Who is the favorite in D1 now with the injury at NPSP?? Can they still win it? or has someone else moved to the top?
Football ****Re-Seeded Second Round D1 & D2 Playoff Brackets****
- Thread starter Alum-Ni
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I still think it's NPSP. They still have a great line and solid running backs. Roberts injury hurts their LB corp a lot.
If they get Hi-Line in the quarters, that will be tough, because it's not easy beating a team twice, but they are familiar with them at least.
If the struggle with Hi Line they will not beat Thayer or Stanton at all, my guess is they will not struggle with Hi line at all because EM will beat Hiline by 28 or more
Not what I said, I said it's tough to beat a team twice. I don't think NPSP loses. NPSP has such big play ability.
EM has played two teams over .500 and lost one. Just intrigued to see what they actually look like against a decent team.
Hi-Line has only played two teams above .500 and lost one..... (Alma, St Pats)
E-M has played 4 teams above .500 (Freeman, Palmyra, Weeping Water, Plainview)
E-M has played 4 teams above .500 (Freeman, Palmyra, Weeping Water, Plainview)
I agree but you do realize Hi-line has played two team over 500 and lost to one of them? It will be interesting to see how Hi-Line looks against a descent team LOL
You are right, forgot to factor in WW won last week and EM played Plainview last week.
I think its a dangerous matchup if you're LCC. Lot's of speed in WW and they've figured out who they are lately. Maybe they'll shut me up this week, but I've been underwhelmed by LCC all year
I watched a team on Thursday watch the back judge, and when he was counting down, that's when they ran a play. It was always a dive, and they ate over 9 mins off the clock, and this was with their freshmen, so it can be done. Beating a team bad does nothing for anyone. I can't wait until it bites those teams that are doing it in the butt someday.
TwinsRRUs,
You're right. That guy was an idiot! (I was that guy) borrowed an account to chime in. Nothing to do with stats, though. Just trying to win the game and go to the schools 1st ever state title game. So close the prior two years (lost 30-34 in '19 and lost 36-37 in '20). If you know 8-man football. You know that a quality team (Hitchcock Co.) is able to erase a deficit in a HURRY. Didn't want that to happen. Tried to seal the deal with one last TD - hadn't been moving the ball well or scoring at ease... Couple big plays and a 4th down conversion helped us along the way.. Probably let some past anxieties and a taste of winning greed spoil the moment.
Definitely wasn't chasing stats. I don't know what a kids stats are during a game. I just always assumed that the kid your were referring to was going for 200-300 a night and I was always okay with that
Thanks for the response!TwinsRRUs,
You're right. That guy was an idiot! (I was that guy) borrowed an account to chime in. Nothing to do with stats, though. Just trying to win the game and go to the schools 1st ever state title game. So close the prior two years (lost 30-34 in '19 and lost 36-37 in '20). If you know 8-man football. You know that a quality team (Hitchcock Co.) is able to erase a deficit in a HURRY. Didn't want that to happen. Tried to seal the deal with one last TD - hadn't been moving the ball well or scoring at ease... Couple big plays and a 4th down conversion helped us along the way.. Probably let some past anxieties and a taste of winning greed spoil the moment.
Definitely wasn't chasing stats. I don't know what a kids stats are during a game. I just always assumed that the kid your were referring to was going for 200-300 a night and I was always okay with that
Injuries happen sometimes and it always scares us fans when our coach leaves the starters in when the game is one-sided. Hard to argue your point with trying to make it to Lincoln. I don't fault you one bit for that!
HC's goal is to make it to Lincoln this fall and they have a great chance if they play up to their potential and the I jury bug doesn't knock out a major part of the team.
Your defense was pretty stout against HC's offense last year for much of the game and your offense blocked very well against HC's stout defense.
Your offensive scheme worked very well by putting a lot of blockers in front of that talented running back. Very tough to stop, even when the tough HC defense knew what was coming.
Your running back reminded me of Culbertson's big back in 2000 and 2001 that ran for 200-500+ every game.
