Great win for Russell, and yeas congratulations is in order. I thought this was a complete team effort someone stepped up every series and make a tackle, deflected a pass, fought for the that extra inch that moved the chains, or just got a little lower and gave a little more push to gain a few more yards after contact. OCath is a excellent team that plays hard and not to mention fast. Anyway Great Job Devils you guys did this whole area of Northeasern KY proud. On the way home I had several calls from excited people from Raceland, Greenup Co.,and Boyd Co. That is what H.S.sports is all about. Supporting your kids from your area and rooting for your nieghbors. WE are all truly blessed to be in this community with great kids, fans, coaches, and parents!!!!!!

:fire: CONGRATULIONS DEVILS 2005 AA STATE CHAMPIONS :dancingpa

Well at least one Maroon team brought it home. Congrats Russell on a Great Season. :dancingpa

Great win for Russell, and yeas congratulations is in order. I thought this was a complete team effort someone stepped up every series and make a tackle, deflected a pass, fought for the that extra inch that moved the chains, or just got a little lower and gave a little more push to gain a few more yards after contact. OCath is a excellent team that plays hard and not to mention fast. Anyway Great Job Devils you guys did this whole area of Northeasern KY proud. On the way home I had several calls from excited people from Raceland, Greenup Co.,and Boyd Co. That is what H.S.sports is all about. Supporting your kids from your area and rooting for your nieghbors. WE are all truly blessed to be in this community with great kids, fans, coaches, and parents!!!!!!

:fire: CONGRATULIONS DEVILS 2005 AA STATE CHAMPIONS :dancingpa

:dancingpa

I just got home myself and would like to say it just didn't seem real...the whole thing. Once we got set up for the game, it really just seemed like a normal game. When you're working the sideline, you can kind of get lost in what's happening on the field and not have to be as concerned about the hoopla surrounding a title game. That being said, when it was over, it was very exciting to celebrate with the players and coaches on the field and take home the big gold trophy!

 

The Russell fans came en masse to support the team and the players picked up on that energy. We truly appreciate all the comunity support we have received these last few weeks...:thumb:

 

I know Russell's coaches worked very hard watching film and preparing for this. I'm sure we all want to thank our neighbors (who also run the Tony Franklin system) for their consultation with our coaches to the local teams who offered the use of their headset systems when ours were malfunctioning after the last game.

 

As for some of the predictions for the game, I am still looking for a good recipe for crow... D:

 

The two-platoon system really didn't bother our players at all. They had all played the entire game (or darn close to it) the last 5 weeks and they were well conditioned for what O-Cath tried to do. I will say I'm sure the extra timeouts helped as well, but as well as our defense played, I'm not sure it would have mattered.

 

Apparently, either Russell was the most physical team the Aces had played up until now or the previous opponents just took something out of them. Once the Red Devils switched to the Power-I (which is a staple of Ivan's offense, although usually not as much as tonight), O-Cath didn't seem to have an answer for it, or for Kasey Clark, who I'm guessing is a little better than the kid from DeSales. After tonight, he owns Russell's single season record with 44 TD's with 17 of those coming in the playoffs (didn't think Josh Gross' name would be removed from any of his records so quickly).

 

I believe this group of seniors may be leaving as the winningest team in Russell history and Coach McGlone broke the record for most seasons between titles by winning his 2nd 27 years after his 1st. Not sure that's a record one shoots for, but I'm betting he'll take it...

 

I thought this game would be decided by mistakes...who made them and who was able to capitalize on them. Put a check mark by O-Cath for making the mistakes and by Russell for taking advantage of them. Not covering the pooch kick to start the game, 2 straight offsides on a Russell FG attempt to set up first and goal, 2 INT's, one punt blocked. Russell converted the pooch kick to 7 points with the aid of the aforementioned penalties and also were able to convert several 4th downs to keep drives going.

 

As for the TD-not a TD at the back of the endzone, not sure on the call but the official was right on top of the play to make the call. Besides, the Aces shouldn't have even had that play to run except for a bad pass interference call on Tommy Brown after the pass had been tipped away by Jacob Sizemore (a tipped pass negates any interference) so I guess that may have evened out. Russell's defense stepped up, got pressure with the front 3 while dropping 8 in coverage many times and Nick Lewis came through BIG with his defensive play in place of the injured Michael Horn.

 

BTW, thanks to TonyDanza, RockMom, Watusi, Bert and Deuce for their hospitality at Friday night's game.

 

OK...I'm done now...

Congratulations Devils on an awesome season capped off by the ultimate prize that has eluded us for 27 years- STATE CHAMPS!!! It is days like today that make living in a small community priceless. A heart felt thank you to great local fans from rival schools that supported us today. We will remember this and be there when it is your turn.

