[Jarons]

Final

[RAMDAD50]

Worst offensive football team the Rams have had in many years. It’s a combination of two things. One….a lot of kids playing for the first time. Two….horrible offensive philosophies. Just all around bad play calling all year and the coach trying to milk the clock in every game from the time the game starts. You gotta stop trying to micromanage every game and let your kids grow by making some mistakes. You can’t try to keep them from making them.

[Orange Blaze]

This game went about how I expected. Raceland played tough and kept the game somewhat close in the first half but got wore down by Highlands size and strength.

If I was a Highlands fan I would be a little concerned after this game. Raceland did a good job at controlling the tempo on the first half and for them being a top 5A team it took them way too long to take control of this game and put it away.

[Patriot1]

Well get ready RAMDAD50 to print on the key pad but read my statement first Raceland has the hard nose kids that love the game and play with heart now they might not be the most talented team out there but they give it their all and right now they are young and make some mistakes but I could see them being trouble for teams down the road when it counts but I don’t see them or Pikeville in the championship game unless some things change now I personally always pull fo the Rams except when they play Pikeville and congratulations to Highlands for their win tonight

[bac2369]

Who was the quarterback tonight?

[ArmChairHC]

Saw both Waller and Ison tonight in about the same amount of snaps. Tbh, neither one looked better than the other. Highlands just matched us step for step in the passing game and while I felt both QBs made the right reads, neither one of them had a chance to set their feet and throw the ball. 3 really bad misses on those reads could have potentially made the game 7-0 and then 14-0 Rams in the first half. Highlands isn’t as good as they were last year by any stretch. They were huge upfront, but really didn’t dominate the LOS like I thought they would. It was a slow bleed. Officials were horrid. They didn’t affect the over all outcome but definitely kept us as behind the chains as we could possibly be on 1st and 2nd down.

The positive…
For 2 1/2 quarters Highlands needed penalty help to slow down our offense. It wasn’t flashy, but was effective and in the first quarter the LOS was really all Raceland. Our defense is championship caliber, imo. We just gotta find a damn way to score some points. He’ll, Maybe give Cooper a shot. Idk. The passing game is just lacking in a major way. I did like seeing Ison back at WR though, if he isn’t at QB he is too good of a WR and blocker to be on the sideline. Stiltner and Marushi ran hard as hell. But FTH just had too many bodies at the end of the night.

We were down a starting OT and his back up tonight. Still yet to see Rowsey back on the field. Saw some guys a little banged up tonight post game. Hopefully it’s just hurt and not injured. The schedule gets a little more manageable moving forward until we see LCA to wrap up the regular season. But NCC, Hazard, and maybe even Paris…won’t be grantees. Gotta clean up a hell of a lot. But I was proud of our fight tonight.

[goblue556]

Saw both Waller and Ison tonight in about the same amount of snaps. Tbh, neither one looked better than the other. Highlands just matched us step for step in the passing game and while I felt both QBs made the right reads, neither one of them had a chance to set their feet and throw the ball. 3 really bad misses on those reads could have potentially made the game 7-0 and then 14-0 Rams in the first half. Highlands isn’t as good as they were last year by any stretch. They were huge upfront, but really didn’t dominate the LOS like I thought they would. It was a slow bleed. Officials were horrid. They didn’t affect the over all outcome but definitely kept us as behind the chains as we could possibly be on 1st and 2nd down.

The positive…
For 2 1/2 quarters Highlands needed penalty help to slow down our offense. It wasn’t flashy, but was effective and in the first quarter the LOS was really all Raceland. Our defense is championship caliber, imo. We just gotta find a damn way to score some points. He’ll, Maybe give Cooper a shot. Idk. The passing game is just lacking in a major way. I did like seeing Ison back at WR though, if he isn’t at QB he is too good of a WR and blocker to be on the sideline. Stiltner and Marushi ran hard as hell. But FTH just had too many bodies at the end of the night.

We were down a starting OT and his back up tonight. Still yet to see Rowsey back on the field. Saw some guys a little banged up tonight post game. Hopefully it’s just hurt and not injured. The schedule gets a little more manageable moving forward until we see LCA to wrap up the regular season. But NCC, Hazard, and maybe even Paris…won’t be grantees. Gotta clean up a hell of a lot. But I was proud of our fight tonight.

