It’s a great day and a sad. On one hand, we have a spectacular matchup between two great teams in today’s Class A state title game. It’s established, dominant program against the “out of nowhere” upstart. The back stories for both teams are intruiging and the game figures to be a classic. That’s all great. The sad part is that after today, I’ll be deprived of Class A football goodness for eight months, which is super, super sucky. In turn you, dear reader, will be deprived of words like “cranksmack,” “rootin’,” “toolin’” and truly dumb, awful analogies about pageant queen’s robbing liquor stores and such as that. We’ll just have to manage as best we can until August, I guess.
In one corner today we have Lamar, one of our state’s true football dynasties. They have lost one regular-season game in three years and BIG FAT NAM regular season games to Class A competition in four years. They are shooting for a third title in four years and have done that by physically whipping one opponent after another. In the other, we have Green Sea-Floyds, a program that, until this year, had never made it past the second round of the playoffs in its history. In fact, very rare was the year they even made it to the second round of the playoffs. By their own admission, they aspire to be like Lamar. They want to be thought of among Class A’s best programs and want to get there by stomping on your head wearing ski boots…or, you know, running the ball and playing good defense. Same deal. They come in on a seven-game winning streak and have had one of the state’s highest-scoring offenses during that stretch. That will give us a “strength-on-strength” as Lamar’s defense is essentially a castle wall with a moat full of acid, guarded by dragons, wrapped in razor wire. The offenses Since losing QB Cam Galloway to injury early in the year, the Silver Foxes have had to make some adjustments. Galloway brought a lot to the table with athleticism and that running component was going to be a big part of Lamar’s attack. New starter J.J. Langley isn’t the same kind of runner, so they’ve had to throw a little more…though Coach Corey Fountain joked that that means they now throw eight times a game instead of six. The scoring totals have dipped without Galloway, but the team still scores plenty of points, is good up front and has a stable of good backs. Now, Jacquez Lucas didn’t play last week against Dixie, I was told. Not sure of his status, but he’s a big piece of the puzzle for them on both sides of the ball. Malik Johnson is a studly back in his own right, though. The problem last week wasn’t moving the ball (they had over 400 total yards) it was the very un-Lamar like six turnovers. They were able to get away with that in part because the defense played so well. Dixie was a good, efficient offense, but they are mostly a between-the-tackles running team and that ain’t flying against Lamar, Bubba. I haven’t seen Green Sea-Floyds play in person, so I reached out to a few coaches who have. Running back Jaquan Dixon, according to one coach “Can flat G-O.” They rarely throw the ball but run at you from a lot of looks and formations. One coach told me they’ll go shotgun with two backs, they’ll show a double wing look, they’ll go double tight, two H-backs and a single back to run iso, power and counters. They mix in some option and some play action passes. They apparently ate Hemingway’s tail slam up with jet sweeps last week. Bubba Elliot is the QB and is a good athlete. Dixon has more speed than a truck stop, but they’ve got other backs too. Line isn’t gigantic but they are tough and move well. The defenses Lamar usually bases out of a 4-3 and they don’t stunt or blitz much. They play you straight up, which I like. Sometimes its better not to confuse high school kids with a bajillion coverages and stuff. They are always among the best tackling teams in the state. They play with a nasty edge…nothing dirty, but they hit you hard and never let up. They slowly grind down even the most physical teams, making you question your decision to play a contact sport. According to one coach I talked to, Green Sea’s defense has improved immensely since early in the year. Early on, they weren’t great against the run and would give up big passing plays. Then, they switched to an odd front, made a couple of personnel moves and they have been a force against the run since. Their corners and safeties attack downhill when they suspect a run play is coming. They apparently are OK against the pass too judging by the success they had against Baptist Hill. Opinions I talked to about four coaches about this match-up. Once said he fully expects Green Sea to win state in the next two years, but gives a slight edge to Lamar today based on their big-game experience. Another marveled at the job Kiefer has done, but thinks Lamar wins it based on experience and how good they are in the trenches. One said Lamar wins it unless they have a turnover-filled game like last week. The last coach said it would be a good game but would be won in the trenches, where he thinks Lamar has the upper hand. As for me, I can see this game going either way. Green Sea is an amazing story. They are having the best season in school history. The Trojans had NEVER made it past the second round in their history before this year. They have done that while facing a hurricane and residual flooding that kept them out of school for a three weeks and off the field for a month. Some players lost their homes…to succeed in the face of that tells you a lot about the character and grit of this bunch. They are giving an area that’s been whacked twice in three years by Mother Nature something to rally around, to root for and to feel good bad. How can you not appreciate that and root for them. And this isn’t just a scrappy little team that gets by on effort. They have talent, real talent and the will to build something great. When I went down there last week, the kids weren’t just talking about winning state this year, they were talking about building a foundation for future success after they graduate. I think their defense can have a pretty good night against Lamar, particularly if Lucas is out. Where I struggle is looking at their offense matching up against the Lamar defense. I know they show a lot of looks, test you inside and outside and have crazy skill talent. But it’s just really, really hard for me to see anybody…and I do mean anybody, beat Lamar with a running game. They only teams that have success against them throw the ball. That’s what Gray did. That’s what Baptist Hill did in a high-scoring loss to Lamar for state last year. This is one of those tater-kicking contest games I talk about far too often. Until I see it, I can’t pick it to happen. Now, if Lamar gets sloppy with the ball again, they might get boat-raced this week, but it’s hard to see a Corey Fountain coached team messing its britches on the turnover front twice in two weeks. I say this one is close and down to the wire, but in the end the big-game experience and slight edge in the trenches tips the scales towards the Silver Foxes. The Pick- Lamar.
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November 2021
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