MUS Football

Plans for the Week

We will have a brief meeting today to get all of the equipment picked up and the locker room cleaned. This should take no more than an hour. For those boys moving on to another sport after today they need to check with those coaches. The boys that are remaining in football need to rest up and focus on school work until after exams.

Ensworth Semi-Final Recap

Congratulations to Ensworth for a well played game on Friday. They took advantage of their opportunities and made the plays both offensively and defensively that they needed. In a season where we have had the task of playing against many very good running backs I think I can safely say that Corn Elder is the best we saw this year. But he is not a one man team and the rest of the Tigers also played very well especially on defense when we threatened to score. Much of what we did not accomplish was due to their good play.

The radio crew selected one Southern Sun Player of the Game going with Nicholas Vergos who was our leading tackler on defense. Nicholas finishes his career here at MUS with a very well played game.

While we are all disappointed in the outcome of the game I certainly can not fault the effort of our players and coaches. We left it all on the field but it was just not our night.

GAME STATS

 

Ensworth Semi-Final Preview

In many ways it seems such a short time ago we were preparing for our opening game of the season with Ensworth knowing they would have a great team and would provide us a strong test. That they did. Now almost 3 months later we meet again in the state semi-finals. Ensworth has had a great season currently lining up at 11-1. We all know the cast of characters for them with the leading role going to Corn Elder. On offense he is supported by a good line and the throwing combination of Andrew Bowers to Cory Batey. Defensively Elder and Batey give Ensworth a formidable secondary but the DL of Cody Pack, Shomari White, and Michael Sawyers have also played a very important role. One of the top defenders in the league is Keshonn Carter who plays outside linebacker.

Our focus this week is playing the type of game that allows us the chance to win this week. Nothing we do will change the result of the first game so while there are some things to learn from it both teams have grown a lot since that night in August. I believe our team has had a great week of preparation and that we are ready to play our best game of the year.

GO OWLS!!

McCallie Recap

Our team played very well the past Friday against a McCallie team that also played very well. Our ability to make some big plays on offense and to limit those big plays by McCallie especially in the running game was the key to victory in my opinion. As we said in the game preview McCallie was the top rushing team in our league and we held them to 124 yards for the game which was a huge victory for our defensive team. This was also one of our best nights of the season on offense as we averaged almost 10 yards a play.

The SouthernSun Players of the game as selected by our media group were Toby Baker and Matt Bolton. Toby probably had his best game of the year and it could not have come at a better time. Matt was the key to our defense stopping the run and he finished the game with 18 tackles.

We do not hand out Buzzard Player awards during the play-offs but I would like to give a shout out to Darien Bradburn a 9th grade running back who did a great job all week impersonating #24 from McCallie. In fact all of our guys on the scout teams continue to be integral to our success on Fridays.

So we know move on to the Semi-Finals and face Ensworth. More about that game later.

MCCALLIE GAME STATS

McCallie Preview

Our Quarter-final game with McCallie promises to be a very tough contest for us. McCallie's record of 5-5 is very deceiving. They were ahead of Ensworth going into the 4th quarter, had a chance to beat Baylor on the last play and missed a last second FG to beat MBA. The only game they did not have a chance to win in the 4th quarter was the Brentwood Academy game. Their bad luck seem to change last week when the beat BGA on a last second TD pass.

On offense McCallie leads the league in rushing averaging 267 yards a game behind the efforts of #24 Daniel McClure who is 3rd in the league individually at 147 yards a game. Their option attack is directed by #4 QB Trent Lusk who accounts for 138 yards a game in total offense. They average over 30 points a game. I think this will be one of our toughest test of the year because of their disciplined attack. The strength of our team all year has been our defense and we will need to be at our best.

Defensively McCallie is led by LB'er #17 Hayden Cronan who has been in on 88 tackles including 11 TFL's and 5 sacks. Other leaders are #21 Eric Wolfe at OLB and safeties #26 Brian Viscomi and #15 Harry Phillips. On the DL #79 Josh Bandy has been a solid player. Their defense has struggled at times this year because of injuries as only 7 of their starters have played in more than 7 games. We expect to see everyone this week.

It has been a while since we played McCallie in football, actually going back to 2003. Our schools have had a very healthy rivalry in lacrosse over the last few years and many of the same kids play both for them as they do for us.

