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Early thoughts on Richlands vs. Turner-Ashby?

Fresh_Prince

By Fresh_Prince,
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hoard    18

hoard
Posted

This is from the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star that covers James Monroe, but it does mention TA runs the ball a lot out of the Wing-T.

 

No second chance for JM to come back

 

Date published: 12/4/2005

 

By TODD JACOBSON

 

BRIDGEWATER--Delano Green tucked his wind-whipped hands inside his shirt and paced James Monroe's sidelines in the final five minutes of the Yellow Jackets' Group AA Division 3 semifinal matchup with Turner Ashby yesterday.

 

James Monroe's senior quarterback was worried, but all he could do was wait, watch and hope.

 

He wanted to make amends for his five interceptions, the punt he had blocked, and the opportunities James Monroe squandered in its 27-21 loss to Turner Ashby.

 

But there was nothing Green could do as the Knights' punishing rushing attack grinded the Yellow Jackets' state championship hopes into dust with a clinching final drive--just as they had done all game.

 

"Oh man, we would've done anything to tie that game," Green said. "We just gave up a big play. I was thinking our defense was going go step up, get the ball back and we would go down the field and score again."

 

That never happened.

 

After Green hooked up with Jamel Brooks on a 27-yard touchdown pass to pull the Yellow Jackets (11-2) within six points late in the fourth quarter, Turner Ashby held the ball for the final 4:51 of the game--at one point converting a fourth-and-seven attempt with 2:20 remaining.

 

James Monroe's quick-strike offense, which averaged 37 points a game and had eclipsed 50 points in each of its two playoff wins--never touched the field again.

 

Turner Ashby (11-2) will play Richlands for the Group AA, Division 3 title Saturday.

 

"They had a lot of good people that can run the ball and they have some good blockers, too," sophomore wide receiver/defensive back P.J. Hayden said. "We have to come up and make the tackle. It seemed like some of us wasn't doing our jobs.

 

Turner Ashby running back Micah Zwanzig ran 10 yards on the key fourth-down draw play--which shouldn't have been much of a surprise to James Monroe. The Knights ran the ball 45 times for 275 yards, plowing straight ahead on a muddy field suited to their Wing-T offense.

 

Zwanzig carried 20 times for 101 yards and two touchdowns, while Drew Loso added 85 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Seth Little carried 12 times for 76 yards.

 

"That's our game plan," Turner Ashby coach Charlie Newman said. "We are pretty much a run oriented-type team. We felt like we could run the football."

 

Run defense had been James Monroe's biggest problem all season. York ran for 360 yards against the Yellow Jackets (11-2) in last week's Region I title game, and Courtland had success running against James Monroe in the team's only regular season loss.

 

"The only thing I get really disappointed in all year long is I thought we could play better run defense today and we didn't," James Monroe coach Rich Serbay said. "The fact that the field was in terrible shape didn't help us. It was suited to them and not us, took away all our quickness, all our speed."

 

Newman said the Knights constantly switched coverages to try to confuse Green and blitzed often to keep him on the move, but even still, Green wasn't totally contained. He ran for 115 yards and threw for 225 more, completing five passes to Hayden and senior wide receiver T.C. Cook.

 

But Green's five interceptions proved costly.

 

He was intercepted three times in the first half and twice while the Yellow Jackets tried to play catch-up in the second half.

 

"We still was in the game," Green said. "I didn't care anyway. Even though I threw five picks, that really didn't hurt us. If we could've had that stop, we could've got in that end zone. I ain't even trippin' off the picks."

 

James Monroe's blocked punt was just as significant as the interceptions. With Turner Ashby leading 13-7 early in the quarter, Loso broke through the Yellow Jackets' line untouched to block Green's second punt of the game.

 

It was the first time all season James Monroe had a punt blocked, Serbay said.

 

Green recovered the ball on the 1-yard line and Zwanzig scored two plays later to help give Turner Ashby a 21-7 lead.

 

"I don't know what was wrong with us today," Green said. "He just came free. I couldn't have run. There was just too many of them so I just tried to kick it. That might have gave them the extra touchdown."

 

And in the end, it was just too much for Green and James Monroe to try to overcome.

 

"He [Green] forced a couple balls," Serbay said. "It just wasn't a typical Delano Green day. Here is a kid that carried us from Aug. 7 all the way to here. He is a wonderful kid. He did the best he could. Without Delano Green we wouldn't have been in the 13th game."

