Recaps of AAAA and AAA
District 12 Championships
First, I’d like to pat myself on the back. Last week, I made three predictions for the
three district championship games. And
while picking the winners wasn’t difficult, I came pretty close with my
predicted scores. I was able to catch the AAAA game from the sidelines, and the AAA game from the bleachers (see videos below). Unfortunately, due to the re-scheduling of the AA game, I was unable to catch that one. Click on the "read more" link below to see my take on the two games I saw, plus the video of the Wood-Dobbins game.
AAAA
My Pick: La Salle 35 –
Northeast 7
Actual Score: La Salle 35 –
Northeast 0
AAA
My Pick: Wood 42 – Dobbins 0
Actual Score: Wood 44 – Dobbins 7
AA
My Pick: West Catholic 40 – Bok 13
Actual Score: West Catholic 34 – Bok 6
AAAA District 12 Championship
La Salle 35 – Northeast 0
Game Summary
This game was very competitive, at least for the first possession
for each team. Northeast started the
game with the ball, and then lost 5 yards before punting it to La Salle. La Salle started with good field position, at the Northeast
42, but after losing 3 yards on their opening drive, punted it back to
Northeast. Northeast, pinned at their
own 11, only netted 1 yard on their second drive, thanks to 6 yard gain and a
minus 5 yard on a motion penalty. The
Vikings had to punt again, which was returned 34 yards to the Northeast 11. First play was an 11 yard touchdown run by
Kevin Forster. When Northeast failed to
gain a first down, they decided to punt from their own 17. That punt was blocked, and La
Salle once again had the ball inside the Northeast 15. On the first play Tim Wade carried 13 yards
for the second touchdown on two consecutive plays, which was 1 minute and 46
seconds after their first score. Northeast’s
offense finally woke up, if for only a few plays. Starting at their own 23, the Vikings’s
Pulliam rushed for 15 yards over three straight plays, and then connected with
Rashaun Sligh for a 24 yard pass play, taking the Vikings down to the La Salle 38. A two
yard loss, followed by two incompletions forced Northeast to punt. La Salle,
starting their first drive of the second quarter from their own 20, went on an
11 play drive for their third touchdown of the half. This drive consisted of 55 rushing yards and
30 yards passing, and featured three different rushers and two different
receivers. Jamal Abdur-Rahman finally
punched it in from two yards out to end this nearly 5 minute drive. At the half, La Salle’s
leading rusher was Kevin Forster, who had 44 yards on 8 carries. Three different Explorers registered rushing
touchdowns, Abdur-Rahman, Forster and Wade.
The second half was not much to right home about, as La
Salle scored on their last snap in the third quarter (17 seconds remaining), as
well as their meaningful snap of the fourth quarter (8:04 remaining). Northeast offense was pinned inside their own
20 for nearly the entire second half. The
first time they got out of their jammed up position, was on their final drive,
after changing quarterbacks (Marc Prompt entered in second half), when on their
final drive of the game, the Vikings drove from their own 30 to the La Salle 23. This
final drive stalled after three straight incompletions, and a sack by Dillon
Smith on the final Northeast play of the day. By the way, Northeast accumulated 0 net
rushing yards (14 on final drive) and 83 total passing yards (48 on final
drive), for a total of 83 offensive yards (62 on final drive). Let’s just say that it wasn’t pretty.
The Channel 6 guys mentioned, on a couple occasions, that
the Northeast people should do something to inspire their fans to come out and
watch the team. Let’s just say that the
fan base for the pub’s best team was a little light. Rumor has it that Northeast’s principal, who under
the weather and watching from home, got dress and made the trip to the
stadium. Not sure if she did so to just
be seen, to give the 6ABC guys a
piece of her mind, or to give some Northeast folks some grief for not promoting
this game enough. It’s not like
Northeast is in the championship game every year. As a matter of fact, it’s more like every 27
years. But, what do I know?
AAA District 12
Championship
Archbishop Wood 44 – Dobbins 7
Game Summary
Like the AAAA championship game, this one was competitive
for about 3 minutes. Wood took the
opening kickoff, and moved downfield thanks to a fake punt. But, the Vikings fell short and turned it over
on downs. Dobbins went three and out and
had their punt blocked out of the endzone. On the ensuing drive, Wood only took about 3
plays to score again. At this point, the
Vikings cruised.
Instead of getting into a blow by blow description, I have
decided to post the following videos of this game. The first video is the entire first
quarter. The second is the second
quarter. The third shows the second half
to the point where the mercy rule kicked in.
First Quarter
Second Quarter
Third Quarter (Until the Mercy Rule)
