If Hazard would have used the passing game at all in the 1st half the outcome may have been different. I'm not bashing any coaches.

 

Two evenly matched teams playing their hearts out and leaving it all on the field. That's what state title games are all about. Congrats to both teams for their fine seasons.

 

Very few penalties in this game, the refs did great.

 

For sure agree on the refs. Kept the game in check allowing clean football hits and a fun game while calling what needed to be called. Cudoos to the players as well for playing such fundamentally sound football.

 

I think they did try the pass game a little in the beginning and saw the tight coverage on johnson and others and decided to back off and went with what worked, and it did work, they had a solid TD drive to start off the scoring from purely running the ball. When you know you are beat in speed (although it was much closer than thought) you go to straight forward power running, make them come to your blockers. deep Passing is a bad idea against fast db unless you are on the money and it seemed like hazard didnt want to do any short passes.

That was about as entertaining as it gets for a state championship game. Evenly matched, great defense, big plays to spice up the drives, not many penalties. The BW defense and BW versatile offense were the difference in that game. BW gave up a rush heavy TD in the first qtr and then did not give up a 1st down the rest of the half. :eek:

 

The contrast in the passing game was the difference in this one. BW could mix it up with run and pass with success in both, but a lot of the time Hazard tried to pass it ended up in a pick or tight coverage. I hope to see these two play again next year, both great programs who have respect for each other and play all out. Just another day I realize how much I love watching high school football.

For sure agree on the refs. Kept the game in check allowing clean football hits and a fun game while calling what needed to be called. Cudoos to the players as well for playing such fundamentally sound football.

 

I think they did try the pass game a little in the beginning and saw the tight coverage on johnson and others and decided to back off and went with what worked, and it did work, they had a solid TD drive to start off the scoring from purely running the ball. When you know you are beat in speed (although it was much closer than thought) you go to straight forward power running, make them come to your blockers. deep Passing is a bad idea against fast db unless you are on the money and it seemed like hazard didnt want to do any short passes.

 

One pass isn't opening it up. The second half is opening it up.

That was about as entertaining as it gets for a state championship game. Evenly matched, great defense, big plays to spice up the drives, not many penalties. The BW defense and BW versatile offense were the difference in that game. BW gave up a rush heavy TD in the first qtr and then did not give up a 1st down the rest of the half. :eek:

 

The contrast in the passing game was the difference in this one. BW could mix it up with run and pass with success in both, but a lot of the time Hazard tried to pass it ended up in a pick or tight coverage. I hope to see these two play again next year, both great programs who have respect for each other and play all out. Just another day I realize how much I love watching high school football.

 

I agree beechwood passing game was the difference. Hazard missed a sure INT in the 1st half that would of been huge. I hope to see this same match up next year but it's a long way off.

From the KHSAA:

 

http://khsaa.org/football/2016/1afinal.pdf

 

There is no need for a game report. Everything you want or need to know about the game is in the link in theguru's post above. I will add some game observations.

 

- On the first drive of the game, Beechwood fans had a huge scare. On 3rd down and 9 at the 41, QB Brayden Burch, who very rarely runs the ball, scrambled from the pocket, could not find a receiver and tried to run for the first down. Burch stopped and tried to cut past Hazard's Kade Holland and Holland delivered a huge hit to Burch. Burch required attention from the trainer and concerns went through the Beechwood crowd. Losing Burch would have been a very, very tough injury to overcome. Burch showed his toughness by coming right back to the field on the next possession and there were no signs of injury.

 

- Both times Hazard scored a TD, Beechwood responded immediately with a TD of their own. That kept Hazard from ever feeling like they had the momentum in the game.

 

- On Beechwood's first TD drive, they went for it and made it on fourth down two different times.

 

- The kickoffs in the game were a big factor. Beechwood's kickoffs pinned Hazard deep in their own territory while Beechwood had good field position off of the short Hazard kickoffs. That kept field position in Beechwood's favor almost the entire game.

 

- Hazard had 11 offensive possessions in the game. Beechwood's outstanding defense kept Hazard from getting a first down on 7 of those drives. Of the other four drives, twice Beechwood stopped Hazard on 4th down and twice Hazard scored.

