Don't hang your heads L-B and H-L

By Jamie Baker
Liberty-Benton and Hopewell-Loudon’s football teams shouldn’t be hanging their heads after losing in this weekend’s OHSAA state finals.
Only 12 of 716 Ohio high school football teams were still playing ball this weekend in Massillon and Canton and to be one of those elite 12 teams is an accomplishment in itself.
Here are the complete offensive and defensive stats on the game from the OHSAA.
http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/ft/boys/2008/d5stfinal08.htm
Mark Heiman and I dissected Liberty-Benton’s 21-0 loss to Youngstown Ursuline the entire way home from Massillon to Findlay last night and here’s what we came up with...that was a heckuva game and much, much closer than the final score indicated.
The Eagles’ defense allowed only 152 yards of total offense. That’s an amazing stat considering too that Ursuline got 59 yards on one play in the second quarter on Allen Jones’ touchdown run.
On most days a defensive performance like the Eagles has yesterday would have been good enough for them to take home the championship trophy.
Unfortunately, Ursuline’s defense, while giving up nearly 100 more yards, made the plays they had to to keep the Eagles out of the endzone particularly when they stopped Aaron Craft on a 4th-and-1 keeper on the 3 yardline.
It was certainly a championship performance by both defenses.
I think Ursuline’s speed on defense was the decisive factor in the game. Craft was pressured on a consistent basis for the first time this year and Ursuline’s defensive backs were lightning quick stepping up and keeping the Eagles from getting outside.
It was one hell of a ride this season and to give Ursuline, who many considered to be one of the top three teams in the state regardless of Division, a run for their money is a tribute to the coaches and players at L-B and to the hard work they put in to get there.
Any other thoughts on Saturday’s game, I’d love to hear some feedback.

Comments

It really just boils down to a judgement call by the official. If the official feels the receiver caught the ball, had control and has broken the plane of the goal line, it's a touchdown. If he feels it was juggled or not caught, it's incomplete. There is no replay or challenge in high school. The official gets one look, at live speed and has to make a decision.

[Marty]

It's a slippery slope when you start comparing scores. If you want to do that then H-L shouldn't have had any problems with St. Johns considering the Chieftains defeated Carey 28-0 and St. John's from my understanding squeaked past the Blue Devils 21-14. The BVC is a solid small school conference, no doubt about that; Liberty-Benton however is on a completely different level then the rest of the conference. I thought the officiating in the H-L game was very good but did anyone else notice that the interception on the one yard line was actually dropped? I was watching the game on tivo so I was given the opportunity to see numerous replays and that ball definitely hit the turf in view of the ref. One last comment, maybe someone else has some input on this. During the H-L game a St. Johns receiver caught the ball crossing the goaline and fell to the turf where the ball came out, he took two steps in the endzone in the process of stumbling to the ground. My friends and I have debated this all football season long and have seen this exact same play ruled incomplete at least five times. The St. John's receiver was given the TD, what's the ruling?

I really wish people would stop complaining about the officiating. LB had 4 quarters and plenty of opportunities to score. Every game has calls that go both ways for either team, they all work out in the end.

I know it can be dangergous comparing scores, but LB beat most of the BVC teams by similar scores that they beat PH and Archbold, especially in poor weather conditions that usually limit offenses. Also, Arlington lost to the eventual state champion in Delphos St. John's in a score comparable to some St. John's closer games. Carey only lost to DSJ 21-14 and McComb and Carey played nearly even in week one of the playoffs. I think D-6 Region 22 was pretty strong when all was said and done.

[BVC Fan]

Refs in this game did no favors for the Eagles. A obvious facemask penalty in the 1st quater,the call in the end zone which has to be a penalty flag for illegal touching. No flag was thrown and am hearing the replay shows the ball was tipped by a Ursuline linebacker.. If it was, not sure what the ruling would be. The pass intereference penalty on the fake punt was questionable as well.

Ursuline's defense especialy in the secondary was impressive. But when you have D-1 players back there, kinda makes it hard to have any big plays.
Eagles D was outstanding. To give up 150 years with 59 of those yards on one play and only allowing 8 first downs is amazing.
A great ride this year and one I will never forget. For anyone blaming Craft is totally insane. Great athlete and a better kid!

