Salem - 14 GW - 3 Halftime

[Shabutie]

Really weird first half. Salem has one first down and has run about 12 total offensive plays in the entire game so far but Persinger has two long TD runs.

GW has been grinding out tough yards against a Salem defense that is actually playing pretty well but have had to settle for a FG and a turnover on downs after driving deep into Salem territory.

 

[Shabutie]

Salem - 24 GW- 3 Late Third Quarter

Salem really dominated this quarter and had two drives inside the GW 10-yard-line. Unfortunately they settled for a short FG make and a short FG miss before getting a 45 yard pick 6 by sophomore Jordan McCadden.

Downside for Salem is that star WR/S Coen Logan had what looked to be a pretty bad shoulder injury after a long catch. He missed several games earlier in the year with a shoulder injury too. He did try to come back in the game but immediately grabbed it again and had to sub out.

Logan has been just fantastic on both sides of the ball.

 

[blackknight_pride]

Freaking Salem man. They are the boogie man. No matter how dead you think they are….

 

[cutnjump]

Really weird first half. Salem has one first down and has run about 12 total offensive plays in the entire game so far but Persinger has two long TD runs.

GW has been grinding out tough yards against a Salem defense that is actually playing pretty well but have had to settle for a FG and a turnover on downs after driving deep into Salem territory.

Congrats to the Spartans. They do what they do. Good luck in the Region championship.

 

[Shabutie]

Salem - 24 GW - 3 FINAL

 

[southbottomU]

Congratulations to all the kids but a huge shout out to the defense. A huge effort. Also congratulations to the coaching staff for getting that defense to play at a championship level.
This is a game I thought Salem might lose. I couldn't be more happy to be wrong.

 

[BoKnowsSports]

Congratulations Salem fans!

 

[southbottomU]

Shabutie-----what changes did Salem make? Or did the kids just rise to occasion?

 

[CrushBlock]

An advantage Salem has going into these playoff games: almost no one plays an offense that does gap scheme the whole game or played someone that has spent the hours in practice fine tuning their combos and 1v1 on the 1 and 3 techs. Salem spends hours in individual portion of practice on a weekly basis working this.

You could tell tonight that Salems o line and full backs and wr were blocking like hornets all over the field. It’s demoralizing in a way most teams haven’t seen all year.

Yeah a couple big d linemen will make a couple big stops early in the game and get people hyped on their sidelines, but guess what, salem is just going to run Pro right 34 again and get 3 yards next play like it didn’t even phase them.

 

[cutnjump]

An advantage Salem has going into these playoff games: almost no one plays an offense that does gap scheme the whole game or played someone that has spent the hours in practice fine tuning their combos and 1v1 on the 1 and 3 techs. Salem spends hours in individual portion of practice on a weekly basis working this.

You could tell tonight that Salems o line and full backs and wr were blocking like hornets all over the field. It’s demoralizing in a way most teams haven’t seen all year.

Yeah a couple big d linemen will make a couple big stops early in the game and get people hyped on their sidelines, but guess what, salem is just going to run Pro right 34 again and get 3 yards next play like it didn’t even phase them.

I think Salem's biggest advantage is they have been there over and over and over and they just do what they do without getting flustered. The D was big tonight and GW turned the ball over far too much. Salem makes you pay for mistakes be it turnovers, poor run gap fits, etc..

 

[OCBoy]

Another GW flop. Thought this was the year too.

 

[CrushBlock]

I think Salem's biggest advantage is they have been there over and over and over and they just do what they do without getting flustered. The D was big tonight and GW turned the ball over far too much. Salem makes you pay for mistakes be it turnovers, poor run gap fits, etc..

without getting flustered is the big part of that, a fumble and a three and out in the first quarter, you still don’t see anyone getting worried or yelling at each other. It’s a mindset

 

[1MoreHokie]

Shabutie-----what changes did Salem make? Or did the kids just rise to occasion?

Arrington played as a LB. Inexperienced, kind of a "point-and-go" situation but he had serious impact, especially behind LOS. Kid's got great instincts.

 

[Shabutie]

Shabutie-----what changes did Salem make? Or did the kids just rise to occasion?

Scheme wise they really didn't change much. They were just a lot better at the point of attack than last week. Those two brothers for Handley were just man handling people and while GW's OL was solid, they didn't have players like that.

The DBs (especially Coen Logan) also did a tremendous job coming up and making tackles in the running game. They played significantly better than last week as well.

Arrington at LB shot through and made some really big tackles for loss/no gain and DE Davis probably played his best game of the season.