[AshlandTcat06]

First off, I would like to personally congratulate the Johnson Central players on the victory. I knew they would come out on their homecoming and senior night full of energy, and they did just that. The Eagles wanted this win more than we did. Also I liked the great sportsmanship shown by both teams. These players have a great amount of respect for each other! :thumpsup:

Second, I will back up Tomcat68 on the PA and sound system. I didn't like hearing all the loud music and such playing when Ashland was in the huddle or about to run their offensive plays. That didn't go on when JC was about to run their plays. But, I will stop it at that, because (somehow) I don't think I even remember us getting more than one false start or offsides on offense, and the fact that JC played such an awesome game.

Third, I think Johnson Central is a top 10, top 5, maybe even a top 3 team in 3A. I haven't seen any of the others play so I can't judge which team goes where, but I honestly think that JC is at least a top 5 team.

Now as for the game, I'll start with the fact that Grimm looked impressive. He had around 300 yards, and I should also add that he is much improved from last year. Most of his yards in the game came from long runs. From what I remember, he had a 63, 75, and two 40+ yard runs in the game. I believe that 300 puts him at around 1700 yards, which is around what Ron Blume had last year. If he cracks 2,000 or more (with the way he's playing, I believe he will), that will be a feat.

I didn't pay too much attention to our defense the whole game, but I thought we played decent as a unit. The thing that REALLY hurt us was the fact that we allowed the long runs. Johnson Central played outstanding, but the one thing I noticed was that the Eagles didn't really get a consistent drive going on us. It seemed like they would either go 3 and out or get a long run.

Our offense looked terrible. I credit the JC defense for playing an outstanding game, but I also feel that in the first half our offensive line didn't block well. We played better in the second half and got a nice, clock-consuming drive going, but being down 21-0 already, it was too little, too late. I wonder even more about our passing game tonight. I believe we had 4-5 dropped passes, and what concerned me more was that we weren't able to get much time to throw the ball, despite the fact that a lot of the times we passed JC sent only four rushers. Matt Thomas has to learn that when he goes against a defense that played as well as JC did, he can't dance around like he did and expect to get yards. He has to hit the hole and get as many yards as he can, and I'm hoping he will take this game as a learning experience. Fields Davis and Josh Cordle didn't get a lot of carries, but I thought they hit the hole and ran the ball well.

That's about all I have to say about the game. As the score shows, we have some things we need to work on. Congrats again to Johnson Central and I wish you all the best of luck against Mason County. I hope we meet again in the 2nd round of the playoffs!