Sometimes the replay is too tough to watch. So football coaches just shelve the pain of a post-game video review and head straight to the practice field come Monday.
Commerce’s 41-14 loss to rival Jefferson on Friday (Aug. 26), though hurtful, was not one of those games to shun altogether, said coach Marvin Justice.
The visual aids reinforced a number of lessons, he added.
“We spent about an hour and a half looking at it on Monday,” Justice said. “Once we finished up the film on Jefferson, that chapter was closed.”
The next chapter starts 7:30 p.m. Friday when Franklin County enters Tiger Stadium for Commerce High School’s home opener.
In Franklin County (0-1), Commerce (0-1) faces a Class AAA team in the midst of transition. The Lions also are coming off a punishing loss, 31-0, to rival Hart County in Hartwell.
While more than 20 seniors from last years’ Lions team graduated, Justice expects the look and execution of Franklin’s option offense to be like last year – tough to handle. That’s largely because the Lions’ key player has returned.
“To me the person to stop on that offense is their quarterback Kevin Harris. He’s a junior and a really good player,” Justice said. “It will be an uphill climb. They have quality personnel, size advantage and team speed advantage.”
Franklin coach Tommy Welch said Commerce’s feisty reputation over the years is worrisome. His Lions’ narrowly edged the Tigers 31-28 in Carnesville last year.
Commerce quarterback Cody Streetman guided the team in that contest. Contained to roughly 130 total yards last week, Streetman certainly will be a target for the Lions’ defense aiming to improve upon Jefferson’s key defensive statistic.
“Commerce has some good football players,” Welch said. “It’s Commerce. People in these parts know when you play them you better be ready, you better be ready to play.”
Injuries have weakened the Tigers, however. Junior safety Baron Mather joined junior Jamal Browner on the sidelines Friday. Coaches listed both players as key starters in pre-season reviews, with Browner also playing in the secondary as well as tailback.
Mather’s injury followed a crushing hit in the second half. Using crutches and wearing a knee brace, he joined his team’s huddle after the game. His return is unknown, and Browner is out for the year, coaches said.
Such injuries are hard to reconcile with Commerce scheduled to take on three more non-region games against teams with bigger rosters. Like it or not, a Class A squad that relies on a smaller number of players to perform on both offense and defense is more vulnerable when facing such a punishing run at the beginning of a season, Justice said.
“Where we felt like our skill positions were a strength, now all of a sudden it’s an issue,” Justice said. “We don’t have many backup players and that’s a problem.”
One aspect the coach counts as favorable to Commerce Friday is the setting — home.
“I know they look forward to playing at home. Those type things will make it even bigger for them,” Justice said. “They want to prove themselves and play better than they did last week.”
‘A sad night’
Commerce’s hopes overflowed entering the opener (Aug. 26) that Jefferson’s string of consecutive victories would end in 2011.
But the optimism ebbed in the final moments of the first half as the neighborly crowd of nearly 3,000 people watched the Dragons’ Bryant Shirreffs complete a five-play, 50-yard drive to the end zone in about a minute.
With just eight seconds left on the clock, Shirreffs threw a 24-yard pass to Will Puckett to move Jefferson ahead 21-7.
The quick scoring pace continued after the break. The Dragons added another two touchdowns in less than four minutes, beginning with Shirreffs’ 76-yard pass to Drequn Sewell.
Teammate Drew Carson quickly added the knockout punch following a Commerce turnover. He recovered a fumble and dashed 48-yards into the end zone, making the score 34-7 and deflating Commerce’s hopes for the night.
The Tigers’ lone score in the second half came via Streetman, who stretched an 11-yard scramble into a touchdown in the third quarter. The senior completed five of six passes for nearly 50 yards. Chance McClure and Marquavius Little combined to lead the team for about 120 rushing yards.
By contrast, Shirreffs went 12 of 15 passing for 244 yards and two touchdowns. He also notched about 35 yards rushing and two more touchdowns.
“They’ve got talented players, they’re well coached, lots of experience. You put those three things together and that’s tough,” Justice said, following the game. “(Our guys) stuck with it until the end.”
The night had started positive with the Tigers’ first score, a Streetman touchdown pass to Little, tying the game briefly at 7-7 in the second quarter.
But the momentum change was brief, with Shirreffs adding his second of two, 1-yard touchdown runs a couple minutes later.
Little, who ended the game with a battery of fruitless carries, knelt down as the final seconds ticked off the clock. He then joined the team who huddled Streetman, senior Jake Vaughn and several other leaders.
“We’re brothers. We worked hard for this game. It’s a sad night,” Little said. “We told each other, it’s OK. It’s going to be all right. We’ll come back next week.”
