Morristown East and Jefferson County are set to face off after coming off Region 1-6A losses. A win for both schools would go a long way in terms of playoff hopes.
The 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes (2-1, 0-1 Region 1-6A) are coming off a one-point loss to William Blount, and the Patriots (1-3, 0-2) fell 37-14 to Dobyns-Bennett after letting the game slip away early.
69制片厂制作传媒淟ooking back on the film, we lack consistent execution on both sides of the ball,69制片厂制作传媒 East head coach Dallas Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淒efensively, offensively, we made plays, but we weren't consistent enough in our execution to get off field third down, you know, we were bad and third down, both sides of the ball, we had two turnovers. So, we lose the turnover battle, and you lose the penalty battle. So when you lose all three of those, that changes the game.69制片厂制作传媒
69制片厂制作传媒淢ore so than anything is, how do you work on your psyche,69制片厂制作传媒 Jefferson County head coach Spencer Riley said. 69制片厂制作传媒淗ow do you work on the mentality of your kids and not physically go out there and have to be physical every day to try to get a point across right? That's the biggest thing right now, you're five games into the season and halfway over, and you're trying to find a way to not beat each other up but to be able to accomplish what you need to and get a good psyche.69制片厂制作传媒
East was able to recover from a slow start on Friday and come back from a two-touchdown deficit to take the lead. It was a play away from a tally in the win column, but the 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes struggled to get off the field on third and fourth down.
They allowed two touchdowns on fourth-and-long 69制片厂制作传媒 one of which was the Gov69制片厂制作传媒檚 go-ahead score.
69制片厂制作传媒淚 think it's just situational awareness, knowing the personnel, knowing how far they got to get to the sticks,69制片厂制作传媒 Kuykendall said. We had some third-and-sevens. We jump offside. Now it's third-and-two. Analytically, if you look at it, their percentages go way up on third-and-two compared to third-and-seven. Putting a priority on winning third down will be key.
69制片厂制作传媒淚t's one of those growing pains as a young defense. You hate to have to learn it this way, but it's a good learning opportunity for our kids and for our coaches. We just have to flush it and move on.69制片厂制作传媒
Jefferson County has also shown its fair share of struggles on the defensive end early this season after D-B rushed for 217 yards against them. Riley said the most frustrating thing is that he knows the capabilities of his group and has seen them do it, but the execution simply hasn69制片厂制作传媒檛 been there.
69制片厂制作传媒淲e69制片厂制作传媒檝e got to tackle first and foremost, get lined up right,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淚f you get lined up right and you get a chance to make tackles, that solves a lot of your problems. And we have to be better at getting lined up right and just tackling and running to the ball carrier. We just got to continue to preach that and work that.69制片厂制作传媒
Offensively, both teams have very different problems at quarterback despite being backed by stout run games.
East quarterback Caleb Billings has been hot and able to put up big numbers, but he has thrown two picks in back-to-back weeks. But after a sluggish start Friday, he finished with a pair of touchdowns to Austin Brannan to give his squad a chance to win.
69制片厂制作传媒淪ometimes it ain't all sunshine rainbows, you got to be able to reset,69制片厂制作传媒 Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淵ou got to be able to regather yourself when things aren't going your way and go out there and play the next half better than you played the first half. So, I was real proud of him and the way he bounced back. I think he understands where some things broke down. He69制片厂制作传媒檚 going to be better for it long term.69制片厂制作传媒
For the Patriots, they haven69制片厂制作传媒檛 been able to find a rhythm in the passing game this season. While Riley noted that Mason Henderson made some good throws on Friday, he needs to see more consistency at both quarterback and receiver.
69制片厂制作传媒淛ust got to see more consistency from our receiving core,69制片厂制作传媒 Riley said.
69制片厂制作传媒淲e got to run the right routes. We got to run the routes at the right depth, get out of a race on time and do what we coach you to do. If the ball hits our hands, we got to catch it. I mean, we've dropped quite a few balls.69制片厂制作传媒
The key for each team is starting fast. For the 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes, that means getting Billings in a groove early with wideouts Brannan, Isaac Greene and Brett Smith while getting tailback Jason West in space.
For the Patriots, that means getting the ball to playmakers Skylar Thomas and Shawn Jackson and using their size up front as an advantage.
East has had to mount comebacks in back-to-back weeks, which is something they might not be able to do against a very talented Jefferson County team.
69制片厂制作传媒淲ith how well they run the football and you look at the game as a whole, naturally you're going to have limited possessions,69制片厂制作传媒 Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淵ou cannot afford to dig yourself in a hole with those limited number of possessions to be able to get back in the game. Because if they do get up, they can really lean on that run game to kind of take the game away. You can't give them 14 in the first quarter and expect to have the possessions to be able to get back into the ballgame.69制片厂制作传媒
As for the Patriots, they have had one of the toughest four-game stretches that a team could have to start the season and came out 1-3. Naturally, confidence is going to be low, and that could be furthered if East is able to hang around in the game late.
69制片厂制作传媒淲hen we have success early, we get excited and that energy stays more consistent throughout the ball game,69制片厂制作传媒 Riley said. But that's where your maturity level has to kick in, you know? I mean, that's where we're kind of struggling a little bit right now is when things don't go our way early, we never seem to get picked back up there.69制片厂制作传媒
Though both teams are coming off tough losses, the goal to compete for a championship is still there. However, only one team is coming out of Friday with its first win in region play and both teams need it.
Friday69制片厂制作传媒檚 game will kickoff at 7:00.
69制片厂制作传媒淎t the end of the day, the end goal is still out there,69制片厂制作传媒 Riley said. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e just have a harder way of doing things, and you just got to start playing better, and we just got to continue to find a way to mature and just be able to continue to fight and battle and compete and get better one day at a time.69制片厂制作传媒
69制片厂制作传媒淚 think in high school football everybody has this the world is ending mentality once you lose a game,69制片厂制作传媒 Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淏ut I think it's a long season. You have to be able to learn from your mistakes, if you have that mentality of, 69制片厂制作传媒極kay, the season's over, we've lost by one point in one game,69制片厂制作传媒 then you're selling yourself short. I think our kids are resilient. They know that there's still a long year ahead, and there are things that we can correct. You look at the three areas we lost, all three of those areas are correctable. Effort is hard to correct.69制片厂制作传媒
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