Week Seven Home Team Friday Recap

Only two short weeks left in the regular season in high school football.  This Friday night, it looks like it could be a rainy mess!  I hope the forecast changes.  Maybe I can sneak into Wayne Hart’s weather castle and change all of his numbers!

I had a most interesting night last Friday.  I couldn’t get a highlight to save my life!  I covered Mt. Vernon at Mater Dei.  A couple of years ago, these teams had a shootout.  Of course I am always hoping for a lot of touchdowns.  I even joked with Mike Goebel before the game about putting up some scores for me.  I don’t cheer for teams, I just cheer for offense.  Fans ask me all of the time who I am rooting for.  I always use that line.

So as I have mentioned in past recaps, I have not been able to figure out Mt. Vernon.  Well, I had a much better look at MV last week.  There are two players that really standout for Paul Maier’s club. Skylar Davis is a playmaker.  On offense and defense, he is everywhere.  Quarterback Jason Stemple is very confident and poised.  He does a nice job of moving the pocket and staying with his receivers.  Stemple got hit hard and missed some plays.  So who fill in?  Skylar Davis.  It was goal to go at the 2.  I am thinking, Mater Dei should stack the line, no way he is going to throw.  What does he do?  He just throws a tight spiral right towards me for a touchdown.  He has a perfect quarterback rating!  Unfortunately for me, that was pretty much my only great highlight in an entire half of football!

Mater Dei on the other hand had a terrible time on the center/quarterback exchange.  I was told the Cats had a new center.  That is not an easy position to just dive into.  There is a lot of timing, and MD quarterback Dane Maurer is sometimes under center, and sometimes in the shotgun.  Too many times the Cats were third down and 20+. 

Even with very little highlights, I knew I couldn’t wait through halftime.  I needed to get back to the station and start getting ready.  As I drove back towards HTF headquarters, I called photographer Blaine.  The Blaine Train was shooting two games in the city.  Blaine was just leaving Central Stadium.  He said he was low on battery power for his camera.  So I met him at Enlow Field.  I got there first, so I went inside to shoot the Bosse/Providence game.   I get my focus, and my camera set.  I hit the record button for the first play…and the Dogs Colin Bridges takes the kickoff around 90 yards for a touchdown.  It was an awesome highlight.  Breaking tackles and making people miss.  Two plays later, Providence goes play action and gets a touchdown.  Then a few plays after that Bosse throws an interception.  I already have 100 times more action in just 5 minutes than I did at the Bowl!

Blaine gets to Enlow Field, and I take his disk with the Reitz/North highlights and I send him back to the Bowl.  I told him I had garbage from the first half and maybe he would have better luck.

I return to the station to edit the 3 games I had in hand.  It turns out to be a great decision.  Blaine gets three touchdowns and the game-sealing interception by Aaron Choate.  Davis had an awesome touchdown run too.  Congrats to MV…a very nice win.  Great job to Blaine for shooting some really nice highlights!

What else did we learn?  If you are going to try and upset Reitz, don’t give up an opening kickoff for a touchdown!  Cuda Dimmett went right down the middle for a score.  The Panthers never looked back.  What I noticed about the Panthers the past few weeks is how great they do blocking down field.  Whether it is Matt McIntosh scrambling, or Alordo Bell busting a long run, or a quick wide receiver screen, the blocking is just perfect to spring long gains.  Coach Tony Lewis must have a pretty large playbook.  Reitz runs a lot of sets, and can throw so many looks at defenses.  Reitz always has a tough time with Bosse.  The Dogs and Panthers are at the Bowl this Friday.  Then the season finale is the Westside showdown between Reitz and Mater Dei.

Jasper has won the Big Eight.  Shocker I know!  The Wildcats completely dominated the first half at the Snake Pit.  Mt. Carmel was held to just 9 total yards in the half!  Radio and TV voice of the Aces Kyle Peach told me he talked with Jasper staff after the game.  They told him that Austin Ahrens hyper-extended his knee.  I really really hope that Austin is OK.  He has had a perfect senior season.  The kid just does it all for that offense.  Taylor Day continues to shine on the ground.  What was up with that call when Max Bawel seemingly caught a touchdown?  Not sure how the refs called that incomplete.  It didn’t matter.  Give credit to the Aces.  They fought hard in the second half.  Quarterback Alex Hale has had a very good season.

