Weddington at Asheville Round 3

[AhsCougar1]

Well what the hell, I will get it started early. Both teams come in with 12-1 records. Asheville comes in with a 9 game winning streak and Weddington comes in with a 6 game winning streak. Weddington averages 34.9 points per game on offense and Asheville averages 43.8 points per game on offense. The Weddington defense is giving up 14.5 points per game and the Asheville defense is giving up 14.2 points per game. I know the Reynolds guys feel like they didn't play very well last week, but I'm sure much of that was Weddington. Last year Weddington had a great defense and left Asheville with a win in the 2nd round, in a game Asheville felt like they could have won. Even though these two played last year, its a different year and different teams so I don't know what to expect in this one. Weddington is a class program and Asheville and Weddington have been in the top 6-12 teams in 3A all year. The cream is rising to the crop now.

 

[COUGAR-90]

Yep, that pretty well sums it up.
The defensive points allowed are a bit misleading. I know we've allowed a lot in a few games because of subbing entire 2nd string squads with 2-3 minutes left in a few games. I can only assume that Weddington has done that as well.
I also think there will be a few more pages of the playbook coming out this Friday night. I can think of at least 3 good plays we have that I haven't seen all year.

I know a lot of the seniors on this years team. They are not going to let Weddington walk out with a win. To say they are focused would be the understatement of the year. Not trying to sound retarded, but walking through the field house before games this year there is just a different feel. Our D is playing lights out and our O is deep and clicking. In years past there was always one or two players you could count on to make the big play. This year we have guys that no one has even mentioned who are stepping up and making a difference.

I like our chances this Friday night. One game at a time.

Asheville 24
Weddington 17

 

[CougarsOfAHS]

This game will be very physical. I hope we can get a good crowed to support the boys, we can't afford to come out flat against them or we in trouble early, if we start fast I like our chances, not just against them but anybody.
AHS 24
Warriors 21

 

[mbdfan]

Cougars by 1, this is your year to make it back to state. Make it happen!

 

[Rocket Pride]

I like Asheville here. Weddington's defense is tough I'm not gonna lie, but Asheville's offensive line is one of the best I've seen at the high school level around here. If they control the line of scrimmage and give their playmakers a glimmer of daylight they will be ripping off chunks of yard all night. I'd like to make the trip downtown to see this one. There will be some snot bubbles flying around the field on Friday night.

Asheville- 27
Weddington- 21

 

[Ramnasty]

Weddington by 14.

 

[AhsCougar1]

For any of the Asheville fans that care...Knoxville West is playing in the 4th round of the playoffs this Friday and the 34 points Asheville "held" them to is their 2nd lowest point total of the season.

 

[COUGAR-90]

Yes, but we all know (or at least have been told) that the Tennessee 5A teams are more like 3A teams here in NC. Besides, they were slow, not well coached, couldn't throw the ball, and only brought 20 or so players with them.

 

[AhsCougar1]

Originally posted by COUGAR-90:
Yes, but we all know (or at least have been told) that the Tennessee 5A teams are more like 3A teams here in NC. Besides, they were slow, not well coached, couldn't throw the ball, and only brought 20 or so players with them.

lol don't say that because some people will read it and believe it! According to Wikipedia, west high school in Knoxville has 1,350 students which would make them a 4A school in NC. Anyway that doesn't matter. I saw some Weddington clips online and they look pretty damn good.

 

[COUGAR-90]

Yea, I think I watched the same film on Weddington.

I think this will be the most evenly matched game in North Carolina Friday night. I think if they have a weak spot it would be their secondary....and it's not very weak. Their front 7 is as good as they come. We have the better O-line and we're deep at running back.

Turnovers and discipline (flags) will be the deciding factor in this one. We absolutely can't afford any untimely penalties. And I think our D is at least equal to what we'll see out of Weddington. If we don't put the ball on the ground and play a full 60 minutes I think we'll send them home with the L.

 

[AhsCougar1]

I actually thought the refs last week did a pretty good job. Aside from the touchdown being called back that would have made it 42-0 before halftime I didn't even know they were there, which is how its supposed to be. Lets pray the refs don't suck this week...usually only the best are still officiating in the later rounds.

 

[COUGAR-90]

Oh I wasn't talking about the refs. I was referring to the off sides, false starts, etc. on our part. We can't afford any of that.

