2011 MIDDLE SCHOOL PLAYOFF CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - TAZ'S THOUGHTS

GAME SUMMARY:

Captains, Hobbs and Wilson, won the toss for EMS and as has been the case

most all season proceeded to play every play thereafter until a 36-20

victory was secured for the Devils.   Elkmont deferred until the 2nd half and

started on defense.   The Red Devils held Tanner in a 3rd and 14 but a

long pass play put Tanner on the board, the PAT failed, but the Rattlers were up

6-0 with 6:22 left in the 1st.  The Devil O put a good drive together to go

    up 8-6 after a two point conversion with 5:33 left in the 1st.   Devil D forced a punt on 

    4th and 12 which was fumbled and the Devil O took

                               over in good shape but fumbled the ball  back to Tanner.

                                                                 


 The Devil D forced a turnover on downs. The Devil O converted on a sweet halfback pass from Hobbs to Moss, the PAT failed but Elkmont was up 14-6 with 1:47 to go in the 2nd. The Devil D rises up with yet another stop and
the Devil O takes over on downs with :42 remaining in the half. Devil O converts again on a nice pass from Nelson to Moss, PAT was good from Nelson to Hobbs and EMS were up 22-6 with :10 remaining in the half. 


The Devil O opened up the 2nd half with a nice Pankey run off the right side, PAT failed and we were up 28-6 @7:38 of the 3rd. The Devil D forced a punt on 
4th and 19. However,  our offense stalled and turned it over on downs to set Tanner up nicely at the Elkmont 39 yard line.  Tanner wasted no time scoring and converting the PAT to make it 28-14 with 3:10 remaining in the 3rd. Devils fumbled the ensuing
kickoff and Tanner was again in business at the 30. The Devil D this time
rose up with tremendous pressure on the Tanner QB who threw one up and Moss
came away with a pick to stop the drive. 


The Devil O sticks it in again on a nice run followed by a sweet PAT converted 
by Holt to put the Devils up36-14 with 5:47 remaining in the contest. Devil D forced 
another punt on 4th and 35 with 3:26 remaining. The Devil O could not run out the clock 
and punted back to Tanner with :59 left. Tanner drove down the field against
mostly young guys and scored to make it 36-20. PAT failed. 


Final score:  36-20. 


TAZ'S THOUGHTS: 
That makes the Devils 5-2 overall and 4-2 in the county which should
be good for a 2nd place finish. It has been an honor to cover the EMS Devils
this season and I'd like to thank the players, coaches and fans for a very
good season.  


Go Devils.....Taz 




for more pictures:
Click on links below:
Playoff Championship Game
Middle School Pictures

MIDDLE SCHOOL BEATS TANNER

The middle school Red Devils beat Tanner 36-20 in county football championship.  Looking forward to getting pictures and Taz's Thoughts to add to the blog tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

MIDDLE SCHOOL DEVILS CORRAL THE COLTS - TAZ'S THOUGHTS

Taz is happy to be able to report that the Elkmont Middle Devils were back on track when they played at Boss Hill stadium tonight.


GAME SUMMARY:
As has been the case many times this season, the Devil D set the offense up in good shape with a stop of the Colts opening drive. The Devil O wasted little time when Hobbs took off thru a nice hole on the right side for a 34 yard touchdown which was followed by a Pankey PAT to put the home team up 8-0.  The defense quickly forced a fumble which Moss scooped up and scooted to the end zone followed by another Pankey PAT to put us up 16-0 with 3:51 to go.   Defense forced another punt and the Devil offense put together a nice drive capped off by a Nelson sweep off the right side followed by a Nelson to Pankey PAT to put Elkmont up 24-0 with  :57 to go in the first quarter


Coaches Garris and Hobbs, in what seems a classy move,
appeared to call off the dogs early in the 2nd by installing a lot of
younger players on both offense and defense. Clements did score in the 
2nd to make it 24-6. But Hobbs returned their kick all the way to paydirt 
and a Hobbs PAT put the home team up 32-6 at 5:20 of 2nd. Colts
scored again to make it 32-12 with 1:58 of half; PAT failed again. Nelson
hooked up with Moss on a long pass play to score again with :06 remaining in
the half, Holt converted the PAT and the Red Devils went to the locker room 
up 40-12 halftime. 


In the third quarter, the Devil D forced another fumble to give the ball back to the
Devil O which put together a nice drive but finally gave the ball up on
downs at the :34 mark of the 3rd. 


The Colts rallied and came back to score in the fourth quarter, the PAT failed again, 
leaving the score 40-18 with 5:35 remaining in the contest. 
The Devil Offense put ran out the clock and ended the regular season
on a positive note with a nice win at home, 40-18. 


