Originally Posted by
d0tc0m
As much as Gilmer shot themselves in the foot, though, I saw Melissa leave a few TDs on the board as well. The dropped TD pass in the first quarter on one of the prettiest throws you'll ever see a sophomore QB make, the INT in the red zone in the second quarter, the questionable play calling later in the quarter that led to a turnover on downs inside the red zone, the blocked PAT returned for 2 points. You take those away, and Melissa flat out blows Gilmer away, in my opinion. You take both teams' mistakes away, though, and Melissa still wins.
Look, I hear you on PG. They're for real. You won't hear — or read — me knocking on that team at all. And they really do believe this is their year, and maybe it is. But, like I said, I think Melissa has the makeup to beat them. And if not Melissa, Graham certainly does in the next round.
We do, however, agree on the point that Melissa will have to have success throwing the ball in order to establish their running game. To me, that's the whole game right there. That's it. Can Melissa move the chains by throwing the football or not? For my dollar, Melissa's QB, Lewis, is better than Poppy, and come Friday, he may be the best QB PG has faced this season. I'd say he was second, behind Argyle's Copeland, in terms of QBs I watched play this year. He's got a really strong arm and a quick delivery, and he's got receivers that can take the top off the defense. He can also scoot when the pocket collapses. But so can/could Celina's QB, Ross, and he had no luck whatsoever getting away from the PG pressure. So, again, if/as the Cardinals have success throwing the football, all of a sudden, another Hawk helmet or two has to drop back into coverage, and then Lewis has some open running lanes. It was that very thing that helped Melissa put the game away against Celina earlier in the year. Could be the same story late tomorrow evening.