Week 1 01

Week 1
September 9, 2001

The Crosby Game

I thought that we had a lot of positive things out of the Crosby game, being that we had so many players that hadn't played varsity football. I felt going into the game we had the type players to be successful, but we needed to go out and prove it. That's what they did. They did a real fine job of executing the things we asked them to do.

Our kicking game was a real strong point in the game. Like all head coaches, I was concerned about the kicking game early in the year because you see on TV punts blocked and breakdowns in the kicking game. Ours was positive. We were able to gain good field position from the kicking game. We had a lot of short drives. I was really pleased with the way the kids responded early in the game, because we were able to get a Crosby in a punt situation and we came with pressure and blocked the punt for a safety.

They kicked off to us, and we fumbled the kickoff, and they picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown. I was pleased with the way our kids responded. We came back with a great kickoff return by Keegan Swann and scored. We went up 8-7 and never looked back. So it was a really fun night for opening night.

Obviously there are a lot of things we need to work on, and these will be taken care of this week. AS far as our team and school, it's a really good way to start the year. We came out of the game injury free.

The Jacksonville Game

Jacksonville. We've lost 2 in a row to them. 1996 in the playoffs, and last year at home. So we would sure love to change that situation. It's a tough task ahead of us. They have a lot of athletes on defense. They run to the ball and make things happen. Coach Long, their head coach, does a tremendous job.

Offensively they present a real different look than Crosby. Crosby was a power team; Jacksonville uses a lot of finesse. Reverses, draws, screens. They try to hit the big play on you and spread you out.

It's going to be a challenge, but our coaches have a great plan for Jacksonville, and we look forward to going to the Tomato Bowl there in Jacksonville Saturday night.

Defensive Leaders

Defensive leaders against Crosby were:

	CB John Pierce--3 interceptions, 6 tackles, 1 caused fumble that was picked up and run in for a touchdown
	FS Keegan Swann--6 unassisted tackles, 3 assists
	LB Dylan Brown--5 unassisted tackles, 3 assists, 1 tackle for loss
	DE Dusty Dubois--5 unassisted tackles, 1 assist, 1 tackle for loss
	SS Grant Hebert--4 unassisted tackles, 2 assists, 1 blocked punt
	DE Tony Pecorino--4 unassisted tackles, 1 assist, 1 tackle for loss, 1 recovered fumble run in for a touchdown

--Matt Burnett, Head Coach