 

 

 

 

James Monroe

0

7

7

7

--

21

 

Turner Ashby

7

6

8

6

--

27

 

 

 

Scoring

 

TA-Micah Zwanzig 2 run (Cody Ochoa kick)

 

JM-Delano Green 1 run (Zach Kroko kick)

 

TA-Daniel Harvey 46 pass from Seth Little (kick fail)

 

TA-Zwanzig 1 run (Little run)

 

JM-Stephen Washington 1 run (Kroko kick)

 

TA-Drew Loso 39 run (pass fail)

 

JM-Jamel Brooks 27 pass from Green (Kroko kick)

 

 

 

TEAMSTATISTICS

 

JM

TA

 

First downs16

16

 

Rushing yardage22-133

45-275

 

Passing yardage225

137

 

Passes14-28-5

7-15-0

 

Punts-Avg.1-34.0

4-35.0

 

Fumbles-lost1-0

0-0

 

Penalties-yards 5-37

10-92

 

 

 

INDIVIDUALSTATISTICS

 

Rushing: James Monroe--Delano Green 15-115, 1TD; Stephen Washington 3-12, 1 TD; Jamel Brooks 4-6; Turner Ashby--Micah Zwanzig 20-101, 2 TDs; Drew Loso 9-85, 1 TD; Seth Little 12-76; Andrew Armstrong 3-10; Shay Garst 3-3.

Passing: James Monroe--Delano Green 14-28-5, 225 yds., 1 TD; Turner Ashby--Seth Little 6-13-0, 112 yds., 1 TD; Andrew Armstrong 1-2-0, 25 yds.

 

 

Receiving:James Monroe--T.C. Cook 5-87; P.J. Hayden 5-59; Jamel Brooks 3-55, 1 TD; Devin Griffin 1-24; Turner Ashby--Daniel Harvey 2-61, 1 TD; Micah Zwanzig 2-43; Charlie Newman 2-29; Drew Loso 1-4.

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Blues_56    23

Blues_56
Posted

[ QUOTE ]

I heard that the boys will be coming to UVa-Wise this week to practice on the turf...Is this correct? If so what days are they coming? I might make the walk over the hill to go sit in.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we'll be there mon.-thur....but ill know for sure tonite!

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rhsfan88    22

rhsfan88
Posted

[ QUOTE ]

Virginia Tech's field is natural grass right? So why would they practice on turf 3 days then go back to grass then have to play on turf?

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

They are probably going to practice at the indoor turf field at Virginia Tech. It's the same thing that Salem did last year.

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lee    10

lee
Posted

they are leaving for lynchburg a couple of days before the game would you want your team getting rusty from not practicing they practiced on thanksgiving to get ready for graham

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hoard    18

hoard
Posted

This is from the Harrisonburg Daily News Record, TA's hometown daily paper. They sound a lot like a SWVA team. Richlands should probably be prepared for a lot of different defensive looks and plenty of blitzes Saturday.

 

Newman Shuts Down Monroe (An opinion column) Posted 2005-12-05

 

By Mike Barber

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRIDGEWATER – In the 50th year of Turner Ashby High School football, the Knights are going to the Division 3 state championship game.

 

How? By playing football the style TA has for most of the last 50 years – smash-mouth, ball-control football.

 

The Knights (11-2) beat James Monroe 27-21 on a chilly Saturday afternoon in Bridgewater, largely stifling the most explosive and prolific offense they faced all year.

 

The Yellow Jackets wanted to turn the semifinal matchup into a football version of the Indy 500 – a fast-paced, high-scoring shootout. But a muddy field and a TA team determined to dictate the tempo would not allow that to happen.

 

Coaches and their staffs are often given too much credit for wins, too much blame for losses. But Saturday, TA coach Charlie Newman masterfully manipulated his game-plan, avoiding the open-wheel race and turning the game instead into a demolition derby.

 

His players both bought into the approach and executed the plan perfectly as they pounded the Yellow Jackets on offense, defense and special teams

 

"We knew they had great speed and great athletes," senior tight end and linebacker Charlie Newman, the coach’s son, said. "It probably helped that we had a good wet field here slow them down a bit. But we had a great defensive game plan. Dad put a good one together and we practiced it all week and believed it."

 

Dad was just doing what comes naturally to the 46-year-old Maryland native. Playing at Bowie High School in Bowie, Md., Newman was a middle linebacker. He went to James Madison, a school that’s now recruiting his son, and played linebacker for the Dukes from 1979-82.

 

Newman became TA’s head coach in 2003, after 18 seasons as a Knights assistant – the final six as defensive coordinator.

 

Saturday’s victory had as much of his stamp on it as a win can have.

 

TA’s defense took most of the sizzle out of Monroe’s sensational offense, picking off quarterback Delano Green five times and pressuring him every time he dropped back.

