texasjeremy
09-23-2004, 07:29 PM
Palestine tries to rebound against Tatum
9-23-04
By Scott Tyler
H-P Sports Editor
Coming into the final non-district game of the season, Palestine head coach Glen Tunstall is interested in seeing how his Wildcats respond after their loss a week ago to Jacksonville.
"I want to see how we rebound from the loss," Tunstall said. "It looks like we are up to the task as we had one of our best Monday workouts of the season this week."
Palestine will get a chance to bounce back from its first defeat of the season when the Wildcats host Tatum at 7:30 p.m. Friday night in Palestine's homecoming game.
"The kids want to play hard because it is homecoming and I want to see if we can make improvements from the Jacksonville game," Tunstall said.
Friday night will conclude a tough non-district schedule for Palestine which included three 4A teams and two highly-ranked 3A schools.
"You can always play a weaker non-district schedule but the tougher teams prepare you for district," Tunstall said. "Playing quality teams means there will be no surprises when district starts. The kids already have faced the challenges and know what to expect."
The Palestine coaching staff knows it has a tough task this week against an undefeated Tatum (4-0) football team.
The Eagles' offense has scored 154 points in four games while the defense has allowed only 15 points, including two shutouts to begin the season and only one score in each of their next two games. Tatum is coming off a 54-7 win over New Boston.
"Tatum is a very good opponent and we are going to need to line up and play our best football game," Tunstall said.
To stop Tatum's offense, it starts with containing quarterback Stephen Hodge, who was the Associated Press' third-team preseason Super Team quarterback.
"He is one of the top athletes in the area and does an excellent job running their offense," Palestine defensive coordinator Booker Bowie said. "We have to make sure we keep him in the pocket because he is such a good runner."
Hodge has rushed for six touchdowns this season and had a 161-yard rushing performance in a win against San Augustine. The Tatum quarterback also is a threat in the air as he has thrown five touchdown passes this season.
Along with Hodge, Tatum has a dual threat at running back with Lennon Creer and Daylon McCoy, who have both rushed for over 100 yards in a game this season.
"Stopping the running game is our No. 1 priority," Bowie said. "They have three great running backs in the backfield."
Tatum uses a multiple-set offense with several two-back looks including the I-formation and split-back sets.
For Bowie, the keys to success for Palestine this week is to tackle and read their keys. Against Jacksonville, Bowie said his squad got tired in the fourth quarter and missed some tackles.
"We are not being mentally focused on reading our keys and knowing our alignment," Bowie said. "We have to become more self disciplined and more focused."
This being the last non-district game for Palestine, Bowie wants to see more consistency from his defense.
"There are times where we stop them for no yardage and then they run the same play and we miss a tackle and give up a big play," Bowie said. "I want to see us gel a little more as a team and get more consistent."
On offense, Palestine will try to get back to its production of the first three games when the Wildcats averaged over 460 yards of offense. Last week, the Wildcats gained 183 yards against an aggressive Jacksonville defense.
"We had some break downs in our pass protection last week and we committed too many penalties," Palestine offensive coordinator Tommy Allison said.
Penalties have been a problem for Palestine all year and it finally caught up with the Wildcats against Jacksonville. Repeatedly, the Wildcats put themselves in long-yardage situations because of penalties and Palestine could not dig itself out of the holes.
"We are a ball control offense so it is hard to have long-distance situations," Allison said. "We were fortunate in the first three games to get out of those situations, but against a good defense like Jacksonville, we struggled."
Both Tunstall and Allison expect Tatum to bring pressure after Jacksonville was able to have success with it last week.
"We expect them to bring the heat," Allison said. "Against Jacksonville, we had people running free in the secondary but our timing was just off."
Wildcat Notes: Palestine linebacker Ronald Brown leads the team with 60 tackles in four games. Last year Brown had a team-leading 113 tackles. ... Last week, Palestine quarterback Fred Williams threw for 112 yards marking the third time this season the Wildcats have thrown for 100-plus yards in a game. Last year the Wildcats had one 100-yard passing game.
