Beechwood will host the Newport Wildcats on Thursday, October 21, kickoff at 7:30 PM. The ongoing shortage of officials led to this game being played on Thursday night instead of Friday. 

On the surface this looks like a game without much significance. Newport has 3 wins on the season as they rebuild under new coach Ryan Hahn. QB Kyle Lee has passed for 1,550 yards and 14 TD's on the season. Quincy Barber is the leading receiver and also has 5 interceptions on the season. Those 5 interceptions place Barber in a tie for 8th in the entire state, all classes.

The Tigers are heavy favorites in this one. However, with last week's loss of Mitchell Berger, in the eyes of many the leading candidate for Mr. Football before his injury, this game does take on new significance. The Tigers will be looking to reinvent themselves in many ways. It will take a minimum of four players to step into the roles Berger played. Starting RB likely will fall on the shoulders of senior Landon Aylor, if he is healthy. Aylor showed his ability earlier this year in Beechwood's 30-7 win over Simon Kenton rushing for 76 yards on just 5 carries and scoring 2 TD's. Senior Alex Courtney also should get carries. Courtney came on in last week's Lloyd win with both Berger and Aylor sidelined by injury and produced a dynamic 41 yard TD on a swing pass, displaying his speed and breaking tackles on his way to the end zone.

On defense, replacing Berger at LB will be even more difficult than replacing him at RB. As many accolades as Berger received as a RB, he may have been even better on defense. His sideline to sideline coverage with his speed was impressive. It prevented big plays by opposing teams. Senior Landon Johnson should get more playing time at LB. He played well against Lloyd after Berger went out. Berger also handled kickoffs in big games and consistently kicked the ball into the end zone. He was the Tigers strongest legged and most accurate kicker for field goals and extra points. Sophomores Breaden Trejo and Isaac Cardosi will fill in on placekicking. Another sophomore, James Cusick, will step in to replace Berger as punter. The Tigers offense will need to adapt. Look for a shift from a run focused offense to more passing. Sophomore QB Clay Hayden and senior receivers Antonio Robinson Jr. and Liam McCormack will become more important and needed factors on offense. 

Thursday night against Newport is suddenly a much more important test in many areas for Beechwood. Can the Tigers adjust and continue to roll on as the top ranked team in 2A? What do you expect to see in this game?

I expect Beechwood’s D to still carry the day for them the rest of the season. The most interesting thing I want to see is the evolution of the passing game. With Berger out the rest of the season the running game will still be fine until Beechwood matches up against teams that have as much size as they so in those games they have to find a way to open up the defense to get their running game going. To do that you need a more inventive passing attack to lighten the box and make it possible to run the ball successfully. While I was impressed with the way Cash Harney stepped in and ran the team with the injury to Hayden the passing game was just never dynamic enough to make teams pull their safety’s and linebackers out of the box to give Beechwood’s running game more room to operate. I believe Clay Hayden can make this happen if given the chance to sling the pill more often but the offensive line must given him the necessary time to let routes open up. Greg Hergott is going to earn his play calling stripes the rest of this year as each game will need to be tailored to the style of Defense played against the Tigers. While I fully expect Beechwood to continue to play well a run to the Championship game is going to prove to be very difficult if they just come out and try to pound the rock without Berger. 

1 hour ago, BWTigers said:

I expect Beechwood’s D to still carry the day for them the rest of the season. The most interesting thing I want to see is the evolution of the passing game. With Berger out the rest of the season the running game will still be fine until Beechwood matches up against teams that have as much size as they so in those games they have to find a way to open up the defense to get their running game going. To do that you need a more inventive passing attack to lighten the box and make it possible to run the ball successfully. While I was impressed with the way Cash Harney stepped in and ran the team with the injury to Hayden the passing game was just never dynamic enough to make teams pull their safety’s and linebackers out of the box to give Beechwood’s running game more room to operate. I believe Clay Hayden can make this happen if given the chance to sling the pill more often but the offensive line must given him the necessary time to let routes open up. Greg Hergott is going to earn his play calling stripes the rest of this year as each game will need to be tailored to the style of Defense played against the Tigers. While I fully expect Beechwood to continue to play well a run to the Championship game is going to prove to be very difficult if they just come out and try to pound the rock without Berger. 

