Crossett Eagles vs. Hamburg Lions

[Eddie Goodson]

jgriever said:

Hope nobody minds a little lion support on the board.

Bring it on. You folks in Hamburg are welcome even though you do root for the Lions. Not everyone's perfect.

[Mr. C]

Hey lion supporter, what's your prediction for the game? How do you think the Lions will do this year?

Would it be possible for you to tell us your name, by any chance? ;D

[old lion]

[quote author=thatoneguy Hey lion supporter, what's your prediction for the game? How do you think the Lions will do this year?

I can't predict on them yet, I couldn't tell that much about the scrimmage the other night. What I was expecting to be their strong points (mainly defense) was not where I thought it should be. I was more impressed with the offense on the ground and in the air. It is looking like it will be another interesting season for the Lions. It, as well as most other teams, is going to be to expect the unexpected. I think good will prevail when we get the defense to where it needs to be.

[heathwaldrop]

jgriever said:

I can't predict on them yet, I couldn't tell that much about the scrimmage the other night. What I was expecting to be their strong points (mainly defense) was not where I thought it should be. I was more impressed with the offense on the ground and in the air. It is looking like it will be another interesting season for the Lions. It, as well as most other teams, is going to be to expect the unexpected. I think good will prevail when we get the defense to where it needs to be.

Can you be more specific about how they looked? I also would have put the defense way ahead of the offense throughout the preseason...unfortunately I couldn't be in two places at one time on Friday night so I didn't see the Lions play. I am going to try very hard to get to Magnolia for Friday's game.

[old lion]

I think Greg was not putting his players at any risk for injury. He may already be hit by this. One defensive starter did not dress out, another one on offense went down with a knee injury (minor we hope). Like I said, it was still too earyly to make any predictions. You may see a little more Friday night, there is always more hitting going on when you are going against a different team. We'll just have to wait and see. I will go ahead and predict a #4 seed in the playoffs possibly a #3, behind Warren & Dollarway.

[heathwaldrop]

A Magnolia fan over on Fearless just said that the Magnolia-Hamburg game is going to be played tonight and not on Friday...any clue if this is correct and if it is, when was the game day moved??

[old lion]

The last I heard & just read on the Ledger page is Friday @ 7PM.

[Mr. C]

If it's tonight, then the cheerleaders, band, etc. don't know it, because they all still think it's friday. I know this for sure as of about 7:30 this morning, so unless something is changing during the school day, it's not today.

[old lion]

Well it's here again,The Ashley Bowl. Who will it be? I think after Friday night both teams will have to work their tails off to gain their confidence back. Neither was suppose to have gotten beat that bad. Nevertheless, I will still pull for for Hamburg just as most of everybody on this site will pull for Crossett. So go ahead and hammer me, I am ready.

[heathwaldrop]

Ingram's got a much tougher road ahead of him this week after Friday than Johnson does. That game on Friday was a bloodbath after the first quarter. The days after a loss like that are the ones that really test a coach...can he get them back mentally and emotionally after that?

This one might end up being really close, like the '99 game was. It's got that kind of potential I think.

[Mr. C]

I've still got Crossett by at least 10ish. Here's a bit of reasoning. Isn't Crossett expected by most to play a good game against Monticello? Because Hamburg didn't. So if we stand any chance against Monticello, I think we have to beat Hamburg for sure.

[heathwaldrop]

Most people had expected Hamburg to fare better than it did against Monticello.

Most people also had expected Crossett to fare better than it did against Magnolia.

About all you can do if you're comparing is to compare the common opponent, Magnolia.

I saw both games. Hamburg's offense looked much better against Magnolia than Crossett's did, except for the plethora of turnovers. However, Crossett's defense looked much better against Magnolia than Hamburg's did.

I'm expecting a fairly low-scoring game in this one. Three to five total touchdowns between the two teams. Also look for a couple of those to be set up by turnovers.

