Louisa/LC Bird scrimmage

[anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b]

Great crowd, as expected, especially of Bird fans. The scrimmage started before the scheduled 7PM time for some reason, but we arrived just in time to see Louisa QB Jordan Cherry throw a 70 yard TD bomb to new weapon Marquis Lee, who caught it over two Bird defenders, broke tackles and out-raced them to the end zone. That was pretty much it for the Louisa starters scoring wise, though. Louisa's top offensive lineman didn't play. It was a controlled scrimmage with each team getting multiple drives of ten plays, keeping the ball even if they scored. Bird was Bird and their offense hasn't missed a beat with nearly everyone returning. They scored nearly at will, and showed that Louisa's new defense needs work. They have a shifty little runner who abused Louisa's mistakes of not covering weak side cut-back lanes. Bird QB and Notre Dame commit Jalen Elliot threw some nice TD passes and scrambled for more. The starters played for a while, then the backups came in for a few series, then the starters came back for chances to convert on 4th downs or give the ball up. Bird's starters out-scored Louisa's 5 or 6 TDs to 1 (unless Louisa scored before we arrived) when all was said and done, and Louisa's backups out-scored Bird's 2-0. Everything was base offense and defense, with Louisa moving a lot of guys around all day on both sides.

I loved Bird's physicality, and I'm glad Louisa got to face it. They laid some big hits. Now Louisa's young guys know that they need to step their physicality up. Both teams got a little chippy at times but nothing major. Don't get me wrong, though! Louisa moved the ball on the ground and through the air against Bird's stingy defense, but some bad snaps and Bird's defense stopped them. I'm very encouraged by what I saw, especially from Jordan Cherry, Marquis Lee, and DeVonte Shelton and we won't see a team that good all season. If our defense gets better we'll be fine. They're young, fast and athletic and made many mental mistakes and missed tackles. Bird might go for their 4th straight title.

Glad everyone came away from the scrimmage healthy and with some lessons learned!

 

[Snookasuperstar]

As good as Byrd is l.t. might be that much better from last season!

 

[hamspear]

If you make it to the East final Hoos, you could see LT , or maybe Dinwiddie. They are as good as Bird or maybe better. Love your enthusiasm for your team, I will root for them after the Warriors play the Lions.

 

[anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b]

Gotta get there first then we'll worry about them. One game at a time.

 

[hamspear]

do you think Louisa is a top 4 team in the East, and if you were still in the West, would you have a west final caliber team?

 

[anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b]

Ha, I'm not taking that bait. It's too early to say, but I'll just say if the defense tightens up, surprising things might happen.

 

[hamspear]

 

[GilliamRatings]

If you make it to the East final Hoos, you could see LT , or maybe Dinwiddie. They are as good as Bird or maybe better. Love your enthusiasm for your team, I will root for them after the Warriors play the Lions.

I definitely think Lake Taylor is going to be incredible this year. Dinwiddie too. I wouldn't quibble with anyone who thinks they might be better than Bird this year.

I will say this though. Louisa won't play anyone more PHYSICAL than Bird. It'll all feel like love taps this year after that. A great first scrimmage that should keep the Lions hungry. I really wouldn't read anything into the score or Louisa's season's success based on them scrimmaging the Skyhawks. I watch a lot of Jefferson District football and a lot of Bird football and if Louisa moved the ball even a little against Bird (The last few years Bird holds 6 or 7 opponents each season to under 50 yards) then Louisa will be just fine once the regular season gets here. Nobody in the Charlottesville area plays smash mouth football like that, and if you haven't seen it before then that's a bit of a shocker.

Louisa has absolutely no business worrying about what Dinwiddie and Lake Taylor are doing. If they were paying attention to them right now, then Coach Fischer would be a terrible coach. We know he's a great coach, so I don't think they've got up "We want the Titans!" signs in the stadium right now.

One game at a time for Louisa, and then they'll spend a week getting ready for whomever the bracket gods send their way.

I think Bird also gets a lot out of facing a team like Louisa. Fischer is going to make adjustments and exploit weaknesses. If you have weaknesses you want them to be exploited in the scrimmages so you can fix them. I've even been to scrimmages where the coaches told one another after the game, what they saw the other team ought to work on. Since Fischer and Bedwell are such good friends, I wouldn't be surprised if they're on the phone right now helping one another.

 

[GilliamRatings]

As good as Byrd is l.t. might be that much better from last season!

How'd William Byrd get into this conversation?

 

[Snookasuperstar]

How'd William Byrd get into this conversation?

Miss spelling it happens

 

[anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b]

I definitely think Lake Taylor is going to be incredible this year. Dinwiddie too. I wouldn't quibble with anyone who thinks they might be better than Bird this year.