 

Some game observations. The Devils coaching staff is incredible from top to bottom. Gary Morris and staff did a great job preparing for the Aces as we knew they would, with a little free help from the Rams. Coach McGlone mixed the wing-t and the power-I to perfection. The Aces had no answer for the power-I. We definitely were more physical than the Aces, which apparently had not happened to them to this degree in the West. I believe several OC fans on this site underestimated our physical play. They also over-estimated the hurry-up no huddle offense causing fatigue. Certainly, OCath had some nice drives but had significant problems in the red zone with a short field. I thought their no huddle took FOREVER on many occasions. This had nothing to do with time-outs. A lack of platooning seemed to help us stay in the flow of the game. I'll be surprised if a 2A school that platoons 10 or 11 players as the Aces did will ever win a title, but that is just my opinion. I think it is too hard at the 2A level to have that many championship caliber players.

 

Some Red Devil players to mention. Great performance from our line on both sides of the ball. This is where games are won and lost. Awesome game from Kasey Clark on the biggest stage in high school football. His 44 TDs in the season not only give him the record for most TDs and points in a single season at RHS, but also put him in the KHSAA record book.

 

Last but not least was the stellar play of Nick Lewis, Aaron Beekman, and Tyler Jones. All 3 of these guys made some HUGE plays on the way to the win today, and they will all be back next year (Lord willing).

I just got in from my companies Holiday Party and seen this score. :eek:

 

 

WAY TO GO RUSSELL RED DEVILS

 

 

Congrats to Coach McGlone and the whole Russell staff.

 

:dancingpa :dancingpa :dancingpa

Great Job Russell! :banana:

Cograts to Russell and the WING T-Offense.

We definitely were more physical than the Aces, which apparently had not happened to them to this degree in the West. I believe several OC fans on this site underestimated our physical play. They also over-estimated the hurry-up no huddle offense causing fatigue. Certainly, OCath had some nice drives but had significant problems in the red zone with a short field. I thought their no huddle took FOREVER on many occasions. This had nothing to do with time-outs. A lack of platooning seemed to help us stay in the flow of the game.

 

 

 

I agree. I thought the no huddle might affect us more than it did, but IMO it had no affect. OC seemed stumpped or perpluxed by our defense and our alignmnet. They ran the play clock down quite a bit. The same as being in a huddle.

I thought this game would be decided by mistakes...who made them and who was able to capitalize on them. Put a check mark by O-Cath for making the mistakes and by Russell for taking advantage of them. Not covering the pooch kick to start the game, 2 straight offsides on a Russell FG attempt to set up first and goal, 2 INT's, one punt blocked. Russell converted the pooch kick to 7 points with the aid of the aforementioned penalties and also were able to convert several 4th downs to keep drives going.

 

Russell's defense stepped up, got pressure with the front 3 while dropping 8 in coverage many times and Nick Lewis came through BIG with his defensive play in place of the injured Michael Horn.

 

Excellent observations! Pooch kick, Nick Lewis stepping up and Kasey's determination along with the coaching staff and the rest of the team will be remembered for life! :banana:

Frances, it was a peasure to see you again! My wife envies your beautiful legs. But, shorts at this game and no coat were a bit risque.

Way to go Devils. Congrats to all involved with the team this year.

Congrats Russell!!

Russell played there butts off today. They executed almost perfectly. They were well prepared and seem to be very well coached. The Aces on the other hand, didn't do too much right today. I tought the Aces were completely unprepared for what Russell was doing. The offensive playcalling left many of us scratching our heads many, many, many times during the game. We did not resemble the same team that had played the previous couple of weeks. As I said before the game OCath is a very poor tackling team. This has been an issue for the past couple of seasons and was exploited by Russells backs on a consistent basis. Its frustrating watching an opponent make winning look so easy and then watch your own team not even be able to make a simple tackle. The Aces did play very hard but it wasn't there day for glory :cry: . I'll miss those seniors very much they served the school proud. Congrats to Russell on your new trophy. :thumb:

 

Good post...

Frances, it was a peasure to see you again! My wife envies your beautiful legs. But, shorts at this game and no coat were a bit risque.

 

Duckster -

 

Your wife is such a sweetheart. It was terribly kind of her to say such nice things, but then, it's easy for someone with her beauty to be so generous with compliments. As for my attire, I didn't get many gifts when it comes to physical beauty, so I have to "accentuate the positive" (minor though the positives may be). As a rule, the shorts do tend to get more attention in the colder months. Even more so when shoveling snow...

 

You looked your usual dashing self. That well trimmed beard, the three piece suit (longjohn underwear, hooded sweatshirt, and a heavy winter coat), and a good looking young lady on your arm - you haven't changed a bit over the years . Why, you positively looked ready for a trip to the Escape Lounge.

 

 

Wistfully,

Frances