, bad ball security, bad decisions, etc. It was all there. Coach Dowling was very bothered by the fact we didn’t really get into the Highlanders physically. He stressed the importance of running the football, and that we absolutely have to be smarter and more physical to do so. The early news on Parker Ray’s hand was erroneous. They thought he’d broken it down on the sidelines, but x-ray revealed no break. It is badly bruised, so he will be OK there- good news.

Coach Miller and Coach Joseph praised the defensive line. Coach Joseph said you wouldn’t think you could praise the defensive line when you allow 47 points, but the coaches seemed pleased with their effort. They weren’t mistake free, but the unit appeared to give very good effort throughout. Coach Miller highlighted the fact we didn’t fit right into holes with our LBs, and this got us gashed on the Highlanders’ running plays. There were several instances when the defenders were reaching and grabbing as opposed to “attacking and making hits” as Coach Miller put it. They also got behind our secondary a couple times for big plays. Coach Miller said there were times when players looked to be trying to do too much rather than just focusing on their responsibility. Coach Joseph said he thought The Woodlands had 2 or 3 very good receivers. He singled out The Woodlands’ DB-WR Logan Rowe (#6) as being a very good football player in his view. Rowe beat us in a bump coverage on his touchdown (double move route, QB pump faked short out/Rowe turned it up and made an incredible catch). Our play of the game was definitely Zach Griffin’s tipped interception. It was an outstanding effort on his part.

Rest assured the coaches are very aware of what happened in the game, and they are more agitated about it than anyone. The players are definitely being challenged in practice this week, of that I have no doubt. The coaches reviewed the film Friday night after the game and again on Saturday. They evaluated everything from their own performances to the players and the program in general. They are not in panic mode, and know that many of the mistakes we made are fundamental flaws that can, should and must be corrected. The team needs this extra time to work on fundamentals and getting things cleaned up.

After seeing that game back on film, I want to drive to Waco right now but I guess I’ll have to wait until the 20th. I’ll be there loud and proud.