MikeEast

I tell you what if you really have room for me I may take you up on that, I told you last night how I am about sitting on the PNG side,,,, but I might think I can make an exception for 1 game, especially if I can sit among friends. 8) When you wake up, shoot me a PM and I can give you my cell or you can get it from Jed, or email me if you are serious. If not thats ok too and I will just sit on the Lumberton side, should be plenty of room over there. It may be a 3PM decision for me, I am not real crazy about missing the Ned game but I really really want to see this game. I think its going to be a good one to watch. Thanks for the offer New Indian 8)

OK, I dont care if I should pull for Lumberton... good grief, PNG PLEASE shut this incessant chatter up for us!!!

It's squaw's tee pee. Anyway, I am expecting that I will be at the PNG/Lumberton game, sitting on the Lumberton side, pulling for PNG, wearing Black and Gold. I dont think that the Nederland/Ozen game is going to be a big deal and if we lose, I dont want to see it. Most of all, I am dying to see this PNG/Lumberton game go down for myself. I will see if I really have the guts to skip a Nederland game when I get in my car and start driving this evening. ???

You gotta see the catch he makes in the North end zone on the PNG side. Its a 1 hand back hand impossible grab.. It was one that will go on Nederland highlight reels forever.

I will take a shot in the dark. I will predict that PNG wins because their staff has years of experience at winning close, really tough and important games. I think both teams will put up 20 points, give or take a few, and I think the game will be decided in the 4th quarter. I think its going to come down to who can grit it out and make big plays on defense to hold on for a close win. I think this score could flip flop but I will say somewhere around PNG 31 Lumberton 24 I am seriously considering making this game.

Hemmings is big and he is very quick, especially when he has a couple of steps to build speed. I was really impressed by him Friday night. He is not the kind of back that you want to take on one on one, head to head because he will lower his CG and punish you for taking him head on. If he is running North and South I dont care who you are, you better wrap up, tie up his legs and wait on help because if you think you are going to form tackle him you are going to be in for a rude awakening. He has excellent power and he does have another gear in the open field. There was one run in particular that he made against Nederland where he broke clear of the line and instantly hit the next gear, and just left everyone in his dust. In that type of situation where he is ruinning straight down hill, in a 40-50 yd dash to the end zone no one is going to catch him. The best thing you can do is get him running sideways, if you can make him run side to side you can shut him down, but then you have to deal with Wright who is smaller but has excellent speed and a knack for finding a way to turn the corner. They are a great 1-2 punch and with PNG's line really blocking well they are going to be really tough to stop consistantly.

I really dont think that moving Chris off of the defense would be a good idea, I dont think there is anyone that is ready to replace him and play at the same level. He is one of the key players and a play maker on defense. The defense would suffer without him and I think going both ways would probably be too much to ask. Bass does ok for what they are using him for. If he can just keep ahold of the handle on the football he will be just fine.

Your point... o...kay. However Mr. H., you are right and I apologize. Hideous is a little strong, but not by much. How about "average" at best against the run. I would venture to bet that the players expect a whole lot better of themselves than 174 yards per game. 318 and 231 against PNG and Waller, well that was pretty ugly but since Waller is averaging over 360 yards per game on the ground I guess we handled them about like everyone else is. I know that there were about 50-75 yards per game on busted plays against Vidor, Central and PNG where just a couple of stops for little/no gain turn 50 yard TD run would have reduced the numbers significantly. But not busting those plays is what separates the average from those at the top of the game. I would love to be wrong about that. In contrast here are a few more numbers of all the teams in the district this season so far in rushing yards allowed per game. I am pretty sure these are close. Ozen 225, yuk. Central 183, not so good. Ned 174, tied with LCM, yikes. LCM 174, average PNG 147 not too bad Dayton 146, not too bad. Lumberton 117. Thats good defense. Look at avg yards per game Waller 365 avg 318 against Ned. WOW PNG 147 avg 231 against Ned Vidor 161 avg 160 against Ned Central 118 avg 148 against Ned Anyway, I think the Ozen game could be close depending on who shows up.

Could go either way. Ozens sandlot offense is the type of offense that KILLS Nederland,, and the defense is absolutely hideous against the run. Bend but dont break is starting to sound like a punch line to me. If the Ozen secondary really is as good as I hear this game could be very close.

I would say that it would have to be Central because its surprising to see Central struggling. But they lost to two very good teams, and in their loss to Nederland they beat themselves in a lot of ways. Ozen is not a surprise and I dont think much was expected, so its not really a disappointment. Nederland is sitting in perfect position to be a big disappointment if they do not get it together. I would love to be wrong, but I could see losses to Dayton and Lumberton and even Ozen and LCM if they dont get their act together on defense. This "bend but dont break" crap needs to stop. Its time to start breaking some offenses. Lumberton is smoking hot and playing with confidence and Dayton still has a good team I think. There are a lot of good teams in 22-4A that can still make the playoffs. I think everyone else is pretty much what I personally expected.

I have definitely noticed it and its a problem for me. Since they replaced the lights after Rita there is NO WHERE near as much light as there was before. I think they need another set of lights in the moddle of the field.

Tie goes to the receiver. It was a bad call, but it did not matter. PNG was going to win either way.

Me too... Looks like Lumberton has finally come into their own. Good for them. Now go earn a playoff spot.

