Tigers Welcome Spartans to 5A with Blowout

Posted by KT2000 at October 18, 2008

Photo by KatySportsPhoto.com

Tigers win 54-14.

The first quarter started sluggish. By half, the Tigers put the game beyond doubt up 42-7. I think everyone got to play in the fourth. The Tigers took a couple knees inside the Seven Lakes 10 yard line late and then ran an fullback dive on 4th and long to avoid breaking 60.

Junior tailback Will Jeffery got the bulk of the carries after Vernon Jeffries left the game early with what looked like a knock to his lower arm somewhere. He ended up getting a few carries in the third, so apparently he was OK. Mr. Jeffery took advantage and I think he had over 200 yards rushing or very close to it. It was a career night for #4. Seven Lakes’ defense couldn’t cope with him once the OL got into the game. It took most of the first quarter for the offense to really get going. Parker Ray hit a really nice playaction to junior TE Zach Swanson for a big gainer in the 2nd quarter. He also hit Taylor Brandt and Kyle Hirschfelder for nice, long scoring passes. He got Hershey on a beautifully thrown corner route. Ray and Jeffery did have exchange issues and one of them led to a turnover. I will have to look at film and see if it was the QB-RB botching or if the snap just came out bad. All things considered, it was very encouraging to see the offense run like it did despite two RBs being out. Webber didn’t play and Vernon played very sparingly because of the knock he picked up early in the game. Will Jeffery took the bulk of the carries and Dustin Wilson finished it off in the fourth.

Defensively, Seven Lakes came out passing which wasn’t a surprise. They were mainly working the underneath dink routes and managed to convert some first downs on us with those kind of passes. It was like Chinese water torture for a little bit. Junior safety Ryan Rose ended the night with two good interceptions. The secondary also got beat on some plays. They do a better job with the deep balls when they get their head around and find the ball. We gave up a TD pass and a PI penalty because the secondary didn’t find the ball, and instead tried to play the receiver. That usually doesn’t work out. The defense did a good job of making Seven Lakes one dimensional. Their running game didn’t do much at all. They only had one really good rushing play (20+ yards) the entire night that I saw.

Senior LB Cody Oswald #39) laid a vicious hit on special teams coverage that had our section going nuts. It is the best hit I’ve seen this year. BAM!

Overall, the Tigers obviously did well to win by 40 and there are things they’ll be able to learn on film. There were some unforced execution gaffes on offense with the exchanges, and the defense will work on long ball defending techniques I’m sure. This was a quality win for a team that keeps progressing. We have a quick turnaround for Taylor on Thursday night.