As for officiating, I wouldn't mind seeing the guys from last Friday night either. Or Brown for that matter. He's an Erwin guy, even has a son coaching for Erwin, but he's a class act. If there was an award for fairness he'd get it. His whole crew are good guys and don't blow many calls.

 

[BD Warrior]

I hope you fools get Micky Friday night so you can know how we felt a few weeks ago!!!

 

[RadioCheck]

Oh dear God. I hope not........

 

[AhsCougar1]

Very very unlikely he will be officiating any game Friday night. Fewer statewide football games mean less likelihood of the terrible refs getting games.

 

[COUGAR-90]

Ferguson will look like a Sunday school picnic compared to what will happen if Mickey shows up Friday night.

 

[COUGAR-90]

After watching some film from the Weddington vs. Reynolds game last week I've noticed some things.


#1 We can pick up 4 or 5 yards between the tackles. The front 4 are very, very good, but they tend to over penetrate.

#2 The more I watched the more I realized our veer can burn them at least a few times. Their linebackers are the best I've seen this year. None of them are ever out of position. #48 is a beast.

#3 Their secondary is their real weakness. We exploited this last year on them, but did it way too late in the game. I have a feeling Paulk, Ray and Hutchens will break a few big ones for us.

#4 Their offense pretty damn good. Better than I thought. They like to spread you out and then bust the middle open. I did notice though, that their play calling seems to be in a numerical list. Watching several games of theirs this season I found that at least 75% of the time they'll run 6 to 8 plays in a series and they are all in order from 1 to 8 and the sequence is never altered. That's big, because if it happens this Friday, we'll literally know what play is coming before the ball is snapped. Also noticed that if they encounter an aggressive corner who picks off a pass, they almost never go back to that side again.

#5 Just like last week with Cox Mill, Weddington likes to get up on the ball fast. Our D is going to have to be johnny on the spot as soon as the ball is set.

All in all, this is the best match up athlete for athlete we've had all year. We have the edge in speed O-line and multiple running backs. Gotta give the edge on defense to Weddington simply because they are extremely disciplined and don't have as many players going both ways.

Should be a real old fashioned smash mouth football game.

 

[CougarsOfAHS]

ACR almost out gained them in yards, but 3 TOs and a block punt will hurt anybody, I see their back up QB is starting since the starter got hurt nov. 7. I've also watched filmed on these guys and I couldn't agree more cougar90. DOG FIGHT FRIDAY NIGHT

 

[AhsCougar1]

The two quarterback between Asheville and weddington have combined for 28 touchdowns and 1 interception. HOLY CRAP.

 

[COUGAR-90]

I was at practice for about an hour today. Looked like a blizzard for about 20 minutes but things were going like clock work. The boys seemed to be having fun but also focused. I don't know if it's a sign, but while I was there I saw the O running more plays than I've seen all year. Looks like we may finally be opening up the playbook tomorrow night.

 

[COUGAR-90]

Lets hope Brian Simmons is as good as advertised. He's got Asheville by 2, Franklin by 2, Owen by 4, and Robbinsville by 1.

Could be a good night for the mountain boys.

 

[crest91]

Good luck tonight cougars!! If you guys make it to the ship, and my chargers too, I'll come cheer them cougars on. Much respect!

 

[COUGAR-90]

Back at ya 91. It would be nice to get there and rep the west one more time. I'd be nice to meet some of you guys too. Good luck tonight to the green and yellar.

 

[CHEERDUCK]

WEDDINGTON 14


ASHEVILLE 7

 

[CougarsOfAHS]

Final weddington 28 asheville 23 I'll commonly more after home from the game

 

[AHSDYNASY]

Hell of a game, we had all kinds of chances. I said the team that made the fewest mistakes and turnovers would win and they did.

 

[AhsCougar1]

Originally posted by CougarsOfAHS:
Final weddington 28 asheville 23 I'll commonly more after home from the game

Yea I feel the same way. There is too much to say about this game I cant really go into all of it. Weddington was good like we knew they were but I mean just like last year we were given too many chances and STILL didn't win. Last year we lose by 4 to this team, this year we lose by 5. Weddington made some adjustments in the second half and did just enough to win...again. Congrats to them. I will comment more later.

 

[crest91]

Dang guys!! you're killing me!! I was really pulling for you!

tough luck guys! heck of a season...and I'm sure it was a great game.

