Congratulations to NHS for the victory, but the real winners are the 17 players on WP who dominated every aspect of the game (with the exception of pass coverage) and never gave up. Everyone knew going into this game that WP secondary was WP’s chink in their armor and that proved to be the difference on the scoreboard. WP’s secondary problems were exasperated when WP lost their senior starting CB last Friday with a dislocated shoulder. WP had to throw in a sub that has seen limited playing time this season and there was a steep drop off in abilities at S and NHS exploited that all night.
WP ran 69 plays to NHS 35 and dominated the TOP 35 minutes to 12 minutes and first downs 23 to 10.
Although no discredit to Palmer’s abilities, the real show was WP’s #44 Lawrence Porter who had an amazing 53 carries with 279 yards rushing and 2 rushing TDs (while also playing MLB 4 quarters). NHS simply could not stop him and the only thing that killed WP’s drives were their own offensive penalties.
WP started the game with the Power I, (reminiscent of Franklin’s bruising Power I) where #44 (230 lbs) enjoyed the blocking of PB #11 Brady Uzel (250 lbs) and FB #23 Noah Lawson (240 lbs) and of course WP OL’s blocking. NHS could not stop it with #44 picking up huge chunks of real estate on every play and getting first downs nearly every other carry. WP could have won the game with the Power I alone but for reasons we will probably never know, WP kept jumping in and out of different formations when it was not necessary. There was no need to trick or hide that #44 was getting the ball because NHS could not stop WP’s Power I. This is what Franklin did back in the day and they didn’t care that you know where they were running and who they were running.
As others posted earlier, losing any one of our starters would impact the game for WP. WP played without their starting senior DB and WP lost their LG early in the 3Q for the serious injury (previously reported). On that same play, WP’s only QB left the game for a concussion. WP did not have a repped backup QB for the game and used their WB #4 to do the job for the remaining 2 quarters. His level of preparation was basically taking warm up snaps on the sideline during the game delay for the ambulance crew.
I’m rooting for NHS for the rest of the postseason play, but if anyone from Essex is reading this, you only need to do two things to defeat NHS which unfortunately WP did not make happen:
1. When Palmer is at QB, turn him inside between the tackles sooner rather than later, with your DEs playing outside leverage—don’t play your DE inside for an easy down block (and don’t play your OLB in 9 on the LOS—you’re going to need all of your LBs to tackle Palmer even inside the tackles).
2. When #12 is at QB and Palmer is at receiver, you have to double cover Palmer (under and over top). Best to run a 4-3 with two safeties because NHS also has another good receiver that you can’t let get behind you. #12 is very accurate and has a quick release so you have to crash your DEs on him to put pressure on him—#12 is not a scramble threat so you can drop your MLB to help take away the slant and your MLB can still come up and make the play on #12 if he decides to tuck and run. Your OLB alignment needs to take away the slant to the #2 receiver (don’t play them up on the LOS where they are already out of position at the snap of the ball to defend the slant).
Best of luck NHS! Great season WP!
WP ran 69 plays to NHS 35 and dominated the TOP 35 minutes to 12 minutes and first downs 23 to 10.
Although no discredit to Palmer’s abilities, the real show was WP’s #44 Lawrence Porter who had an amazing 53 carries with 279 yards rushing and 2 rushing TDs (while also playing MLB 4 quarters). NHS simply could not stop him and the only thing that killed WP’s drives were their own offensive penalties.
WP started the game with the Power I, (reminiscent of Franklin’s bruising Power I) where #44 (230 lbs) enjoyed the blocking of PB #11 Brady Uzel (250 lbs) and FB #23 Noah Lawson (240 lbs) and of course WP OL’s blocking. NHS could not stop it with #44 picking up huge chunks of real estate on every play and getting first downs nearly every other carry. WP could have won the game with the Power I alone but for reasons we will probably never know, WP kept jumping in and out of different formations when it was not necessary. There was no need to trick or hide that #44 was getting the ball because NHS could not stop WP’s Power I. This is what Franklin did back in the day and they didn’t care that you know where they were running and who they were running.
As others posted earlier, losing any one of our starters would impact the game for WP. WP played without their starting senior DB and WP lost their LG early in the 3Q for the serious injury (previously reported). On that same play, WP’s only QB left the game for a concussion. WP did not have a repped backup QB for the game and used their WB #4 to do the job for the remaining 2 quarters. His level of preparation was basically taking warm up snaps on the sideline during the game delay for the ambulance crew.
I’m rooting for NHS for the rest of the postseason play, but if anyone from Essex is reading this, you only need to do two things to defeat NHS which unfortunately WP did not make happen:
1. When Palmer is at QB, turn him inside between the tackles sooner rather than later, with your DEs playing outside leverage—don’t play your DE inside for an easy down block (and don’t play your OLB in 9 on the LOS—you’re going to need all of your LBs to tackle Palmer even inside the tackles).
2. When #12 is at QB and Palmer is at receiver, you have to double cover Palmer (under and over top). Best to run a 4-3 with two safeties because NHS also has another good receiver that you can’t let get behind you. #12 is very accurate and has a quick release so you have to crash your DEs on him to put pressure on him—#12 is not a scramble threat so you can drop your MLB to help take away the slant and your MLB can still come up and make the play on #12 if he decides to tuck and run. Your OLB alignment needs to take away the slant to the #2 receiver (don’t play them up on the LOS where they are already out of position at the snap of the ball to defend the slant).
Best of luck NHS! Great season WP!