 

"They just showed a lot of blitzes," Green said, his face still partially hidden by his facemask. He was unable to hide his disappointment. "They gave us a bunch of different looks, man," he said.

 

Even bigger than the turnovers, perhaps, the Knights were sure-handed in their tackling of potentially game-breaking ball-carriers. The first defender often not only wrapped up a receiver or back, but also successfully dragged him to the ground.

 

"One of the things we stressed, in big letters, on everything we gave them this week, was tackling," the elder Newman said. "We have to tackle. We can’t let them get in open space where they can run and do some damage."

 

Heavy rains soaked TA’s game and practice fields, forcing the Knights to practice on the artificial turf at James Madison’s Bridgeforth Stadium during the week. Newman thought the turf might also help simulate the kind of speed James Monroe used to score over 100 points in its first two playoff games.

 

But on a chilly Saturday afternoon, playing on soggy surface, that speed rarely showed up.

 

"The field conditions stunk. The field stunk," Monroe coach Rich Serbay said. "We had no quickness. The field was wet and muddy. Our kids couldn’t make any cuts. We couldn’t make any big plays."

 

TA didn’t have that problem. The slow, muddy track did little to dampen the Knights’ between-the-tackles running game. Loso’s score came on a 39-yard run, the kind of long scoring play more commonly associated with the Jackets’ spread attack than TA’s wing-T.

 

The Knights also blocked a punt to set up a 1-yard touchdown in the third quarter, to go up 21-14. They squibbed their kickoffs to avoid big returns.

 

Offensively, TA racked up 434 total yards, 294 of which came on the ground.

 

Micah Zwanzig ran for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Drew Loso added 95 and a score and quarterback Seth Little rushed for 82 yards and one 2-point conversion.

 

In the end, the Knights won by imposing their will on the faster, more athletic Yellow Jackets.

 

Perhaps sweetest for Newman, Saturday’s win gives him another week of coaching his son.

 

Shortly after the two exchanged a man-hug – that one-armed, chest-to-chest celebration that guys who play and coach smash-mouth football share – the elder Newman talked sensitively about going to the state-title game with his son.

 

"It’s an extra week," Newman said. "The season’s almost done. I’ll be done coaching Charlie. What’s it going to be like without him around here? Being able to hold on to it for another month has been pretty special."

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hoard    18

hoard
Posted

Next Stop: States Posted 2005-12-05

 

Turner Ashby High School’s football team beat James Monroe 27-21 to advance to the Division 3 state title game.

 

 

By Marcus Helton

 

 

 

 

 

Turner Ashby running back Micah Zwanzig runs the ball while James Monroe Highs School's Stephen Meadows tries to bring him down during Saturday's game.

 

Photo by Thomas J. Turney

BRIDGEWATER  In Saturday’s Group AA, Division 3 football playoff semifinal, physicality took finesse and ground it right into the mud.

 

Turner Ashby High School used a power running game, an opportunistic defense and a big special-teams play to beat James Monroe, 27-21, and advance to the Division 3 state title game.

 

The Knights (11-2) will face Richlands (13-0) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg.

 

TA ran for 294 yards against a James Monroe defense that had struggled all season against the rush. Junior tailback Micah Zwanzig led the way with 105 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.

 

"It’s great," Zwanzig said. "It’s kind of unreal a little bit. It probably won’t hit me until like Monday morning, when we’ve got film in the morning, probably.… The line did a great job; they did a great job blocking and creating holes for everybody.

 

"We just play smashmouth football."

 

Perhaps the game’s biggest play – and the one that served as a microcosm for the entire afternoon – came with the Knights clinging to a 27-21 lead and facing fourth-and-seven from the James Monroe 29-yard line with 2:20 remaining.

 

Instead of throwing, the Knights elected to keep the ball on the ground, handing the ball to Zwanzig, who followed the offensive-line surge and bulled forward for 10 yards and the first down. The Knights then ran the clock out to seal the win.

 

"It was actually a play that we were going to run a little bit earlier," TA coach Charlie Newman said, "and we didn’t get to it. We almost were going to throw, and then we reconsidered. [Offensive coordinator Donnie Coleman] was like, ‘Hey, let’s come back to this, let’s come back to this.’ It was a gutsy play at a gutsy time, and those guys up front blocked it well, and Micah ran hard and got the first down. There were a lot of big plays, but that was a huge play."

 

TA’s defense also came up big, intercepting Monroe’s electric senior quarterback, Delano Green, five times and containing a Yellow Jacket attack that had scored more than 50 points in its two previous playoff wins. Green threw for 233 yards and a touchdown and ran for 97 and a score.

