Posts of the Week

After having a few days to think about Friday night's game, I've come away with a different opinion than what I've seen from some people online.

Yes, the muffed punt and muffed kickoff were costly. Against a team like Memorial, you can't hand away possessions and field position and expect it not to hurt you. But I also don't think this game can be reduced to "PNG lost because of mistakes." Both teams made mistakes, and Memorial helped PNG with penalties and missed opportunities of their own.

For me, the more interesting story was what was happening schematically.

The Front Seven Dynamic:
One thing that stood out was PNG's defensive front. Compared to some recent seasons, the defensive line appears younger and not as physically imposing. Because of that, the linebackers often had to be more involved in helping close interior running lanes.

That's fine against most opponents.
The problem is Memorial's speed.

When linebackers are forced to trigger downhill early to help against the run, it naturally puts more stress on the secondary. Safeties and corners end up having to make more open-field tackles against some of the best athletes in Southeast Texas.

And that's exactly what it felt like was happening throughout much of the night.

The gaps were there at times. The edge looked vulnerable at times. Honestly, I expected PAM to attack those areas more aggressively than they did.

Whether that was because PNG adjusted, Memorial was comfortable playing with the lead, or they simply liked what they were already getting offensively, I don't know. But I walked away feeling like Memorial did not fully exploit some of the opportunities that were available.

One reason I'm not overly worried is because this defense is playing under Jeff Joseph.

As most if not ALL of you know. Joseph's background is rooted heavily on the defensive side of the ball, with experience at Austin Westlake, Southlake Carroll, Texas A&M, and other successful programs before arriving at PNG. Since taking over, he's led PNG to a state final appearance in 2022, a state championship in 2023, multiple district titles, and one of the best winning percentages in school history... I have gone back over the past three years and watch ALOT of his old film.

What I've noticed about Joseph's teams is that they don't necessarily depend on being the most athletic team on the field.

They're built around:

• Discipline
• Assignment football
• Player development
• Sound defense
• Physical run game

PNG typically plays a loose zone defense with players who understand leverage, trust their responsibilities, and execute their assignments. That's why I think this defense has room to grow significantly over the next several weeks.

A young defensive line in Week 1 can look completely different by district play.

The Most Encouraging Part of the Night? Honestly? The offensive line.

Coming into the season, there were legitimate questions about replacing experience and size up front. Yet against a very talented Memorial team, PNG still ran the ball effectively and remained competitive throughout the game. Even with quite a few mistakes and not working great together on blocks, they ran that rock!

That shouldn't get overlooked.

If PNG can run the football against Memorial while breaking in a newer and smaller offensive line, that's a good sign moving forward.

The fourth quarter also showed something.

After being held scoreless in the second and third quarters, PNG responded with 20 points in the final period and continued fighting until the end.

That doesn't look like a team that's far away.
That looks like a team that's still developing.

I left the stadium with more questions than answers, but I wasn't discouraged.
My biggest concern isn't quarterback play, though I hope he can dial down that football. The receivers can't be going that high for the balls. It isn't safe and it a lot of the defenders will go up and get that over our boys.

My biggest concern isn't the skill positions.
My biggest concern is whether the defensive front can develop enough to keep linebackers from having to overcommit inside.
If that happens:

• The linebackers can play faster.
• The safeties can stay deeper.
• The secondary faces fewer difficult open-field tackling situations.
• The entire defense becomes more effective.

The mistakes mattered. The turnovers mattered. But I don't think they were the whole story.
My biggest takeaway was that PNG went toe-to-toe with a very athletic Memorial team while breaking in a younger defensive line and a rebuilt offensive line. There were weaknesses exposed, but there were also plenty of positive signs.

If this team develops the way Jeff Joseph's teams typically do, I wouldn't be surprised if the version we see in October and November looks considerably better than the one we saw in Week 1.

That was unexpected but appreciated. Especially after doing it for 26 years. I’m glad that the website got some exposure and maybe more people will enjoy it.

Also appreciate being declared 4 years younger. (Not an ‘84 grad)

19PNGndn68 said:

A Few Takeaways from PAM

1. Expect our Experienced OLBs to set the edge and wrap up on RBs.

2. Braylon Valcin is a beast. A potential candidate to move from DB to a MLB. He has a nose for the Football.

3. OL appeared to handled Memorial DL bull rushes in pass protection. OL Footwork appeared to be too slow to trap or pull (many missed blocks) early in the game against a quick Memorial DL/LB corp. OL Appeared to adjust to the speed of the game later in the game. PNG OL conditioning showed up late in the game.

4. PNG WRs need to use their quickness to create space. PNG QB was having to thread the needle to get passes into the hands of a receiver. PAM has some College D1 DB candidates.

5. Impressed with WRs Waguespack and Bennett.

6. Concern that HB/TE Hansing not able to play. Big loss.

7. RB Henry is still the workhorse of the offense.

8. Special Team play needs to be coached up. You win or lose with all three phases of the game.

Click to expand...

Heard Hansing might be ready to play.

If the Indians win on Friday, it will be the first time a PN-G football team has ever defeated West Brook. Their record against us is 8-0. This will be the first time we have played them in this century. I attended all eight of those losses, but now that I live out-of-state, I will be watching our first victory over them remotely, via the Internet.

I like to think of those first two games in the series as a “Clash of the Titans” between two legendary head coaches: Doug Ethridge and Alex Durley. As we know, Coach Durley led Beaumont Hebert to a state championship in 1976, the year after Ethridge won it at PN-G. West Brook would become the first second-place team in a district to win a state championship, and they did it in their first year of existence. Prior to 1982, only the district champion advanced to the playoffs. Our first two games against them, under these two great coaches, were the only ones in the series that were actually competitive.

I remember our first game against them in 1982 very well. It was a lot like our game last week against PAM. We made mistakes early in the game that put us in a deep hole. Then we made a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, and almost won it. I recall talking to some West Brook people at the time who said they were really sweating bullets during that game, and breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. If we had defeated them, they would not have qualified for the playoffs, and would never have gone to state. The following year, in 1983, West Brook won on a late field goal, on the way to an unbeaten regular season.

Another thing I remember about that 1982 game was the hour-long halftime show! We were their homecoming opponent. After they crowned their queen, they paraded the previous year’s homecoming queens from Hebert and Forest Park around the track. The lengthy festivities delayed the second half of the game, which started at 7:30, and didn’t end until 11 o’clock. Also, I will never forget how the weather suddenly changed during the course of the game. When I arrived, it felt hot and very muggy. Later in the evening it cooled down considerably. Then the wind started to pick up, and it turned cold. That is the only game I ever attended where I arrived sweating and left freezing!

FYI, to the person who manages this website: under the History & Tradition All-Time Game Scores section, the years for the first three West Brook-PN-G games are labeled wrong. It says 1992-1993-1994, when it should say 1982-1983-1984. The scores are correct. Great work on compiling a century of football data for the fans!

My money's on PN-G to bring home the Indians' first ever win over West Brook tonight. Scalp 'em!