Can anyone tell me about East Bladen?

[SWE'98]

10-2 East Bladen comes to town Friday to play my SW Edgecome Cougars, 11-1 inthe first ever meeting between the two schools. An immaculate record for sure for the Eagles, but they finished third in their conference. But when your conference includes Wallace-Rose Hill and Clinton, then third is probably as good as you are gonna do, as their only two losses came against those powerhouses. They do come from a split 1A/2A conference, so some of their wins come vs 1A competition, but hell, so did some of ours in nonconference action. They also have a win vs a 4A team, as do we. Their first two games were decent wins, but their other 8 were so so at best. Of those 8, only three were not close, and those teams were 3-8, 1-10, and 2-8. After week two, they were blown out by the only formidable teams they faced by 30 and 38. But then again, those two teams are indeed spectacular. Its not like our schedule was all that great ourselves, but we didn't struggle to separate ourselves from any of the teams we defeated, and we definitely didn't have to squeak out a first round victory, as the Eagles did in overtime vs 4-8 Graham. So is East Bladen as good as their record indicates? Can any Dark Horse supporters enlighten me on what they do and don't do well?

 

[swett2victory]

All I have ever heard is great things about them. Not much help I know but I too have the same curiosity.

 

[Darkhorse#34]

East Bladen has a solid team...they have some athletes led by the Hines twins #12 and #21 both are lightning in a bottle if they get to the edge good luck...#3 is a 2A all state safety he carries the ball well too.........they are big up front on both lines but are slow sideline to sideline that's there weakness....once u get those big boys moving side to side runs up the middle came easier at least they did for Clinton when we played them

 

[Darkhorse#34]

They are a well coached team Coach Priest will have them ready to play

 

[swett2victory]

they are big up front on both lines but are slow sideline to sideline that's there weakness....

LOL you're crazy...that made me laugh. Why are they slower in those terms you said?

 

[Darkhorse#34]

????You can beat them to the outside...Clinton did it all night....dlinemen are big but could not contain Clinton's speed what is crazy about that???

 

[SWE'98]

Ahhh, well it looks like both the Cougars and the Dark Horses will be spending a lot of time hitting the outside Friday night. We certainly have the personnel to do it and be successful.

 

[ebhsfan]

Hines twins have been hurt off and on most of the season. Eian played sparingly Friday night and Ethan hasn't played in about 3 weeks. I really don't expect it to be any different this Friday. With both of those in the lineup and engaged, the Eagles are a different team. You, most likely, will see a lot of #3 Kyle Tatum, #11 Nikita Owens, and #28 Xavia McDowell. The Eagles are well-coached and will have a game plan mapped out.

 

[4countyfan]

Without the Twins EB is a different team. Those kids have upper level speed. Without them theyre not as athletic. Great looking Line though.

 

[SWE'98]

Any passing game to speak of?

 

[Darkhorse04]

Any passing game to speak of?

In a word, Negative.

 

[thsvikes]

SWE 98, if East Bladen is similiar to their teams of the past, it will be a great type of grind it out football game mixed in with some play action passing here or there. Probably be alot of 3 yards and a cloud of dust, the way Edgecombe county football teams like to play

 

[ebhsfan]

Like I said in another thread. This will be the quickest game of the night. Very few possessions either way.

 

[SWE'98]

SWE 98, if East Bladen is similiar to their teams of the past, it will be a great type of grind it out football game mixed in with some play action passing here or there. Probably be alot of 3 yards and a cloud of dust, the way Edgecombe county football teams like to play

Play action...although we have had arguably the most successful passing game of our history this season, 90%
of it has come from the play action pass to the tight end, and its pretty much always successful if the pass is accurate. The tight end is always open. We may dump a pass off to a rb every once in a blue moon, but I cannot think of a single time we have ever connected or even tried to connect with a wr. We have split players out wide maybe 5 times all year. But if it ain't broken, don't fix it. But I think that we will have to incorporate spreading it out in out offense at some point in time it'd we plan on winning it all. But if al EB does is run, then we may have some success, because our run defense is pretty good. But if the same can be said for the Eagles, then a fumble here and there may be the golden ticket.

Like I said in another thread. This will be the quickest game of the night. Very few possessions either way.

 

[ebhsfan]

SWE98, These two teams that play Friday Night are identical. Everything you say about SWE, you can say about EB.

 

[SWE'98]

If that's the case, everyone should be home by dinner time. Are you making the trip?

 

[ebhsfan]

If that's the case, everyone should be home by dinner time. Are you making the trip?

Oh yeah, I'll be there. I do the stats for EB.

 

[SWE'98]

Ok, cool. Maybe we can meet up. I'll be unmistakable. Tall black guy on crutches. Had ankle surgery yesterday. Probably in orange overcoat. And make sure you leave plenty of room in your stat book for #1 Marcus Williams. He's our workhorse. I wouldn't say stop him,you stop us, but it would definitely slow us down considerably.

 

[qt_strm_22]

If you can hit the corner on EB it's over not to quick sideline to sideline. WRH did whatever they wanted against the defensive line and stopped the offense cold pretty much. Speed will kill them!