OBSERVATIONS:
These young men play a brand of football which is hardnosed and stingy on defense, can be both smashmouth and elusive on offense but always with class which I think is a reflection
of their coaches and I hope some of their upbringing as well. Win, lose or
draw, on a good night or a bad night, your opponent can take things away
from you but he can never take away your class unless you allow him to do so
and that is the ultimate loss. Glad to see us finish up the regular season
with a 4-2 mark and a bright future ahead.   Anxious to see who we get to face in the post season
.....


.GO DEVILS..........TAZ

TAZ'S THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ARDMORE GAME

FRUSTRATED TAZ

Taz doesn't feel that a game summary is worth writing due to the subpar performance of the Middle School but the game can be summed up with "if something bad could happen, it did".  Taz has watched the middle school team this fall and saw young men learn how to work together as a team; young men who always tried hard and recovered from their mistakes.Our young men have been road warriors for most of the season. They have had success and been rewarded with wins for their hard work. 


However, one of the lessons of winning is that hard work and determination is required for continued success.  Our middle school had the opportunity to learn this lesson when they played Ardmore.  Taz thinks that our guys just showed up at Ardmore, overconfident in their success, thinking that  Ardmore wouldn't even try. And yes, the Red Devils are good enough to win, when they put forth the effort and show the desire to execute every play to the best of their abilities. But no, they are not so talented that they can merely show up 
and walk away with a Victory.


The young Red Devils are reaching the age where they are mature enough to understand that every play of a football game is a battle within a war. You can not lose many battles and expect to win the war. And yes, some plays are 
more important than others and are known as game changers or momentum shifters. You win those battles with effort and execution and not with half efforts  and lack luster performances.   


That is the sad truth of the loss at Ardmore 14 - 6; we could have won, we should have won, but they wanted it more than we did. I look forward to seeing a group of players  who are hungry for a win in the regular season finale against Clements, kickoff 5:30 am - Elkmont; young men who have learned from the loss against Ardmore and  are resolved to have a  singular focus and a common goal of doing everything within their power to step off the field having brought home a Victory for the Middle Devils. 


Go Devils!!! Taz.

DON'T FORGET MS/JV GAMES TODAY

Middle School will be at Ardmore.  Middle School Starts at 5:30 pm.

JV team will be at Madison County High School (Gurley) at 6 pm

Look for TAZ and the Dare Devil articles covering the games tomorrow evening.

RATTLERS SKINNED BY MIDDLE SCHOOL DEVILS - TAZ'S THOUGHTS

 GAME SUMMARY:
The Elkmont Middle Devils played their hearts out Monday night at Boss Hill stadium and earned a hard fought win for their first home game. EMS kicked off and the defense forced a fumble at midfield. The Devil offense wasted no time to go up 6-0 with 1:48 in the first. Tanner made it 6-6 with 4:58 left in the half. The Devil offense fumbled and Tanner scored again to make it 12-6 at halftime. 


The Devil offense took the opening kick in the third and drove to tie it at 12 with 5:58 in the third. The Devil D forced a punt, but the offense couldn't move the ball and was forced to punt and the third quarter ended 12-12. The Devil D held to start the fourth but our offense stalled and was forced to punt.  The punt was blocked and Tanner took advantage of it and scored to go up 20-12 with 2:43 in the fourth. The Devil offense quickly drove to score and convert the PAT to tie the game at 20 with 2 minutes left.  The Devil D forced another punt and regulation ended 20-20.


Created with flickr slideshow.
Overtime:
The Devil offense punched it in and converted the PAT to go up 28-20. The Devil D then held Tanner on four downs to earn the victory. 


OBSERVATIONS:
The Devil Line ,anchored all season by Wilson at center, Garrett and Stover at guards and Riggs and Turner at tackles, fought hard against an oversized defensive line that put enormous pressure on them. But they hung together and opened holes for Pankey and Hobbs to run thru and provided enough time for Nelson to connect on passes to Moss and Hobbs. Some timely halftime adjustments gave a boost to both the offensive line and the defense. Once again the Devils seemed to be confident, focused, and were executing at a high level. That makes the Devils 3 and 1 on the season with Ardmore and Clements remaining  in the regular season. Keep working hard Devils, listen to your coaches, get better
and stronger from each outing and we look forward to seeing ya'll against Ardmore.
                                                                      GO


                                               DEVILS

DEVIL DEFENSE HOLDS AGAINST MADISON COUNTY - TAZ THOUGHTS

The Middle School Red Devils traveled to Madison County on Sept 22 to play the Madison County Tigers.  Now that , my Devil fans, is the Devil team that is fun to watch. The recurring theme of tonight's game would be "And the Devil Defense holds". I counted no less than seven drives by Madison County that resulted in either a punt or a turnover on downs. Nice job by the Devil Defense to help lead the team to a very impressive 22-0 win over the home team Tigers. 


