2006.09.12

Mini-Mattis Jamestown, Ohio. (August 2006)

Saturday afternoon, Mini-Mattis and the wee Rams won 19-0. I have never seen so many penalties. The Rams faced "1st and 35" at one point. The Rams were called for probably a dozen penalties. That was bad.

Mini-Mattis is starting to "get it". He is doing well on both sides of the ball. That is good.

Saturday evening, the varsity (5th & 6th grade) Rams faced off against Greenfield. As the first half was coming to a close, Greenfield had the ball. Greenfield was 30-yards from the end zone and there were 30-seconds left on the clock and no timeouts remaining. Greenfield ran a sweep, we got to the running back and tackled him in-bounds. Greenfield was helpless to stop the clock. It is unlikely they could huddle, line up, and snap the ball in the final 20-seconds of the half.

Then, the whistle blew... the clock stopped. We had a player down.

I kept hoping it was a bad dream and he would hop up. I ran out on the field to check on our downed player. He could barely move his ankle. He was in a great deal of pain. After a few minutes, we determined him to be okay. We helped him off of the field.

As soon as we were off the field, play resumed. Greenfield attempted a pass - we were doing a good job in coverage. The quarterback scrambled right - he was forced back to the left - he made 3 people miss. He ran 30-yards to score a touchdown with 7 seconds left in the first half. On the extra point attempt, the quarterback scrambled to his right - the defense, now weary of his running ability, charged - he through the ball into the end zone to his waiting wide receiver for a successful two point conversion. We trailed 8-0 at halftime.

The second half remained a back and forth affair. Defensively, we generated a couple of turnovers. Offensively, we gave the ball away a couple of times. As the final whistle sounded, the score stood at 8-0 in favor of Greenfield.

All I can say is... disappointing.