Ya know, after all the ugliness that has been directed at coach MB on the png message board over the last several weeks I think you guys that have been threatening his job over there really need to go to him personally and offer him and his staff a man to man, eye to eye apology. From week zero I dont think there was EVER a doubt that this PNG team was going to do well this season. For the first time in several years he has got some really good talent to work with and just like he has always done when he has talent, he is kicking peoples butts. Look as far as last nights game we were obviously just a whistle stop on the way to the playoffs for the PNG-train. PNG is a better football team than Nederland, I think that is an indesputable fact, and frankly it did not surprise me. You could see the potential back in zero week when the PNG faithful were ready to run their coach out on a rail. The bottom line last night was that the stats looked close but you could see that our defense could not stop their offense from the word GO. We struggled for every inch we took. PNGs offense took yardage by force, they were not going to be denied and there was never a doubt in my mind each time they got the ball that the Dogs were going to be pushed right out of the back of the end zone. Conversely, PNGs defense was extremely well prepared to defend our passing game. The secondary was in pefect position all night. I must say this just shows how easy this spread offense is going to be to defend by good teams when you really dont have a serious run threat in the back field to keep the defensive line and linebackers honest. It was really interesting to watch the teams go out at halftime, and it really told the tale. The score was essentially tied (14-13) but as the clock struck zero, PNGs players joyfully celebrated as the half ended and Nederland looked defeated and tired. It was obvious that it took all that the Dogs had to get to the half in a tie, and PNG made it look easy. I am not saying thats a bad thing, it just really was an interesting and very clear snapshot of where the teams were. I dont this this game exposes any significant weaknesses in Ned other than the afforementioned, but I think that it exposed just how powerful PNG really is on both sides of the ball. Its going to take a heck of a team to stop them. Good Luck PNG and Nederland, lets go earn a playoff spot.

: Sheesh, hurry up Friday night.

NO

OK

Mav, In his defense TVC did not bring it up, he was just commenting in regards to Texasfan87's comments. Trust me, this aint the Dogs forst rodeo and they are not "worried" about any team, just preparing for them one at a time. They are well versed in what it takes to have success . No one is looking past today in Nederland much less PNG. One snap, one hit, one practice, one day, one game at a time.

I agree soulja.. Reality is about to set in when Lumberton sees Central's speed. I said it before, if I were Lumberton I would still feel that the jury is out, they have not yet faced a good team at full strength.(No disrespect Dayton but you know its true) If Central is not decimated by grades and they can shutdown Centrals offense and score more than 8 points, and more than Central scores I would definitely feel like I had something to be very excited about this season. The best thing to do is just take it one game at a time and enjoy it while it lasts. That holds true for any team, any year.

I could see it happening like this. We pose a question and it goes to Coop or whoever controls posting but does not necessarily get posted publicly. He looks it over and decides if its a fair and reasonable question to pose to the coach AND if the coach is willing to answer publicly. If he thinks it is then he posts it up and lets the coach answer the question but locks the thread so that no one can immediately respond to the coaches answer. If you want to respond, go through the same process and keep it going as long as the coach is willing to continue the discussion and the discussion remains civil and productive. You know, even then I would wager that a coach would be hesitant to answer publicly. There is just too much risk that an honest answer can be misinterpreted or misconstrued. ITs just too easy to miss the intent or tone of a comment when you are reading comments in type.

Honestly, I think it would be very foolish for any fan to seriosuly challenge or criticize a real high school football coach on his tactics. Doing so would undoubtedly result in the person doing the questioning getting embarassed. I dont care if you played football in high school or coach PEWEE football. Most ex football players were probably not so good at best, so that definitely does not validate your credentials to go questioning a real coach. There is no way that unless you are a real coach and have walked in his shoes that you could seriously ask a question and understand where he/she is coming from. Now, thats not to say that I think there is anything wrong with asking questions of a coach as long as the one asking the question does so with respect and genuine intentions.

If I were a coach there is NO WAY I would get on a message board and waste my time answering questions seriously, not in this type of free for all format. Doing so just presents too much risk and potential for pointless conflict. Maybe face to face, one on one where we can look each other in the eye and understand the context of comments that can only be understood when you look someone in the eye and talk to them. Its too easy to misspeak or misinterpret comments in type. Its one thing for us to get on here and speculate about this and that with the understanding that it really has no bearing on the coaches decision making process. We are talking just for the sake of fun, to pass the time, and to feel like we are close to the teams we all love. Its a whole other thing for a coach to be actually be interacting with us and we not really able to truly understand or much less influence his decision making process. I ask tons of questions on this board,,, why do they do this and WHY do they do that. But when it comes down to it I really dont want those questions answered by a coach. I would never seriously disrespect a coach by actually questioning his reasoning for real. But its fun to armchair quarterback here with all you numbskulls , as long as we can keep it in perspective and realize that its just fan talk, for fun. There is no possible way that anyone can take anything that anyone says here seriously, its all just talk. If you do, then you(we) need to get a grip. At least that is the way that I look at it.

I felt so bad for the kid that night. Joey(?) Price was a heck of a football player and he was a key for the NDN's. I hear that missing that kick still haunts him. I mean that with the utmost respect. He was a player that I will never forget. He was a good one.