DeSoto 56 Garland 50

[owlfan 1]

Several thoughts

1. Garland's vaunted defensive line was tossed around like ragdolls by the bigger, more physical DeSoto line. The Owl defensive backs were burned deep at least twice. Had DeSoto been able to execute on their punt teams, this game would have ended 28-14 and we all would have been home an hour earlier. I still believe this defense is very good, but every weakness they have was exploited mightily by the Eagles. In the OT, there was absolutely nothing Garland could do to stop DeSoto's running game. The only time they didn't carve up chunks of yardage at a time was when they were trying to set up the field goal attempt in the third OT. Lots of work to do.

2. The Owls passing game is weak. Sorry, no other way to put it. 4-14 is not going to get it done, and it didn't. Owl QB's looked confused and tetative on passing plays. The touchdown pass was pretty, but in the end, meant little. Garland will win or lose, as usual, based on its ability to run the ball and control the clock.

3. Malcom Williams looked very good. Hope to see him even more involved in the offense in weeks to come. Dante Sloan once again played very well.

4. The DeSoto P.A. announcer has a great voice. I know, because he NEVER STOPPED TALKING. Word of advice: let the game come to you. We do not need commentary of every single thing that happens. When Garland failed to score in overtime, it was pretty obvious. We really didn't need the announcer to verify this.

5. When Garland blocked a punt to score in the first half, two of the DeSoto flag runners were seen running their flags so that they read "SO". This was freaking hilarious. Props to them.

6. Trinity must be very, very good - or else, DeSoto played terribly last week.

7. This team has great potential to be very special. They will, however, have to work very, very hard to overcome the weaknesses that were exposed by DeSoto. I believe they can, but time will certainly tell. Ennis will provide a completely different kind of challenge this week.

[StormingCowboy]

Did the Owls come in to this game overconfident?

[garlandowl08]

I think we were partially looking past this game, but then again we did have a score to settle (we were 1 for 4 oging in the lthe game, now we are 1 for 5 (wins)). I'm not sure if the whole team went out and partied thursday night or what. There were far too many fumbles, it almost looked like we were trying to lose. I think this game will be the great motivator and hopefully we can finish the rest of the season undefeated. I mena, the '99 team lost its' first gma,e so why can't the '05 team lose it's second?

[GTown02]

That 99' game was kinda funny... less then 10 seconds left and the guy takes it like 80 yards for the TD haha.. i was kind of laughing at the time :D

[grayowl60]

GUYS! we did hang 50 on em!

[GTown02]

Im not too worried.. one loss, means nothing... jkust regroup and take it to Ennis next week, we will be fine :)

[Roughrider]

GUYS! we did hang 50 on em!

And gave up 56 :confused:

[owlfan 1]

GUYS! we did hang 50 on em!

We should have only hung 14, maybe 21 on 'em (yes, special teams plays count, and I'm not willing to give the points back ;) ) - however, we certainly cannot count on those types of things to happen each week. We were very, very, very lucky to still be playing in OT.

[NTxTiger]

Trinity IS that good. DeSoto looked bad against them last week.

[GarlandOwl06]

Owlfan Garland makes those kind of plays all the time. Go back to the lufkin game when noone that we were gonna win but we caused a fumble and returned it for a td to win... also go back to the 99 year when i forget who we were playing but it was in ot and the other team was setting up for a field goal we blocked it and returned it for a td to win in ot.

Im also still a firm believer that the passing game will come in time.... remember you wanna get better everygame you dont wanna peak early then crumble late. We gotta take the loss learn from it and move on to Ennis.

[KT2000]

What was the score at the end of regulation? Very surprised Garland's D had that much trouble stopping them in OT at least.

[GarlandOwl06]

What was the score at the end of regulation? Very surprised Garland's D had that much trouble stopping them in OT at least.

At the end of regulation it was 28-28, in overtime neither team could stop the other at all, both were exhausted. The thing that seperated the teams in OT was turnovers. In the 5 OT's Garland had 2 turnovers resulting obviously in no points for Garland and the second time DeSoto capitalized on it.

[garlandowl08]

THe Dallas Morning News Poll Area Poll came out and we're now #7, but still ahead of DeSoto (#8)

[owldad]

06 - I believed the passing game was coming for the entire 4 years that my son was there. Those 4 years have come and gone and the passing game is still being talked about in the "future" tense. It aint happenin. This team will live and die by the run and defense. Until you see wholesale changes made at the middle school level and a true commitment to the passing game this offense will be what it is. Which is not all that bad! All the talk about a more concerted effort to develop a "passing game" to compliment the Wing-T only serves to frustrate me. Desoto just seems to have our number. At least we have seemed to bounce back from all these Desoto losses in the past.

[GarlandOwl06]

Owldad my brother was a wide reciever for garland two years ago and yes i know we have been talkin about how the passing game is comin but he even said that the pass plays that have been run are much better than when he was there and that they suit Tim much better. Also we havn't had a guy like Malcolm at reciever either.... so I still have faith that this year it will come.

[owlfan 1]

Owlfan Garland makes those kind of plays all the time. Go back to the lufkin game when noone that we were gonna win but we caused a fumble and returned it for a td to win... also go back to the 99 year when i forget who we were playing but it was in ot and the other team was setting up for a field goal we blocked it and returned it for a td to win in ot.

Im also still a firm believer that the passing game will come in time.... remember you wanna get better everygame you dont wanna peak early then crumble late. We gotta take the loss learn from it and move on to Ennis.