Our team has had a great week of practice and I believe we are ready to play well. We need our fans to make our home field advantage pay off. Come early and be loud!! GO OWLS

Owls to Host McCallie

The McCallie Blue Tornado advanced with a 24-17 victory over BGA and will be our opponent next Friday at MUS with a 7:00pm kick-off. We will have a regular practice on Monday going until 5:30. Tuesday and Wednesday will follow our normal schedules as will Thursday. More info on McCallie and the match-up to come later in the week but all games are tough in the play-offs and we know McCallie will come to Memphis well prepared and eager for the game.

CURRENT BRACKET

D-II Play-Off Bracket

If you have not yet seen this in the paper here is a copy of the football play-off bracket. This year there is a slight change in the bracket on who the #1 seed from the west (us) plays in the quarter-final round.

2011 PLAY-OFF BRACKET

Play-Off Strategy

Over the years I believe we have found a play-off routine that works for us. Below is a copy of the post we have posted before.

 

As we start the play-offs it is important that we separate what has been accomplished in the regular season to what lies ahead. The regular season is more like a marathon. Each week we prepare not only for the team we are about to play but also work on the things that our team will need to be able to do throughout the season. It is about surging over the hills and relaxing on the flats knowing that the race is long. The play-offs are like the Olympic 100 meter dash. No one will remember who gets the silver or bronze medal, only who wins the gold. And the race is often lost by the field more than it is won by the champion . My point is that the play-offs do not reward the best teams but the "HOT" teams.

For us, the best way to be hot is to forget the regular season and surge ahead. None of the teams we may play will be intimidated by who we have beaten or by how much. They are fighting to keep their team alive to play another day just as we are. In the play-off games we have won, what really stands out to me are the heroic plays our guys have made to help win or secure a victory. We have a rich history at MUS of those types of plays. I believe that these plays are most possible when the player plays relaxed and each player is confident of how his teammates and coaches love him regardless of whether the play is made or not. Love gives him the freedom to go for it, to take the chance of making the big play knowing that he also risks the loss.

One of the worst things we can do for our team is try and make this a bigger deal just because it is a play-off game. That usually only adds stress and doubt that is not conducive to playing our best. The boys understand what is at stake and I have no doubt about how hard they will play. If we play our best we will have no regrets.

BCS Recap

With the 26-10 victory over Briarcrest last Friday we were able to finish the regular season with a 7-3 record going 3-0 in our region. Not sure anyone but our team believed in us when we were 2-3 but this group has hung in there and found ways to win. We had told the boys all week how hard Briarcrest would play against us and they certainly competed fiercely but our defense remained strong and we made enough big plays on offense.

The SouthernSun Players of the Game this week as selected by our radio crew were Ford Howell and Devin Perry. Congrats to both of these young men. Our Buzzard Player of the Week goes to sophomore defensive lineman Andrew Crosby. Andrew has worked hard all year as a member of our scout team helping the offense be prepared for the opposition on Friday. This season we have been able to honor 10 of these guys who contribute so much to our team and there are certainly many more that could have been selected. One of the things that make football a unique game in today's world is how many people it can take to contribute significantly to make a team successful. It is not all about who gets to play on Friday night.

BCS GAME STATS

8th Grade Season Recap

The 8th grade team this year finished with an undefeated season after beating Briarcrest this past Tuesday. Coach Wade had the following comments about this year's group.

"The 2011 8th grade owls finished the season undefeated (8-0), and more importantly we had fun and got better. This group is very talented. We had numerous playmakers, and quality lineman who did the hard work. As we started the season my goal for the team is always similar.

“Have Fun and get Better". As this season progressed a new slogan was born " Work to Win"

 It started with the adjustment to 6:00 am practices, but continued throughout the season as the whole team worked together to drive the sled, during our  “5 and 5 drill"

The team came together and continued to move forward.

Kids competed each week to earn playing time.

We owe part of our success to all the support of the parents. Thank you to all, and especially Lauren Keel, who helped coordinate numerous deliveries of pizzas and Popsicles.

Yes, that mean coach Wade was asking the moms to bring popsicles.

Some of the highlights of the season:

First ever team bus rides to away games

Film sessions-" The film does not lie"

Bomb pops after practice

The jumbo set

Coach Frasier's gifting of the " swag" sunglasses

Watkins dumping cold water on Coach Wade's head

 

Good luck to our varsity team in the playoffs. Please come out and support them.

Great job by all

"Have fun and get better" and continue to "work to win."

Coach Wade