Cooper is a gamer may not always look the best in practice but shows up on game day

[ArmChairHC]

Problem with that is…you have to show in practice that you can handle it. He hasn’t done that from the QB position. Been said countless times.

[sstack]

Saw both Waller and Ison tonight in about the same amount of snaps. Tbh, neither one looked better than the other. Highlands just matched us step for step in the passing game and while I felt both QBs made the right reads, neither one of them had a chance to set their feet and throw the ball. 3 really bad misses on those reads could have potentially made the game 7-0 and then 14-0 Rams in the first half. Highlands isn’t as good as they were last year by any stretch. They were huge upfront, but really didn’t dominate the LOS like I thought they would. It was a slow bleed. Officials were horrid. They didn’t affect the over all outcome but definitely kept us as behind the chains as we could possibly be on 1st and 2nd down.

The positive…
For 2 1/2 quarters Highlands needed penalty help to slow down our offense. It wasn’t flashy, but was effective and in the first quarter the LOS was really all Raceland. Our defense is championship caliber, imo. We just gotta find a damn way to score some points. He’ll, Maybe give Cooper a shot. Idk. The passing game is just lacking in a major way. I did like seeing Ison back at WR though, if he isn’t at QB he is too good of a WR and blocker to be on the sideline. Stiltner and Marushi ran hard as hell. But FTH just had too many bodies at the end of the night.

We were down a starting OT and his back up tonight. Still yet to see Rowsey back on the field. Saw some guys a little banged up tonight post game. Hopefully it’s just hurt and not injured. The schedule gets a little more manageable moving forward until we see LCA to wrap up the regular season. But NCC, Hazard, and maybe even Paris…won’t be grantees. Gotta clean up a hell of a lot. But I was proud of our fight tonight.

Not sure what plays you saw that could have made it 14-0 in Raceland favor in first half. The did good job chewing up clock but I never saw a threat to score. Highlands running a lot of kids in and out who normally not playing much or at all and never looked good first half but never felt like they weren’t going to win the game. I agree Highlands didn’t dominate LOS like many thought they would. The officials weren’t horrible, but not great, feel they missed more holding calls on Raceland than anything. Worst no call was when play clock  expired for at least two seconds when Highlands was kicking an extra point (no effect on the game).
I agree that Highlands does not look great this year and are getting too much praise. They give up a lot of yards rushing on defense, have no passing game with this QB (even  passes that are completed even to wide open receivers are bad, the TD pass in endzone against Raceland the kid was open by 4 yards and the pass was at his shoe tops that he had to dive for) and offensive play calling is terrible. I expect them to loss big next week to cooper.

[ArmChairHC]

There were two pass plays that were the right reads, that if completed put Raceland inside the 20 and One of which should have gone for a TD. Another would have put us inside the 30. Raceland was to slow down the birds offense early in the game. Those three misses really kind of summed up the night for us. Then the fiasco of calls or no calls in the first half. Some of them were legit, but others were really bad. when the defender comes across the LOS, touches an offensive player, then the offensive player moves, that’s offsides on the defense lol. The officiating seemed to get a little better in the second half after the line judges switched sides. But the side judge on the Raceland side in the first half was a pompous A-hole to begin with. Puffed his chest out at Salmons after one question and then did the same to a Highland player midway through the first bluebird drive. But like I said, I don’t think they had a direct outcome on the final result of the game. The lack of the delay of game call was bad and then they waited until the offense was completely set to start the play clock, instead of blowing the whistle to get set, then starting the play clock. This happened 2 other times as well. Before the TD pass the play clock did not start when it should have and then again when the game was already decided. The lack of holding calls was bad because it happened all night with both teams. Really it was two quarters of really bad calls and badly timed calls, bc like I said, it got a little better in the second half. I honestly think if we complete those 3 passes in the first half, it’s a 14-14 ball game at the half. I still feel like Highlands would have worn us down in the second half. But those 3 plays that didn’t happen made a big difference.

Another positive from this game though, is for the second week in a row, the younger Rams came out looking like they could handle the moment. This team is really fun to watch and play with a lot of passion and heart. Good luck to the Birds the rest of the way. Their stadium and campus is one of the nicest in the state.

[RAM-A-DEVIL]

We were cheated!

