Asheville @ Newton-Conover
- Thread starter AHSDYNASY
- Start date
Apparently not lol. I don't think I've ever seen a newton poster on here. May have to rely on an outsider for information.
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/...er-test-for-asheville-high-football/32390969/
Here's a link to a story on the game from the Asheville Citizen-times
Here's a link to a story on the game from the Asheville Citizen-times
Numbers have been down for many years now. Small on both sides of the ball but faster than last two years. Payne kid at 145lbs may be the best back. Dominguez and Baldwin will lead the defense.
Hopefully Asheville doesn't blitz much. QB is a pocket passer and the line is small outside of two kids. Should see more fight in the kids this year than the previous three years.
Athletes have transitioned to other sports and the state titles in those sports prove it. Being ranked one of the best academic schools for a few years also has its negatives. Soccer, wrestling, golf, and tennis have dominated the scene with many titles but football is struggling. Finished 4th in the conference last year.
East Lincoln and Lincolnton will be highly favored for the first two spots in the conference.
Hopefully Asheville doesn't blitz much. QB is a pocket passer and the line is small outside of two kids. Should see more fight in the kids this year than the previous three years.
Athletes have transitioned to other sports and the state titles in those sports prove it. Being ranked one of the best academic schools for a few years also has its negatives. Soccer, wrestling, golf, and tennis have dominated the scene with many titles but football is struggling. Finished 4th in the conference last year.
East Lincoln and Lincolnton will be highly favored for the first two spots in the conference.
Johnson kid is a threat anywhere on the field. He doesn't need a lot of blocking to take it the distance. Newton will air it out. As the article says they are picked fourth in the conference. Asheville's DB crew will determine the outcome.
Asheville will blitz just about every play and the secondary may be the best unit on the team. We must get brewer the ball. Him and Drummond should each touch the ball 5-6 times on offense at the very least. I don't know what newton has in terms of size in their secondary but between brewer and Drummond one of those 2 has a mismatch on one side or the other. We have got to exploit those advantages or we are just wasting those guys.
Brewer should run nothing but post routes. Unless there is a corner or safety that is 7 feet tall Brewer will come down with it in his hands. Brewer will draw double coverage once people realize his skill level, which will open up the other side of the field for Neil or some underneath balls for Drum. I like that we used our TE last week. That needs to keep happening. It's hard to pound the ball when people are stacking 8 and 9 in the box against us. We have what we need this year to beat people by spreading the ball around. And I'd put our secondary up against anyone in the state in 3A right now. I was surprised at some of the no name guys last week that stepped up on defense. Having more than one player making 12-13 tackles per game is a nice advantage as well as multiple guys who can snag INTs out of the air. But I'm not agreeing with you. We're doomed no matter what. 
Brewer should run nothing but post routes. Unless there is a corner or safety that is 7 feet tall Brewer will come down with it in his hands. Brewer will draw double coverage once people realize his skill level, which will open up the other side of the field for Neil or some underneath balls for Drum. I like that we used our TE last week. That needs to keep happening. It's hard to pound the ball when people are stacking 8 and 9 in the box against us. We have what we need this year to beat people by spreading the ball around. And I'd put our secondary up against anyone in the state in 3A right now. I was surprised at some of the no name guys last week that stepped up on defense. Having more than one player making 12-13 tackles per game is a nice advantage as well as multiple guys who can snag INTs out of the air. But I'm not agreeing with you. We're doomed no matter what.
If the secondary is a big asset for Asheville then Newton will have trouble. QB has thrown 17 or more INT each season. Johnson is 6'1" but the WR on the other side is about 5'8". The corners tackling and coverage has been issues for 4 years and that definitely needs to improve greatly as does linebacker play.
