WEEK 4: THE ANATOMY OF AN UPSET

Week Four, Saturday afternoon football.

It’s a whole different feel as a spectator. Instead of a chill in the air, you smell sun tan lotion and grilling in the parking lot. Its 80 degrees in White Plains in late September; however, the day had more of feel of a block party or beach day then your typical football gameday. I walked through the parking lot 45 minutes before game time-flying solo this week. The second I turned the corner I could see and smell the smoke coming from the grills in the parking lot – hot dogs, burgers chicken. Both teams had fans tailgating and flying their respective flags. One the first things I noticed was there were only stands on one side of the field that extended from the 25 to 25 yard lines. I saw a sign that read ‘visiting team this way’ and another read ‘AS this way.’ I sat on the home side to get an early feel for the home crowd. On an aesthetic note as a spectator, I never liked the stands all on one side, but I guess with the baseball outfield being attached to the visitor sideline it was necessary here. The Scoreboard at Paul J Marbach Memorial Field was the best part of the stadium. Decked out in red and blue with a video screen that showed ESPN-style rosters and team highlights during timeouts.

This was the first game that I attended this year where I found myself coaching the game in my head. Looking at both rosters during the week clearly Archbishop Stepinac was the better, more talented team. St. Peters hadn’t beaten Stepinac since 2003 with Stepinac winning their last seven meetings. While watching warmups I realized this matchup was also going to be a contrast of styles. I started to think about the anatomy of an upset. The parts that, when put together, can create an improbable result. St Peters was a slow-paced, power run team lead by bruising RB Kaiwan Taylor and Archbishop Stepinac was a fast-paced, no huddle, get the ball to your athletes in space type team patrolled by senior captain and signal caller QB Joey Carino. Seeing this made me think how hard it is to prepare defensively for an offensive style of play that is in such stark contrast to your own. The frustration you feel when you just can’t emulate it in practice. Asking younger players on a scout team to learn the opposing teams offense is a constant challenge for any program. The aspect I instantly related too was coaching the inferior team during the week. I have coached all kinds of teams from the truly excellent to the…well…not-so-excellent. To me there is a certain way to prepare when you’re the underdog. First you must stay consistent. Coaches sometimes fall into a trap of when playing a superior opponent of changing and/or shying away from what they do well and yes, every team has a strength. You could add subtle changes with a formation or a blitz package. But don’t be a power running team and come out trying to look like the 2019 Chiefs. Secondly, you must break the game down into small victories: win first down, win series, win quarters. Make the challenge smaller so it is not overwhelming to teenage kids who have probably been told by non-football students, parents, and sometimes teachers they have no shot at winning. Lastly, as coach you know an upset win is a daunting task. You are going to have to play a near perfect game and get all the breaks to go your way, but don’t stress that to the kids. They’ll play better if they are looser during the game and know if they do make one mistake early not to mail it in. This scenario reminds me of the Rocky one-line where Apollo Creed’s manager says, “this guy doesn’t think this is a show, he thinks this is a damn fight.” Remind them – early and often – that this is a fight.

The game began with St. Peters taking the football on its own 36-yard line. On the opening drive they clearly had a game plan. A classic game plan deployed by teams playing high-power offense (Super Bowl XXV Giants vs Bills). Control the clock with the run game. They pound the ball between tackles with the run game :1,8,2,7,5,9,5 the Eagles offensive line was moving the crusaders off the ball. Taking their time in and out of the huddle, draining the clock which serves to limit the high-powered, no huddle offense’s possessions. This takes immense patience by the coaching staff to stay the course. Nine plays into the drive St. Peter’s tried to get cute, after a fumbled snap put them in a 2nd and long situation. St. Peters ran a toss play to the outside which was stuffed by the Crusaders defense. Two plays later the Eagles fumbled and gave the ball back to Stepinac. Stepinac like a well-oiled machine run by Joey Carino went right down the field, utilized all his weapons, and closed the drive with a screen pass to dynamic receiver Myles Walker. Hearing women in the crowd yell “Joey” with New York accents instantly flashes me back to a 1992 communion party in Brooklyn. If that sound had a smell it would be marinara sauce. During drive number two the Eagles stayed the course and dominated the line of scrimmage just the same. Gaining chunks of yards on an eight-play drive and scoring on a counter play to speedy wing back Mike Politi. The score was now 7-6 after the two point conversion allowing the window to open just a crack for the possibility of an upset.

