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Crimson lose to Centennial in a hard fought battle

By Coach Lombardi, 09/26/21, 8:45AM CDT

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Crimson fall short against the Cougars

On a perfect Friday night in an awesome atmosphere, the Crimson came up short against a well-coached, physical Centennial team 21 - 7.   It was a week where our boys played hard, laid it all out there, but learned a valuable lesson on what wins football games in November.   The better team on the field won that Friday night, so that brings the excitement of having to improve to get to the goals that we want to reach in these upcoming weeks.

Offensively, we never got into a rhythm either running the ball or throwing the ball, and we always were behind the eight ball with field position all night.   A team that lived off of big plays in the early weeks only got one as Cole Newell caught a 60 yard pass that led to our lone scoring drive in the 2nd quarter finished by Micha Vayee's 5 yard plunge.   This group and coaching staff learned a great lesson on the importance of what offensive football is about and it's not about those moments, but the overall picture of how we dictate the feel of the entire game by being physical and getting the defense on their heels.

Defensively, we faced an option attack that was willing to get 4 yard gain after 4 yard gain and keep moving the sticks and the clock throughout while controlling field position.   While doing this, they were able to land the two big plays that made a difference and provided their final 14 points.  Give their staff a ton of credit because they dictated the tempo of the game on this side of the ball and exposed areas where we were a man short in certain alignments on the field.   The boys played hard on this side of the ball and flew around, but we learned how the basics of coming downhill and stopping the point of attack is still our number one concern.

However, the bottom line of this game is we learned that with all the schemes and formations that football has become it still comes down to blocking and tackling and who wins those aspects.   Centennial fell forward the whole night on contact and we did not.  Also, we had some mental breakdowns along the way and that comes down to me and coaching.    That is what makes football so wonderful.  It exposes what needs to be improved and this team looks forward to being a GREAT team in the 2nd half of the season.  I love this group.  They are great kids that are a great team and are going to have great success in this season throughout.    Things like this can be the cog that makes the team reach heights they never thought they could reach.   It will be fun to watch these boys take shape!

Next week, we play Champlin Park on the road and that is where all our focus will lie.   The goal of football is simple.  Go "1 - 0" for the week and do everything during the process of the week to make that possible.    With the adversity we face right now, there is no place that I would rather be than with these boys on the field shooting for their goals together as one!   It's awesome!  So let's get the Rebels this week and GO CRIMSON!

Lombo