Saturday, September 8, 2012

Dickinson vs. Friendswood - September 7, 2012

  This week was an interesting game for me.  This week, Friendswood (my current home and favorite place to live) hosted Dickinson (where I grew up and went to school).  I had family sitting on both sides of the stadium, and both were cheering for both teams.  Like I said, interesting.  It was nice to not only see some good football, but I also got to watch my nephew march in the gator band from the comfort of my stadium seat in my home stadium. 
  Before the game, one of my relatives told me that unless the Mustangs "roll over and play dead", the game would be an easy win for Friendswood.  During the first half of the first quarter, I told her that the Mustangs did have a weakness that the Gators could exploit.  Then I asked her how fast the Gators were.  On the very next snap, one of the Gators went through the hole and made it to the end zone.  I guess I need to remember to keep my mouth shut.  It was not pleasant to see the Gators on the board first after they got stomped last week.  It seemed like it took the Mustangs a while to get going, but once they did, . . .  I've always said that the Mustangs improved throughout the course of a game, and we're usually more of a second half team.
  Before I get into too many details, let me dole out some well deserved "atta boys".  Last night, some of the players who made good things happen are; Wood, Camarillo, Longbothom, Vandersypen, Hill, Bertlesman, Williams, Montalvo, Horner, King, Dooley, Wegner, Makransky, Holle, & Simmons.  And props to King for stripping the ball from the Gators after his fumble was recovered by them.
  I think last night could be summed up as a game of penalties.  According to my count, there were a total of 22 penalties last night - 12 for Dickinson and 10 for Friendswood.  It felt like every other play there was a flag on the field.  The Gators got most of their penalties in the first half, while Friendswood waited until the second half to start raking in those flags.  However, Friendswood was called more than once for a kick going out of bounds without being touched.  While I understand the reasoning behind that rule, I don't think it's right for a team to be penalized when their opponent watches the ball bounce out of bounds without trying to catch/stop it.  But then that gets into subjective officiating, and no one wants that.
  I would also say that Dickinson watched the tape from our game against Alvin, because they knew what they needed to do to get on the score board.  The first half of the first quarter, I was really concerned that Dickinson would run all over the field last night.  And while they did get too many big runs, our defense is better than last year.  Our defense is definitely improving.  (But some of those holes were still big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through.) The Mustangs still need to practice stopping the run game.
  It was really nice to see the improvement in the pass coverage.  That is something that has gotten under my skin for the last few years.  There were a few times that our pass coverage was looking like the past, but the Gators receivers had butterfingers last night, so we didn't have to pay for those mistakes.  The defense played tight on the receivers more last night than they did in games past.  THANK YOU!!  Camarillo did a great job with this last night!
  It was interesting to watch Longbothom and Vandersypen run the ball.  I'm glad we will get to watch them for more than just this season, as they are both sophomores.  They are both good, but they are good in different ways.  I wish I had the stats on this, but going on memory, I think the Gators sacked Wood more than the Yellowjackets did last week.  However, those sacks looked less painful.  I'm not sure if it was the way Wood was sacked, or if he was feeling better, or a better actor, but he seemed to get up quicker this week than last.  I hope that our offensive line continues to improve in this aspect. 
  I haven't read the stats from last night, but I think more Mustangs got their hands on the ball last night - and with the number of times the Mustangs were in the end zone, that's a good thing.   One stat that was announced last night - total yardage during the 3rd quarter (combined Gators and Mustangs) was 300+.  I don't remember the exact number, but it was either 328 or 348.  That was probably the longest quarter I've ever seen.  I wish I knew exactly how long it was, but according to my twitter posts from last night, it was at least an hour long.  And you could tell by the way the boys were playing that they were ready for it to be over (and that better not be because some one's Monster wore off.  I hope they've learned their lessons about drinking those before a game.)
  While the final score last night was a difference of 3 touchdowns, it also highlighted things that the Mustangs have improved and things that still need to improve (of course, there's always room to improve, even for the pros). 
 
The score board from the night was:

Gators          7     0     14     7                 28
Mustangs     0     21    21    7                 49
  If you want to read my play by play from the game, you can follow me on twitter, @momrod2000

  A final thought - and this is for all coaches, everywhere - Pay attention to who is around you when you're talking game strategy.  I don't think any coach would want their opponents to know if they were planning to do something a little different.
 
  The next game for Friendswood will be Friday, September 14, 2012, at Henry Winston Stadium.  The Mustangs will host the state ranked Terry Rangers.  Before the game, the Wranglerettes will host a pregame Chick-Fil-A dinner in the cafeteria beginning at 5pm.  Performing at the dinner will be the Wranglerettes, Drill Trainers and Fall clinic participants.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I am watching the game and "taking notes" by twittering during the games. I am at each game with at least one of my kids, if not both. Sometimes, my husband is able to attend with us and sometimes I have other family with me as well. My football education is from attending high school football games for 30+ years and sitting between my dad and my grandpa for the first 12 of those years. I was 3 when my parents bought my first season ticket. I missed 2 home games from the time I was 3 years old through junior high, and started traveling (not missing a single game) during high school. I started taking my kids to games before they could walk and have been taking them ever since.
 
 

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