 

[ebhsfan]

If you can hit the corner on EB it's over not to quick sideline to sideline. WRH did whatever they wanted against the defensive line and stopped the offense cold pretty much. Speed will kill them!

Yeah, but WRH is doing that to every team they play. WRH is just on a different level than 99% of the teams in 1A & 2A. Not many teams can matchup with the speed WRH has. Main problem against Wallace and Clinton was the blown defensive assignments. I think most of that is pretty much shored up now.

 

[SWE'98]

Yeah, but WRH is doing that to every team they play. WRH is just on a different level than 99% of the teams in 1A & 2A. Not many teams can matchup with the speed WRH has. Main problem against Wallace and Clinton was the blown defensive assignments. I think most of that is pretty much shored up now.

Im not trying to be funny or condescending at all buddy...and please enlighten me on anything that may go against my argument, but you said that you guys have pretty much shored the blown defensive assignments up. Seems to be the case, looking at the numbers. But I'm looking at the words. And the words are Pender, Union, West Bladen, Trask, and Wallace. Those were your last 5 games. Wallace is 11-1. But the other four are a combined 14-33, including three 1A teams, two which are 2-10 and 1-10. And then there was that first round overtime scare vs 4-8 Graham. I'll admit, excluding Wallace, you shut those other aforementioned regular season teams down, but was it because of the EB defense or was it because those teams weren't much of a threat to begin with? Again, I'm not trying to sound crass. I'm trying to be objective. Because in you last three games, you struggled to score against a very good and two middling programs, before barely getting out of the first round. Is that around the time the twins went down, and do you expect them to see time on the field this friday? Because my man, we are neither of your final 5 opponents, nor are we Graham. We might not be as good as Wallace, but we are heads over heals better than the rest of them. You have got to score, because we will, broken assignments or not. Is the offense capable of driving down the field, or do they rely on the defense to get them good field position?

 

[ebhsfan]

No doubt, the unavailability of the Hines Twins has slowed our Offense down. The evidence is at the beginning of the season when they were healthy. Knocked off Whiteville, South Columbus, and 4A Laney. They make a difference. Take SWE 2 backs out and see what happens to that offense. Not having the twins has also put a large amount of pressure on the defense creating more possessions for opposing offenses which in turn creates the greater chance of getting wore out and making mistakes. Not to mention two more guys having to go both ways.

Graham was 4-7 but their QB had already signed to go to Wake and their RB Graves was a beast. I understand they played Reidsville pretty tough too. They weren't your typical 4-7 team. They had a good offensive scheme and ran it to perfection. They had a very balanced attack.

We will definitely have to keep the chains moving, eat up some clock and score when we have our chances plus play great, sound defense.

Anyway, we will play with the guys we have available. All those games are in the past and the only one that matters now is the one Friday. I think we all know we have our hands full but don't under-estimate this team either. Good luck to both teams and I hope for an injury free, hard fought game.

 

[SWE'98]

No doubt, the unavailability of the Hines Twins has slowed our Offense down. The evidence is at the beginning of the season when they were healthy. Knocked off Whiteville, South Columbus, and 4A Laney. They make a difference. Take SWE 2 backs out and see what happens to that offense. Not having the twins has also put a large amount of pressure on the defense creating more possessions for opposing offenses which in turn creates the greater chance of getting wore out and making mistakes. Not to mention two more guys having to go both ways.

Graham was 4-7 but their QB had already signed to go to Wake and their RB Graves was a beast. I understand they played Reidsville pretty tough too. They weren't your typical 4-7 team. They had a good offensive scheme and ran it to perfection. They had a very balanced attack.

We will definitely have to keep the chains moving, eat up some clock and score when we have our chances plus play great, sound defense.

Anyway, we will play with the guys we have available. All those games are in the past and the only one that matters now is the one Friday. I think we all know we have our hands full but don't under-estimate this team either. Good luck to both teams and I hope for an injury free, hard fought game.

I don't think anyone down here is underestimating anyone, especially a 10-2 team. You still have to earn victories, and the Eagles did that ten times. More than half the teams in the state, all classes, are envious of your season. Saw coach earlier today and he was like lordy, you are giving them bulletin board material! I don't think I'm being braggadocios. If I am, I certainly don't mean to. And us losing our top back, let alone top two, would greatly impact our offensive production. The other guys are capable, but #1 is number one in more than just his jersey number. Can't
wait for this one. Safe travels to you and your crew, and watch out for deer once you get near the country roads of Edgecombe County, especially on the way back. Our address is Pinetops, but the school is a few miles outside of town. Make sure u get a bite to eat before you get to the actual school, because it's in the middle of nothing. Pinetops is a small, two stop light town with two gas stations, one small grocery store, a local restaurant pizzaria, a regionally famous BBQ spot called Abram's, and a Hardee's. One of the gas stations may seem seedy to outsiders, but it's not at all, and the grill there is great. Good burgers, sausage dogs, fried shrimp, and other things that may not be good for your cholesterol but great for your taste buds. Hardees closes at 10. So does the grocery store. Point is, stop and grab a bite before, not after, unless you plan on waiting awhile. Pinetops pretty much closes at 10pm.

 

[Wizard of the East]

East Bladen is a solid ball club well coached. They won't beat themselves.