I wouldn't get too high on our defense yet. We looked very shaky against kings mountain and against Franklin in the first half on that side of the ball. Granted our defense is geared towards spread teams and both those teams were in the I a lot
If Newton plays their freshmen,might be a interesting game,,,,have two that can be four year starters...If not,Alex Johnson will be the workhorse receiving and running the ball.....I believe this is one of the fastest teams N-C has had in a while but also very small...passing teams will eat us up this year
Beam is a great coach and will get NC back on track in a couple years. Odd to hear they are down in size though. I remember the 2007 -2009 teams seemed to be loadeD and I figured they just grew them like that up there. I would like to see them get back to that form.
Anyone who did not attend last week's game or know much about N-C may think that Alex Johnson is the only weapon. But I assure you, while he and Stanley are the stars, he is not the only weapon. RB Stinson will be a force as long as he continues to mature. Tyreke Adams had a good year last year, just played behind two 6-5 receivers, so his looks and time were limited. He's a different kind of receiver though. He has speed that neither of them did. Last week, he scored the first TD of the game on a 35 yard(I think) bubble screen and then ran a sweep for 70 yards for another TD. Look for junior Jake Hayman to emerge. He has never played receiver before, but Coach Beam likes his natural athleticism, competitiveness and how he is adapting to the position. He is a fantastic route runner. The two freshmen will be stars before they graduate N-C, MSC. GDG mentioned Chris Payne. Chris is as hard a runner as you'll ever find on a football field. He might be the smallest kid on the football field, but you'll not find a back who has more of a willingness to sacrifice his body to get an extra yard.
Also, don't count dismiss N-C's special team play, especially in the return game. Johnson had a PR and a KR for TDs last week. And while some here may think it was due to the opponent, anyone who saw N-C play last year, knows it is much more than that. I don't think we had anyone kick it deep on us after the first half of the West Lincoln game last year. I was really surprised Highland Tech kicked it deep to start the second half last week.
In addition, the place kicker N-C trotted out last week, who put 2 KOs into the endzone, kicked a football for the first time last week! And he connected on 4 XPs, I believe. He's a sophomore soccer player, who was offensive player of the game in the state 2A soccer championship last year. Nothing but upside in that kid.
This team is a lot different from last year's squad. It's a different talent and it's a different toughness. Being around the kids, you just know that they want to get better each and every day. Will that translate into a win against Asheville Friday? I don't know. But neither does anyone else, or Asheville wouldn't waste the gas to come down the mountain. We will know at about 10:00 Friday night though. I expect a slobber-knocker Friday night. It may be similar to last year's West Caldwell game where it was who had the ball last and who made the mistakes.
I know we sure hope to see lots of folks from Asheville in Gurley Stadium Friday night!
Also, don't count dismiss N-C's special team play, especially in the return game. Johnson had a PR and a KR for TDs last week. And while some here may think it was due to the opponent, anyone who saw N-C play last year, knows it is much more than that. I don't think we had anyone kick it deep on us after the first half of the West Lincoln game last year. I was really surprised Highland Tech kicked it deep to start the second half last week.
In addition, the place kicker N-C trotted out last week, who put 2 KOs into the endzone, kicked a football for the first time last week! And he connected on 4 XPs, I believe. He's a sophomore soccer player, who was offensive player of the game in the state 2A soccer championship last year. Nothing but upside in that kid.
This team is a lot different from last year's squad. It's a different talent and it's a different toughness. Being around the kids, you just know that they want to get better each and every day. Will that translate into a win against Asheville Friday? I don't know. But neither does anyone else, or Asheville wouldn't waste the gas to come down the mountain. We will know at about 10:00 Friday night though. I expect a slobber-knocker Friday night. It may be similar to last year's West Caldwell game where it was who had the ball last and who made the mistakes.
I know we sure hope to see lots of folks from Asheville in Gurley Stadium Friday night!
Beam does whatever works. He gets the most out of his kids and they jump on his wagon quickly. He is great at utilizing his teams strengths and rallying his kids by making them believers. I would be surprised if he doesn't throw any bombs.
