Rappahannock 31 West Point 10, final nm
- Thread starter kwhs95fan
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Now we have some early basis of comparison between W&L and RHS based on playin a common opponent just 4 days apart. Based on the two games, W&L should not be taken lightly. W&L blanked WP and held them to 59 yards offense on 45 plays. Tonight, WP put 10 points on the board against a presumably superior RHS. It seemed like RHS was exercising their passing game in the first half and had more 3 and out series passing than they should have had. Otherwise, it could have been a run away game for RHS, IMO. RHS decided to open up Gains and #21 late in the game to put up some points. Gaines can beat you in the air or on the ground, but WP made a lot of stops tonight. Kudos to the WP players for digging deep, playing hard and never giving up. WP #26 Aaron Simmons made a beautiful 35 yard FG and he also made a completed pass to #33 Zach Gonzalez on a bad snap during a punt--great situational awareness by both players. #33 was hard to take down tonight and had a few big runs. I'm looking forward to see his his rushing stats from tonight. The take away is don't sleep on W&L and WP is improving. I think the WP-KQ game will be electric.
Just my opinion but penalties by Rapp kept this game closer than what it should have been
No doubt, but penalties were high on both teams, 95 yards for RHS and 70 for WP. I don't know RHS stats, but I was expecting a lot more from RHS than what W&L did on Monday. The game started early so I missed RHS' first TD. I walked in at 7:00 pm and RHS was up 7-0 with 8:30 left in the first quarter. I was told RHS drove down with a balance of rushing and passing. RHS #72 is going places.
Go back and read my earlier post; I'm not disagreeing with you. I thought RHS should have run away with this game. The stats on MaxPreps had RHS with 10 penalties for 95 yards and WP with 6 penalties with 70 yards. Penalties hurt both teams was my only point. RHS had 18 first downs to WP's 9 and RHS had 5 more minutes of TOP. WP was held to 163 total offense (132 rush, 31 pass). Should have been a wider margin of victory, IMO.
West Point also hurt themselves by giving up 17 points in 1st quarter. Adjustments were made and many stops on defense occurred up until the 4th quarter. Closest point of the game is when WP cut the lead to 17-10 in 3rd quarter, then penalties and turnovers hurt.
West Point also has not played up to their high potential yet. I really can’t wait to hear what everyone has to say once WP surprises the sleepers
Welcome, glad you joined today. It would appear from the scores that WP slept on W&L and RHS. I would suggest the opposite--that WP should not sleep on Bruton, KQ and Middlesex, or even Mathews.
Based on the pre-season opinions, I think most are surprised at WP's slow start, except a handful of us who opined early on that WP could not overcome the loss of #44. But of course, that was pure speculation in the pre-season--we also must see how WP's season plays out.
But in order to remain positive and agree with your assessment of WP's high potential, here are my opinions on why people should not sleep on WP for the rest of the season:
1. WP hired the best candidate for HC from a pool of 30 applicants which included applicants from higher division schools on the Peninsula and two experienced Lee-Davis coaches.
2. WP's old coach, (who left after last season to move to NC), is coming up on Friday nights to play call and call adjustments from the tower to try and help the new HC win games. Last year, the old HC (and his OC and DC) beat RHS not once, but twice, so like many, I was surprised and disappointed with the outcome of the contest on Friday.
3. WP returns 13 players from last season, of which 11 were starters last season and beat RHS twice last season. They also picked up 5 sophomores and 2 juniors who moved up from JV; all very good players. They also picked up 2 juniors and 1 senior that were walk ons, of which the senior is starting and one of the juniors is getting playing time.
So the question many have is this: With WP's two-for-one dynamic duo coaching special, and the number of experienced players, how did RHS put up 31 points on WP and WP only score 10 and only have 163 total offense?
In comparison to last season, WP had 328 total offense against RHS in Week 3 and WP had 310 total offense against RHS in Round 1 of the playoffs. So if WP has so much high potential, then what's going on with the WP program this year? Like most WP fans are posting, it can't be because WP lost one player, or is it?
RHS scored 14 points in the 1Q. RHS scored 17 in the first half. RHS scored 14 in the second half. So the score difference after WP's adjustments was 3 points.
WP probably hurt themselves by not scoring in the 1Q and 4Q and only scoring 3 in the 3Q. And making only 9 first downs vs RHS's 18 first downs probably didn't help.
They should make it. Only 10 teams are eligible for the 8 spots. A couple three more wins should do it.
One person doesn’t make up a team in my opinion. Many players contributed to the good season by WP, and yes many returned but also many left. And in my opinion, this week was a huge wake up call to West Point, and I think a lot of people will agree with me on that. I believe West Point will make big improvements in the next few weeks to continue the tough schedule they have. Good luck to all teams though. But the season is still wide open and I believe we haven’t seen the best from WP and other teams quite yet, but we will soon hopefully.