Hayden was 17-22 for 255 and 3TDs….not sure what else you are looking for in the passing game. It was only his 3rd varsity start of his career.

I believe Cash Harney can be dynamic too if given the opportunity.  I have seen him play, he is capable of way more than he showed.  The coaching staff being cautious with him being a 14 year old and stepping into this role.  He more than proved himself against the toughest part of Beechwoods schedule.  I would have loved to see what he could have done against Holy Cross, Lloyd and now Newport.  I think fans will soon find out in playoffs that being a Qb is much more than just "slinging the ball" either way I wish both QB's success because they are both talented in their own ways. 

I’m very late to the party, I didn’t know Berger was hurt. What happened? And how long is he out? 

1 hour ago, WarMemorialVet said:

I’m very late to the party, I didn’t know Berger was hurt. What happened? And how long is he out? 

Knee injury and the rest of the season.

5 hours ago, gbballfan21 said:

Hayden was 17-22 for 255 and 3TDs….not sure what else you are looking for in the passing game. It was only his 3rd varsity start of his career.

Not that he didn’t play well but now he will have to do it without a dynamic threat at running back like Berger. Having Berger on the field opens up things that wouldn’t normally be there. I believe in the rest of the games this year defenses will play to stop Hayden from beating them without having fear of a back like Berger destroying them on the ground. 

This game will pretty much be over before it gets started, BW big.

6 hours ago, Blueboy11 said:

I believe Cash Harney can be dynamic too if given the opportunity.  I have seen him play, he is capable of way more than he showed.  The coaching staff being cautious with him being a 14 year old and stepping into this role.  He more than proved himself against the toughest part of Beechwoods schedule.  I would have loved to see what he could have done against Holy Cross, Lloyd and now Newport.  I think fans will soon find out in playoffs that being a Qb is much more than just "slinging the ball" either way I wish both QB's success because they are both talented in their own ways. 

Completely Agree. Harney was a leader against the higher classes and never cut loose what I saw. Would love to have seen what he could have done against this 2A schedule. Unfortunately minds we’re obviously already made up post Hergott graduation, and heir apparent is now in seat. Is what it is As long as the Beechies get the W.
 

BW shouldn’t get fancy IMO. Still plenty of horses in the stable. Aylor, Courtney, Riegler, and on and on. You cannot replace a Mitch Berger, but, you can still run the ball with these fellas. Involve Robinson and McCormick as much as possible, always, but don’t reinvent the team this late. Just my thoughts. 
 

#GoTigers

3 minutes ago, LoudenSwain said:

Completely Agree. Harney was a leader against the higher classes and never cut loose what I saw. Would love to have seen what he could have done against this 2A schedule. Unfortunately minds we’re obviously already made up post Hergott graduation, and heir apparent is now in seat. Is what it is As long as the Beechies get the W.
 

BW shouldn’t get fancy IMO. Still plenty of horses in the stable. Aylor, Courtney, Riegler, and on and on. You cannot replace a Mitch Berger, but, you can still run the ball with these fellas. Involve Robinson and McCormick as much as possible, always, but don’t reinvent the team this late. Just my thoughts. 
 

#GoTigers

Will Harney play another position? Seems like he may be able to help elsewhere if not at QB?

1 hour ago, FirstTimeLongTime said:

Will Harney play another position? Seems like he may be able to help elsewhere if not at QB?

With the luxury of two QBs who can effectively run a HS offense, I’d go New Orleans style and run him in as a Taysum Hill option. Throw everyone off. “They running? Passing? Is he running?”  And before anyone says he doesn’t have an arm, bologna. Kid can throw it just fine if given the opportunity. Fantasy football approach I know from a guy behind a computer instead of on the sidelines, but I’m just of the opinion playmakers need to be on the field. If you’ve witnessed his court awareness in Basketball, you know with reps he will explode on the gridiron……

Bump.

Is this game being streamed anywhere? Thank you. 

Beechwood Sports Radio will air on Mixlr.

https://mixlr.com/beechwood-sports-radio-network/events/beechwood-tigers-v-newport-wildcats--3

21 minutes ago, TigerMomx3 said:

Beechwood Sports Radio will air on Mixlr.

https://mixlr.com/beechwood-sports-radio-network/events/beechwood-tigers-v-newport-wildcats--3

Thank you!