Keith7
11-19-2004, 05:21 PM
Leopards ready for Decatur rematch
GHS meets Eagles in Class 3A area playoff Friday
By DARIN ALLRED
Register Sports Editor
Gainesville Leopard players and coaches have had this week marked on their mental calendars since about 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 10, moments after their 58-23 loss to the Decatur Eagles in their second game of the season.
The loss snapped Gainesville's 16-game winning streak dating back to the 2003 season. That game also helped propel Decatur up the state rankings. They are currently ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 3A.
Now, the Leopards get a chance for a rematch.
Gainesville (8-3) and Decatur (11-0) will meet in a Class 3A area playoff Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Southlake Carroll's Dragon Stadium.
"I told the kids this the other day, but the Decatur loss has been in the back of my mind since we stepped off that field," Leopard head coach Jeff Cordell said. "What I told the kids back when we stepped off that field (at Decatur) is the great thing about this thing is we have the opportunity to meet these kids again. We told them that if things worked out, we would have the chance to meet them in the second round of the playoffs and here we are."
The Leopards of Week 12 are a totally different team than the one that lost to Decatur in Week 2, especially on defense where the Eagles will see different starters for the Leopards in six different positions. The biggest change was seen for the first time last week against Graham as Gainesville All-State linebacker Jeremy Franklin started for the first time after missing most of the season with an injury. That allowed Michael Miller to move from linebacker to defensive end. He, along with fellow defensive end Ryan Walker, will be counted on to put pressure on Decatur quarterback Chandler Dane.
Cordell says the Leopards have grown into a much better team than they were back in early September.
"Not just from a personnel standpoint, but also with maturity. Our team has matured a great deal over the past ten weeks," he said. "We're better offensively, we're better defensively and we're better in special teams. It was a learning experience in our non-district schedule. We knew it was going to be tough, but it really helped us improve as a team and gain a lot of experience out of that."
Gainesville would like to forget the last meeting with Decatur. Decatur scored 37 straight points in the second and third quarters and led 51-14 at one point.
"We made a lot of mistakes that killed us," Cordell said of the last game versus Decatur. "We had a fumble that they picked up and ran in when it was a close game, a busted coverage, not tackling when we had an opportunity to make a tackle, allowing Dane to scramble, just not doing the little things that we are starting to do now. We understand that Decatur is a very well coached and good football team. They are very explosive on offense and aggressive on defense. But we can't worry about what Decatur does, we have to worry about what we are going to do to win this football game."
In their last meeting, Dane was 18 of 23 passing for 404 yards with 6 touchdowns. He continually burned the young Leopard secondary, many of which were playing their second-ever varsity game. GHS coaches have worked to get the Leopard defensive players confident they can slow down the Eagles offense.
"I think Coach (Patrick) Harvell and the rest of the defensive coaching staff have done a great job preparing our kids for this game this week," Cordell said. "One of the things we have always said is we don't dwell in the past, but we learn from the past. We tell the kids everyday that we're going to make mistakes, they are going to catch balls on you, whatever it may be, you've got to get ready to make the next play. That's how we approach things. I think in the beginning of the year, our kids were relying on what we did last year. They were relying on the fact that we were the defending Class 3A state champions. But we're not. We're the Gainesville Leopards of 2004. They can no longer worry about what happened in the past, they have to make history for themselves."
Obviously, to defeat Decatur you have to contain their quarterback, who Cordell says may be the best in the state right now. He has passed for 3,208 yards this year and has 9,438 for his career. He is currently fourth all-time in Texas high school football for passing behind Graham Harrell (12,532 yards) and Drew Tate (12,183). He needs 698 more yards to surpass Bridgeport's Phillip Daugherty for third place.
"He is not just one of the best, I think he may be the best quarterback in the state of Texas," the coach said. "He has all the tools. He has great vision, tremendous mobility, and he has the ability to make things happen in situations that would be negative for most football teams. For us to have a chance, we've got to contain that 'Great Dane' and we've got to contain (Brian) Christiansen and we've got to contain (Devin) Godbolt. Nobody's been able to do that, but I think our kids are excited about that challenge."
Decatur is averaging 54.5 points a game this season and has scored at least 59 points in each of their last 5 games.
One thing the Leopards have going for them is their playoff experience. Even though many of this year's players didn't see much game action last year as GHS made their run to the state championship, those players got to experience the five-week postseason and play in such venues as Texas Stadium and the Birdville Fine Arts Complex. Cordell thinks that experience is helping his team in the playoffs this year.
" One, from a traveling standpoint and going to a different venue every week as far as the stadiums we play at," he said. "The Collins Athletic Complex (where Gainesville played last week) was incredible. It was probably one of the nicest places we've played in during the playoffs the last two years. For our kids to go over there and understand there was a game to be played and not get caught up in all the excitement of a spectacular stadium and all those little things, I think our kids handled that very well last week."
The Leopards also handled the Graham Steers last week, defeating them 38-13. Gainesville's offense had 402 yards, while the GHS defense held Graham to just 187 yards.
"I thought our kids played exceptionally hard and played with a lot of heart," Cordell said of last week's game. "One of the things we picked up on from some people in Graham is they questioned the heart we had over here. They felt that their kids and their coaching staff and their community have a lot more heart than what our kids over here had. Our kids took that pretty personally and we put that up in their lockers and they wanted to show them that we have a lot of heart over here. When you come to play Gainesville, you better be ready to play Gainesville."
