Prep Football Preview: Dusting Themselves Off
Al Way watched the Mt. Carmel game film a mere hours after it had concluded.
The feeling coming away wasn't much better than it was after Harrisburg left the Snake Pit after falling 44-31 in Week 1 last Friday.
"It's hard to watch because if we don't kill ourselves, we're taking a team that is a really, really good football team right to the wire. It's not like we couldn't play with them," Way said.
Of course, Way is talking about the two first half fumbles in the red zone on back-to-back possessions where his team didn't score, a fumble on the kickoff to start the second half that led to an Aces TD and a penalty-induced game where the 'Dogs were flagged nine times for more than 80 yards.
As Way and Harrisburg (0-1) turn their attention to a Du Quoin (1-0) team handled Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn 46-0, the emphasis of what Way needs to accomplish hasn't changed.
"We just have to hope that guys play better (defensively)," Way said. "We have to look at our options for defensive lineman, guys that can get off the ball and hold their ground. We have to get linebackers that will step up and not back down."
Way added that Mt. Carmel creates unique problems that you don't really see with other teams and therefore, his club may have looked worse defensively than what we really were.
"We'll find out Friday night when we see more of a traditional team," Way said.
Du Quoin ushered in a new era last Friday, giving former player, turned coach A.J. Hill his first win as he replaced longtime coach Al Martin.
Hill, who ran the offense a year ago are similar to that of Harrisburg according to Way.
"They'll still run right at you, but then they'll also have their spread sets. They're not a complete wide-open, spread team like Mt. Carmel was."
If there is one area of concern Way knows his clubs needs to shore up as they open at home against Du Quoin is handling the football
"The fumbles are definitely a concern," Way added. "It was a concern going in and we talked about it and talked about it, but we still fumbled. The penalties really bothered me because we didn't do anything we don't normally do and I got to a point where I couldn't even run motion because every time we ran motion, we jumped offsides and then we would forget the snap count, which is just ridiculous.
"The things that we did to ourselves, bothered me more than what Mt. Carmel did to us. If we would have just taken care of ourselves, if we don't fumble, if we stay away from the penalties, I think the game goes right to the wire."
Harrisburg also missed out on two 2-point conversion attempts and were 1-3 on point after attempts.
"The extra points have to be automatic and our kicker shanked one and then we got a bad snap on another. Reece (Owen) has got a great leg," Way said. "The two-point conversions, one of them we ran the wrong play, not the play I sent in, it was still open and we miss the guy. The second one, again, was going to be wide open and we let the nose guard come right up the middle and we're supposed to have two guys on him and he runs Noah out of the pocket. It's just a lack of execution."
Execution will be the name of the game as the Bulldogs tangle with an Indian bunch that Way calls, "a typical Du Quoin team."
"They have big lineman, a tailback runs real hard, an athletic quarterback that throws the ball well and big defensive lineman with active linebackers."
"We can't go into the game saying we have to score every time we have the ball to win the game. You can't give up 44 (points), you just can't do that."
Caleb Vogel (DQ) was nearly perfect against the Red Devils, going 10-for-11 with 191 yards and four touchdowns.
Zayne Fornear led the Indians' rushing attack with 98 yards on 9 carries. Nine other Du Quoin backs carried the ball as the team rolled to 299 total yards on the ground. Seven Indians caught passes for a total of 199 yards through the air.
"We made a lot of mistakes against Mt. Carmel that we can't afford to make against Du Quoin," Way said. "We were unaggressive, missed tackle, after tackle, after tackle. A lot of those 20-yard runs, should have been two- or three-yard runs. So yeah, we have to tackle better this week.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.