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Salem/LT

Shabutie

VaPreps Hall of Famer
Gold Member
Dec 3, 2006
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Congrats to coaches, players and fans for Lake Taylor. That was a special team. Well coached, great talent and it looks like they will be very good next year also.

As many have said, the gap on the scoreboard was much bigger than the difference on the field. Lake Taylor's big-time players had bigger games than Salem's. Quinerly saved A LOT of TDs making one-on-one tackles in the open field. The Salem OL was able to open holes despite the 9 in the box front all game. Quinerly just didn't miss tackles and also had the biggest play of the game with the punt return. Johnson was as good as advertised and made good decisions, broke a ton of tackles and controlled the game. Quinerly and Johnson were the best two players on the field on both sides of the ball. Wayne Davis is a special player and had a big TD catch on a very good throw from Johnson. Surprisingly, Parker for Salem was able to get some separation on him one-on-one throughout the game including a TD.

Salem had a lot of well-designed plays early in the game that they were not able to convert on. Coulling just missed Fox on early in the game on a play that would have been a huge gainer and they ended up turning the ball over on downs. A couple other plays were knocked down at the LOS. I think it was #5 that knocked down a few passes for LT and those were huge. A lot of the plays that Salem had blocked very well were stopped by those extra defenders, usually Quinerly. Against a more traditional defense they would have ripped quite a few more long plays. That is a perfect way for LT to use the talent they have on defense and it is why the matchup really didn't look favorable to Salem. Salem's long-developing passing plays were a concern but they actually held up pretty well in protection but just had two many fumbled snaps and botches on the big plays.

On offense for LT the dive backs were controlled pretty well throughout the game but Johnson did a great job reading and only had one bad play that went for a turnover. His ability to turn what should have been a stop at the LOS to a 4-6 yard gain was a game-changer. They were able to hit on a few scramble plays and the long TD pass to Davis as well as run the ball well when Johnson kept it/decided to pitch it.

Both teams had similar talent at many positions but Salem had some big weaknesses (They have had them all year) that LT was able to exploit. Salem simply needs more talent on the DL. If they are going to go that small up front, they need to be more disruptive but they didn't do a good enough job of that. Too many guys getting locked and watching on pass plays and they struggled all post season to actually finish a play and sack the QB when they have an opportunity. One of their corner spots continued to be exploited any time LT (Or any other team this postseason) needed a first down they knew exactly where they could go with the ball.

LT had less weaknesses and like I said earlier, the big-time players outplayed the same big-time Salem players. I do think a healthy Fox would have made a big difference on both sides of the ball. He is as important as Quinerly and Johnson were for LT but didn't even look to be at 75% in the game and that was easily evident on the long QB run for Johnson were Fox was chasing. He gave a heck of an effort on that play and throughout the entire game but just wasn't healthy.

LT and Salem showed great sportsmanship throughout the game. Routinely helped each other up and there was almost no jawing and extra activity after the play. Ironically, the only ones that appeared to have bad sportsmanship were some of the LT coaches. One of them spent the entire (And I mean ENTIRE) fourth quarter taunting the Salem fans. I really hope that wasn't Devils... it was pathetic.

I think both teams respect each other and Salem can go home knowing they played hard and lost to a very, very good football team. Salem has a TON of young talent (JV/middle school) and are going to be a very good for awhile. LT should also be very good next year and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see both of these teams meet again next year.

Congrats to both teams on a great season!
 
Great post shabutie. If anyone thinks LT straight up out-athleted Salem, they would be incorrect, unless you wanna specifically say it was Quinerly. He saved many plays that would've been Salem touchdowns. I thought the play calling early in the game for Salem was too conservative. Their receivers were step for step with LT's DBs and even beat them a few times. If anyone remembers last year's LT/Oscar Smith game, OS repeatedly threw the ball deep and beat LT that way. Salem has the skill players to do the same, but they didnt attempt a deep pass until they were down two possessions. If they had came out passing deep early, I bet they would've had success. LT's defense begs and dares you to throw it deep. I was actually shocked Salem was so conservative in that regard, in other games I watched they were much more aggressive. Besides LT's deep passing play for the touchdown, Salem blatently missed assignments that resulted in big gains for LT. They needed to consistently hit every LT back on every run play, and they didn't. Salem held their own in the trenches until the game was out of reach and they were worn down.
 
Hey Hoos, I got so tired of hearing quinerly's named called when they beat us, I was ready to put ear plugs in. What a talent.
 
It's hard to beat a team with that type of athlete when he has the ball in his hands all the time. 7-11 on 3rd down. You can't give a good team with good athletes that many chances.. Much less a great athlete. Just couldn't get them off the field.
 
I really felt that LT over all had better athletes. Salem was able to bust one big play for a td and had one other big play that they were ran down on. Salem was able to move the ball, but I felt that LT had a great defensive plan PRESSURE LT with all of their men with in 5 yards of the box. LT knew they would give up a few big plays to Salem but as long as they could run Salem down they would make Salem line up and do it again. Salem could not successfully put enough plays together to score TD's because of LT's game plan. People can say bad play calling or whatever they want LT made forced SALEM to make adjustments and Salem could not make the adjustments.
When LT got in the open field they busted them for TD's.
Look Salem has talent but not like Lake Taylor. And someone made a post about how saying some one has more athletes is code for something else I doubt has much coaching experience. GREAT COACHES like Lake Taylors staff is able to one get EVERYONE to buy into the TEAM philosophy and that can be a very hard thing to do with talented teams! Secondly, GREAT COACHES allow their athletes to make plays by letting them play freely and putting their best athletes in a position to succeed. Look at what Nick Saban does he is a great coach, hires a great staff and he recruits the BEST athletes! The game is not going to be won with out GREAT ATHLETES and a GREAT COACHING STAFF!
Finally, I have not read all of the posts because of the drive back so I am sorry if I missed a post about the punt return but that may have been one of the better high school punt returns I have seen in a while!

