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Week Three Lookback

Perhaps no team in Jefferson District went through a more difficult out of district schedule than Orange County. Between Chancellor and James Monroe, the Hornets got a chance to play against two of the top programs in the state. And while Orange struggled to get much of anything going against the Chargers, against the Yellow Jackets, the Hornets defense showed it’s true colors.

The Hornets spent the majority of Friday’s game on defense as their offense struggled to piece together first downs. As such, it was impressive that the Yellow Jackets only dialed up two touchdowns, both of which came on long runs of 42 and 32 yards. Between those two plays, the Orange front seven was particularly impressive as they kept the defending Group AA champions out of sync.

The biggest reason for the disruption was lineman Dakota Connell. The only reason Monroe was only up by seven points at the half and not 21 was because of Connell. The senior piled up five tackles for a loss in the first two quarters with three of them coming on key third downs. Connell was enough of a problem that Yellow Jackets coach Rich Serbay had to realign his offense to account for him.

“We made adjustments in the offensive line blocking,” Serbay said. “They were killing us. (Connell) played a whale of a game so we had to make adjustments, cut our guard splits down to get (Connell) because the kid was just eating us up.”

As the Hornets begin JD play this week against two-time defending champ Monticello, don’t be surprised if the Mustangs have to learn the same lessons.

Blue Ridge struggles defensively

There’s no question the Blue Ridge is one of the most athletic teams in the area if not the most. But athleticism never trumps the fundamentals of the game, namely tackling. The Barons’ defense learned that the hard way against a banged up but dangerous Liberty Christian team on Friday afternoon.

The Bulldogs were able to pile up points 53 between offense and special teams, and save a quarterback sneak in the first half, almost every score came on big plays because of missed tackles (see Cody Underwood’s two kickoff returns for touchdowns). As such, the Blue Ridge offense, which looks very dangerous with AJ Williams at receiver and David Coe at running back, was caught off guard and forced into an unenviable position – score every drive.

To do that, the Barons were forced to pass on nearly every down. That’s unfortunate, because even with the game out of hand, Coe was having no trouble moving the chains, averaging over eight yards per carry. If Blue Ridge can fix the defensive problems, Coe will be able to kick start the passing game because teams are going to have to commit at least one safety to stop the talented back. What was most impressive about Coe’s play wasn’t just his speed, but his strength and the motor he ran with despite being smaller than most of the guys trying to tackle him.

“There were some positives,” said Barons coach Del Smith. “We had some early misreads in the passing game, but David Coe was able to run down hill. He was very effective against a great defense.”

The one of the bright spots on defense fore Blue Ridge was the play of Isaiah Battle on the defensive line. Battle was consistently in the backfield on both passing and running plays and when the Barons did finally find some answers for the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter, it was because of the pressure that Battle brought.

 

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