I will say this though. Louisa won't play anyone more PHYSICAL than Bird. It'll all feel like love taps this year after that. A great first scrimmage that should keep the Lions hungry. I really wouldn't read anything into the score or Louisa's season's success based on them scrimmaging the Skyhawks. I watch a lot of Jefferson District football and a lot of Bird football and if Louisa moved the ball even a little against Bird (The last few years Bird holds 6 or 7 opponents each season to under 50 yards) then Louisa will be just fine once the regular season gets here. Nobody in the Charlottesville area plays smash mouth football like that, and if you haven't seen it before then that's a bit of a shocker.

Louisa has absolutely no business worrying about what Dinwiddie and Lake Taylor are doing. If they were paying attention to them right now, then Coach Fischer would be a terrible coach. We know he's a great coach, so I don't think they've got up "We want the Titans!" signs in the stadium right now.

One game at a time for Louisa, and then they'll spend a week getting ready for whomever the bracket gods send their way.

I think Bird also gets a lot out of facing a team like Louisa. Fischer is going to make adjustments and exploit weaknesses. If you have weaknesses you want them to be exploited in the scrimmages so you can fix them. I've even been to scrimmages where the coaches told one another after the game, what they saw the other team ought to work on. Since Fischer and Bedwell are such good friends, I wouldn't be surprised if they're on the phone right now helping one another.

I was hoping you were there, Gilliam! You missed some exciting plays by both teams. Notre Dame is getting a steal in Elliot. Louisa had a handful of long runs that Bird's DBs simply made great plays on and stopped would-be touchdowns, and Louisa had a few good passing plays besides the 70 yarder, and another 20+ yarder that fell right out the receiver's hands. Louisa's backs were able to break some tackles but Bird was very fundamental and almost always tackled at the feet.

 

[DEVILSLB99]

That's what Bird does. I guarantee they ran probably 10-15 plays, but those plays were ran very well. Bird runs their stuff and Coach Bedwell expects excellent execution and if they don't then he will find someone to come in the game and do it correctly.

 

[anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b]

Bird runs bootlegs to perfection. Very hard to stop, they gave Tuscarora fits with it.

 

[DEVILSLB99]

Because it's run jut like they run power or lead same backfield action. So LB's and DB's get sucked up looking in the backfield and come up in run support then they have the oh sh*t moment and by that time the receivers are running free. Teams that run the ball very well like Bird are also very good at play action. Also helps to have Jalen Elliott at QB as that kid is a hell of an athlete so him one on one with your average Jo HS LB is a loss for the defense.

 

[shauntclair]

I was hoping you were there, Gilliam! You missed some exciting plays by both teams. Notre Dame is getting a steal in Elliot. Louisa had a handful of long runs that Bird's DBs simply made great plays on and stopped would-be touchdowns, and Louisa had a few good passing plays besides the 70 yarder, and another 20+ yarder that fell right out the receiver's hands. Louisa's backs were able to break some tackles but Bird was very fundamental and almost always tackled at the feet.

I was hoping you were there, Gilliam! You missed some exciting plays by both teams. Notre Dame is getting a steal in Elliot. Louisa had a handful of long runs that Bird's DBs simply made great plays on and stopped would-be touchdowns, and Louisa had a few good passing plays besides the 70 yarder, and another 20+ yarder that fell right out the receiver's hands. Louisa's backs were able to break some tackles but Bird was very fundamental and almost always tackled at the feet.

How did Bird get so many big hits when they tackled at the feet? Didn't know that's where big hits come from. Everyone else I know teachs a shoulder pad into the belt buckle, wrap up the thighs and drive. At least that's what Vince Lombardi and anyone else I know teachs. Obviously, there are times when that can't happen. Then, it's anything you get a hold of. If a foots within reach, that's where you go but it's just all improv at that point.

 

[VaPrepsRod]

How did Bird get so many big hits when they tackled at the feet? Didn't know that's where big hits come from. Everyone else I know teachs a shoulder pad into the belt buckle, wrap up the thighs and drive. At least that's what Vince Lombardi and anyone else I know teachs. Obviously, there are times when that can't happen. Then, it's anything you get a hold of. If a foots within reach, that's where you go but it's just all improv at that point.

A lot of guys are starting to teach the rugby tackle.

 

[anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b]

The big hit tackles came on Louisa runs up the middle, the lower tackles were against players in space or along the sideline. Thanks for that video Rod, very interesting to see how the game is changing to hopefully make it safer.

 

[shauntclair]

After watching this video, it's exactly as I said, shoulder to the belt buckle, wrap the thighs and drive. Nothing new here. It's exactly what Vince Lombardi taught. Classic old school. I.don't know how Pete Carrol thinks this is something new, unique or Rugby derived. I realize he's way more qualified than I but this just blows my mind. It's the way I taught kids for 20 years and the way I was taught 20 years before that.

Obviously, there have been those that teach spearing and head hunting. Always bush league to me. But still not a thing to do with tackling feet. Perhaps it's just an expression to mean "take away a man's feet". Just improperly described. I can happily live with that.

 

[Snookasuperstar]

Yeah good video but that's how I was taught to tackle years ago really nothing knew as shaunty stated.