The WEST next year has a lot of catching up to do the 4a and I think this may have been the 4a norths best shot this year.
 
Originally posted by Snookasuperstar:


The WEST next year has a lot of catching up to do the 4a and I think this may have been the 4a norths best shot this year.
The South has had one dominant team the last two years. You are acting there is some huge gap between them all.
 
Snook and Shabutie we could knock the South vs. North around forever, but the fact during any given season a team could rise above all others and win it all. It doesn't matter where they are from.

To say there has only been one dominant team in the South the past two years is a bit tougher for me. In 2013, LT and Heritage were tough outs for Dinwiddie. In 2014, LT beat some really good teams to make it to Lynchburg. The North was no different. 2013, Salem vs. Sherando and 2014, Salem, Liberty...

Sure the teams in the South think they have the tougher road, but so does the North. We (the posters) really don't know how good football is in other regions, because a majority of us use video to form our opinions.

Starting today each school in 4a will begin their quest to end up in Lynchburg in 2015. Unless the AD's decide to cross bracket we will never really know.
 
Guess we will never know because just like in 5a in the Richmond area the 4a north wants to have representation at the state level. So cross bracketing is totally out of the question, and thats not saying the two best teams couldn't be from the North. Better safe than sorry I guess.
 
Or.... Or the two best teams could be from the North in any given year and the South may be left out. Yeah I know that's just crazy talk! Ok back to the bar for me.
 
Correct sir. Congrats
Devils. Your Titans played very well and did nor let anyone deter them from their goal.

Something interesting to think about. Louisa and Courtland are joining the East next season. Could make the region even tougher? What do you think?
 
Maybe you misread what I said. I said and that's not saying the two best teams couldn't be from the North = the South could be left out. Don't drink too much!!
 
You are correct. That is exactly what I am saying. It will never happen. Just like teams playing a 4a conference schedule. Pure fantasy created by the schools and allowed by Vhsl.
 
Anyone new could make the region tougher. Two more teams that we have no familiarity with coming to play and don't forget about Lafayette they are coming too.
 
Can we get away from the better "athletes" for lake taylor. They had more and better football players hands down. Plus give the lake taylor coaching staff credit for the game plan and adjustments they made. The "facts" are the plays were made on the field and the score it what it is. Congrats to both teams on a great season!

This post was edited on 12/14 11:34 AM by 2muchBBnever
 
That's right. Three playoff teams from this past season. Just being one of the 16 will be tough. Think it will be tough to get in with more than 3 losses.
 
NOO!! Louisa is in the JD and they finished second and you saw what happened to Powhatan losing to Booker T. in which Lake Taylor beat by nearly 60 points.
 
No . That's not crazy talk. It could be. Get the North's AD's to vote for cross bracketing , and we can find out. The North's AD's were against cross bracketing. One can't help but wonder what they feared (or knew).
 
Originally posted by BleedingNavy:
Snook and Shabutie we could knock the South vs. North around forever, but the fact during any given season a team could rise above all others and win it all. It doesn't matter where they are from.

To say there has only been one dominant team in the South the past two years is a bit tougher for me. In 2013, LT and Heritage were tough outs for Dinwiddie. In 2014, LT beat some really good teams to make it to Lynchburg. The North was no different. 2013, Salem vs. Sherando and 2014, Salem, Liberty...

Sure the teams in the South think they have the tougher road, but so does the North. We (the posters) really don't know how good football is in other regions, because a majority of us use video to form our opinions.

Starting today each school in 4a will begin their quest to end up in Lynchburg in 2015. Unless the AD's decide to cross bracket we will never really know.
Didn't Dinwiddie easily beat LT and Heritage? This year was a reverse of that with LT easily winning. Neither game was competitive at all.
 
Dinwiddie LT was 28-0, but that was thanks to 5 LT INT's LT moved the ball just couldn't cash it in and Dinwiddie took advantage of LT turnovers. 21-0 at half LT moved ball inside 10 3-4x and turned it over
 
So what you are implying is that a blow out win by LT or Dinwiddie means the other team is not very good. hmmm. LT 42 dinwiddie 14. LT 41 Salem 16. Big difference there sir? A bit contradictory. Yes, LT was very good last year. No offense to Sherando, but they would have won it last year as well had they not beaten by Dinwiddie.

I guess the Salems tough games against Northside and GW were nothing. Blow outs. Wow! They are both good teams sir.

To be honest, Monacan was very similar to last years Dinwiddie team. They too would have given Salem fits.

The Salem team is very good and to be respected no matter where they play. So are numerous teams in the north and south.
 
Agreed. Talented teams can surface from any region! I think this whole North/South thing is silly. I do think playing teams from other areas will improve everyone's game!
 
Originally posted by DEVILSLB99:
Dinwiddie LT was 28-0, but that was thanks to 5 LT INT's LT moved the ball just couldn't cash it in and Dinwiddie took advantage of LT turnovers. 21-0 at half LT moved ball inside 10 3-4x and turned it over
Kind of along the lines of my point with the Salem game. As you know, games can be more competitive than the score indicates. Its one thing when you watch some of LTs games and they have 3-4 tacklers hitting the RB/QB behind the line on most plays.
 
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