Spring 29, Stratford 24

[eagle fan]

I read about this game in the paper. Was anyone there to give a report?

[78 Spartan]

I was going to post about it last night, but the site was down.

Second week in a row we dug ourselves a big hole early. Spring built a 16-0 lead midway in the second quarter as they controlled the ball and the clock most of the first half. Spring converted on a bunch of third-and-longs and kept our defense on the field almost the whole first half. A fumble trying to field a pooch kick and a one-play drive (giving up a safety) didn't help matters.

Stratford righted the ship late in the second quarter and got on the boards with a gorgeous pass from Luck to Bredthauer and we go in at halftime down 16-7. We take the second half kickoff down the field and score on a great run by Rodney Anderson and close it to 16-14.

However, Spring put together two TD drives in the third quarter to grab a 29-14 lead.

It was all Stratford in the fourth quarter as we got a FG and then hit on a 78 yard TD pass from Luck to Anderson to narrow the gap to 29-24 with 6 minutes to go. Our defense toughened and forced a three-and-out. We had the ball at midfield and could do nothing with it and punted back to Spring with about 2:28 remaining.

We held them to another 3-and-out deep in their own territory and used our three time outs to force them to punt to us from the Lions end zone with 2:11 remaining. We should have had the ball at midfield again but our deep safeties failed to field the punt and it rolled all the way to our 20 ---- a 70 yard punt ---- and that really killed us.

We had 80 yards to go with about 1:56 remaining and no time outs. Despite a sack that ate up a bunch of clock, Luck drove the team down the field with 6 completions in 7 passes and we made it down to the Spring 24 with 0:08 remaining but a running clock. Luck hit Njenge on the left sideline at the 16 but he stepped OOB just as the last second ticked off the clock. We were a fraction of a second away from having the chance to throw the ball into the end zone for the miracle finish win.

Take nothing away from Spring --- wow they are athletic on defense. The Lions were hanging on for dear life in the fourth quarter. They deserved the win however as they played really smart football almost all night. Spring only had one turnover and made very few critical mistakes. Having just seen Klein Forest the night before -- who played about as dumb a game against Aldine as Spring was poised against us -- I like Spring's chances to get a playoff spot in 16-4A. But that is obviously one tough district this year.

Our top defensive player, NG Jimmy Burge sat the game out with a minor injury and his absence was definitely felt. Our defense gave up 384 yards vs. the 410 we gained offensively. So it was a statistically very even game. First downs were about 20-16 in favor of Spring by my count.

I had Luck at 18/26 for 294 with two TD passes and one INT on a tipped ball. He was rushed by six and seven players on virtually every down and did an outstanding job avoiding the rush, was only sacked three times all night.

Stratford responded well to adversity and almost stole a win last night against a very good ballclub. We just need to figure out how NOT to create adversity for ourselves every week. In three weeks we have been outscored 28-0 in the first quarter and we can't keep doing that and expect to win consistently.

Still, kudos to Spring, who is a very improved team versus last year. This loss is tough but will help us prepare for some very athletic teams in our district.

[HUM398]

I was going to post about it last night, but the site was down.

Second week in a row we dug ourselves a big hole early. Spring built a 16-0 lead midway in the second quarter as they controlled the ball and the clock most of the first half. Spring converted on a bunch of third-and-longs and kept our defense on the field almost the whole first half. A fumble trying to field a pooch kick and a one-play drive (giving up a safety) didn't help matters.

Stratford righted the ship late in the second quarter and got on the boards with a gorgeous pass from Luck to Bredthauer and we go in at halftime down 16-7. We take the second half kickoff down the field and score on a great run by Rodney Anderson and close it to 16-14.

However, Spring put together two TD drives in the third quarter to grab a 29-14 lead.

It was all Stratford in the fourth quarter as we got a FG and then hit on a 78 yard TD pass from Luck to Anderson to narrow the gap to 29-24 with 6 minutes to go. Our defense toughened and forced a three-and-out. We had the ball at midfield and could do nothing with it and punted back to Spring with about 2:28 remaining.

We held them to another 3-and-out deep in their own territory and used our three time outs to force them to punt to us from the Lions end zone with 2:11 remaining. We should have had the ball at midfield again but our deep safeties failed to field the punt and it rolled all the way to our 20 ---- a 70 yard punt ---- and that really killed us.

We had 80 yards to go with about 1:56 remaining and no time outs. Despite a sack that ate up a bunch of clock, Luck drove the team down the field with 6 completions in 7 passes and we made it down to the Spring 24 with 0:08 remaining but a running clock. Luck hit Njenge on the left sideline at the 16 but he stepped OOB just as the last second ticked off the clock. We were a fraction of a second away from having the chance to throw the ball into the end zone for the miracle finish win.

Take nothing away from Spring --- wow they are athletic on defense. The Lions were hanging on for dear life in the fourth quarter. They deserved the win however as they played really smart football almost all night. Spring only had one turnover and made very few critical mistakes. Having just seen Klein Forest the night before -- who played about as dumb a game against Aldine as Spring was poised against us -- I like Spring's chances to get a playoff spot in 16-4A. But that is obviously one tough district this year.

Our top defensive player, NG Jimmy Burge sat the game out with a minor injury and his absence was definitely felt. Our defense gave up 384 yards vs. the 410 we gained offensively. So it was a statistically very even game. First downs were about 20-16 in favor of Spring by my count.

I had Luck at 18/26 for 294 with two TD passes and one INT on a tipped ball. He was rushed by six and seven players on virtually every down and did an outstanding job avoiding the rush, was only sacked three times all night.

Stratford responded well to adversity and almost stole a win last night against a very good ballclub. We just need to figure out how NOT to create adversity for ourselves every week. In three weeks we have been outscored 28-0 in the first quarter and we can't keep doing that and expect to win consistently.

Still, kudos to Spring, who is a very improved team versus last year. This loss is tough but will help us prepare for some very athletic teams in our district.

Im looking forward to the Humble-Spring Game... Two very athletic teams at it once again. But spring has alot more experience then we do...could be good, could be ugly... Well see.

[forest99]

this upset was predicted on txasprepinider.com in the 16-5a week 2 preview. great call!

[grasshopper]

so there's still not a second left to play??

[SLOOPY]

Guess not if the clock said zero and the game was at Tully.

[rayanderson]

Spring has a lots more suprises in store for 16-5A opponent.