Angleton vs. Friendswood August 26, 2011

  Tonight was the season opener for the Friendswood Mustangs.  The Mustangs hosted the Angleton Wildcats.  We knew before the game began that it would be an interesting night.  Both teams are rebuilding after several players graduated, but Angleton brought back more players that Friendswood.
  The evening started with Friendswood coming out later than usual to warm up, which in turn caused the cheerleaders to have to be introduced from the track.  For an unknown reason, Angleton's cheerleaders and band were late and were not there in time for the cheerleader introductions or the school songs (which were completely skipped). 
  Friendswood is wearing the blue jerseys without names on the backs and the black pants they introduced at homecoming last year.  There are mixed feelings from the fans on the uniforms.  First of all, Friendswood's school colors are blue and white, not blue and black; although black has been becoming more prevalent over the years.  That being said, the black uniforms do look good.  So, unless there is some bad juju associated with the white pants or the black pants, it doesn't effect the game.  Just gives the fans something to talk about. 
  Angleton won the toss and elected to defer to the second half, leaving Friendswood to receive the kick off to begin the game.  Angleton's place kicker never kicked the ball very far.  And they were not going for onsides kicks, he just kicked high and short.  I didn't see who it was that was going for the catch on the kick off, but he was hit as he was catching the ball, leading to Angleton taking posession of the ball on Friendswood's 34 yard line.  The first few plays, I thought our defense had shown up to play.  However, they were inconsistent.  They almost sacked the quarterback a few times, and they almost tackeld the runner.  But almost doesn't change the scoreboard.  2 minutes and 49 seconds into the game, the score was Angleton7 - Friendswood 0.
  After another short kick, Friendswood's offense started on the 41 yard line.  Hayden Gardner, who had been announced as probable before the game, did start the game.  Friendswood wasn't able to get a first down on this drive and had to punt the ball away.  During this drive, Gardner took a hit to the injured knee, forcing him to leave the game.  He spent the rest of the evening on the sidelines with ice strapped to his knee.
  2 minutes and 54 seconds after the first touchdown, Angleton scored again.  Angleton 14 - Friendswood 0 with 6:17 left in the game.
  With Gardner out for the game, it would appear that the Mustangs would bring in Jordan Wood to take over at quarterback.  After all, it had been announced that Garnder or Wood would be playing quarterback tonight.  For a reason unknown to me (but I will be researching) Wood never entered the game.  The Mustangs went to Matt Morris.  I've never seen Morris play QB before.  He did a good job, but it did look like he doesn't have as much experience as his predecessors (Karam and Maetzold).  Anyone who steps into that roll will be under scrutiny.  Friendswood has been blessed with very talented quarterbacks over the last several years. 
  The Mustangs seemed to click better when Morris took the field.  I'm not sure if it was Morris, or if it was just that they got the jitters out after the first drive.  Johnson was a work horse all night.  Friendswood ran the ball much more than they have in the past.  After several runs by Johnson, and a catch by Scott, Friendswood finally found the end zone.  With 1:18 left in the 1st quarter, the score was Angleton 14 - Friendswood 7.
  Dement has taken over place kicking for Zach Hardy, who graduated last year.  He looked great, and he doesn't just kick.  On his first kick off, Angleton caught the ball just before the goal line.  Thanks to Angleton's speed and strength, their receiver made it to the 41 yard line before being brought down by Dement.  I know that last year Hardy used to play a game with the recivers during practices - he would kick off the ball and the receiver had to make it past him on their way to the end zone.  From what I heard, and saw, Hardy got rather good at that game.  From what I saw tonight, I think Dement likes that game.  He tackled many receivers.
  Angleton really hurt themselves, starting in this drive.  They were called for several penalties during this game, most of them being false starts.  Matt Lewis showed his tackling abilities.  He has improved over last year, or he's getting his turn in the spot light.  Most of his tackels were good.  He missed a few, but I'm sure his number of misses will go down as the season continues.
  Unlike last year, our defense didn't seem as strong and as able to hold the line.  I'm not sure if that is a result of the smaller size of our players, a lack of experience, or if Angleton was just that good.  Once again, Angleton drove into the end zone.  With 8:19 left in the half, the score was Angleton 21 - Friendswood 7.  I'm not sure that this catch was actually a touch down, because I don't think the receiver had control of the ball.  But no one complained, so maybe I was wrong (it has been known to happen).
  Friendswood's offense took the field again, and parts of their game looked better.  During this drive, they utilized more offensive tools.  Also during this drive, I was able to see Angleton's tackling a little better than in other drives.  When Angleton tackled, they attempted to strip the ball (and thanks to some Friendswood fans and Mr. Kennemer at last year's LaMarque game, I'll never be able to use that term with a straight face).  This exposed a problem for Friendswood, causing many fumbles.  One of those fumbles was during this drive when Battle (I think) was running the ball.  As he was tackled, the ball was stipped.  The fumble was recovered by Vail in the end zone for a Mustang touch down.  Lineman don't score very often and I'm sure he will remember that for a long time.  So, with 6:40 left in the half, the score was Angleton 21 - Friendswood 14. 
