Rez

I watched that video - I’m not sure what to think. On the one hand, I think SOC is clearly the best in the state, but their secondary is more vulnerable than last year, and they may even be someone we can run against.They may be a little smaller than last year too. But, they’re still big and fast, and extremely well-coached. What struck me was they seem to run a similar offense and defense to PNG - just a lot of power running with enough passes to keep the defense honest. The two teams are mirrors of each other (I think some of the coaches share coaching trees). The biggest difference, other than size and speed, is their qb runs , and not just in power wildcat formations. But, the overall concepts look the same. I think Lovejoy might take them out. Melissa got handled , but they showed that throwing a variety of passes all over the field can expose SOC. Melissa didn’t start moving the ball until they committed to passing. Lovejoy is built for passing. They’re probably the only team in the state that matches SOC’s D1 secondary with a D1 receiving corp. Still, I’d have to predict a SOC victory when that game comes.

I love this. In 2012 I was at the regional semis and quarterfinals for Nederland. Even wore black and gold. It was a great time, especially that last touchdown pass against Pearland Dawson - one of the top sports experiences of my life. The crowd went ballistic.

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They’ll be cutting it close - If there’s any delay (expected on a holiday weekend), they’ll spend game time sitting in a New York airport.

Let’s see what happens this week - I think we might have to deal with Huntsville instead. The Hornets aren’t the same team they were a few weeks ago. And that’s assuming PNG even wins this week (I think we will, but still).

I agree. I’m not saying Lamar is doing the right thing. When you have a support deficit in the public, doubling down on petty, hostile behavior isn’t going to help build bridges. Lamar should be going nuts to court local support. Like, every player from both playoff teams should get a jersey, other swag, just anything to make sure the players have good memories of Lamar. And maybe they’ll get more fans to Lamar games too.

It’s probably bad marketing for Lamar to have playoff games there. The high school fans would show up for a playoff game, and Lamar can’t get fans to come for its own team. It would underline, embarrassingly, how little local support Lamar football actually has.

Right - they have a ton of options, and have shown the ability to adjust throughout the game. You stop one thing, they do something else.

Real playoffs start now. Montgomery will be the best offense we’ve played. We’ll be the best defense they’ve played. They won’t be the best defense we’ve played. And, we’ll probably be the best or second best offense they’ve faced. They haven’t looked nearly so dominant against good teams, and I’m not impressed by them running up the score against bad teams. I’ll have to watch more film on them, but I think PNG’s defense will be the difference.

Png starting to sub backups. 9:26 left.

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I honestly think their defense is scared of Chatagnier.

It’s turning into a blowout

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LR has a good deep ball game

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Png fans outnumbering the Leander side about 10-1, if not more. It’s a shame - 2nd round playoff game, and Austin is pretty much an easy shot to Katy.

I watched LR’s first-round game on YouTube. Setting normal caveats for “anything can happen” and “we might not be as good as we think,” I’m predicting a fairly routine victory for PNG. LR has some serious speed on offense. They run a straightforward spread. They remind me of Nederland or Dayton, but better. But, not much better. They don’t do anything on offense we haven’t faced before (Brenham is better, among Texas City, West Orange, FBM, and, of course PAM). Their o-line is going to be asking for oxygen tanks by the third quarter. And, they simply don’t play defense. Their plan is to hope they score 50 while hoping you score 48. That’s a bad recipe for facing the PNG o-line and D.

I have no doubt whatsoever that Nederland could be just as good as PnG with an equal coaching staff. That’s what PNG’s experiment shows - Success at this level isn’t genetic. It’s not about just “having a good crop of boys this year.” It’s coached, created, engineered, taught. The encouraging thing is it doesn’t have to take a long time. Nederland seems to have replaced Neuman with a “rah rah” coaching staff hoping their boys will simply out-gumption the other team. This year especially, the lack of teaching is obvious. A new coaching staff could come in and say, “Every single thing you’re doing now, we’re going to do differently.” A year from now we could be talking about a completely transformed, terrifying Nederland team. Granted, PNG’s current staff inherited a solid, well-coached, enthusiastic Faircloth team and built from there. Nederland might need to get some kids back into the program, but once that happens there’s no reason a great coach can’t make it all work. There’s no difference between the PNG and Nederland players - Half of them were probably born in the same hospital. This is all the result of deliberate coaching choices.

I think it’s a shame there isn’t a Cajun/Mardi Gras themed team around here. If png ever changes mascots, I’d want us to be the Cajuns with Mardi Gras colors for the uniforms. It would be a party