Sorry to see you guys getted knocked out early this year. You never know how well one team matches up against another and WW was a tough team this year with a low play-off seed that didn't represent their talent level.
That game probably should have been a round or 2 later in the playoffs.
I hope HC can make it to Lincoln this year. The kids are locked in and excited to see what they can accomplish.
If we are going to drag the Bloomfield coach for not pulling starters but praise HC can someone explain why HC was using timeouts and putting starters in up 42-0 with less than 5 minutes to go? Which resulted in the 48-0 win? Especially knowing the risk of injury before a state title game that you just mentioned? Comparing the two teams stats and looking at underclassmen vs upperclassmen scores it would appear HC keeps starters in more which is a big reason they’ve only given up 30 points all season in blowout wins. (Very impressive regardless) and just 6 in the post season. (Maybe going for some kind of record?) Agree though 112 is a bit much and that woulda been a point where a set limit for mercy rule should be in place. Not the crap 45 point rule we went away from.
When we played HC during regular season they had some starters clear into the last 5 min of the 4th quarter against our JV players and they have plenty of numbers with some of their players on the sidelines not ever taking a snap during the game. Also kicked multiple on-side kicks on us when up 40+ in the first half.
I agree with the need to pull starters when the game is a blowout in order to give the younger kids experience. My mentality is not shared by this coach, but he has his reasons.
In the first playoff game, HC pulled their starters in the 2nd quarter and asked the opposing coach if it was ok to give the starters one series on offense to start the 2nd half. After the first series in the 3rd quarter, only JV played.
Against HSF, Elm Creek, & Bloomfield, HC did not pull their starters because:
1. The JV already played their full season and this is the playoffs. The coach tells the JV players that if you want to play, you better play in the JV games (some kids opt to not play in the JV games). Those kids got to play in the major blowouts.
The HC coach has always had this mentality and he isn't going to change. Varsity plays varsity and JV plays JV. Most disagree with this thought process.
2. 25°-30° outside is not the time to put a JV player in the game when they have been standing on the sidelines freezing their butts off the entire game with only 2 minutes of warmup at halftime after coming back from the locker room. Some don't want the kids pulling a muscle due to this reason alone.
3. He knows that HD is coming up and that his starters had better be prepared to play 4 full quarters and hard-nosed, physical football or they will get throttled like every other team has this year.
As far as the Bloomfield game goes, HC didn't pull their starters until it was 48-0. Their last TD was on a 4th & 7-ish.
After that, with a couple minutes left in the game, both teams put their JV player in. With around 00:39 left in the game, the Bloomfield coach yelled at his varsity to "hurry up and get out onto the field". (My brother was on their sideline and heard everything the coach said all game.)
When their starters went onto the field, HC's coach saw this and called a timeout, thinking that Bloomfield was going to try to pull a fast one and get a TD on HC's JV so that they didn't get shut out.
Their coach was probably still upset about the final TD pass since HC, IMO, could have just ran the ball and let Bloomfield take over on downs if the 1st down was not made.
HC has not kicked an onsides kick all season. Not kicking it to the enzone (pooch kick?) is not an onsides kick.
As far as all of the players on the sidelines, 14 are freshmen, 2 sophomores (both in the top 9 players), 6 juniors (1 starter).
The dropoff from the starters (top 9) to JV is enormous.
There is no arguing about the HC coach keeping starters in. He does that against all the JV parents' will. There is a senior and some juniors that never get to play.
Edit: if anyone knows HC county, they know that HC has been on the losing end of many, many, many blowout games. It's about time the HC is finally able to return the favor to most of those teams.
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Highly doubt that the Bloomfield coach subbed in backups just to send the starters back in with essentially no time left in unless it was to punt and not have more mistakes or to get seniors back on the field for one last time? That part doesn’t make much sense to me.
What game would that have been, I've been at every game and not seen one onside kick that I can remember? But I know damn good and well they never kicked one up 40.
That kickers got a cannon for a leg I think I’d always kick it deep and bank on the other team starting at the 15 with that solid of a defense!
