LEBANON YOUTH FOOTBALL: LYFL Nut's Blog
LYFL Nut's Playoff Blog
Warning: The following blog is not to be taken seriously. It is the sole opinion of the author and at times offers a little tongue in cheek humor. It DOES NOT reflect the opinions or beliefs of the LYFL, its officers as a whole or the Board of Directors. Any complaints or comments should be directed specifically to LYFL Nut (Bob Lugenbeal) in person or by emailing blugenbeal@hotmail.com . FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY
First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate all the coaches, parents, board members, cheerleaders and players on a very successful season from flag all .the way through the JV division. It was, for the most part, very competitive nearly every weekend.
If you asked me before this weekend what I thought of the notion that the Steelers, Redskins and Dolphins would ALL advance to this weeks championship games while the Chargers, Cowboys and Texans ALL would lose, I would have said no way. None of those results (singularly) would surprise me, but no way does it ALL happen…….but it did.
For the Dolphins and Redskins, a 3 seed knocking off a 2 seed doesn’t sound like that big of an upset. In the Redskins case, it wasn’t. They won a very closely matched game against a team that, at least on paper, they were the better of. Not to take anything away from the Cowboys season, but they are a very young team with only a very few experienced veterans and this wasn’t supposed to be their year. This was more an outstanding coaching job that week in and week out, found a way to win. Not that it was all coaching, those kids can flat out play and I’ll go on record now as proclaiming them an early favorite for a 2013 title run.
The Texans had an enigma of a day and the Dolphins finally came out of their funk for the first time in weeks. I’m not sure if it was the Zimmerman-Williamson switch (coaches, not the players) but just in case, they may not want to switch back.
The big surprise of the day to some (not me) was the Steelers dismantling of the Chargers in such dominating fashion. Given their last 4 games head to head against each other over two seasons, the casual observer would assume the Chargers would walk away from this one. Credit the Steelers for going in with a solid game plan and sticking to it. A clock sucking 7 minute opening touchdown drive and a ferocious defensive front 5 didn’t hurt either.
And oh by the way, the Falcons won too.
So with this weekend’s scores recorded and in the books, 8 teams will continue their season for one final week in hopes of ending on a high note. Nothing like that warm fuzzy feeling of a fresh victory to take you into winter. For four of those teams, the Texans, Colts, Chargers and Cowboys, it’ll be a week evenly tempered with the desire to win and the curiosity of “what if we did this” and actually trying it. This is the week when the lineman runs the ball and the quarterback might take over at center. It’s anything goes with nothing substantial, except next years draft position, at stake.
For the other four, it will be all about winning. Winning the bigger trophy, creating those childhood memories that last a life time, bragging rights at school for as long as it lasts, your own page on this website and finally, the ride on the parade float on Independence Day. With that said, here’s a look at the JV and Pee Wee Super Bowls and what you might expect.
Redskins vs Steelers - Thursday, November 18th at 7:30 PM
This one will have a different look and feel right off the bat as both teams will be playing under the lights for the first time this year. A scheduling change due to conflicts with Fall Break and the Border Wars schedule moves this game to a weeknight for the first time. The consolation game will be played first and the Super Bowl should start at 7:30.
The Redskins had an excellent season finishing 4-2 and a solid first round victory over the Bucs. However, it’s not what they did in the regular season or what they did to the Bucs that should scare the Steelers. It’s not the fact that they beat the Cowboys. It’s how they beat the Cowboys. Kobe “Cargo Ship” Ottinger put this team on his back and carried them to victory offensively. The Redskins did not hide the fact that they were going to send him up the gut over and over and there was absolutely nothing the Cowboys could do about it. I don’t keep stats, but if I did, I would probably see something in the neighborhood of 6 yards per carry. Scarier, is that they didn’t even need their potent outside attack. How do you stop that?
Key to victory: Control the line of scrimmage, the clock and maintain a balance offensively. The Redskins have fewer weapons and can ill afford to tire one of them out prematurely.
The Steelers are on a high after their stunning upset of the Chargers and must get over that and move on. The sooner the better. Don’t look at their regular season record as it’s not indicative of the drive and ability of this team. They have the leagues best defensive line and plenty of weapons on offense to keep Matt Morton and his coaching staff guessing. In their running backs, they match up pretty well to the Redskins but they may have an advantage on the offensive line and at quarterback. I coach the Steelers, so I’m not going to allude as to what you might expect other than to say if you expect it, it probably won’t happen.
Key to victory: Like they did against the Chargers, they need to maintain 100% focus on the task at hand and maintain the same intensity. Must create a bottle neck at the line of scrimmage to slow down Ottinger.
Falcons vs Dolphins - Saturday November 20th at 12:00 PM
The Falcons have it all. A smart quarterback who won’t make a lot of mistakes in JC “Pretty Boy” Reese, a bruising fullback (who can also catch a pass or two) in Michael “Hammerhead” Reese. An outside burner in Nathaniel Smith. A player who can seemingly do it all whether he’s blocking for someone, running off tackle, on a sweep or throwing the ball in Garrett Harker. With Jacob Cain and Caleb Lange, they have athletic size and withplayers like Chase Downs, Jayden Manning and Blake Culley, they have athletic roll players in abundance. This teams looks like an all star team on paper and often plays like it on both sides of the ball.
Key to Victory: Two or more touchdowns and don’t overlook the Dolphins mentally.The Dolphins woke up just in time to find their invitation to the dance. They RSVP’d with authority in their victory over the Texans to set up the Championship that nearly everyone predicted at the beginning of the season. They MUST have the mentality that the job isn’t complete to stay in this one. They have the talent, size and experience to hang with the Falcons for 32 minutes but the questions is…..will they. Easton Williamson must have a big day, Kye Zimmerman must have a big day, they have to find a way to get Justin Curry heavily involved and their talented roll players like Haiden Gibbs and Zach “Z Man” West must contribute. Their big guys, Derek Mount and Nick Morgan must fire off the ball at the line of scrimmage and use their size and leverage to their advantage. But the question is……will they? If they do, and I believe they can, this could be an upset.
Key to Victory: Play football on every play to their utmost potential for a full 32 minutes…..just like I said last week.
That's the way the LYFL Nut sees this final weekend shaping up. Be sure to weigh in your opinion on our polls page. I'll be addressing some of these in the end of season blog next week.
