The end of the Road

So it took me a Little while to get over the sting of the loss.

The season ended in the semi finals of the playoffs.
We lost to the undefeated Vikings 7-0. The game was maybe the best defensive game I have ever coached.

The play calling was perfect. The scheme was perfect. Te execution was nearly perfect.

The issue sadly came down to two blown calls by the referees.

The game was tied 0-0 until 3:23 left in them 4th quarter.

The 1st gaff in the 1st quarter was when my FS stripped the ball from the viking runner and ran 45yds for a touchdown, only to have the ref say "Forward motion had been stopped" (Although the play had not been whistled dead until after the strip and my player was 5 yards from the end zone.

Offense was stagnant all day as defense ruled on b oth sides of the ball.

Late in the 4th quarter we lined up to punt and had it blocked, giving the Vikings the ball on out 30yd line. On 3rd and 15....we sacked the QB for a loss and at the last second he lateraled to a RB (Ref blows the whistle inadvertently). The RB is tackled for a two yard loss leaving it 4th and 28. The referee says that due to the inadvertent whistle, we will replay 3rd down. I argued, complained, nearly got tossed. The players were beside themselves and on 3rd and 15 again we gave up a 20 yd run to the 8 yd line. Tack on half the distance to the goal due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the coaching staff, and you can see how the game pretty much ended.

Sad, but this was an amazing team that didnt hit its stride until the end of the year, I look forward to bringing them back for another run next season

The Civil War

Knights Red 12

Knights Gold 0

Knock down, hard fought Game. Offense pounded the ball with Ground control. Ate up clock in the second and 4th quarters with long drives resulting in TDs by our FB Jake. The vaunted Gold Offense, which scored 28 points per game, was shut out and never crossed the 30yd line. Defense collected 3 sacks and limited their "Passing attack" to one completion for 15yds on the last play of the game.

6 in a row

The Gold team was out muscled, out classed, out worked, and out coached by the Red Team.

Next up is a rematch of out 1st game opponent, the 8-0 Vikings. the #1 Seed in the playoffs. I think we are ready for a rematch. Defense has stepped up and offense is clicking. Rather than having all the pressure of the last week (Playing the arch rival gold) we are loose and ready. We need a good week of practice and go out there and fly around

Dont just back into the playoffs...knock the frickin door down

Knights 34-Spartans 24

The Spartans had more to lose and needed a win to get into the playoff hunt, we needed to make a statement. The offense got back on track and out running game. However this game showed the teams character, as they came back from 6-0 1st quarter deficit, and being down 24-20 at halftime. Peyton scored 2tds rushing and Jake had 3 more. The offense had a great 2 minute drive at halftime scoring with 17 seconds left. A fluke TD on a fumble return game the Spartans a 24-20 halftime lead, however they were shut out in the second half.

A big win as the 1st season comes to a close and the second season (post season) begins. In a weird scheduling quirk, we play the Knights in the 1st round. See our teams were split due to size and the other team (Called "Gold"...we are called "Red") and they were placed in a different division. Well as things turned out they went 6-1 and are the #2 seed and we are #3. We scrimmaged them several times during the season at practice and always seemed to get the best of them. I'd say we beat them 12 out of 13 times. Their head coach seems obsessed this week with beating me, even telling some of my parents "We are going to kill you guys Saturday". He scouted the spartan game, marking down every play we ran. (Of course he has seen every play we run in our scrimmages). Well. Almost every play. I may have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Regardless the game will be good for the system because one team for the Knights will advance. Since I am the lower seed, I will be the visiting team. That will be odd if we play at the High School. I'll be on the opposite sideline.

The Pick 6 and the end of 0-8

So the CP Cougars have always been a thorn in my side. Im 0-8 in my career and things need to change. This week we both enter the game 3-2 with eyes on the playoffs. With my offense putting up 30 points a game I didnt expect a defensive struggle.

The game was a ground out, punch out, hard hitting affair. Teams traded blows around mid field for most of the game. Ian recovered a fumble stopping a Couger drive, and Cal made 2 sacks in the 1st half. One which forced a fumble. We turned that into a short drive and a 6-0 lead with about 2 minutes left before half. Thet drive from thier 40 to our 5 with 2 seconds left before halftime and call timeout. I tell my kids in the huddle to look for a trick play. They pitch to the TB, Eric slams him from DE and forces an errant pass, my Weakside LB (Jake) picks it off at the 4 and races 96yds for a TD with the game clock expired and a 12-0 halftime lead. Its the type of play that changes a season for a defense that has given up 25 points per game (Including 49 in week 2)

The second half offense has pretty much sputtered and stopped. We had a total of 120yds in the whole game. The cougars have driven the field for 1 TD in the 3rd quarter making the score 12-7. After our new punter Eric pins them back at their own 25 with a great punt, they drive 7 yards in three plays, 4th and 3, they call timeout. Deja Vu. I tell Peyton my FS to watch for a quick pass.

Their QB drops to pass, Eric again gets free on a rush and forces a high 5yd out patter, with enough float to have Peyton pick it off and run 36yds for a TD. 19-7. Offense runs out the clock and at 4-2 we earn a spot in the playoff potentials. A win vs the spartans next week and we are in as a #3 seed, a loss means we are probably in, but other things can happen

Back in the Playoff hunt

It feels good to be above .500. 3-2 after a 38-6 win over the Islanders.

