Yes folks, BW struggled at RB. It was more glaring because of the fumbles. But let's be honest with ourselves. HC dared the Tigers to run with 6 in the box and we continued to pound the middle straight on with little success. Ethan is a huge loss but he would have faced the same numbers up front. It's hard to say what the results would have been. Maybe a few more traps and counters "might" have worked. Even Slusher had rough sledding when he ran the ball. Pocket passing was even more difficult with the tremendous rush. If BW sees this type of strategy again they will be better prepared. Will the Tigers mix it up and try Davis at RB? He was the second leading rusher for the Tigers this year if the stats are correct. HC was not going to give up the runs so take what they do give you. BW has enough weapons to adjust and do this without panicking.

Congrats to BW. They handled adversity. Senior leadership was needed to steady the ship. With Stringer being out and playing on a JUNK field....a few players were able to step up and make a difference. Lucas Benson came up big when they needed him on both sides of the ball. Dalton Everett made some defensive plays.

That first quarter was a prime example of shooting your self in the foot....the first quarter and a half was played inside the Beechwood 30 yd line. Holy cross looked to be in charge going up 9-0 ...although it could have.been much worse. The line play of Overstreet and Hermes on defense was huge.

Lastnight Bw needed to dig a little deep for answers with a poor start and they found it with Senior leadership. Slusher is always the best player on the field ...Fieger delivered some timely passes...Overstreet and Hermes took over the DLine which in my opinion was key in the game. I believe that when the going got tough...the tough got going. Great job Tigers

I think I may have been hallucinating because this hasn't been mentioned,but did Slusher not fake a punt and rip offf about 15- 20 yards for a first down, sometime in the first quarter? Can't remember exactly cause that quarter lasted about an hour. seemed like! I think that would have been Woods longest from scrimmage all night. If I am mistaken forgive me.

Correct. A huge point in the game. If they give it.....he will take it

Congrats to BW. They handled adversity. Senior leadership was needed to steady the ship. With Stringer being out and playing on a JUNK field....a few players were able to step up and make a difference. Lucas Benson came up big when they needed him on both sides of the ball. Dalton Everett made some defensive plays.

That first quarter was a prime example of shooting your self in the foot....the first quarter and a half was played inside the Beechwood 30 yd line. Holy cross looked to be in charge going up 9-0 ...although it could have.been much worse. The line play of Overstreet and Hermes on defense was huge.

Lastnight Bw needed to dig a little deep for answers with a poor start and they found it with Senior leadership. Slusher is always the best player on the field ...Fieger delivered some timely passes...Overstreet and Hermes took over the DLine which in my opinion was key in the game. I believe that when the going got tough...the tough got going. Great job Tigers

 

Failed to mention the adjustments made by the coaching staff.... Great job defensively as it looked like early on that HC would be able to throw the short pass all night with the QB running if flushed. BW linebackers got in sync with the line and gained control.

That was Beechwood's lowest point total of the year (tied with the Cov Cath game). Teams always face challenges in the playoffs that they haven't faced all year and that looks like it was the case for Beechwood. They now have faced a defensive strategy that had success against their high scoring offense. They still came away with the win. They will be better prepared the next time someone tries this strategy.

 

Kudos to the Beechwood defense on a huge effort. Reading the recaps, they had to defend a short field most of the first half. Being able to hold Holy Cross to just one TD during that time was a great job by the defense.

 

Get the win and move on. Learn from it and get better. Looks like a really big week ahead for the coaches finding answers and getting the team ready for the week that Beechwood has not been able to get past for 6 years - semi-finals. Congratulations on the big win in very tough circumstances and good luck against Russellville.

The field looked like Clifford the Big Red Dog relieved himself on it. About 85% yellow and 15% green. The footing was very suspect. Visitor's bleachers were in terrible shape. But this is what builds character, right? I will keep telling myself this.

