Both the 6th and 8th grade middle school football teams played tough against both Florida High teams Tuesday night, with the 6th grade team losing 13-0 while the 8th grade team fell short by a score of 26-6. In the first game, the 6th graders fought hard as the first half ended in a scoreless deadlock. The offense showed some signs of life in the first half but struggled with pesky penalties that kept the offense bottled up all afternoon. The defense played scrappy, bending at times but never breaking to preserve a scoreless first half. In the second half, both teams traded punts early on with Florida High finally breaking a long run to take the early lead. Again penalties plagued the Baby Eagles and the offense just could not get untracked. A late running attack materialized in the fourth quarter, giving the Baby Eagles something to build on for their next game against Maclay on September 28th.
In the second game, penalties from a youthful football team seemed to be the order of the day as the Eagles took the opening drive and attempted to establish a running game and ground out a couple of first downs. However, penalties again were problematic as the Eagles failed to convert on fourth down. The Eagle defense played tough but Florida High sored early to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Eagle offense again cranked up the running game with a big run from Tre'Dez Jones setting up the Eagles inside the Florida High twenty yard line. Three plays later Drew Guy bulled his way into the end zone for the first points of the season. The Eagles failed to convert the try for two points and Florida High's lead was cut to 7-6.
That's as close as the Eagles would come as Florida High flexed its muscle and dashed to a 13-6 lead on a long touchdown run. The Eagles could not muster any offense and turned the ball over on a fumbled snap and the Seminoles quickly took advantage by connecting on a touchdown throw to expand their lead to 20-6 at the end of the first half. The second half did go any better for the Eagles as both penalties and turnovers kept the offense on the sidelines while the defense struggled to stop Florda High's opportunistic offense. Florida High closed out the scoring on yet another long pass completion and missed tackles by Eagle defenders allowed the receiver to score on a dazzling run after the catch to put the Seminoles easily ahead 26-6.
Both 6th and 8th grade teams showed their youth and if not for penalties and turnovers both teams would have been in a better position to win both ball games. The heat also played a factor as both squads showed signs of fatigue at key points in both games. My coaches and I are encouraged that we have plenty of players that showed flashes of brilliance but we lack consistency and that will come with more game action and a stronger emphasis in practice.
I told our kids at the close of both games that we played two very good football teams and we cannot make mental mistakes and turn the ball over against good opponents. Despite all of the mistakes, we still have the potential to be very good if our kids will accept the challenge of getting better by focusing on the small things, eliminating mistakes, and not turning the ball over. As a coaching staff we will also need to find ways to establish a rotation that is healthy for the longevity of each squad throughout the game. At times I thought our effort wasn't what it needed to be due to conditioning and we will need to be smarter about substituting as we go forward.
Overall, I was pleased with most of effort and our kids are learing to fight through adversity but we have another shot at Florida High and we are going to work hard to get ready for the next game.
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