  During the next drive, more Friendswood players showed that they were people to watch.  Camarillo seemed to be in the right place at the right time on several plays.  But even so, it still took 3-5 Mustangs to take down a Wildcat on several plays.  Again, is that because our players are smaller, less experienced, or because Angleton was better?  But, on this drive, our defense was able to force the Wildcats to punt.  Their punting wasn't much better than their place kicking.  Angleton might want to think about talking to some of their varsity soccer players about kicking for the football team. 
  During the last drive of the half, Morris showed that he can throw the ball.  His 45 yard pass to the end zone was on target for the reciever, but the receiver was well covered and the half ended with the score Angleton 21 - Friendswood 14.
  Our special teams looked good on kick offs for most of the 2nd half.  To start the half, Taube tackled the Wildcat receiver on Angleton's 14 yard line.  Again, the defense was close on their tackles.  But not close enough.  But wow, they look so cool when they're close - flying through the air toward the ball carrier. 
  Almost 10 minutes into the second half, a 39 yard pass to Scott found the endzone.  Bringing the score to Angleton 21 - Friendswood 21 with 2:40 left in the 3rd quarter. 
  Angleton fumbled the kick off this time, after bobbling it after several other kicks.  The refs didn't agree on who recovered the ball, and ended up giving the ball to Angleton and with 38 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, Angleton found the end zone again.  Angleton 28 - Friendswood 21.
   Just over 2 minutes into the 4th quarter, the best catch of the game occured when Scott caught a 40ish yard pass in the end zone under double coverage.  Those type plays make the game so exciting.  With 9:40 left in the game, the score was Angleton 28 - Friendswood 28.  Unfortunately, that was the last time Friendswood would cross the goal line.
  It took 2 plays for Angleton to show, again, that the Friendswood defense is still suseptible to the breakaway.  Angleton ran 65 yards into the end zone.  It took 15 seconds for the score to be Angleton 35 - Friendswood 28.  But the game wasn't over yet.  Friendswood was driving and looking good, but a miscommunication on 4th down led to the ball being turned over to Angleton.  Angleton found the end zone once again.    Friendswood looked good on the next posession, right up until they lost the ball on a fumble.  There were several injury time outs during the second half, mostly in the last quarter.  Almost all if them were due to muscle cramps.  A couple of times, there were 2 players down at once.
 Final score Angleton 42 - Friendswood 28.
  I like that we've played Angleton first the past few years.  Angleton always plays well and this game shows our players and coaches what they need to work on, and what's working and should be left alone.  I know that during the spring as well as this month they've worked on tackling.  Most of the tackling did show better technique over last year, but with our defensive players being smaller than in years past, they are going to have to have near perfect technique, or spend a lot of time in the weight room, in order to have a strong defense.  I beleive it can be done, but those players are going to have to really work for it. 
  Our offense didn't seem to always be clicking.  I'm not sure how much time the offense spent working together.  In all the interviews I read, the quarterback for tonight's game would be Gardner or Wood.  Gardner had to leave the game after the first posession and Wood never entered the game.  How much time did the offense spend practicing with Morris.  Morris did well.  I was pleasently surprised.  But it did look like they need to spend some more time practicing together.  There were some miscommunications, and some mistakes.  Some of those mistakes were things that Mustang fans weren't used to seeing.  Morris needs to spend more time practicing reading defenses.  Not only did he throw some interceptions, but there were several almost interceptions.  Most of those near misses were the product of Morris throwing to the intended receiver, even if he was well covered.  Or him telegraphing his intentions.   One thing Karam did well, and Maetzold did even better was to wait until the last second to make a decision about which receiver to throw to, helping to prevent that situation. 
  Even though Johnson has shown that he's a force to be reconned with over the last few years, tonight he showed that he's hasn't reached the top of his game yet.  He is still learning how to break tackles, and gain more yards as he's being taken down.  I noticed he still likes to run along the sideline.  The problem with that is that to get to the outside, he spends too much energy running parallel to the goal line instead of toward it.
  The Friendswood Mustangs are going through a period of redefining themselves, after all the players who graduated over the past few years.  Are they a running team?  A passing team?  Are we going to bulk up and rely on size?  Stay small (comparitively speaking) and use technique?  or a combination of size and technique? 
  From everything I read before the game (which there wasn't alot out there to read), no one really knew what to expect from this game.  Everyone knew that Angleton had speed, and that they came to win.  But not many people knew if they knew how to use the assests they have this year.  Some thought this would be a low scoring game played mostly by running backs.  I don't think a final score of 42 - 28 is a low scoring game.  and 28 points is enough to win most games.  But it wasn't enough tonight. 
  I have no doubt that the Mustangs will make some adjustments over the next week.  I'm sure the coaches and players will spend time watching video of this game and look for the positives as well as the negatives.  There were several things they did well, and things that need improvement, and some things that will get better just by spending more time practicing together. 
  Next week, the Mustangs will travel to Orange, TX to take on West Orange Stark.  Last year, this game was played in Deer Park due to the constuction at Henry Winston Stadium.  Friendswood won the game, but lost 3 players to injury (some were out for the season).  I truely hope that there are no injuries when we play this year. 
 
