I agree with the concerns expressed about the sideline personal foul call. That is clearly on the coaches and needs to be addressed, even if I think Joseph's objections were justified.
That aside, we’ve had 37 games to observe the Jeff Joseph-coached Port Neches-Groves Indians. By now, we know a few things about Joseph’s style of coaching. One is that he likes to get conservative with the play-calling when the Indians are up by two or more possessions in the second half. Remember the Lake Creek game in the playoffs last year? We were up big at halftime and held on to win by a field goal running a much more conservative offense in the second half. Why does Joseph do that? In short, he’s keeping his powder dry. The more conservative we are throughout the season, the less opposing coaches can pick out of our game film to prepare for. That’s why teams like SOC don’t see on-side kicks coming late in the fourth quarter of a state championship.
Another thing we should all know by now is that Joseph likes his run-first, ball control offense in general, irrespective of who has the lead. It helps keep the defense fresh, it wears down opposing defensive lines, and it also loosens up opposing defenses’ pass coverage for when we need to throw the ball.
The last and most important thing we should all know by now is that Joseph-coached PN-G teams always improve from week to week. That was apparent to me this week, too, and I have no reason to believe that will not continue to happen.
Jeff Joseph is now 33-4 (.892) at PN-G. If I’m not mistaken (I don’t have my copy of DTOV with me to doublecheck), that’s the second best record through 37 games of any coach in PN-G history, behind only Gene McCollum and even besting Doug Etheridge. Through a little over two seasons, he has a district title, two regional titles, two state championship appearances, and a state title to his credit. Under his leadership, the Indians are running a 20 game win streak--the second longest in school history--and ranked #1 in the state for the first time in decades. He is undefeated through his first twelve one-score games as a head coach, which I suspect is a state record. He’s certainly got the rest of the state’s attention. What’s more, this is his first season at PN-G to run undefeated through the first half of the regular season--and three of his five wins this season are over state-ranked teams, one of those teams being a division above our own. For the first time at least since I was in elementary school, the term "powerhouse" is coming up in conversations around the state about PN-G football.
We have no real reason to question the man’s decision-making. I personally think we have the Nick Saban of Texas high school football on our sideline. Y'all know I don't say that lightly. Count your blessings.
PS: Blair Chatagnier is a man among men.