9-23-04
By Scott Tyler
H-P Sports Editor
Coming into the final non-district game of the season, Palestine head coach Glen Tunstall is interested in seeing how his Wildcats respond after their loss a week ago to Jacksonville.
"I want to see how we rebound from the loss," Tunstall said. "It looks like we are up to the task as we had one of our best Monday workouts of the season this week."
Palestine will get a chance to bounce back from its first defeat of the season when the Wildcats host Tatum at 7:30 p.m. Friday night in Palestine's homecoming game.
"The kids want to play hard because it is homecoming and I want to see if we can make improvements from the Jacksonville game," Tunstall said.
Friday night will conclude a tough non-district schedule for Palestine which included three 4A teams and two highly-ranked 3A schools.
"You can always play a weaker non-district schedule but the tougher teams prepare you for district," Tunstall said. "Playing quality teams means there will be no surprises when district starts. The kids already have faced the challenges and know what to expect."
The Palestine coaching staff knows it has a tough task this week against an undefeated Tatum (4-0) football team.
The Eagles' offense has scored 154 points in four games while the defense has allowed only 15 points, including two shutouts to begin the season and only one score in each of their next two games. Tatum is coming off a 54-7 win over New Boston.
"Tatum is a very good opponent and we are going to need to line up and play our best football game," Tunstall said.
To stop Tatum's offense, it starts with containing quarterback Stephen Hodge, who was the Associated Press' third-team preseason Super Team quarterback.
"He is one of the top athletes in the area and does an excellent job running their offense," Palestine defensive coordinator Booker Bowie said. "We have to make sure we keep him in the pocket because he is such a good runner."
Hodge has rushed for six touchdowns this season and had a 161-yard rushing performance in a win against San Augustine. The Tatum quarterback also is a threat in the air as he has thrown five touchdown passes this season.
Along with Hodge, Tatum has a dual threat at running back with Lennon Creer and Daylon McCoy, who have both rushed for over 100 yards in a game this season.
"Stopping the running game is our No. 1 priority," Bowie said. "They have three great running backs in the backfield."
Tatum uses a multiple-set offense with several two-back looks including the I-formation and split-back sets.
For Bowie, the keys to success for Palestine this week is to tackle and read their keys. Against Jacksonville, Bowie said his squad got tired in the fourth quarter and missed some tackles.
"We are not being mentally focused on reading our keys and knowing our alignment," Bowie said. "We have to become more self disciplined and more focused."
This being the last non-district game for Palestine, Bowie wants to see more consistency from his defense.
"There are times where we stop them for no yardage and then they run the same play and we miss a tackle and give up a big play," Bowie said. "I want to see us gel a little more as a team and get more consistent."
On offense, Palestine will try to get back to its production of the first three games when the Wildcats averaged over 460 yards of offense. Last week, the Wildcats gained 183 yards against an aggressive Jacksonville defense.
"We had some break downs in our pass protection last week and we committed too many penalties," Palestine offensive coordinator Tommy Allison said.
Penalties have been a problem for Palestine all year and it finally caught up with the Wildcats against Jacksonville. Repeatedly, the Wildcats put themselves in long-yardage situations because of penalties and Palestine could not dig itself out of the holes.
"We are a ball control offense so it is hard to have long-distance situations," Allison said. "We were fortunate in the first three games to get out of those situations, but against a good defense like Jacksonville, we struggled."
Both Tunstall and Allison expect Tatum to bring pressure after Jacksonville was able to have success with it last week.
"We expect them to bring the heat," Allison said. "Against Jacksonville, we had people running free in the secondary but our timing was just off."
Wildcat Notes: Palestine linebacker Ronald Brown leads the team with 60 tackles in four games. Last year Brown had a team-leading 113 tackles. ... Last week, Palestine quarterback Fred Williams threw for 112 yards marking the third time this season the Wildcats have thrown for 100-plus yards in a game. Last year the Wildcats had one 100-yard passing game.