[WestCoast]

As good as the defense is for Raceland the offense is beyond bad. Year after year the playcalling philosophy has been "We are bigger and stronger and we will run the ball up the A-gap, 3 yards and a cloud of dust, stop us if you can". Raceland really has never had the personnel for that, but the last several years it was close. They do NOT have that this year. You have to SCHEME on offense. The first drive Raceland did some stuff they haven't done all year. They had two first downs back to back.
I feel the offense plays to "not lose" instead of "to win", meaning there is zero aggressiveness at all, just play it safe and put it all on the defense. In 3 of 4 of Raceland's games this year on the first play of their first possession, the call is a run up A-gap. It isn't working. Teams know this is coming.
How about a reverse? Double pass? Counter? Double move? ANYTHING to get the offense going. They have to be able to throw the ball if the run isn't working. The defense is just GASSED by the 4th quarter. This isn't the senior heavy teams of Raceland past where you just line up and play football with raw power and run an offense that is straight out of 1985.
I do think the defense has been GREAT all things considered. If not for the defense, the Rams would be in a terrible state.

[ArmChairHC]

^^^have to agree there. Been some things we have seen that show we are capable of more. But we don’t do them enough offensively

[RAMDAD50]

As good as the defense is for Raceland the offense is beyond bad. Year after year the playcalling philosophy has been "We are bigger and stronger and we will run the ball up the A-gap, 3 yards and a cloud of dust, stop us if you can". Raceland really has never had the personnel for that, but the last several years it was close. They do NOT have that this year. You have to SCHEME on offense. The first drive Raceland did some stuff they haven't done all year. They had two first downs back to back.
I feel the offense plays to "not lose" instead of "to win", meaning there is zero aggressiveness at all, just play it safe and put it all on the defense. In 3 of 4 of Raceland's games this year on the first play of their first possession, the call is a run up A-gap. It isn't working. Teams know this is coming.
How about a reverse? Double pass? Counter? Double move? ANYTHING to get the offense going. They have to be able to throw the ball if the run isn't working. The defense is just GASSED by the 4th quarter. This isn't the senior heavy teams of Raceland past where you just line up and play football with raw power and run an offense that is straight out of 1985.
I do think the defense has been GREAT all things considered. If not for the defense, the Rams would be in a terrible state.

Good lord ….you are me I am you…together that makes one. You better watch talking like this on here. The great Ram fans that wear those orange tinted glasses will call you names.

[ArmChairHC]

Same old scheme. We have shown flashes of things that this group can do well. Just have yet to come out and do it a whole game. The schedule has been brutal. Hopefully it hasn’t disheartened the team and everyone is still ready to fight like they have been even in the losses. Last night I expected us to come out flat and it was the exact opposite.

[sstack]

As good as the defense is for Raceland the offense is beyond bad. Year after year the playcalling philosophy has been "We are bigger and stronger and we will run the ball up the A-gap, 3 yards and a cloud of dust, stop us if you can". Raceland really has never had the personnel for that, but the last several years it was close. They do NOT have that this year. You have to SCHEME on offense. The first drive Raceland did some stuff they haven't done all year. They had two first downs back to back.
I feel the offense plays to "not lose" instead of "to win", meaning there is zero aggressiveness at all, just play it safe and put it all on the defense. In 3 of 4 of Raceland's games this year on the first play of their first possession, the call is a run up A-gap. It isn't working. Teams know this is coming.
How about a reverse? Double pass? Counter? Double move? ANYTHING to get the offense going. They have to be able to throw the ball if the run isn't working. The defense is just GASSED by the 4th quarter. This isn't the senior heavy teams of Raceland past where you just line up and play football with raw power and run an offense that is straight out of 1985.
I do think the defense has been GREAT all things considered. If not for the defense, the Rams would be in a terrible state.

I totally agree with you. Against highlands that is exactly what they did and with help of some penalties by Highlands D on long 3rd down plays they chewed up a lot of clock first half bet never felt like they had a chance to score. I know someone posted it could have been 14-0 Raceland in first half, would love to know at what time on the video they think that could have happened, never saw anything close to a score, in fact they barely got across Highlands 45. I expect Raceland to win by 21 against NCC. I think some on here are being too hard on their offense. I think pass defense is a concern for raceland, Highlands has a poor passing QB and was still able to have success against them. 

[RAMDAD50]

I just looked at the stats from this game…how did Highlands score 35 points ?? Haha. I’m thinking the stats are not right