Liberty Hill Struggles Continue

[AP2364]

Frustration continues to mount with lack of productivity from the offense. LH has a great reputation with it's ground and pound offense but success has gotten harder to come by. Most teams have made adjustments and LH has become more predictable than ever. There is no reason to put less than 9 defenders within 3 yards of the ball until it is 3rd or 4th and long. The tougher the games are the more predictable the offense becomes. The lack of ability to back off the defense has proven to be downfall of the offense. There is no respect for any outside rushing game or passing game. I wish that there was some strategy in not showing some plays until district or the playoffs but that is not the case. If a team shows that they can slow down the offense, LH coaches dig in their heels and seem to want to prove that they will have success if they just keep doing the same thing. After watching all grade levels for years and seeing what the offense has to offer it is frustrating when varsity gets as predictable as they are. Coach Vance has come out and commented in multiple interviews about how they will improve the offense by getting back to using the passing game to loosen things up. He has said over and over that the offense is better when they pass more. If you watched the scrimmages or maybe the LaVernia game you would have seen the passing game being worked on. But when the games get tough the play calling locks up. The Brownwood game and Port Lavaca Calhoun looked the same(just like losses in recent years as well). The pass and outside run game does not come out until the game is getting away and the yardage needed gets long. I challenge the coaches do what they ask(demand) the players to do. Learn from your mistakes!!!!

The team has more struggles to deal with as well. Injuries and discipline are key. When players are suspended for behavior issues it affects the whole team. Hopefully they will learn from their mistakes as well. Penalties are mounting and the discipline has to improve there. Key players out to injury really hurt us this week and we can only hope that all of the kids can recover and play the remainder of the year injury free. I hope I will be proven wrong but I don't see a deep run in the playoffs this year unless there are some significant improvements.

[bd62]

Surprised to hear they have no outside game. That use to be big plays for them. I remember when you think the Fullback had the ball and all of a sudden you see a kid running for a TD on outside run. Do they lack the speed they use to have for those outside bursts? Yoakum played them 3 yrs in playoffs in 2002 to 2004 and we were fortunate to win the first one but they were getting better each year. And took us the last 2 yrs. I saw them against Cuero in 2007 and in Semi in 2008 and they were really good the 2 yrs they won state. The 2008 team was as good as I seen in the old 3A Division. Allways impressed with how hard those kids play. I bet that still the case with a Coach Vance team.

[bag-o-chips]

Maybe Coach Vance could get a few hints from his former asst. at Navarro about opening up the slot t

[bd62]

Maybe Coach Vance could get a few hints from his former asst. at Navarro about opening up the slot t

Maybe when his former assistant from Navarro wins a SC then he can advise Coach Vance. 😀

[AP2364]

Maybe when his former assistant from Navarro wins a SC then he can advise Coach Vance. 😀
Coach Vance has won 2 SC's and has a great winning tradition. That doesn't mean that he can't learn from mistakes.LH was at their best when Coach Vance ran the defense and he had an OC that knew how to loosen up defenses to get the most out of his run game. Coach Vance has never run the offense and called the plays at LH. There is no doubt that he has been involved but that is not his specialty.Coach Vance has also done his best to not have any player go both ways. That is admirable but his losses in the past several years come against teams that use their best athletes both ways on a limited basis. He has acknowledged that in interviews as well.
The previous question about outside speed can easily be addressed by a couple of players going both ways at times during the game. The worst problem is being to predictable. Run inside until the down and distance dictates going outside or a pass then get mad when it doesn't work.

The offense has a lot of plays that are not used on varsity but work great at every other level of play. LH had a championship defense last year and lost to LaVega after holding them scoreless in regulation. Afterwards Coach Vance was interviewed and he again acknowledged that they have to loosen up the defense better with some well timed passes and spread out the run game(very ssimilar to other interviews). But watch the film, nothing changes. The last 2 games look just like the close games and all of the losses in the past 6 years at least.There is not a pass, pitch, sweep or anything to back off the defense until it is an obvious play call.

Have you ever seen LH Varsity run a screen, halfback pass, or reverse or even throw a pass before 3rd down since the Championship teams? OC's that have left LH ran these plays and others in sub varsity games and did very well with them. These plays are used against LH but varsity does not use them. There are plenty of plays designed within the offense but when the going gets tough these plays are forgotten and
the base plays are the usual call.

[Rabid Cougar]

Ran this offense in high school winning a SC. Fully 50% of the TDs were through the air. And yes 28/29 sweep made up half the run plays.

[solocam]

Liberty Hill will finish no better than 3rd in district

[Dawgs]

Liberty Hill will finish no better than 3rd in district

Well you can say that for just about all but 2 or 3 teams in the state Captain Obvious. When you are in a district with CS and WLV kinda hard to get better than 3rd.

[solocam]

Not in most years,but Panthers dont have the depth that they have had in years past

[greendawg84]

Just give them time , they will get it rolling just like they always do . Then everybody will be saying how good Coach Vance is . LOL