KFDM COOP Posted August 28, 2008 Report Posted August 28, 2008 Contrasting styles for Titan, Jags By Cody Pastorella The Port Arthur News Ready or not, the high school football season starts tonight. And one of the first games to kick off will be Memorial’s 7 p.m. matchup with the Central Jaguars. The Jags are a very capable team with a lot of looming questions. In a lot of ways, the same thing can be said about the hosting Titans. Both teams are coming off somewhat disappointing 4-6 seasons in 2007 in which neither team made the playoffs. Both teams have critical question marks at quarterback as well. Memorial's situation is a matter of Jareal Alexander's health. There are no concerns with Alexander's ability to lead the Titans but whether his thumb will hold up and for how long. The senior had pins placed in his thumb to repair bone damage in early July and had those pins removed in mid August. He was just cleared to play Aug. 21. Head coach Ronnie Thompson said he feels as if his starting quarterback will be able to play. What he is not sure of is how long the 5-11 gun slinger will be able to last. If he can't go, the Titans options are with underclassman Stedman Haynes and Corwin Keal. Central's quarterbacking situation is rather simple. Can its starter Michael Richard make the right decisions in Beaumont's option attack? Richard, who made a couple of starts last season, was given the nod late this preseason because the expected starter moved to a different high school. Memorial has to figure the Jags will keep the plan simple for Richard, calling for their quarterback to rely on the dive play to fullback David Mayfield. And this begs for the final and biggest question going into the season opener. Can Memorial stop the inside running game? While the inability to stop the run has plagued Port Arthur for nearly three seasons, Memorial did show some signs of improvements last year and returns seven players from that defense. The one area the Titans continued to struggle with in the 2007 campaign was stopping the inside run. More importantly, Memorial never shutdown the dive play. Even more importantly, Memorial never shut down Kingwood, which runs the same flexbone-option offensive scheme that Central uses. Kingwood hammered the Titans to the tune of 369 yards on the ground in last year's meeting. Defensive coordinator Curtis Viola and the rest of Port Arthur will have a decent idea of what to expect in its run defense after tonight. "They are fast and they are going to run the ball all night," Viola said. "It's a tough offense to prepare for because its a style we don't see very often and it's a style that can kill defenses. We are going to absolutely have to play assignment football. “If every man takes care of his job, stays in position, we will be fine. If that doesn't happen, we will give up a whole lot of yards." Viola added that the 3-3-5 defense, which he started installing before last season, is a great alignment to stop Central's type of offense. But he said it's an offense that is hard to prepare for. "We cannot simulate their speed," he said. "Yes, we are just as fast or faster as they are but our offense doesn't run those plays so they aren't used to simulating it for us. You can prepare for the scheme, there's just no way to prepare for their speed." Central coach Donald Stowers said the same thing about his defense trying to stop Memorial's offense. "We don't run their offense," Stowers said. "And our defense is not designed to stop that kind of offense. Our base defense is a 3-4, so we are going to have to make some changes and add defensive backs in order to stop them. We just aren't used to the speed." Memorial offensive coordinator Kenny Harrison wasn't ready to give his offense the full advantage, however. "Those guys are extremely fast," Harrison said, "And they have seen the spread a few times the last couple years. Nederland uses it, Lumberton spreads it out, Dayton uses a little bit of the spread, so they have seen this offense a few times. And they get a lot of hats to the ball in a hurry." The styles are different, the circumstances are similar and the speed is the common denominator. Something will have to give to find a winner tonight. Thompson said the solution is rather simple. "Execution and limit the mistakes," he said. "That's the name of the game." • When: 7 p.m. • Where: Memorial Stadium in Port Arthur • Records: 0-0
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