By John Beck
Braves Head Football Coach
Belle Plaine really was an all-around good win. We had all 3 phases contribute and individuals stepped up when their number was called.
Defensively we really did a nice job. Really we only gave up 24 points because of the fumble return for a touchdown.
We had 5 times where we changed the momentum, with 3 turnovers and 2 change of possession on downs. Two of those stops came inside the 10-yard line. Those are big changes.
Our defensive line played well. Briar Simpson had a really nice game. He got to the ball a lot and even got his hands on a few passes to knock down the ball.
Landon Morrison and David Rose both tackled well for us. Broox Stockman and Brett Plants also flew around to make plays.
Our secondary played well, only allowing a handful of completions and getting a pick. When we are flying around and making plays at all three levels, good things happen.
We still have some work to do with continuing to do the little things and playing assignment football. We gave up a couple of big plays and those were because we didn’t do our assignment.
We all know in 8-man if one person doesn’t do their job then big plays happen. We have to have all 8 guys doing their job every play. Overall though, very good performance from our defense.
On offense, we were very efficient. It all started with the line. Tod Geiger, Houston VanRoekel and Landon Morrison all blocked well in the run game and were pretty effective with our pass blocking as well.
We had very few negative yardage plays and that is because they did their jobs.
In the run game, Brett Plants, Broox Stockman, and Brady Boulton all did well. They did a good job of finding the hole and being patient with the blocks.
They also did a great job blocking for each other. On the outside, I was very pleased with how our wide receivers and tight ends blocked.
Garrett Watts, Cruz De Jong and Alex Black all have really improved in this aspect as the year has gone on. They also did a pretty good job of running routes and taking advantage of the opportunities when the ball was thrown their way.
Brady was very good in his decision-making. He had a couple of pass plays where they had pretty good coverage and he scrambled for some big gains. He also had some plays where he was patient in the pocket and let things develop. As a unit, there are still little things to clean up but we are getting better each week.
Luke Erselius continues to do a good job in the kicking duties and Garrett had a punt late that was downed inside the 10.
Up next: The Bolts
Baxter will be a good non-district test. They are very explosive offensively. They rely heavily on the passing game with a strong connection between their quarterback and wide receivers.
They then mix in an effective run game to keep teams honest. They run a variety of screens getting the ball to their running back, tight end and wide receivers in a variety of ways.
Defensively they fly around and make a lot of plays. They play a zone coverage mixing in man when they want to.
They have guys at all 3 levels that can make plays. We will need to be patient in the run game and make strong decisions in the passing game.