[hogdog]

Just wonder what Crossett's game plan will be..from what I heard from last week's game plan that they practiced all week was never used

[old lion]

There is one thing for sure, this is Crossett/ Hamburg week. The coaches from both sides will be will be pulling tricks out of their hats. At least, I hope one of them will. It seems since both teams got beat by as much as they did the other night and the Hogs got beat as much as they did, nobody you talk to seem to be too enthusiatic about football yet. I know it will get better, especially when conference gets here.

[loutlaw]

I say GO LIONS!!!!!!!! ;D

[old lion]

loutlaw said:

I say GO LIONS!!!!!!!! ;D

I'm glad someone's got my back.

[Mr. C]

Heath, you thought Hamburg's offense did better against than Magnolia, and Crossett's defense did better? I'm gonna have to disagree with ya buddy lol (even tho i didn't see the hamburg game). Judging purely by the score (34-7 and 50-21), I'd say Crossett had the better offense (scored 2 offensive touchdowns, as opposed to Hamburg's one) and the worse defense (got 16 more points hung on 'em than Hamburg did). But again, that's just judging by score, I only watched the Crossett game.

Oh, and by the way, I thought Crossett had some very good plays, and so did Arkansas. I think both of their severe losses were actually a bit promising, as they were playing some of the (if not the) most challenging opponents they'll face.

[Eddie Goodson]

loutlaw said:

I say GO LIONS!!!!!!!! ;D

I say go Lions and get me a glass of tea.

[heathwaldrop]

thatoneguy said:

Heath, you thought Hamburg's offense did better against than Magnolia, and Crossett's defense did better? I'm gonna have to disagree with ya buddy lol (even tho i didn't see the hamburg game).

Can't go just by the scores. You have to go by situations.

Hamburg's defense often was confused and disoriented against Magnolia's offense, particularly with the misdirection. The secondary especially blew coverage throughout the game. D-line got whipped. You have to remember also that Magnolia scored 50 over four quarters against Crossett. Magnolia scored 34 over basically two against Hamburg.

Hamburg's offense moved the ball surprisingly well at times. In fact Hamburg's offense looked the way that Crossett's is supposed to. By that I mean a lot of getting to the outside in the run game, using chipping short passes with good downfield blocking and occasionally running with the quarterback when the defense is spread thin. What killed Hamburg that night was turnovers. Each of the first four offensive series ended in turnovers, and the Lions were moving the football on each of them.

Now, contrast that with Crossett on Friday. Aside from the first drive, which was done 100 percent on the ground, the Eagles stunk it up offensively. They surprised Magnolia by running that much early; it was obvious because the defensive backfield was playing off. On one designed pass I counted six players drop into coverage trying to protect the deep pass. Coach Day made the defensive adjustment after that first series and that was the end of the running game for Crossett. The Eagles accumulated less than 100 TOTAL yards in the football game. The final touchdown was in trash time and I'm betting that Magnolia had the 89th guy on its roster on the field during that series.

Defensively, the Eagles didn't bite on the misdirection the way that Hamburg had. They played MUCH better in the secondary (three interceptions, one of them returned for a TD). I was very impressed with how they looked on the first three series. You hardly can fault the defense for that first Magnolia touchdown because the fumbled kick return set the Panther offense up inside the Red Zone. (Also another TD came by way of a returned interception.) What killed Crossett, just as last year, was inferior conditioning. There were times in which three guys went down with cramps ON THE SAME PLAY. I lost count at how many players missed plays with cramps but I think it was every single defensive starter except for maybe Paskel and Williams. And that doesn't even count the backups and the offensive guys who cramped. They simply were not (are not) in shape to be on the football field that long defensively. Why were they on the field that long defensively? In large part, because of the failures of the offense.

[Mr. C]

Wouldn't Crossett's conditioning problems be a good reason to extend the maroon/white game every year? That game was so short, they didn't have time to get tired lol. I think it should be the length of a regular game, going mostly 1st team offense vs. 1st team defense and 2nd team offense vs. 2nd team defense. The problem there would be that there are probably many players that would have to be on both, possibly playing the entire time (that guy would be in great shape lol)