Added:  Just another comment - this game was probably one of the most fairly officiated high school football games I've seen in a long time.  Sure, the refs made a few mistakes.  But their mistakes were not obviously biased for one team or the other.  Refs are human, and will make mistakes.  But this crew made very few mistakes and called the game fairly.  I hope we see that officiating crew again this year.

Alvin vs. Friendswood Scrimmage

This evening, the Friendswood Mustangs hosted their first annual Football Frenzy.  The afternoon began with freshman and JV scrimmages while a punt, pass, kick competition was happening on an auxiliary field.  The booster club was there selling BBQ, concessions, raffle tickets and spirit items.  The JV and freshman squads both appeared inconsistent; however, since the players didn't have numbers on their jerseys, the individuals may have been consistent.
At 7pm, after the Wranglerettes and the cheerleaders performed, the varsity squads took the field.  The Mustangs looked great at times.  At other times, they didn't look very good at all.  For a reason unknown to me, the players did not wear their usual jersey numbers.  It would have been much easier for me to keep up with everyone if they had been wearing the proper jersey numbers.  Our defense held well, but was susceptible to break away plays by the Yellow Jackets.  One of the Jackets was very fast, the only Mustang who could chase him down was J.J.  ( At least, I think it was J.J., again, they weren't wearing the correct jersey numbers). 
I also learned that the Mustangs are already dealing with injuries.  I don't have any confirmed details, so I will wait until I do before I comment.
To be honest, tonight left me a little nervous for next Friday night when the Mustangs play the Angleton Wildcats in the first preseason game.  I know they had scouts at the game, and I hope the jersey thing confused them a bit, or causes them to be watching for the wrong people.
The Yellow Jackets and Mustangs played one quarter of proper football, minus the kick offs, after about an hour of running plays.  At the end of that quarter, the score was Alvin 3 - Friendswood 14.  This quarter revealed something else as well - the score board isn't working properly.  
7 days until the beginning of Friday night Football!

Foundation repair

Today is day 2 of our foundation repair.  The day began at 7am with jack hammers and the house jumping every 5 minutes.  This is the first time we've ever had this done (it was done to our 1st house when we bought it, but before we moved in).  I'll be glad when it's finished and I can use my front door and all my windows again.  And we won't have anymore bricks, tiles or sheetrock breaking.  But in the meantime, . . .  Thankfully, today should be the last day.

Summer

I know, I don't spend much time on the computer during the summer.  But, there's only 12 days of summer left.  :(  Then it'll be back to school, back to "work" and back to twitter.  Back to High School Football and posting in my blog, and hopefully writing.  I've spent alot of time thinking about one of the books I started a while back, but never spent much time on.  I'm think I'm going to change the POV from the new love to the one left behind.  I just wish I could find the spiral notebook where I wrote out a few scenes and all of my notes.
I'm also working on writing book reviews WITH OUT spoilers.  I rarely post very much info on a book, (my thoughts are on goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4761727-autumn )  because I'm afraid I'll give away too much.
Enjoy what's left of summer!

Iron Fey book series

  Just a quick note.  I love the Iron Fey book series.  I read Iron Queen and Summer's Crossing in one day.  I've never read a whole book in one day, let alone 2 books.  I can't wait for Iron Knight on October 25th.  I wonder how many times I'll read the first 5 books between now and then.