Is the BVC good or was LB just on another level? LB blew out every team on their schedule, even the #2 BVC team in PG. Outside of LB and a PG victory over Riverdale, the BVC didn't do that well in the playoffs. LB was head and shoulders above the rest of the BVC, no team was on their level. Does this make the BVC good, or is LB just better. I think the BVC is a good small football and sports conference. But LB's run doesn't indicate that the BVC is great just like HL's run doesn't mean the MAL is great because no one in the MAL put up a fight against them.

One thing we definitely found out with LB's tournament run, is that the BVC is a much better conference than most people gave credit to. Delphos Jefferson got crushed by LB in the first round of the playoffs, and they went toe to toe with Ada in the NWC the whole season. PH and Archbold were at the top of the NWOAL and LB crushed them too. Point is, the BVC does not need to take a back seat to any small school conference in NW Ohio.

Wow Jamie, I knew as soon as you said "I'd love some feedback" the attack ws on! Even though LB had to defend their conference and schedule for the last 5 weeks, it amazes me how those handful of hatefuls still surface on here. The BVC supported LB for the most part, and the conference got some credibility these last few weeks. I don't think people are saying the BVC is garbage anymore- but LB really took some bashing about it. I watched the game and thought it was amazing what they did against a team that was loaded with D1 talent, that has skilled players about 3 deep in every position. Congrats LB, and try to ignore the people on here that embarass all of us when they look for opportunities like these to attack. For the rest of us, please don't respond to these ridiculous people that just troll for a response. We all know who they are, and they are the same people every time. If you can't say something positive, please don't post- it ruins these boys' awesome accomplishment this year. Congrats guys!

I've been involved as a parent with the Eagle football program for the last 8 years. And for anybody to say that one person lost this game for the Eagles is an injustice to this program. This has always been a team effort, with a team goal. And when this team doesn't win, the team doesn't win. No one player is bigger than the team.

[Spenser]

Hey guy calling out a high school kid on a blog without posting your name is really classy. Craft is a great player and LB was a great team. They just ran into one of the best D5 schools to win a championship. I hope you sleep better at night knowing you bring down high schoolers playing the game they love. Loser

[Mark Panning]

It's unfortunate some feel the need to place blame or attack a high school kid. We won as a team and we shall lose as a team. AC did not lose the game for us. He and our entire offense were trying to make plays to help us WIN a championship.

And, yes, our defense played a wonderful game and gave us a chance. The team we played got 23 from D-1 Massillon and 33 from D-1 Warren Harding so we are rightly proud.

We should be celebrating what was achieved this season not trying to find fault.

Did not say he was not a nice kid, but two ints leading directly to TDs is a major cause for thier loss, truth hurts, delete it.

[Jamie_B]

I haven't deleted but one comment since this blog was begun and I won't delete the first comment on this post despite it being ill-conceived, ill-informed and just plain wrong.
I'd have to agree with Coach Snider. Get lost. He did not lose that game. Aaron Craft is a nice kid and doesn't deserve to be run down.
Congrats to both the Eagles and Chieftains you have a lot to be proud of this season. Both kids, coaches and fans are class acts.
You won with honor this season and when you lost you showed class and dignity. Many teams don't.

[hsfball]

I think you need to look back to OHSAA football history to dissect this one. The teams that continually bring home the gold trophy can play power football when they need to. Not coincidentally, very few teams that throw the ball around in a wide open offense make it home with the big prize. Weather, talent equalization, nerves, neutral field, etc all have a way of breaking down a throw it around offense. Just a few, Beloiit West Branch, the great Mentor Lake Catholic team with Jurevicious, and the Mauk powered Kenton teams, manage to win without being able to simply pound it at you when they need to. Especially at the small school level where you pounding on their defence wears out a bunch of kids that probably play both ways. Given the style of offense that LB embraces I think they got all they could get. As Coach Nichols gets more experienced I think you will see him blend in a power game... in the mold of what Mogadore, Marion Local, Norwalk St Paul, Ignatius, Bucthel, etc all did in their heyday.

Two INT'S that lead to TD's, he lost the game. great player, but he lost this game to a better team.

Two INT'S that lead to TD's, he lost the game. great player, but he lost this game to a better team.

[Coach Snider]

Don't you dare come on here and make a comment like that you gutless SOB! That kid has more heart then you will ever hope to have! Get lost!

[Pat the mailman]

You really don't like this kid, do you?

Craft lost the game for the Eagles. What does he care? He will not be back next year. Maybe looking ahead to basketball and college?