I was shocked Owensboro lost at Christian County.  Last year, the Devils lost only two games.  Both times were against the Colonels.  I thought for sure Owensboro would crush Christian County.  The Devils played sloppy and have lost their second game this season 13-10.  Randall drove all the way down to Hopkinsville for the highlights.  With a team as good as the Devils, and with such a great fan base, no way do we want to ever miss one of their games.  I feel sorry for Apollo this week.  The Eagles will have an angry team to contend with.

Another surprise was how close Forest Park hung with unbeaten South Spencer.  The Rangers looked like they would pull off the upset.  South Spencer just pulled it out by six points...31-25.  What more can you say about FP coach Terry Wagner.  Just two years in existence and the Rangers are competing with an unbeaten team.  Well done.  The 7-0 Rebels will now travel to 6-1 Boonville this Friday.  That is our no-brainer HTF showdown game.  The Pioneers had no troubles in shutting out Princeton.  The Tiger Chavis brothers quit the team.  The Tigers will try to get their second win of the season at Mt. Vernon.

Heritage Hills got a nice game from tailback Jordan Lubbehusen.  The Patriots outlasted Southridge 21-14.  We talked to Bob Clayton yesterday.  He is still fine tuning his team as they get ready for the playoffs.  Here is the stat of the week.  HH is giving up only 8 points a game!  What a defense.  The Pats finish the season at Forest Park and at South Spencer.

Perry Central improved to 7-0.  I got to say Mikey Wilkerson’s name on the air again.  Maybe someday I’ll meet him.  On video, he looks like a tough-nosed running back.  Just down the road, North Posey picked up win number four at Tell City.

Photographer/Reporter Aaron Hancock made the trip deep south in Kentucky.  Henderson County put up 62 points on the Mustangs of Muhlenberg County.  Clay Clevenger has really done a great job with such an extremely young team.  Aaron also got highlights of Madisonville’s win against rival Hopkins Central.  We will be down in Storm country again this Friday.

I was on the road to Chicago for the Saturday games.  Castle won its fifth game of the year knocking out Harrison.  I said this on the air tonight, but like Clevenger, Doug Hurt has done a great coaching job this season too.  He is very proud of how his kids keep getting better and continue to learn.  I will call the MD/Castle game on the radio this Saturday.  Kickoff is at 1:30pm at the Bowl.  Should be fun!  I love doing radio!

Memorial doubled up Central 20-10.  The Tigers are coming into their own.  Memorial has Harrison this week.  I will be at that game.  I am going out on a limb and will guess Grant Gribbins will have a big night!  I am leading HTF with this game.

This Friday we plan on covering an astonishing 15 games!  That is so much to organize and get on the air!  We will literally have crews all over the Tri-State.  Be sure to tune in to see if we make it all come together!  I will also have my feature on Jay Cutler for the big show.

As always, thanks for reading, and watching.  Please leave me a comment if you have anything at all to add!  I will see y’all Friday night at 10:35 for NEWS 25 Home Team Friday Live!

Comments

[Blaine]

Reitz got off to a slow start against North...but by the second quarter, it looked like things were back on track for them. I learned my lesson for not paying too much attention to the opening kickoff as I was shooting behind the Reitz player as he returned it for the touchdown.

It was fun to shoot in the city last week. It seems like my beat, more or less, has been up and down 231 this season. Granted, I have enjoyed and gotten use to shooting in Jasper, Southridge, Forest Park, and Heritage Hills...but I was excited for my chance to shoot a Reitz game for the first time ever. I have been on their sidelines now for four years but, not holidng a camera until now.

And, I was surprised at how good of an ending it was at the Bowl between M.D. and Mt. V. Mater Dei can throw the ball, don't let anyone underestimate that. I think that Mt. V did to a point and that was how they got back in the game. But, the interception near the end pretty much sealed the deal. I was also worried about how late I was getting away from that game but, got back to the station with time to spare and everything went without a hitch.

So, Lance...it is time to call upon Mother Nature to keep us from dealing with storms Friday night. I don't mind shooting in the rain but the lightning can be a real buzz killer.

[Lance Wilkerson]

Good stuff Blaine