 

"We’ve got a good defense," Newman said. "… We knew they had a bunch of weapons coming in – a bunch of guys with a lot of speed, a quarterback that can throw it and run it – and we felt like we had some things that we could do and try to pressure them and get some people in his face and make him throw the ball around a little bit where we could get some turnovers off of that. We just got after him, gave him some different looks."

 

TA came after Green from the very first drive, ending the Yellow Jackets’ first possession with an interception by senior Daniel Harvey.

 

The Knights took the ball and marched right down the field, with Zwanzig running in from 2 yards out for his first touchdown of the game and a 7-0 TA lead with 9:47 left in the first quarter.

 

"All week, we had talked about how we wanted to come out, set the tone, and run the ball," TA senior quarterback Seth Little said. "We wanted to get some more touches running the ball on them, and it worked out. We were getting 5 yards a pop every play in the first quarter. It really gave us confidence for us to come out and run the ball good."

 

The Yellow Jackets (11-2) tied the game at 7-7 on Green’s 1-yard run with 7:44 remaining in the first half.

 

The Knights answered back on their next drive, as Little found Harvey – an All-Group AA 100-meter sprinter – alone behind the defense for a 46-yard score as the Knights went in at halftime with a 14-7 lead.

 

The game’s turning point came on James Monroe’s first possession of the second half after the Knights forced another three-and-out. Facing fourth-and-four from its own 17, James Monroe tried to punt, but TA senior defensive end Jimmy Young shot through a gap untouched to block Green’s kick. Green picked the ball up but was tackled at the 1-yard line, and Zwanzig ran in for a score two plays later. Little’s two-point conversion run put the Knights up 21-7 with 5:29 to go in the third quarter.

 

"We’d been working on it all week," Young said. "All week, we saw on film that they had a couple weaknesses on their special teams. We watched film, we practiced it all week and we knew it was going to be there."

 

The Yellow Jackets narrowed the gap to 21-14 on Stephen Washington’s 1-yard run with 3:23 remaining in the third. TA’s Drew Loso then scored on a 39-yard run on the Knights’ first possession of the fourth quarter; Little’s two-point pass failed, and the Knights led 27-14.

 

Green came up with one of his signature big plays on the Yellow Jackets’ final score of the game. He dropped back to pass, was pressured, reversed field twice and found sophomore running back Jamel Brooks wide open in the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown pass to cut TA’s lead to 27-21 with 4:58 remaining.

 

James Monroe would get no closer, however, as the Knights took the ball on their own 27-yard line with 4:51 to play and began their final, clock-killing drive to reach the state title game for the second time in school history.

 

"It got pretty close there," Little said. "It was a close game for the most part, and it feels awesome to go to the state championship game."

 

James Monroe coach Rich Serbay said his team couldn’t use its explosiveness on a muddy field.

 

"Our kids couldn’t make any cuts," Serbay said. "We couldn’t make any big plays. We just ran out of gas, or ran out of big plays. We just ran out of miracles, but the field conditions were terrible and didn’t help us, did not help us at all."

 

Serbay said he thought his defense would play better against the run.

 

"You have to give their offensive line credit," he said. "I thought we would play better and we didn’t. We worked all week on trying to stop the run, and we worked and worked and worked, and maybe we didn’t work hard enough. You’ve got to give credit to the offensive line; their backs ran hard, and we just didn’t get it done and they did."

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lee    10

lee
Posted

they are in the state game ... so.... well i like that they play smashmouth football when liberty started passin is when they scored on us cant wait till sat.

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lee    10

lee
Posted

i thought that this was what you thought abou the game not predictions but ne how most ppl arnt going to predict because we really dont know what turner ashby will show up with or what size or speed they have.

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lee    10

lee
Posted

MaxPreps Game Prediction

 

 

Based on the recent performance of both teams, MaxPreps predicts that Richlands (VA) will beat Ashby (Bridgewater, VA) on 12/10/2005 with a final score of 26 - 14.

 

 

 

I LIKE!!

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89Tornado    10

89Tornado
Posted

[ QUOTE ]

I asked for the posts to stay on topic, now I would like some predictions.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

You didn't ask for predictions...you asked for peoples thoughts............sort of demanding there aren't you prince?

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RichlandsAlum    678

RichlandsAlum
Posted

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

I asked for the posts to stay on topic, now I would like some predictions.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

You didn't ask for predictions...you asked for peoples thoughts............sort of demanding there aren't you prince?

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

"Now is the time on swvasports.com when we make predictions!"

 

sprockets.jpg

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