Final per the Scoreboard.

I thought Holmes was better than that. I don't even think Beechwood played that great.

Good win for the Tigers. They had to work for it. The defense played very well. The offense is still inconsistent. Neither offense could get anything going in the second half and that made for a strange half. Holmes was on the verge of getting back into it. Scruggs had a big TD run and then they got a defensive stop but Beechwood intercepted a pass to stop the possible momentum change. Beechwood is still a work in progress, but when you beat a 3-1 4A team 40-7 on their home field, you have played pretty well and are happy with the win.

Good win for the Tigers. They had to work for it. The defense played very well. The offense is still inconsistent. Neither offense could get anything going in the second half and that made for a strange half. Holmes was on the verge of getting back into it. Scruggs had a big TD run and then they got a defensive stop but Beechwood intercepted a pass to stop the possible momentum change. Beechwood is still a work in progress, but when you beat a 3-1 4A team 40-7 on their home field, you have played pretty well and are happy with the win.

 

Well, I'll just say that I normally respect your opinion. In this case, I think you are wrong. I thought it was ugly and back to a very less than dynamic offense for the Tigers. I don't know how the Holmes that played tonight was 3-1.

 

Definitely always happy with a win. So I will agree with you there.

Well, I'll just say that I normally respect your opinion. In this case, I think you are wrong. I thought it was ugly and back to a very less than dynamic offense for the Tigers. I don't know how the Holmes that played tonight is 3-1.

 

Definitely always happy with a win. So I will agree with you there.

 

I agree with you. Not sure where what I said is different than what you said. I call the offense inconsistent. You call it ugly. I do think the defense played well.

Good win for the Tigers. They had to work for it. The defense played very well. The offense is still inconsistent. Neither offense could get anything going in the second half and that made for a strange half. Holmes was on the verge of getting back into it. Scruggs had a big TD run and then they got a defensive stop but Beechwood intercepted a pass to stop the possible momentum change. Beechwood is still a work in progress, but when you beat a 3-1 4A team 40-7 on their home field, you have played pretty well and are happy with the win.

BW chewed up Holmes in second quarter on screen passes and left no doubt about the outcome by scoring with one minute left in half to go up 26-0. Holmes played better defensively in second half but just couldn't mount much of a sustained offense other than the one long Scruggs TD run. Very impressed with the soph QB for BW. He's a good one.

Nice win

Here is the game report:

 

Beechwood took the opening kickoff, which went out of bounds like all Holmes kickoffs in this game. Tigers 3 and out. Holmes managed one first down then punted back to Beechwood. The Tigers then marched from their own 19 and scored on a 20 yard pass from Kyle Fieger to Joe Studer on the last play of the first quarter. Miles Sletto's extra point made it 7-0.

 

Holmes opened the second quarter by going 3 and out and went 3 and out on their other drives this quarter. Beechwood had a good punt return to start their drive from the Homes 49. Ethan Stringer scored on a 21 yard TD run with 8:51 to go in the half. The extra point was no good so the Tigers led 13-0. Beechwood's next possession featured a 44 yard pass from Fieger to Jalen Hayden with Jonathon Scruggs showing his speed by knocking Hayden out of bounds at the one. Jonathon Stokes lined up at RB and carried the ball the final yard in for the score. Sletto hit the XP and the Tigers led 20-0 with 6:12 to go. Then on Beechwood's final possession of the half they once again drove from their own 19 to a score with Stringer scoring from 11 yards out with 1:00 left. The XP missed and your halftime score was Beechwood 26 Holmes 0.

 

In the third quarter, each team had 5 possessions in the quarter and both struggled offensively. Here is how the quarter went:

 

Holmes @ 37 ... Scruggs fumble

Beechwood @ 49 ... 3 and out

Holmes @ 18 ... one first down on a pass then Scruggs scored on an impressive run of about 60 yards at the 9:20 mark: 26-7

Beechwood @ 35 ... 3 and out

Holmes @ 46 ... Ryan Bankemper intercepts a pass on the first play of the drive.

Beechwood @ 45 ... stopped on downs

Holmes @ 40 ... Scruggs stopped short on a fake punt run.

