miragesmack

I'm real impressed with Madison Hardy of Mercy. She didn't practice all week, and limped on a sore ankle all week. She took the first match off on Friday, but has gutted it out the last three matches and played very well so far.

SHA led most of the way early, Mercy came on strong in the middle to take control, then SHA mounts a rally to even things up late. Mercy wins game 1 27 - 25 Mercy up 1-0 in the best of 3.

Mercy defeats NCC (25-21, 25-20) to advance to the final against Sacred Heart.

Mercy 2 vs.Green County 0 (25-12, 25-11) On to the next day. Good luck to all.

A late TD with no time left for Central closes the gap. A tough, hard fought game by both sides. Glad to see X get a challenge before the playoffs.

Central QB throws a jump ball in the endzone, caught for a 29 TD. No XP. X wins 36 - 13.

Craig Brutcher (SR) gets to enter his first game of the season. He was injured earier this year and hasn't played due to a serious neck injury. They put him at free safety, 50 yds from the LOS. LOL! Glad he got in on SR night. Too bad he missed his whole season.

X takes over on downs, a long 4th down. Look like Central can't risk kicking, which has been a problem all game. X TD, 1 yd TD run by Jermiah Neal. X leads 36 - 7 Deuce has 10 carries - 179 yds - 3 TD's (just FYI since they just mentioned this stat)

I love the way Central is playing, even though they are losing ground. They are aggressive, run well and hit hard. Deuce was running out of bounds in the 1st half, leisurely, and Central knocked him into the next zip code right on the sideline. They are just a consistent QB away from being really good. They didn't get their first completion until halfway through the 3rd period.

Brutcher to Goodwin for a 27 yd TD pass. X 29-7

Central gets the ball first, moves down the field a bit until a delay of game on 4th down stalls the drive. Central punts, bad snap and the kicker is tackled by the Hall brothers. No escape this time. Ball on Central 44.

Central goes 3 and out, sack on last play. X fair catches the kick, and sets up the last 10 seconds with several wideouts. Central comes up big with a sack on Brutcher, and the time expires. Central looked like it was gonna get whipped, but really buckled down after being down 22-0. They are having a monster running game against the Tigers. Halftime score is 22-7.

Central goes for it on 4th down in the red zone, but the Tigers hold (again) and get the ball back. X goes nowhere fast, and are forced to punt with 0:43 left in the first half. 0:38 left after ball is dead.

I listened to the first few minutes before the X game started. It sounded like a slow start for the Rocks, but apparently they have it rolling now.

X has given up just a little over 400 yards rushing all season. Tonight, with a minute beofre halftime, they have given up 260+. Central almost scores a passing TD, but the WR juggles it before leaving the endzone.

Weird series of events. X holds Central, who has to punt. On the return, Finch is hit before he receives the ball. X opts to back up Central and have Central re-kick from their 3 yd line. The snap is mishandled, and the Central kicker is running around the endzone, in what would be an apparent safety. He amazingly eludes 3 X players and scrambles for a first down. Unfortunately, an unknown player for Central is down on the field from that play, and he will be taken off on a cart. No news at this time.

X had to punt, but an awesome punt it was. Inside the 2 yard line. His first punt was inside the 5.

Wow. Chris King of Central is a burner. He just ran 70 yds for a TD, following up his 94 yd run earlier. Maybe local teams should be watching him. Lot of big plays in this game. X 22-7 (correction, X has 22, not 21)

1st play of 2nd QTR, Deuce runs around the end for his 3rd TD of the game. X 21-0

Steven Goodwin blocks a Central punt, X has the ball on Central's 23 yd line. End of 1st quarter.

X holds Central to 3 and out, and gets a short punt for their effort, to about midfield. Nice passing by Brutcher to go down field, and Deuce takes it the final 9 yards for his 2nd TD of the game. X 15-0

WOW! What a start. Brutcher (X) has a 70ish yard run, but it's called back for a hold. Central's King has a 94 YD run that is stopped inside the X 1 yard line. Central cannot get it in from the 3 inch line, and turns the ball over on downs. Outstanding defense by the Tigers. On the next play, Deuce Finch take the ball about 4 yds deep in the endzone, and runs it 99 yards for a TD. A fake on the XP, and X goes for two and gets it. X up 8-0. Whew. Thats the first few minutes of the game.

Hardy says she will play, but folks say she still limps quite a bit at school, which doesn't bode well. She's also played with a bad rotator cuff all season that needs surgery most likely. I predicted Mercy from day one knowing what they had coming back and what Assumption didn't. But Sacred heart got a little better than I expected late, and after seeing the brackets, it cleary favors SH. Mercy has to get by the top ranked teams (#3 and #4) on Saturday just to play SH (#2), who has a much easier schedule. I know these girls are used to playing 3 or more games a day, but it has to help SH knowing they can play backups more. Plus it will hurt losing a leader like Hardy, or playing her injured. Even though her freshman replacement has been fantastic, she is still a frosh in the State tourney for the first time. Mercy however IS NOT overlooking the first games, they know they are very formidable opponents who can easily beat them.

I know teams have won championships without passing the ball, so not sure why this is a big deal all the sudden. X really didn't pass much against Trinity and had a decent game, though certainly not their best. I still favor Trinity in the matchup down the road because they always win that game and should be the favorite. I assume they sandbagged in the first meeting.

Not sure you could pass much tonight without looking like jerks. They scored often and early, so they were out of passing mode pretty quick tonight.