After spending the weekend preparing for the second round of the playoffs, Apalachee High School head football coach Shane Davis probably summed it up best with a simple, but truthful statement.
“This time of year, records don’t matter,” the Wildcat coach said. “Scores don’t matter either. You don’t dwell on the past. You just try to work on your next opponent. Any problems you have you just try to hide them because if you haven’t fixed them in the first 11 games, you aren’t going to in four days of practice.”
Davis and his coaching staff are preparing for a big challenge as perennial playoff power Marist rolls into town Friday night for a second-round playoff matchup. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. at R. Harold Harrison Stadium.
“They are traditionally one of the best in the state year in and year out,” Davis said. “In our 10 years of existence as a school, Marist has played for the state championship three times. They went to the finals last year. They are used to playoff football.”
Terms liked “well coached” and “disciplined” are ones Davis uses to described Alan Chadwick’s Marist War Eagles.
“He does a great job with the program,” Davis said. “They will play extremely hard, fast and physical.”
Running an option attack, slowing down the Marist offense will be key for Apalachee.
The War Eagles have scored at least 40 points in six games this season and at least 50 in two contests.
Defensively, Marist will use a 4-3 look. AHS offensive coordinator Joel Miller broke down the keys for the Wildcat offense this Friday:
•Penalties and Turnovers: “We cannot make mistakes that take big plays and points off the board with penalties. We had two turnovers and three fumbles that we recovered on Friday, we can not put the ball on the ground against a team like Marist.”
•Sustaining Drives: “We have been a ball control offense all year and we must do that again on Friday. We have to win time of possession and keep their offense off the field.”
•Playmakers have to make plays: “We have relied all year on our offensive line and four running backs, as well as a big play passing game. We are going to need our backs to make big plays just like they have the first 11 weeks of the season.”
“If we can do these three things, then we hopefully can put ourselves in position to win the game,” Miller said.
AHS defensive coordinator David Wagner broke down the keys on the other side of the football:
•“Marist is an option football team, so we have to play responsibility football. If one person makes a mistake, it can be very costly. We have seen a lot of option over the course of the past few weeks, but they run it better than anyone we have faced.”
•“Our defensive line has to play lower than they have ever played. They cannot allow Marist to move the line-of-scrimmage, which they have done all year to teams they have played.
•“We have to take their fullback out of the game, meaning we have to make him not an option for their triple option. Then we have to run to the quarterback and pitch from the linebacker and defensive back positions.”
•“We have to get off blocks in the secondary in order to get to the pitch. They do a great job of blocking in the open field.”
•“Even though Marist does not throw the ball often (actually only 20% of the time), we cannot allow the passing game to be a weapon or big play possibility for them.”