Now I was not sure if this is their normal practice, but they appeared to be a team that never punts and always kicks onside kicks. I coached for two years at New Milford High School where we deployed this strategy. I have strong feeling about this philosophy, I love it, however with the caveat that you must be a certain type of team to be successful at this. One, you must dedicate fifteen minutes a day at least to practicing onside kicks and 2 if you do not punt you have to be a more explosive big play offense and a takeaway turnover causing defense. Going on 4th downs changes the way you call offensive plays because you have four plays to get first. Therefore, you can take more chances on first down. This strategy does not fit St. Peter’s style. So now you give Stepinac great field positions and of course they went right to work. Another nine-play drive mixed with runs and screen plays and as Chris Berman would say “boom” 14-6. Now here is where the game got away from the Eagles they take the ball at their own twenty and gain nine yards rushing on each play and get stopped by Stepinac’s D-line. Now if I am running this play I am making sure my best player is touching the ball or is a least a decoy on the play. They ran a simple dive play up the middle for no gain. This kind of stuff infuriates me as a coach. So much that I am talking to myself in the stands (probably looked insane). After this series Stepinac shut the window of opportunity for St. Peters and boarded it up. It took Stepinac five plays to score 21 points and put the game out of reach (35-6) at half.  Despite the scorching heat I chose to move over to the visitor side of the stands. The negativity I heard for the second half was about as excruciating as the heat and made me miss wearing a headset on to block that all out. The game ended 48-14 and the early potential of an upset was snuffed out all too soon. I was off to enjoy some wings postgame. I was hoping for a better experience than the last three quarters of the game.

Demeter’s Tavern and sports bar is a small venue tucked away right on Old White Plains Road in Tarrytown, NY. The bar appears at first sight to be a more modern space with dark browns and greys, a half rectangle bar filled with an older crowd who were watching college football.  Auburn and Texas A&M was the main event supplemented by Mets vs Reds on one of their ten TVs. They must have lost the batteries to the remote on that TV. A man appearing to be the manager, or the owner, walked around greeting patrons. I seated myself at a table for two. I was quickly handed menus. I noticed two things right off the bat one the place had been opened since 1971(the oldest establishment I had been too at this point) and two I couldn’t find the wings on the menu. Like St. Peters when they went down two scores, I panic. Finally, I scanned the formation, I mean menu and found the wings. Small print and barely noticeable. They only offered 4 flavors (Mild, Hot, BBQ, and Teriyaki). This is like a high school whose basketball teams not football is the main sport – wings were clearly not their thing. The waitress came to take my order and seemed less than enthusiastic to explain the wings or offer any recommendations. She told me the wings where breaded which was different and could’ve been good if cooked well. I also ordered what seemed to be their basketball team and dubbed on the menu “Our famous roast beef.”

The wings came out first and looked good but that is where the compliments ended. The wings were small. The mild wings where not crispy. It tasted like I was eating wing with franks red hot out of the bottle slathered on them. The Teriyaki wasn’t any better. Teriyaki sauce was supposed to provide a salty sweet taste; however, this sauce tasted like it was 90% soy sauce and there was no sweet contrast. At this point I was hoping for the “famous roast beef sandwich” to change the course of this game. It was a solid sandwich but if it’s going to be dubbed famous I wanted more. It needed more flavor. The best part was the crispy bun and sweet and spicy peppers. The roast beef was bland. To sum it up it was a
2.5-star recruit. It was the guy who looks great in pads but in-between the whistle doesn’t quite deliver. That player you had high expectations for, but they never lived up to what you thought in your mind. Next week we will get better…I promise.

Back on the road to NJ next week:

Game: Bergen Catholic vs Don Bosco

Grub: Mason Jar