Those kinds of plays are pretty rare - when they happen, it's awesome, and hopefully, if you've played well (like we had against Lufkin), they become the icing on the cake. However, you have to be able to "run your offense" consistently if you want to be in position to win big games - Garland didn't do that very well in regulation against DeSoto.

I'm not jumping off the cliff or anything like that - I do think, though, that we need to be realistic. We will get better, and the potential is there for this team to be pretty special. The defensive lapses are of more concern to me than the lack of an effective passing game. Even if we give up yardage on the ground, this defense is good enough to wear teams down and make big plays. But, if they give up big passing plays, they are in trouble.

By the way, in the '99 playoffs, the only return of a blocked kick was when Reuben Moodly returned a blocked extra point for two against Lufkin. The game you are referring too, I beleive, is the '98 game vs. North Mesquite. In OT, the Stallions were about to kick the extra point to win (the Owls scored a TD and missed the extra point) - NM's extra point was blocked and returned for the winning points for the Owls...

[GTown02]

The game you are referring too, I beleive, is the '98 game vs. North Mesquite. In OT, the Stallions were about to kick the extra point to win (the Owls scored a TD and missed the extra point) - NM's extra point was blocked and returned for the winning points for the Owls... I think I was at that game... was it at SMU? I remember going to my first garland game, a playoff game, in 97 or 98 at SMU stadium, and it was extremely cold... :confused:

[owlfan 1]

Garland played North Mesquite at the sadly departed Ownby Stadium at SMU in the playoffs in '97, and it was very cold. Garland won, 20-6, then lost the next week against JT at Texas Stadium, 14-3.

The game I was referring to was a regular season game in 1998 at Williams.

[GTown02]

Thanks for the quick reply Owlfan :). I remember that game against NM at SMU. I have one of the NM posters that has a beat up Owl in bandages and a nice fancy set of crutches haha. Love that poster :D. Went down onto the field and took it. :cool:

[GoOwls]

06 - I believed the passing game was coming for the entire 4 years that my son was there. Those 4 years have come and gone and the passing game is still being talked about in the "future" tense. It aint happenin. This team will live and die by the run and defense. Until you see wholesale changes made at the middle school level and a true commitment to the passing game this offense will be what it is. Which is not all that bad! All the talk about a more concerted effort to develop a "passing game" to compliment the Wing-T only serves to frustrate me. Desoto just seems to have our number. At least we have seemed to bounce back from all these Desoto losses in the past.

The main reason the passing game doesn't show up is we never get the passing QB talent at Garland. I can think of years that if any other QB in the city had come to Garland, we would have been competing seriously for the title. However, we always seem to get the one-dimensional QB's.

Look at the 4 title teams QB's:

'56 Bobby Boyd - All around star - NFL 5 time pro bowl - 10th all time interceptions in NFL

'63-'64 Jimmy Adams - All around QB - run threat - still holds many passing records - good caretaker of the football.

'99 Nathaniel Roberts - nothing spectacular - running threat, but not a major one, a keep you honest kind of runner - not a spectacular passer but a clutch one, always made the tough passes in the tough games - only 2 ints. all year - a fantastic caretaker of the ball.

We won't win state until we get another QB like one of the above.

[GoOwls]

I just saw a poll on another site that favored the coaches much more than the QB as being the most important part of a championship team. I only partly agree, I don't remember a state champion that didn't have good coaching AND a good QB, not necessarily a passing or running demon, but at least a compitent caretaker of the ball.

[Garland02]

I just saw a poll on another site that favored the coaches much more than the QB as being the most important part of a championship team. I only partly agree, I don't remember a state champion that didn't have good coaching AND a good QB, not necessarily a passing or running demon, but at least a compitent caretaker of the ball.

I only partly agree as well. I have seen a lot of teams go in the tank when talent graduates.

[garlandowl08]

The coach is important, but I think a great team can win without a great Coach (but most great teams have great coaches) and a great coach may be able to win without a truly great QB. I think Crosby may be borderline championship caliber if he could just minimize the turnovers and maybe get a few more passing yards.

[GoOwls]

Crosby had more fumbles and half the interceptions in one game than Nathaniel Roberts had in 16 games the Championship season. Over the last season and 2 games, Crosby couldn't carry Roberts shoulder pads. I hope I'm wrong, but if our QB doesn't improve, we're gonna be 1 and out in the playoffs again.

[bleedgreen]

that was a heartbreaker, Owlfan1-----just wanted to let you know that im still pulling for you guys...looks like yall will have a pretty good season.....God Bless and take care.................

[owlfan 1]

hey there, bleed...

looks like those Lobos are rolling again. i saw Lake Highlands last week against North Garland, and I was not terribly impressed. Longview should smack them around pretty good when they play.

DeSoto is always a very tough game for the Owls;I think we will be fine - there are some things that have to be worked out, but i have confidence in our coaches (and players). this team is very talented and has the potential to make a deep run, but there is work to do.

this week vs. Ennis will be fun...

[garlandowl08]

DeSoto did us a favor. They brought us down from our over-confident high and they showed us holes in our game. Thanks DeSoto!

[GTown02]

DeSoto did us a favor. They brought us down from our over-confident high and they showed us holes in our game. Thanks DeSoto!
Agreed... I'm sort of glad we lost, I dont like to go through a season without getting a loss unless your just THAT good... :eek: which Garland rarely is...

[garlandowl08]

Yeah, even in '99 we had a loss. It brought us down and then we had to concentrate that much harder to go all the way...it makes a better story too...

[bleedgreen]

good luck to you guys----give Ennis some hell--LOL.......nothing is impossible...

[garlandowl08]

Hey, this site picked us and 2 of the however many DMN wirters picked us...we have a fighting chance...is it true that they are hurt?