vet93
09-17-2005, 11:35 AM
The final score was a 36 to 7 Ballinger victory. The score on one hand could have been closer had Merkel not made some critical turnovers....on the other hand...Ballinger played a somewhat sloppy game and could have beaten Merkel worse than they did without several key penalites and turnovers. Of all of the 3a teams that we have played (Brady, Clyde and Merkel), Merkel appears to be the weakest. Their run defense was porous. That does not bode well for games against their district opponents...especially Wylie and Sweetwater. Ballinger has played much better than last year, but have yet to put together a complete and consistent game offensively. This has alot to do with a new offense (spread). Defensively, Ballinger has played much more consistently, but has given up the big play on several occasions and due to lack of speed in the defensive backfield can be beaten by the long ball. If Ballinger can begin to click offensively, they can become a very dangergous team. The most difficult test in preadistrict will be the week after next when they play Greenwood (I am sure that Greenwood is ready to play some little old 2a team instead of the 4-3a teams). Ballinger cannot afford to invest too much emotion in the Greenwood game because the next week they will face a key district challenge in Early the next week. If they win that game it will give them a leg up on making the playoffs.