 

[AhsCougar1]

Yea im getting real sick of these heart breaking losses as an Asheville fan. Id rather get killed 50-0 than losing this close games where you feel like you should win. I don't feel like this was a team that should have lost in the 3rd round. Give credit to Weddington but this was one of the better teams we have had in a long time.

 

[beamer24]

Originally posted by AhsCougar1:

Yea im getting real sick of these heart breaking losses as an Asheville fan. Id rather get killed 50-0 than losing this close games where you feel like you should win. I don't feel like this was a team that should have lost in the 3rd round. Give credit to Weddington but this was one of the better teams we have had in a long time.

I've been there watched Hibriten lose by a combined 8 points in 3 years in the 3rd and 4th round.

 

[AHSDYNASY]

Ahscougar1, we never seem to get the lucky bounces in the playoffs. We haven't had hardly any turnovers all year and we put the ball on the ground twice tonight, with one leading directly to a td.

 

[AhsCougar1]

we have lost to weddington the last two years by a combined 9 points. Another thing was the officiating was friggin terrible. I thought this time of year would have been a little better but the ref on our sideline was awful. With or without the refs we had chances to win and im not blaming them for our loss, but we had 119 yards in penalties and Weddington had 15. Pretty hard to win when that is happening. 119 yards in penalties is unbelievable. Its actually hard to do that.

 

[Fadeca]

Yeah, this one hurts big time, I really thought we would return to the finals this year, this was one the of the best teams we've had in the last 7-9 years just like last year, too many missed opportunities against the same team.

This post was edited on 11/28 11:22 PM by Fadeca

 

[AhsCougar1]

The bottom line is that Weddington was up 28-23 kicking off from their own 15 yard line after a safety and we return it to their side of the field with 4 minutes left. When you have the ball 1st and 10 on the opponents 45 with 4 minutes left down 5, you have to find a way to win that game no matter what. Weddington was good like I said, but we had the game there and I don't even think we got a yard.

 

[AhsCougar1]

Originally posted by AHSDYNASY:

Ahscougar1, we never seem to get the lucky bounces in the playoffs. We haven't had hardly any turnovers all year and we put the ball on the ground twice tonight, with one leading directly to a td.

It seems like we are always on the wrong end of heart breaking close games. All year we dominated the turnover ratio and tonight we had 2 lost fumbles after having like 5 all year. The touchdown for Weddington after a botched handoff in the backfield was probably the backbreaker of the game. We were playing catch up the rest of the game being down 2 scores. Like Fadeca said, I felt like this team was a state championship contender and to lose like this really sucks.

 

[COUGAR-90]

Agree with everything you guys said.

Fumbles, dropped passes, and flags all over the field.

It pisses me off when people blame the refs for a loss, but DAAAMN....we have a touchdown called back for holding and then we punch it in from the 5 yard line clearly over the goal line and that same ref on our side spots it on the 6 inch mark.

It is what it is. Congrats to Weddington....again.

 

[AHSDYNASY]

Yeah I honestly think the better team lost. Terrible officiating, turnovers, penalties, missed opportunities. Like ahscougar 1 said, when you have the ball on the opponents 40 yard line with 5 minutes left your leaders got to step up and be vocal.

 

[AHSDYNASY]

I'm still trying to figure out how Weddington didn't get one single holding call. They are a very cocky group. They were clapping in our guys face and jawing every time we made a mistake or they made a play.

 

[Jerald119]

Was hoping I might get to watch Asheville play Cuthbertson next week.I was wanting to see the TN commit play.Good season though.After watching the Knox West game I didnt think Asheville would go this far.Knox West won tonight and is in the finals again against Hillsboro who has one of the best DE in the country and a RB going to Tennessee.

 

[AhsCougar1]

Our team was extremely talented but we lacked a leader. Who was the leader of this team? We had a lot of guys who played in the system and contributed all the time for several years, but there was nobody who I ever saw that was clearly the man who everybody appeared to listen to. Weddington is a smart well coached team, but you cannot tell me they had only 15 yards in penalties and the other team has 119. I bet there weren't many games in this stage of the playoffs where one team had over 100 more yards in penalties than the other. Was it the difference in the game? I don't know. We still had our chances and many of the penalties were clearly on us, but I just refuse to believe Weddington had 0 penalties in the first half and 15 total yards in penalties for the entire game.