HC played on worse fields than that this season and came out with wins. You can't say the field caused yall to start bad. We were on the same field and played good at first. Sorry not everyone can afford turf.

HC played on worse fields than that this season and came out with wins. You can't say the field caused yall to start bad. We were on the same field and played good at first. Sorry not everyone can afford turf.

 

Don't let the field comments bother you. Both teams played on the same field. You and your Holy Cross team should be very proud of your effort last night. You took many people's favorite in 1A and pushed them to their limit. Great year for Holy Cross and best wishes to you and your team in the future.

Lets not forget that Evan Perry for HC was out tonight also. He's a difference maker for them, as much as Stringer is for Tigers. Would have love to have seen both teams as full strength. Some of the old guard for the Tigers were convinced that missing a 3 year starter Sr RB was going to be irrelevant. They were wrong. I'm sure HC missed Perry every bit as much.

Our offense was meant for Perry to get the ball press the line of scrimmage and hit the hole or the cutback what ever was open which I've been told that the cutback was there all night. Our back up is a good power running back he just doesn't hit the cutback like Perry does. So Perry would have been a huge plus. And if Perry and BW back were healthy who knows what that game would have been like.

Don't let the field comments bother you. Both teams played on the same field. You and your Holy Cross team should be very proud of your effort last night. You took many people's favorite in 1A and pushed them to their limit. Great year for Holy Cross and best wishes to you and your team in the future.

thank you. I understand that our field isn't the best but I still dont believe one can just blame the field for performance.

We played our hearts out. Congratulations to Beachwood. They will win the championship imo

 

The Cougars did, indeed play their hearts outs. They gave the Tigers one heck of a fight. Thank you for the classy post.

Failed to mention the adjustments made by the coaching staff.... Great job defensively as it looked like early on that HC would be able to throw the short pass all night with the QB running if flushed. BW linebackers got in sync with the line and gained control.

 

The coaches did make some nice moves in this game. Bringing in Dalton Everett at DE worked very well. His speed helped a lot and he made some big plays. Beechwood often knew what play was coming before the ball was even snapped. That is great coaching and execution by the players. Beechwood disguised their looks up front, waiting for Holy Cross to make their call before setting up. It was a game of cat and mouse pre-snap with Beechwood defense waiting till the last minute to get in position and set so Holy Cross could not read the defense.

The coaches did make some nice moves in this game. Bringing in Dalton Everett at DE worked very well. His speed helped a lot and he made some big plays. Beechwood often knew what play was coming before the ball was even snapped. That is great coaching and execution by the players. Beechwood disguised their looks up front, waiting for Holy Cross to make their call before setting up. It was a game of cat and mouse pre-snap with Beechwood defense waiting till the last minute to get in position and set so Holy Cross could not read the defense.

 

Dalton is a great kid and comes from a great family!

I want to point some other unsung players, besides Everett, who had very good games for Beechwood:

 

Braden Hermes - He played his best game of the year on defensive line. He had a couple sacks and made a lot of tackles.

 

Justin Overstreet - Like Hermes, he was very good on defense. He had sacks, applied pressure and made big plays all night.

 

Lucas Benson - He may be star of the game last night making big play after big play on both sides of the ball. He had several key catches including the TD catch and run. He broke up passes, applied pressure, got a sack or two and made tackles on defense. This was his best game ever as a Tiger.

 

DB's McKinney, Cottingham, Castleman and Way all played very well and had big hits.

 

I could list everyone on the defense as they won this game for Beechwood but those players stood out for me.

thank you. I understand that our field isn't the best but I still dont believe one can just blame the field for performance.

for me it wasnt about making excuses because of the field... I dont believe that any game of this magnitude needs to be played on a bad field....however thats the way it is. Beechwood has played on 3 grass fields this year with this being the 4th. It was in the worst shape by far. When your not used to playing on grass.... No matter who you are it has an effect. Not an excuse. Holy Cross had a good game plan as well as executed better early in the game. Hats off to the players and staff