Finally had the chance today to watch Saturday's game. Before I get to my analysis of those guys, let me acknowledge two of my own oversights and they both involve Riverheads' Braeson Fulton.
First of all, in my game recap I gave Zac Smiley credit for RHS' 40-50 yard run on the very first play from scrimmage but it turns out it was Fulton. In my defense, many of us this year have had trouble telling the difference between 6 and 8 once they get going out there. Secondly I had said that I did not recall who snagged the first interception for the Gladiators and today's tape showed that it was him.
As mentioned more than once this season, Fulton is an incredible all-around athlete who has been accepted at JMU for his first love, baseball. He played football his eighth grade year but then sat out the next three. He came back with a bang this season for his senior year and was a huge contributor for Coach Casto. It was almost as if he had been playing all along.
OK about today's viewing of the game.....actually it was better than I expected because I had watched the SD/Appo game live on Saturday and that was terrible. They could not follow the action anywhere it went.
However in the RHS game, the cameraman seemed to be a little more focused (pun intended) and other than a few things on the near sideline, we caught the major action. I was especially pleased that we got to fully appreciate Smiley's Houdini act on that great run late in the first quarter.
I cannot however in good conscience congratulate our announcers. For one thing, we were still being called Riverside until late in the game.......not consistently but enough to be annoying. Also they could not keep the rosters straight to save their lives. Riverheads' kicker Peyton Skillman wears number 5 and he was called by the Galax # 5 name every single play until just before the half when they finally got it right.
Also in their opening introduction they said that Galax had a 10-4 record this season. Yikes!!
This delayed viewing also helped me sort out two plays that seemed controversial at the time. One was the Galax punt in the first half that some folks thought touched a Riverheads player first, which would have made it fair game. The tape did not clearly show that play but the announcers seemed to have no trouble concluding that Galax touched it first, which made it a dead ball at that point. So on the tape, the refs seemed to only be focusing on where to place it, not who had touched it first.
The second play that gave me new insight was the Riverheads punt in the third quarter that led to a roughing call. I will admit that seeing that live on Saturday, I thought they had deflected the punt, which would have made the contact legal. But on today's tape, it looked much more like he got it away and that there was indeed roughing, which the announcers jumped on right away. So again it did not seem to be as questionable a call as it may have appeared to be at the time.
I have heard other references to other broadcasts of this game but NFHS used the word "exclusive" a lot. So if there are in fact other airings of this game and someone could provide links to them, that would be great.
First of all, in my game recap I gave Zac Smiley credit for RHS' 40-50 yard run on the very first play from scrimmage but it turns out it was Fulton. In my defense, many of us this year have had trouble telling the difference between 6 and 8 once they get going out there. Secondly I had said that I did not recall who snagged the first interception for the Gladiators and today's tape showed that it was him.
As mentioned more than once this season, Fulton is an incredible all-around athlete who has been accepted at JMU for his first love, baseball. He played football his eighth grade year but then sat out the next three. He came back with a bang this season for his senior year and was a huge contributor for Coach Casto. It was almost as if he had been playing all along.
OK about today's viewing of the game.....actually it was better than I expected because I had watched the SD/Appo game live on Saturday and that was terrible. They could not follow the action anywhere it went.
However in the RHS game, the cameraman seemed to be a little more focused (pun intended) and other than a few things on the near sideline, we caught the major action. I was especially pleased that we got to fully appreciate Smiley's Houdini act on that great run late in the first quarter.
I cannot however in good conscience congratulate our announcers. For one thing, we were still being called Riverside until late in the game.......not consistently but enough to be annoying. Also they could not keep the rosters straight to save their lives. Riverheads' kicker Peyton Skillman wears number 5 and he was called by the Galax # 5 name every single play until just before the half when they finally got it right.
Also in their opening introduction they said that Galax had a 10-4 record this season. Yikes!!
This delayed viewing also helped me sort out two plays that seemed controversial at the time. One was the Galax punt in the first half that some folks thought touched a Riverheads player first, which would have made it fair game. The tape did not clearly show that play but the announcers seemed to have no trouble concluding that Galax touched it first, which made it a dead ball at that point. So on the tape, the refs seemed to only be focusing on where to place it, not who had touched it first.
The second play that gave me new insight was the Riverheads punt in the third quarter that led to a roughing call. I will admit that seeing that live on Saturday, I thought they had deflected the punt, which would have made the contact legal. But on today's tape, it looked much more like he got it away and that there was indeed roughing, which the announcers jumped on right away. So again it did not seem to be as questionable a call as it may have appeared to be at the time.
I have heard other references to other broadcasts of this game but NFHS used the word "exclusive" a lot. So if there are in fact other airings of this game and someone could provide links to them, that would be great.