There was 39 seconds left in the game. He yelled, 'all young kids off, starters back in" and that's what happened.
After the TO by HC, Bloomfield took a knee and ended the game. Who knows his reasoning, but that's what happened.
They did sub starters back in to kneel to finish the game, I believe that the coach just wanted the starters to kneel it out since it would be most of their last game in their career. HC believed it was probably to burn the jv and score but I highly doubt that.
My thinking exactly if the subs had already been in. Getting one score on a teams JV with no time left does nothing for moral for next season either when the loss was by as much as it was. Betting it was more to get the upperclassmen recognized by the fans who made the long trip.
Just looked up stats on Maxpreps and the kicker had 83 kickoffs with 59 touchbacks. That is a solid leg, but I know there were plenty of kicks out of bounds as well.
It wasn't "starters", it was seniors to get them all on the field together one last time, there are only 4 of them and they don't all start or get much playing time
Thank you for the clarification! I may be on the out about this but I love when coaches honor their seniors like that. Especially kids who many not start or play much they still put in the work and in a situation like that being far from home down big just getting on the field may have made one of those kids say this year was all worth it. Gotta love that small school aspect of things.
The starters were never really pulled, probably because it sure looked like if the jv gave up a fumble HC was going to go ahead and try to score again. Bloomfield had four sets of brothers, some starters and some jv kids that they wanted to get on the field together. After that play the rest of the starters along with a senior that didn't start took the last snap and took a knee.
Wow very cool moment I bet those brothers will remember forever especially since it’s been quite awhile since Bloomfield has gone that far. Honestly don’t blame Bloomfield for not fully pulling their starters. Typically I prefer it the team doing the pounding offers the olive branch of their subs instead of the team getting pounded having to wave the white flag asking for some sportsmanship but I see both sides as well as in 8 man a few scores can erase a running clock or let a team back into it.
That's awesome. As someone with 4 brothers, I think that would've been special.
3 straight kickoffs that only go 10-15 yards off the tee and our front line guys recovering the ball is not a pooch kick either
Obviously, you are talking about the Loomis game. If you somewhat even watched the game Hitchcock County couldn't even attempt a drive starting on their side of the field. The squib kick attempts were so that after the defense clobbered them, they could punt and allow the offense a chance at a longer field drive.
Hard to get much repetition considering HC scored on like 6 of their first 10 touches. It was very apparent who the better team was and considering Elm Creek had just finished destroying Loomis the week before, I am sure they were not at 100% for this game.
Those were 100% not onside kicks as there was no attempt to even try and recover the ball from HC.
I stand corrected.
I just watched 3 kicks that first appeared as though maybe he missed the ball when kicking and then appeared to just be kicking it short.
Can't say they were "onsides" kicks, but definitely short. Who knows if the coach wanted to shorten the field for them or what the heck he was thinking. 🤷🏾
I don't think saying HC has been on the losing end of many blowouts in years past, is a good reason for running up the score/ keeping starters in to long. (Just what I'm reading on these comments, I have not seen them play in person) You would think they would show some respect for the other team since they know how it feels to get blown out. Most games are pretty cut and dry when the starters should get taken out.
Our coach is very well respected and he knows what he is doing. For long term success, it helps so much letting those jv and freshman kids play most of the 2nd half of games even in the playoffs (yes even last week in the very cold weather). It gives those kids confidence next year when they walk out there as a starter.
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I truly don’t think I could have said that second paragraph any better. Any varsity reps are valuable to the development of your jv or non starters. Getting kids those reps regardless of the weather or conditions is key in building programs that last not just the one hit wonders where a talented class comes through a school. Some good teams even use their non starters in special teams to see who’s able to tackle in space or make a block when the kids might not see it “as important” as other offensive downs. Great way for kids to see the field and get accustomed to a faster game than they are used to.
And particularly in D2, where so few of these programs even get to have JV games regularly, playing those kids is how they build depth for the future. I think about programs like Howells-Dodge, Sacred Heart, Bloomfield, St. Francis- getting those non-star sophomores a couple of halves of varsity play across the season is how they turn those guys into productive seniors that keep the team relevant year after year.