TAZ'S GAME SUMMARY:
The Devil D forced a turnover on downs to open the game and turned the ball over to the Devil offense who put together a nice scoring drive, helped in part by the determined running of Pankey and the nice blocking of the offensive line. The PAT was good and we led 8-0 with 3:07 left in the first quarter.  The Elkmont defense went to work and quickly gave the ball back to the Devil offense.  They wasted no time in getting back in the end zone on a long catch and run by Hobbs, followed by another successful PAT.  We were up quickly 16-0 with 0:15 remaining in the quarter. 


The second quarter was mainly a defensive struggle and the score remained 16-0 going into halftime.


The Devil offense stalled on the initial drive of the second half but the Devil Defense put the stop on the Tigers when they attempted a fake punt on fourth down. Our offense stalled again and was forced to punt.  However, as they had all night long, the Devil D held firm again and the third quarter ended 16-0. 


The Devil offense converted a nice drive in the fourth quarter on a bit of razzle dazzle, with a halfback pass from Hobbs to Moss.  The PAT fell incomplete and we led 22-0 with 5:33
remaining in the game.   Then, guess what, ..... yep you guessed it, the Devil D holds yet again, forcing a turnover at the 4:44 mark. The offense put together a nice drive to virtually run out the clock to seal the win. 


OBSERVATIONS:  
The Devils seemed to be back in a rhythm tonight in all areas of the game. The coaches had them executing nicely and the effort appeared to be strong. This is truly a fun team to watch when they are confident, focused and executing at a high percentage. Hope to see more of the Middle Devils on Monday night. 

GO DEVILS

                             ........TAZ

MIDDLE SCHOOL DEVILS GET BOGGED DOWN AGAINST EAST LIMESTONE

The Middle School Devils looked like a different team at East tonight than they did a week ago at West. Take nothing away from East, they are a very talented team and would give most schools in the state fits, but from the opening kickoff the Devils appeared to be out of sync in every facet of the game. The final score of 44-8 was almost as ugly as the very muddy, sloppy game.  But even as bad as it was the Devils hung together and put together an impressive drive to score a touchdown and convert the PAT which showed heart rather than just giving up. 


OBSERVATIONS:


The Devils are a much better team than the one that showed up tonight to play. They need to stay focused on executing each play to the best of their abilities. They do not have the luxury of taking a down off. Especially the iron men, the guys that play both ways and special teams, they have to be resilient until the final horn sounds. Be a leader to your teammates by your example of heart and desire and they'll follow you farther than any words you could speak. Listen to your coaches and be mentally prepared as well as physically. Look forward to seeing more during our next game.  The Red Devils will be traveling to Madison County, September 22. 
Kickoff will be at 6 pm instead of the normal 5:30 start time.


 GO DEVILS!!!!!


         TAZ

INTRODUCING TAZ

TAZ will be covering the middle school games for the Elkmont Football Blog.
Look for his insightful articles after each middle school game.

MIDDLE SCHOOL DEVILS DEFEAT WEST LIMESTONE

TAZ'S GAME SUMMARY:
The Elkmont Middle School Devils got off to a good start tonight defeating the Wildcats of West Limestone, 14-6. Elkmont took the opening kickoff and had a good drive going before turning it over on a fumble.  The Devil defense held up and forced the Cats to give it up on 3 downs and out. After picking up a few first downs, the offense got clicking on a long touchdown off the right side by Eli Hobbs.  The PAT (point after touchdown) failed and the Devils led 6-0 with 1:01 left in the first quarter.

The Devil defense held again and forced a punt to begin the second quarter.  Another good offensive drive culminating in a Nelson to Moss touchdown put the Devils in the end zone for the second time. The PAT was good and the Devils led 14-0
with 6:32 to go in the half.  The Elkmont defense held again as Nelson picked off a pass. The offense sustained another drive but we went to halftime 14-0.

On the West Limestone opening drive of the second half, the Devil defense rose up with another stop on a fumble recovery by Turner. The Elkmont offense turned itover to the Cats, who again coughed up the ball after some continued hard hitting from the middle of the Devil defense. Third ended still 14-0. 


After the Red Devil offense was forced to punt early in the fourth quarter, the defense rose up with yet another stop when Norman came up with another pick to end the drive.
The Elkmont offense drove to around the 20 before turning it over on downs with just a few minutes remaining. West sustained a drive to finally get in the end zone to make it 14-6 with :48 left in the contest which was the final score of the night.

TAZ'S OBSERVATIONS: 
The Red Devils appeared to be in great physical condition with many players playing both ways the entire game with no ill effects. The coaches had a good game plan and the players executed well for the most part. They seem to have a good mix of skill players, strong linemen, a striking, stingy defense and appear to be well coached. I predict good things in the future if the team continues to work hard, listen to what is being taught and executes on the field. 

                                                       Go 
                                            Middle School 
                                                   Devils