[Walt Longmire]

My take away from the game:

The schedules that the two teams had played really worked in LCA's favor. Due to the lack of competition faced by the Jumpers they weren't prepared to see someone with the speed and physicality of LCA. Conversely, the Eagles had already been exposed to that kind of competition. I think that had a lot to do with LCA jumping out to the 14-0 lead as well as finishing with a flourish. Somerset had not been pushed into the 2nd half all season and didn't finish once they came back and took the lead. I don't know if that was due to conditioning, the injuries, not being used to being in a dogfight late in a game, or some combination of all 3. There wasn't really much that Somerset could have done about the schedule. COVID-19 took away the Beechwood game and, since it was scheduled before last year, they couldn't foresee what happened at Hazard. But this is a year where it would have been nice if the Pulaski County school system would have taken the Somerset offer to buy out contracts and play the county schools. But that's not on the Jumpers.
As for what went wrong on the field. The game was won in the trenches. LCA was able to pass block well enough to give Nieves time to hit his talented receivers while Somerset didn't give Sheron time to find his. I didn't see anything that can't be fixed but that is where the improvements will have to be made if Somerset is going to come out on top in round 2. That, and cutting down on the penalties, they continue to be a problem. It was a little sloppy, but still a great game between 2 very, very good teams. I still think the rematch could go either way and that the winner will be the favorite to take home the gold football this year.