My high school coach was one of the best to ever do it so maybe stuff I take for granted everyone knows isn't always that black and white to others. For the life of me I don't get not playing your JV kids in games that are out of hand. If you are down 40-50 your varsity kids won't do anything very productive from there out. They have had their chance. The game is over, get everyone reps. I'd be embarrassed to have my varsity scoring on the other teams JV and feel very good about it. Your young guys show up to practice and do everything the other guys do in practice. In most cases they are the ones getting knocked on their butts and yelled at for not running the scout plays correctly. What motivation do you give them to show up everyday in practice and give your varsity a good look if they know they are never going to get in the game on Friday? I tell our guys weekly that I know it sucks to show up and play scout team and get popped by the older guys but it is all part of paying their dues. Every year I have our older guys talk about how and who used to work them over on scout team. I think it helps kids see that our 3 year starter on the OL used to get thumped on by the guys ahead of him when he was younger. I just can't fathom telling kids you play JV and never try to get them on the field on Fridays. I dangle playing time in front of every kid. Just putting a kid in on a kickoff or two during a game gives them such a sense of accomplishment as younger kids. You can almost see it in the way they start to carry themselves in practice the next week when they get a few snaps.
As far as running up the score goes, I don't like it, but I fully believe that some coaches hate getting the score ran up on them, so when they have a good team and a chance to run it up on the coach that ran it up on them, those coaches will take that opportunity.
From a fans point of view, many fans want to get revenge and run the score up on those teams that have kicked their butts for 10 years in a row. Like I said before, I don't agree with running up the score. I believe in getting young players as much experience as possible in varsity games when the opportunities arise, and believe me, those opportunities happened a lot this year for HC. The JV did get a lot of varsity playing time in the 2nd half of most games.
One of my brothers is on the chain gang and hears almost every word that opposing coaches say during the game. Oftentimes it's not pretty. Some of these coaches would be much better off if they led by example in front of all those impressionable kids that they are leading. Some coaches deserve what they get with their attitudes on the sidelines. Be respectful, get treated respectfully.
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Some things players and coaches have said:
- Break his leg! Take him out! Break his f***ing arm! Take out #**! Knock him out of the game! You need to hurt #25! Get him out of the game! When you get your shot, take it! Get him in the pile while he is down!
Some teams and their coaches are pretty disrespectful against HC. When players say these things, their coaches need to tell them to shut up. When the coaches are saying these things, they shouldn't even be allowed to coach any more.
Opposing teams are not putting their JV kids in when HC puts theirs in. Playing a bunch of freshmen against other teams juniors and seniors isn't always ok to do.
💯😍
Couldn't agree more with you the above comments.
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I doubt most coaches are their best selves when they’re giving up a running clock, but I don’t know that it’s fair to assume the nastiness all comes from one sideline, especially if the running up the score comes from a place of spite over previous years scores.
Seems like a lot of people seeing this the same way, but have to remember that coaches are human too and might even admit after the fact that they’d do some things differently.
Seems like a lot of people seeing this the same way, but have to remember that coaches are human too and might even admit after the fact that they’d do some things differently.
Easy to argue with the process(I don’t agree with it) but hard to argue with the results hitchcock county has gotten the last two years. I believe this will be their first ever state championship appearance? And the county as a whole should be very proud of how hard/tough that team plays and is.
Guessing they will face some teams in the next couple years that will remember they had starters in late into the fourth quarter in not competitive games and scores will reflect it, but with 14 freshmen they will surely be very competitive again by the time they are freshman.
C-bears or twins do your participation numbers stay that high? 14 is very impressive even for a whole county school at the D-2 level
Guessing they will face some teams in the next couple years that will remember they had starters in late into the fourth quarter in not competitive games and scores will reflect it, but with 14 freshmen they will surely be very competitive again by the time they are freshman.
C-bears or twins do your participation numbers stay that high? 14 is very impressive even for a whole county school at the D-2 level