Defense player another superb game, accounting for 5 turnovers, 4 INT's and a Fumble. Peyton picked off 2 (he could have had four but dropped 2 easy ones) CAL even got his second. The biggest was from my Rookie CB Brian, who intercepted his 1st and ran it 55yds to the one.

Offense scored 3 times via the pass, Two passes to Kyle our TE (his 1st career TD's) and One TD to our WR Jason on a Reverse Wingback pass). Jake scored two more TD's (Bringing his season total to 15) and Adam even scored on a 12yd Run as a HB.

Practice this week has been average at best. The team seems to lack fire for this weeks game. Im worried they have become a little complacent after winning 3 in a row. I would normally think a whuppin might do them good, however we dont have any losses to give after our 0-2 start.

The cougars stand ahead of us, sitting at 3-2 and waiting for a showdown. I am 0-8 against the Cougers in my career. This may be the biggest game of all

Back to .500

The Knights crawled out of an 0-2 hole and evened their record at 2-2 with a 39-19 win over the Eagles. Paced by over 300yds rushing (200 by our FB Jake) the Knights outscored the Eagles in the second half 19-6, widening a 20-12 halftime lead.

The game was the best by the Knights all year. Jake ran all over the Eagles in the 1st half. We even managed to get the ball with a 13-12 lead with 1:41 to go in the half and ran our 1st two minute drill, scoring on a Peyton to Justin TD pass with 45 seconds left. Peyton also had the play of the game in the 4th quarter. With about 3 minutes left we faced a 4th and 1 at the Eagles 45. We ran a QB sneak behind Cal, they read it perfectly and Peyton was knocked back 2 yards into the backfield, kept his balance, ran off the end, broke 3 tackles and ran 45yds for the nail in the coffin TD.

Defense played well and didnt give up any big plays. Cal even made his 1st career Interception off of a screen pass from the Nose Tackle position. Sean had a great game at LB and the defense collected 5 sacks, even with out on of our best DE's out with illness.

This week we play the 0-4 team from the Island. We are going to be aggressive and try to get back into the playoff hunt. The win over the eagles gives us a tiebreaker over them. We play the hated Cougars next week. A team I have never beaten in my 11 years coaching. I am focused and am going to make sure we dont overlook this weeks opponent.

No Mas...No Mas

So week 3 is in the book and the Knights post a 38-6 win over the Cougars. The game lasted 3 quarters and 2 minutes.


So the Knights took a 25-0 halftime lead. Our changes to the offense, especially the WB worked like a charm. They could not stop Aaron and our Rocket Sweep. He scored 2 TD's of 40yds, has a third TD called back. He ran for about 150yds on 7 carries. Jake ran for about 160 and scored 3TDs. Even our HB ran for about 50yds. (He's mostly a blocking back)


Defense only gave up 1 TD at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, when our second team offense was stopped on 4th down at our own 20. After Jakes third TD put us up 32-6 the Cougars has the ball on our 40 when they ran a halfback option.


This was the weirdest play of the season. 1st our QB and new FS Peyton (also the teams shortest player) leaped high on the overthrow and picked it off at the 22...running it back 78yds for the nail in the coffin TD. 38-6. On the play the defense hit the RB who threw the ball...he was knocked out, on the return the starting and backup QB (playing WR) were knocked out as well. The field looked like a M*A*S*H unit after the INT. The other coach looked at me and said "No more". He didnt have a QB or RB. The game ended 38-6.

I've been teaching the defense the concept of swarming, the example I keep telling them is the USC/WASH Todd Marinovitch game "ALL I SAW WAS PURPLE" . After this game Im sure the Cougars were saying "All I saw was Red"

Big win for the knights. Have to keep the focus this week, as the Eagles at 2-1 come to town.
I've never seen a team not finish a game. This will forever be known as the "No Mas" game.

Weeks One and Two

Well I have been neglecting the updates, and you now know why. The Knights have started the season 0-2, both losses to Playoff Caliber teams. 33-19 in the 1st game and 49-27 in the second. Defense is having issues. Lets get a quick recap

Week One - The Knights fall behind quickly on two long touchdown drives by the Vikings. 14-0. Jake breaks off a beautiful 55yd TD Run with a crushing lead block by the HB, Adam. 14-6. The Score rises to 27-6 by halftime as the Knights Defense has issues stopping the run. Two TDS, A Peyton TD pass and a Sean broken play 60yd TD run on a busted WB pass narrows the score to 27-19 before the Vikings score late. Final 33-19

Week Two. The Steelheads. I didnt think it could get worse. We give up a 60yd TD pass on the 1st play of the game, fall behind 18-12 (Even a TD by Sean on a KO Return). We then give up 5 more TD's and lose the game 49-27. Defense has Breakdown after Breakdown, Coverage mistakes, and poor tackling. The team is really down and practice this week is going to be a bitch.

So some wholesale changes are being made. We are Benching Aaron at FS and moving him to WB. (Sean is making too many mental mistakes at WB) He's taking this move pretty hard. Peyton with now go both ways at FS/QB. I dont want him to get hurt. DL played better and CAL is making some plays at NG. We play the cougars this week. I hate this team from years past. We play them at home and they are 0-2 as well playing both the teams we played. They have a combined 7 points in those 2 games. I need defense to play its heart out this week. Maybe our 1st home game mixed in with the changes will help.

Offense has looked good and both out running and passing games are clicking. Unfortunatley I need to weaken the offense to shore up the defense. Lets hope the balance works