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Preseason -
Florala vs. Samson
Football HOME
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Positive – Offense… The quarterback position has been a preseason
concern for Wildcat fans. Losing all 3 players from last year’s team
had many wondering who would step forward to play, but 2 players
performed well at Senior Taylor Benton gets the start and Junior TJ
Fleming played early and often. Benton was 6-9 with 2 TD passes and
looked comfortable behind center and in the shotgun. TJ will be the
more mobile of the two running the option the majority of his
possessions. Coach Hudson was pleased with both “overall I am
extremely happy with the play from our quarterback position – TJ
played well and Taylor showed composer and toughness running the
ball”. Ro Williams may be the workhorse of the team after last
night’s performance running for one score and catching another on an
unbelievable reception from Benton. On a play that everyone thought
was an interception, Williams hauls in for a 65 yard TD. Ro also had
two other TD runs called back because of penalties.
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Positive – Defense… The senior’s really picked it up on defense as
Josh Hattaway, 1A All State offensive lineman, looked like an All
State DL. “Josh was consistently in the backfield putting pressure
on Samson all night - he really penetrated the line well – and also
had an interception” said Hudson. Kyle McCoy played well at the
Defensive end position and made the hit on Samson’s Junior QB
McCrummen as he was throwing the ball. Josh’s awareness allowed him
to pull down the “lame duck” gift for what could have been his first
career INT. Bobby Fleming and Travis McCulligh helped shutdown the
2A Tigers. Negatives – The
Wildcats really showed the lack of preparation time during last
nights game. “There were too many missed tackles on defense –
players over pursuing, missed assignments and offensively I don’t
know where to begin - mistakes, not finishing blocking assignments,
and costly penalties” stated Hudson.
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How did the
Wildcats play at its preseason game?
Like 99.9% of all
High School teams - there will be a lot of mistakes....
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Pre-season Grade book |
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Offense --
Offensive line
Did not perform to
potential |
B |
Defense --
Great play from Seniors
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A |
Special Teams
Kicking by
Committee |
C |
Coaching Staff
Field alone is an A+
great team adjustments
Team's lack of condition |
B |
Overall
See Next weeks
preview - 8-29 |
B- |
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Coach Hudson
continued “I don’t think we are in shape, but that’s on me. I guess
I didn’t work them hard enough. We’ve got to be in better condition
– maybe when it cools down a little bit that will help, but our guys
got tired out there.” That could be an issue since the varsity only
played 3 quarters. Outside of Coach Hudson’s comments a lot was has
been written about the Offensive line being the strong point on this
year’s team, but last nights win over Samson didn’t prove it. At one
point the Wildcat offense had 3 motion penalties in a row – several
off-side infractions, and two holding penalties took points of the
score board. On defense there were several breakdowns early in
passing coverage that allowed Samson’s only TD of the night – a pass
to WR Bradley Smith.
Coaching – With only 20 days to prepare the Wildcats, Coach Hudson
has performed some miracles. First finding players – 45 players
dressed out (29 listed on the Varsity roster) for last night’s
preseason game and all played. Coach Hudson picked up some coverage
concerns and made mid-season type adjustments that shut down
Samson’s passing attack. After allowing the Tigers’ several passes
and one for an easy TD, coach applied pressure upfront and changed
some secondary schemes / positions that shut down the receivers.
Coach Hudson emptied the bench to see how every player would
perform. The assistant coaches were working together to find
weaknesses and their ability to seemly change packages could cause
problems for other team this year.
Hats off to Coach Rasberry’s maintenance and turf management – the
field was in excellent shape.
OVERALL – the Wildcats looked good, but have a long way to go. First
game jitters, over pursuit, missed tackles, mental mistakes,
penalties and conditioning. However, this team has talent. The
backfield has depth and with the emergence of two quarterbacks will
help. Sr. Taylor Benton showed great composer not allowing mistakes
to break his confidence. He took control of the game and kept
working to improve knowing he would make some judgment errors.
If 1A region 2 coaches didn’t know, they do now. These Wildcats
could be in the mix for another good season.
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