I attended that game. After rewatching it on YouTube last year (thank you, IndianFan), I have come to think of the 1999 win over LaMarque as Matt Burnett's magnum opus. It was the best game plan he ever put together, and the '99 team executed it as close to flawlessly as you can ever expect to see at the high school level. That game was the highwater mark of Burnett's career, in my opinion.
So far in the Joseph era of PN-G football, I've seen that quality of preparation and game-planning in two of the three Fort Bend Marshall games, the Austin LBJ game, the Brenham game, and the Liberty Hill game. Frankly, I saw it in the South Oak Cliff game, too, even though we lost - we were just flat out physically outmatched in that one and ran out of horsepower. There have been a few more games where I think the game-planning was there, but mistakes, injuries, the weather or, in the case of Nederland, the electric nature of the rivalry have cost us.
This game was the best coaching job I've seen from Jeff Joseph so far, and maybe the best coaching job I've ever seen at the high school level. This was Art Briles-at-Stephenville quality coaching. It's not just that the defense brought the intensity on every single down. We won with a sophomore back-up quarterback who, however talented he may be, started the first varsity game of his life tonight. Our best athlete suffered what will likely be a season-ending injury just six quarters of scrimmage ago, and was on the sidelines with his leg in a cast. We should not have been able to run the ball as effectively as we did tonight, but we did, because we kept finding the holes and making the opportunities through wonderful play-calling built around an only-take-what-you-need/don't-force-anything philosophy. We should not have been able to hold Marshall scoreless, but we did, because a run-heavy offensive game plan, outstanding clock management, constant substitutions and excellent defensive play calling kept the defense fresh and well-positioned all night long. We should not have won this game, but sound fundamentals and excellent technique kept penalties and mistakes to a minimum, forced key turnovers, and gave us a shot conventional thinking never believed was there.
Coach Joseph is doing things I didn't think were possible at PN-G just two years ago. We have got to hold onto this guy for as long as we can. If he continues to perform like this, after two or three seasons, PN-G could become the magnet for talent in other Southeast Texas communities that don't have the coaching, resources or programming we do. The potential is there for the Port Neches-Groves Indians to be the next West Orange-Stark Mustangs. Jeff Joseph could be the Golden Triangle's next Dan Hooks. We just have to keep him around long enough.
IndianFan, you have done this community a favor I don't think it will ever be able to repay.