Beechwood @ 47 ... Finally some offense. Fieger hits Stokes on a 14 yard TD pass, a very nice run by Stokes leaving 5 Bulldogs in his wake. 2:35 to go in the quarter. 33-7

Holmes @ 40 ... stopped on downs

Beechwood @ 38 ... 1 first down and then a punt

 

Thank goodness the 4th quarter finally arrived at that point. The Tigers put the finishing touch on the game early in the quarter. Max Shover intercepted a pass and returned it about 40 yards to the Holmes 23. It looked like the Bulldogs might stop the score but on 4th and 17, Fieger hit Hayden in stride on a very nice pass across the middle and Hayden scored from 32 yards out to end the scoring. The Tigers went to their second team after that.

 

Final score 40-7.

I thought Holmes was better than that. .

 

Based on?

Holmes is a very average team right now. People away from the program probably don't realize the negative impact that the previous coaching staff had on the program going forward. Last year the Bulldogs had a solid core of playmakers and thumped the Tigers pretty soundly last year, but the previous staff neglected the feeder programs.

It is going to take Coach Nevels a few years to develop those numbers going forward but with Coach Nevels they have a clear vision of where they want to go from the middle school program forward.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs Jon Scruggs is a senior. He is a special special player despite his size. I would venture to say he is one of the best RB's if not the best RB in NKY.

Beechwood's plan was to bottle him up and key on him and he still went for over 100 yards rushing despite 11 white jerseys keying on him every play.

To start the game it looked like Holmes wanted to spread the field and force Beechwood to defend sideline to sideline. Once the starting QB for Holmes went out with an injury, Fred Vickers, any threat of a passing game went with it.

Holmes did show some grit to start the second half and had a chance to get right back into it, but an INT for Beechwood dashed any hopes of a comeback.

I was impressed with Fiegler. He throws a nice ball and makes good decisions. The RB's for Beechwood run hard and the receivers are solid. I liked what I saw from Hayden.

Beechwood is really really solidly coached and had a solid game plan after the first couple of series were duds. From formations to execution Beechwood looked really good for a stretch there in the late 1st quarter til halftime.

Congrats to the Tigers.

No offense to anyone, but a nice win is a nice win, there are no pictures in the win and loss column. BW has to get better and minimize youthful mistakes if they want to make a serious post season run, taking huge sacks and dropping numerous passes are mistakes that will cost you dearly against better teams, see last week vs. Franklin County.

Personally, I like what I saw out of this Holmes team from the coaching side of things. Definitely a step up from the last couple years. Much better discipline. Last year there was a multitude of confusion and motion penalties and delay of game - I saw none of that this year. Give Nevels a couple years and I think Holmes will be a very solid program.

 

Scruggs is a player, that's for sure. Every time he touches the ball, you know he could go all the way. Beechwood had him perfectly defended several times and he was able to cut and juke and back step to turn positive yards out of nothing. But the Tigers kept him in check except for the one 60 yard run. On that play, Beechwood's Jeremy Burns showed some serious speed of his own. Scruggs was not able to outrace him to the pylon. I bet that hasn't happened very often for Scruggs. Scruggs had to stop, fake, stutter step and then go again and Burns still had the speed to hang with Scruggs and make the tackle, but Scruggs was able to get into the end zone.

 

I thought the second QB that came in for Holmes (Brumfield?) showed some potential. He is quick and made a couple nice throws. There is talent there to work with.

 

If I were a Holmes fan, I would feel good about where the program is headed with Nevels.

One player for Beechwood that needs to be recognized for his play last night is Jonathon Stokes. I believe that was his best game ever for Beechwood. He had some nice runs after catches last night. He looked good running the ball when they put him at RB. And he did a very good job at defensive end. Stokes has a lot of potential and last night he started showing some of what he can do.

 

I also thought Casey Erdman did a good job running the ball when they put him at RB in the second half. He ran hard, made some good reads and cuts, and got the most yards possible out of each run.

Trouble for Beechwood now is that the 1A district schedule affords little opportunity to improve. Dayton and Ludlow games will be running clocks. Bellevue game Beechwood should win easily.

Trouble for Beechwood now is that the 1A district schedule affords little opportunity to improve. Dayton and Ludlow games will be running clocks. Bellevue game Beechwood should win easily.

 

Bellevue is playing good ball and that game will be the week after Cov Cath.