 

- In the first half, Hazard had 6 possessions and did not make a first down on 5 of them. Hazard only had two first downs in the entire first half.

 

- Both teams avoided what could have been disastrous turnovers in the first half. On Beechwood's first TD drive, Hazard had what looked like a sure interception in their hands that Beechwood WR Logan Castleman was able to knock loose for an incompletion. At the end of the first half, Beechwood's Dalton Everett forced a Hazard fumble at their own 10 yard line but Hazard recovered the fumble and prevented easy points for Beechwood.

 

- Beechwood only ran 3 plays in the entire third quarter and had 1:13 of possession time. Hazard had almost exactly the same time of possession in the third quarter that they had in the entire first half (10:47 to 10:55). Despite nearly 11 minutes of possession time, Hazard did not score in the third quarter.

 

- After Beechwood took the lead in the fourth quarter and Hazard was forced to pass the ball, Beechwood held Hazard to 2 of 8 passing, two interceptions and a sack. The last 6 pass attempts in the game for Hazard resulted in 5 incompletions and one Beechwood interception.

Edited December 4, 20169 yr by EyeOfTheTiger

There is no need for a game report. Everything you want or need to know about the game is in the link in theguru's post above. I will add some game observations.

 

- On the first drive of the game, Beechwood fans had a huge scare. On 3rd down and 9 at the 41, QB Brayden Burch, who very rarely runs the ball, scrambled from the pocket, could not find a receiver and tried to run for the first down. Burch stopped and tried to cut past Hazard's Kade Holland and Holland delivered a huge hit to Burch. Burch required attention from the trainer and concerns went through the Beechwood crowd. Losing Burch would have been a very, very tough injury to overcome. Burch showed his toughness by coming right back to the field on the next possession and there were no signs of injury.

 

- Both times Hazard scored a TD, Beechwood responded immediately with a TD of their own. That kept Hazard from ever feeling like they had the momentum in the game.

 

- On Beechwood's first TD drive, they went for it and made it on fourth down two different times.

 

- The kickoffs in the game were a big factor. Beechwood's kickoffs pinned Hazard deep in their own territory while Beechwood had good field position off of the short Hazard kickoffs. That kept field position in Beechwood's favor almost the entire game.

 

- Hazard had 11 offensive possessions in the game. Beechwood's outstanding defense kept Hazard from getting a first down on 7 of those drives. Of the other four drives, twice Beechwood stopped Hazard on 4th down and twice Hazard scored.

 

- In the first half, Hazard had 6 possessions and did not make a first down on 5 of them. Hazard only had two first downs in the entire first half.

 

- Beechwood only ran 3 plays in the entire third quarter and had 1:13 of possession time. Hazard had the almost exactly the same time of possession in the third quarter that they had in the entire first half (10:47 to 10:55). Despite nearly 11 minutes of possession time, Hazard did not score in the third quarter.

 

WE are so LUCKY to have you on BGP @EyeOfTheTiger

Congrats to Beechwood on your 1A State Championship. Well earned and deserving champions.

I posted this info in the thread asking if the Beechwood game TV broadcast is available, but thought it would be good to post it here also. See below for info on watching the video broadcast of the game for FREE.

 

Especially for those who were at the game or unable to attend, you should be able to watch the game broadcast for free starting Tuesday (72 hours after broadcast). Here is what you need to do if interested:

 

1. Sign up for a FREE account with NFHS. Here is the link:

 

NFHS Member Services

 

2. Once you have your free membership, you can go to khsaa.tv, sign in and find the game. Here is the link directly to the Beechwood / Hazard game:

 

| Live high school sports video and live stats on the NFHS Network | NFHSNetwork.com

 

That should do it. If you want to try it out, go ahead and sign up. Then go to the the 2015-16 KHSAA events on khsaa.tv and you should be able to watch last year's championship game versus Pikeville, or any other championship game you choose.

 

The same should be true for all of this year's championship games. I believe they are free to watch for NFHS members 72 hours after broadcast.