GHS meets Eagles in Class 3A area playoff Friday
By DARIN ALLRED
Register Sports Editor
Gainesville Leopard players and coaches have had this week marked on their mental calendars since about 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 10, moments after their 58-23 loss to the Decatur Eagles in their second game of the season.
The loss snapped Gainesville's 16-game winning streak dating back to the 2003 season. That game also helped propel Decatur up the state rankings. They are currently ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 3A.
Now, the Leopards get a chance for a rematch.
Gainesville (8-3) and Decatur (11-0) will meet in a Class 3A area playoff Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Southlake Carroll's Dragon Stadium.
"I told the kids this the other day, but the Decatur loss has been in the back of my mind since we stepped off that field," Leopard head coach Jeff Cordell said. "What I told the kids back when we stepped off that field (at Decatur) is the great thing about this thing is we have the opportunity to meet these kids again. We told them that if things worked out, we would have the chance to meet them in the second round of the playoffs and here we are."
The Leopards of Week 12 are a totally different team than the one that lost to Decatur in Week 2, especially on defense where the Eagles will see different starters for the Leopards in six different positions. The biggest change was seen for the first time last week against Graham as Gainesville All-State linebacker Jeremy Franklin started for the first time after missing most of the season with an injury. That allowed Michael Miller to move from linebacker to defensive end. He, along with fellow defensive end Ryan Walker, will be counted on to put pressure on Decatur quarterback Chandler Dane.
Cordell says the Leopards have grown into a much better team than they were back in early September.
"Not just from a personnel standpoint, but also with maturity. Our team has matured a great deal over the past ten weeks," he said. "We're better offensively, we're better defensively and we're better in special teams. It was a learning experience in our non-district schedule. We knew it was going to be tough, but it really helped us improve as a team and gain a lot of experience out of that."
Gainesville would like to forget the last meeting with Decatur. Decatur scored 37 straight points in the second and third quarters and led 51-14 at one point.
"We made a lot of mistakes that killed us," Cordell said of the last game versus Decatur. "We had a fumble that they picked up and ran in when it was a close game, a busted coverage, not tackling when we had an opportunity to make a tackle, allowing Dane to scramble, just not doing the little things that we are starting to do now. We understand that Decatur is a very well coached and good football team. They are very explosive on offense and aggressive on defense. But we can't worry about what Decatur does, we have to worry about what we are going to do to win this football game."
In their last meeting, Dane was 18 of 23 passing for 404 yards with 6 touchdowns. He continually burned the young Leopard secondary, many of which were playing their second-ever varsity game. GHS coaches have worked to get the Leopard defensive players confident they can slow down the Eagles offense.
"I think Coach (Patrick) Harvell and the rest of the defensive coaching staff have done a great job preparing our kids for this game this week," Cordell said. "One of the things we have always said is we don't dwell in the past, but we learn from the past. We tell the kids everyday that we're going to make mistakes, they are going to catch balls on you, whatever it may be, you've got to get ready to make the next play. That's how we approach things. I think in the beginning of the year, our kids were relying on what we did last year. They were relying on the fact that we were the defending Class 3A state champions. But we're not. We're the Gainesville Leopards of 2004. They can no longer worry about what happened in the past, they have to make history for themselves."
Obviously, to defeat Decatur you have to contain their quarterback, who Cordell says may be the best in the state right now. He has passed for 3,208 yards this year and has 9,438 for his career. He is currently fourth all-time in Texas high school football for passing behind Graham Harrell (12,532 yards) and Drew Tate (12,183). He needs 698 more yards to surpass Bridgeport's Phillip Daugherty for third place.
"He is not just one of the best, I think he may be the best quarterback in the state of Texas," the coach said. "He has all the tools. He has great vision, tremendous mobility, and he has the ability to make things happen in situations that would be negative for most football teams. For us to have a chance, we've got to contain that 'Great Dane' and we've got to contain (Brian) Christiansen and we've got to contain (Devin) Godbolt. Nobody's been able to do that, but I think our kids are excited about that challenge."
Decatur is averaging 54.5 points a game this season and has scored at least 59 points in each of their last 5 games.
One thing the Leopards have going for them is their playoff experience. Even though many of this year's players didn't see much game action last year as GHS made their run to the state championship, those players got to experience the five-week postseason and play in such venues as Texas Stadium and the Birdville Fine Arts Complex. Cordell thinks that experience is helping his team in the playoffs this year.
" One, from a traveling standpoint and going to a different venue every week as far as the stadiums we play at," he said. "The Collins Athletic Complex (where Gainesville played last week) was incredible. It was probably one of the nicest places we've played in during the playoffs the last two years. For our kids to go over there and understand there was a game to be played and not get caught up in all the excitement of a spectacular stadium and all those little things, I think our kids handled that very well last week."
The Leopards also handled the Graham Steers last week, defeating them 38-13. Gainesville's offense had 402 yards, while the GHS defense held Graham to just 187 yards.
"I thought our kids played exceptionally hard and played with a lot of heart," Cordell said of last week's game. "One of the things we picked up on from some people in Graham is they questioned the heart we had over here. They felt that their kids and their coaching staff and their community have a lot more heart than what our kids over here had. Our kids took that pretty personally and we put that up in their lockers and they wanted to show them that we have a lot of heart over here. When you come to play Gainesville, you better be ready to play Gainesville."