Rez

We have to stay above suspicion - Nederland gets jealous when PNG comes home smelling like other teams.

Huntsville’s YouTube thumbnail for the upcoming game broadcast says this their “Rivalry Week.” Does Huntsville think PNG is their rival?

Huntsville is better than LC . Offense isn’t as explosive but that doesn’t matter. They’re not impenetrable on defense, but they’re consistent. We’ll be able to move the ball on them. They have two extremely good RBs. If we don’t tackle well in the open field we’re looking at a long night on defense.

This is a huge week for pole position in the 5ad2 district. We’ve got: Montgomery/Lake Creek, PNG/Huntsville, Nederland/Dayton, Splendora/West Fork. A lot of ball to played, but we’ll know a lot more about the playoff race by Saturday. Notable context is that Montgomery, Nederland, PNG, and Huntsville all have a chance to start 2-0.

In 2022 I worked with a head referee from a crew in east Texas. He told me they won’t call any holding unless the hold is actually the thing that springs the runner or allows the pass to get made. That’s my standard - If you hold and it directly affects the run/pass. Anything else is just technicality.

It was one of the more confusingly called games I’ve ever seen. The refs were determined to “let the kids play” while also insisting on inserting themselves into the game. Some of the calls, even the ones that went in our favor, seemed random and the refs appeared unsure of themselves. And, I agree there were some serious holds that were missed. I don’t know if it was 11 holds, but there was at least one LC td (their last one) where there was an obvious wrap-up tackle from behind on the dline that sprung the runner. There probably aren’t many dbs in the state who can solo tackle Tyvonn Byers when he’s at top speed in the open field, so if the dline isn’t able to make plays at the line you basically have to pray he trips. There were several other obvious holds that made a difference. In fairness, both sides were probably holding on every play once the refs showed they weren’t going to call it. I’d very much hope we don’t get those refs for any more games. But, credit to LC. I’ve never seen receivers run routes so fast, or such a good high school qb.

If you had asked me in the 3rd quarter yesterday, I would have guessed Huntsville by 3 scores. It’s a toss up for me now. I think Huntsville is better on defense than LC. It goes without saying our defense needs to be better. Huntsville has a good qb, but not as good as Eli Marcos. Huntsville has two stellar RBs, including one freshman who might be the fastest kid in the district.

I think our O-line is better than LCs. I had to remind myself in all my “what is going on with the defense” panic : Our o-line played at a crazy high level last night. It’s crazy how they simply deleted the d-line and LBs from the game.

I’d confidently put Melissa and Emerson ahead of us right now, along with Texas High and SoC. Not Anna or Lovejoy, at least not right now. Maybe Argyle. But, honestly, I’d be ok with dropping out of the rankings entirely. We’re at best a reasonable top 12 team, and focus on the rankings is a dumb distraction. This team needs to just play the season in front of them. I don’t care about what number is next to our name, or the win streak. I want us entirely focused on just the one game in front of us. That’s the only thing that matters.

A W is a W. I hope we’re able to take something from this to improve on defense. A bright spot is we got experience against a better-than-average offense and still got a win. If there are things that can be improved with coaching, LC is a heck of a team to have to discover them against. it certainly doesn’t look like we’re the top team in the division. I’d put Randle and SoC ahead of us right now. Henry without a doubt needs to be the go-to RB. Hunstville is going to be a monster of an opponent, but we can talk about that next week.

Tyson Henry . A sophomore, I think.

Our defense isn’t what it used to be. No speed

PNG 21-14, 11:24 in 2nd

PNG better find someone who can make an open field tackle against big runner

!!score: 7/14/1

!!score:7/7/1 lc runs back the kickoff for a td

1. Barbers Hill 2. PA Memorial 3. Angleton 4. La Porte 5. Port Neches Groves 6. Nederland 7. Bridge City 8. Huffman 9. Little Cypress-Mauriceville 10. Hardin-Jefferson 11. Carthage 12. Hitchcock 13. Anahuac 14. East Chambers 15. Orangefield 16. McGregor 17. Bullard 18. Newton 19. New Waverly 20. Woodville 21. Corrigan Camden 22. Colmesneil 23. Hull-Daisetta 24. Deweyville 25. Apple Springs

Score’s lopsided, but West Fork has been impressive, all things considered.

THIS

Holdren was really good. He was unstoppable against PNG in 2021, if I’m thinking of the right kid.

Yeah - have you seen his film? It’s almost eery how he just glides through the defense, only juking a tiny bit.

I’ve wondered the same thing. I’d say it’s twofold. First, LC might be seen as unproven. For the last two seasons they’ve run up the score throughout the regular season only to lose in the third round. The voters might simply not trust LC until convinced otherwise. Second, and related to my first point, the loss to Magnolia paired with them only having played a couple of private schools makes LC a question mark. We know they lost handily to a good team, but their big wins over private schools don’t tell us much about how good they are.

Rigdon has been crazy to watch. I don’t know if anyone will slow him down this season.

I’ve watched all three Nederland games. They’re definitely still finding an identity. I think the O-line is the biggest problem, and blocking in general. A lot of that can be improved with reps. So far there seem to be only Tezino and Thomas who are real playmakers on offense, but running Thomas to the edge every play isn’t going to be that hard for defenses to diagnose. Qb strikes me as a great overall athlete and a good leader. Also, his decision making has improved under the new coach and this staff is better about calling pass plays that work for him. Anything can happen - especially in Mid-County Madness - and I like Nederland’s chances against Dayton and Montgomery. Dayton seems about as good as Ned right now, and Montgomery’s opponents were 1-9 through three weeks. I haven’t checked if any of that changed in week 4. So, if the season goes how it looks right now with the top three being the top three in whatever order, and Nederland gets at least those four wins they’ll be in the playoffs. Rooting for ya’ll, except on October 25.

I had us at 1-2. I figured Klein Oak and La Porte would give us a lot more trouble. As it is, happy to be 3-0. Hopefully it will be 4-0 come Saturday.