Baytown Sterling vs. Baytown Lee/Sterling wins 28-20 in OT

[gary-us-bonds]

28-20 sterling in ot final

[Mr. Buddy Garrity]

:o

[BHFAN]

Geez 19-4A Died in week O!!! Maybe North Forest won ;D

[gary-us-bonds]

Finally made it home.

Lee did not deserve to win this game.
Too many mistakes.

To be fair, Lee will not see another team this year with a better trio of athletes the caliber of Mixon, Nelson and Gibson for Sterling.
Gibson is only a sophomore, but he will be a top 50 player in the state.
Mixon and Nelson are so darn shifty.  Nelson is like a cat, he always lands on his feet.

I'm not saying Sterling is a great team, but those three guys present problems.

Lee was without Darrion Landry, who is out for a while with a broke wrist from what I have been told.
Josh Zellars got hurt early in the game and did not return.
That is two of Lee's top three receivers that had no part in this game.

I am pleased with how Lee looks.  The Ganders could have won the game if not for a few mental lapses.
They got a turnover right before Sterling's tying score, but they were called offsides on the play.
They returned the blocked kick in the first half all the way into Sterling's territory, but it was called all the way back inside the 5 for a crackback clock.

Of course, Sterling had their share of mistakes as well.

Once Lee gets Zellars and Landry healthy, the Ganders will be an awfully tough test for most 4A teams.

[Guest GCMPats]

RSS was the more physical team tonight. Von Anderson was laying the wood to those Wr's. rel did alot arm tackling.

Speedy was a non-factor. Looked somewhat winded at times too.

Thought RSS was much more effective with McWhirter at QB and Nelson at WR. He made some mistakes, but that kids's a "gamer".

RSS left about 21 points in their pocket. The kicked darned near cost them a W with 2 missed PAT's and a 1 yd punt.

Still going to be tough for RSS to find 2 wins in district.

[gary-us-bonds]

Speedy was a non-factor because they don't throw him the ball.
They will throw it out there once or twice a quarter on a fade route on 3rd and long  ???

The coach still doesn't understand the uniquely talented player he has in Speedy.

He requires double teams at all times, but the coach does not understand how to capitalize on that.  He just lofts up fade routes and then throws little 6 yard button hooks to him, never anything else.

Even with two of Lee's top three players on the sideline watching, Lee had the game won if not for that silly offsides penalty.

[gary-us-bonds]

While I agree that McWhirter is gritty and one might think he is better.....
This is high school football.  You are sometimes just better off to have a guy like Nelson taking the snaps.
McWhirter made some nice plays, but he also made some very bad plays that cost Sterling dearly.

For that same reason is why Zellars should be playing qb for Lee.
Unless you have a guy that just has pinpoint accuracy and is calm, cool and collected in pocket....in high school you are better off just sticking an athlete in there and hoping for the best.
Things break down too many times and you need someone who can make something happen.
Teams like Sterling and Angleton understand that...
Lee does not...yet.

[Guest GCMPats]

You could say the same thing about Chance and his pitch to the turff.

You can get him the ball in other ways besides a direct snap. He draws so much attention away from the ball, that he frees up CJ and even McWhirter. I know what their intentions are, they want that 4.3 speed with the ball as often as possible. I just think he makes your offense more dynamic at WR or in the slot.

[sahen]

in my opinion, both Lee and Sterling looked better than they have the past 2 years so they appear to making process...but i guess that is my opinion...

it is almost like they are trying to ease the QB into sterling's offense by only putting him in sometimes, but the kid can run some w/ the ball too and his arm is alright...if they want to have a shot at the playoffs they are going to need that kid to be at QB for most of the game and use Nelson as a WR/RB...that number 10 for Sterling is gonna be a heckuva a player the next couple years as long as they can keep a QB that can get him the ball...

both Sterling and Lee had some real mental lapses (dumb penalties, and option pitch to nobody on a blown play, etc.) but it was the first game so that is expected, hopefully both can sure those up and get better as they move on...

[Guest GCMPats]

RSS Senior Spenser Schoor (#5) broke his femur on the opening kickoff and will miss the remainder of the season. He had a real good summer during 7 on 7 and looked to be an intregal part of the Ranger receiving corps this year.
Please keep him in your prayers.

[jabu84]

landry will be back next week. Will only play on the d side of the ball

[LP0175]

Panamamyers...how did the O and D lines look?

[gary-us-bonds]

Thank you Sahen.

I tried to be gracious in my first post when I got home.
Both teams did look better.  Sterling has a massive offensive line, at least compared to Lee.
McWhirter may be the best option in the long run.  I was relieved to see him in there as a Lee fan though.  It was much harder for Lee to stop Nelson and Mixon on the zone read type plays.

Miquo Willie is another DB/WR that was out for Lee.  He is a sophomore.  HE could have provided some relief somewhere out there at the skill positions.  He was standing next to Landry on the sideline with both having shoulder slings.

Both teams looked better.  Sterling has a shot to make the playoffs in my opinion.  Don't ask me who they will beat other than Channelview, as PAM and LP both seemed to look really good along with the usual suspects in WB and NS.
I will be rooting for Sterling though.

To answer the question on the OL/DL for Sterling.  As I said, the Sterling OL was really big particularly compared to Lee.
When Sterling decided to play a little smash mouth there right before the half, they were very successful.  I think Sterling will be able to move the ball against a lot of the teams they play.  Nelson and Mixon are just two tough little guys to contain, unless you have a lot of penetration.  If the line can give them a little crease, they just jitterbug around and make it very difficult on your back 7 of your defense to corral them. 

Just when you have them figured out, Nelson drops back, closes his eyes and throws as far as he can to Jamar Gibson, who just leaps above everyone and snags on.  Dude is about 6'2" 205 probably as a sophomore.  He made all-district second team last year as a freshman.

Back to Lee...
They play a junior, sophomore, sophomore and senior on the DL
They have a senior, senior and sophomore at LB
They have a sophomore, sophomore, junior and senior at DB.
They start about 9 more juniors and sophomores on offense.

They had two sophomores and a junior out hurt that will all get time once they get healthy.
They are really a young team.  Most of their talented players are juniors and sophomores.

So, pardon me if I am excited about the way they played last night, particularly with three of those said juniors and sophomores watching from the sidelines. 

Having said that, I suspect that LaPorte will be able to run the ball pretty well against Lee next week.  They don't have the athletes that Sterling does though.
It should be a really good barometer.

[gary-us-bonds]

Also, Lee will need too shelve that slot receiver in motion package.  All it does is bring a blocker away from the action allowing that DB on that side to slide down and congest the running lanes and the option play never really materializes.  It usually just effectively makes it 10 on 11, because the slot receiver is running around 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage.