September 27: The Sweetwater Game

Russell Mayes: Welcome back to the WLIL Saturday Morning High School Football Report, and, at this time, we are joined by the head coach of the Loudon Redskins, Jeff Harig, as the Redskins have what was really is a heart-breaking 41-40 loss to the Sweetwater Wildcats. Coach Harig, good morning.

Jeff Harig: Good morning.

Mayes: Well, it was a tough night, I think, for everyone. We were just talking - the coaches headsets didn't work; our radio broadcast didn't work; but, otherwise, for the most part, it was a pretty exciting ball game, but it just didn't go the way that the Redskins wanted it to.

Harig: Uh...no. As a fan, I'm sure it was a very entertaining game; but, as a coach, it was awful frustrating.

Mayes: Well, we'll try to recap this the best way I can because I spent over half the game trying to get our equipment to work. So, we'll try to do the best we can. Sweetwater comes into this game without their outstanding running back Latham; and that seemed to be a key in that game because the guys they put in, Ferguson and Blomstrom, had big nights, both, for Sweetwater. (Webmaster note: The problems with the equipment and the coaches headsets was caused by another radio station using a possibly-illegal transmitter instead of using the phone lines like everyone else. Not only did WLIL experience technical difficulities due to this, but two other radio stations had problems as well.)

Harig: Well, Blomstrom has really been playing well, and he's a good football player. We knew going in that if Latham wasn't going to play, then he was a very capable fullback and a very dangerous fullback.

Mayes: So you were pretty much prepared for the fact that Latham wouldn't play.

Harig: Yeah. We heard that he had been injured and might have some problems down there discipline-wise. So we were fully prepared that he was not going to play and knew that they had a very capable backup.

Mayes: And those are two very different type runners. You have Blomstrom, whose really the straight-ahead runner. He runs extremely hard. The Redskins, there early in the game, had a hard time bringing him down. And then Jam Ferguson, pretty much known as a defensive player for Sweetwater, had just a breakout offensive night; and he's just the little scatback. And those guys gave the Redskins a lot of trouble last night.

Harig: They both did. They're both hard runners. Blomstrom was very difficult for us to bring down. We tackled way too high. We needed to tackle lower on his legs and try to chop him down. And Jam, they had really good scheme with their counterplay that he hurt us with.

Mayes: Sweetwater jumps ahead in the football game 14 to 0. That almost seemed to be a shock for the Redskins. Tell us a little bit about the early part of the game.

Harig: It was. We've had trouble all year with big, physical teams that like to give the ball to their fullbacks. That's the way they started the game - coming right at us, and we had some trouble stopping that. We had a nice play on first down there, the first play of the game. We had them backed up second and twenty-eight and gave up a big play. That just seems to be our m.o. so far right now - we'll play great on one play, and we make it hard on ourselves by not playing great on the second. We've just got to find consistency.

Mayes: And on that very first play of the game, the quarterback for Sweetwater, Moore, was sacked at about the three yard line. They throw a flag for inentional grounding, so it moves it back to the one. And Sweetwater is able to put together a drive very quickly down the field. They get that second touchdown. But Sweetwater gets the ball back, and then there was a fumble on an option play. Jake Brantley picks it up for a touchdown, and that seemed to be the lift that the Redskins needed early.

Harig: That's right. That provided a spark, and we kind of put some things together after that.

Mayes: And your defense has always been able to generate points. Tell us a little bit about that.

Harig: One thing we do is practice scoop and score. When there's a fumble, especially behind the line of scrimmage, we're going to pick it up and try to run with it. So far, as long as you practice those skills, so far we've not missed one. Unfortunately, we couldn't get them stopped later in the game.

Mayes: And I believe the Redskins had another fumble return for a touchdown a little bit later on.

Harig: We did. They fumbled a snap on a punt. We hit the punter; and he lost the ball; and Patric Johnson picked one up and took it for a touchdown.

Mayes: You get into the second quarter of play. You get the touchdown by Brantley. The Redskins are back in the football game. And then something I think no expected to set the school record for the longest touchdown pass from Cody Fritts to Chase Randolph.

Harig: All week long we stressed the fact that they're going to put nine or ten guys up on the line of scrimmage and play this bump-and-run coverage; and we were going to have to take advantage of it through passing the football. Cody Fritts, with the exception of one pass, had a heck of a night throwing the football.

Mayes: So the Redskins were able to fight back after a touchdown run by Patric Johnson. What is it like to be down 14-0 and then, all of a sudden, be up 21 to 14?

Harig: Well, it just set the tone for the evening. It was an emotional night: you had your highs and lows. That's what makes high school football great and coaching it great.

Mayes: And, really, it was a night of big plays on both sides of the football.

Harig: It was. Chase Randolph had a heck of a night; [he] created a big play on that long touchdown pass. We had some real nice long runs; but, unfortunately, defensively we couldn't stop them.

Mayes: Well, let's go to that fourth quarter, and that's where Sweetwater took a hold of the game. They came back. Blomstrom gets a touchdown run late in the ball game to draw Sweetwater 40 to 34. They go for two, which really seemed like an interesting decison to us because it meant that if they did score another touchdown, they were going to have to kick the extra point in order to win it. So that was one that we kind of scratched our heads on. But the Redskins stop Sweetwater, and it was just kind of back and forth. Neither team could really take control there in the fourth quarter, and it probably set up what was the most controversial play in the game. The Redskins have the ball about midfield and try to punt it away. They throw the penalty flag; and I still haven't figured out what's happened. So you can probably give us a little more idea of what the situation was.

Harig: Well, the head man, his explanantion was that originally they called running-into-the-kicker, which is not a roughing penalty. Running-into-the-kicker is a five yard penalty. Roughing is the penalty yardage plus an automatic first down. Well, orignially when they marked it off, the side judge on our side blew the call, thought it was roughing, moved the chains, and reset the chains. What happened was that there coach protested. They kind of had a conference and ruled that it just running-into which was just a five yard penalty, replay the down. So that would have put us fourth-and-one. Unfortunately, they had already moved the chains and set them up and didn't know where the chains should have been on the previous spot. So the head official had to make a judgement call. He ruled it was fourth-and-eight before the play. He marked off the five yards and made it fourth-and-three. It was clearly fourth-and-six. As we were looking at strategy, we were going to try and draw them offsides. I counted how many yards we were going to need. It was fourth-and-six. To the officials, he claimed that he made a judgement call. It was an honest call. If he made a mistake, he apologized. But this was his ruling, and we just have to live with it and make the best of what they ruled.

Mayes: And when you move the chains, really, all bets are off in a situation like this when you reverse the decision. And it really seemed like the officials were ready to go to let you have that first down; and then, all of a sudden, they change their mind.

Harig: That's right. When that happens, very rarely do they change their mind. I still question why they changed their mind. You watch it on film, and he was roughed. I don't know what the definition is between running-into and roughing. But the fact was that he was roughed; and we still had our chance after that to put the game away and we didn't do it. You can't blame officials for that.

Mayes: And that's, I guess, the truth about the situation. The Redskins did have an opportunity, had a great a great defensive stand right after that. The team really seemed to be energized; and the fans were behind the team; they make a big stop. And that was really big right after that penalty.

Harig: That's right. We have great fans; and they followed us down there to Sweetwater; and they were behind us all the way. It was a great atmosphere there in that last drive. We had them stopped and got the ball back.

Mayes: And then a fumble and then it almost seemed like the Redskins defense, you just didn't know if they could do it again. [There was] so much emotion on the drive beforehand, and it really looked like as if the Redskins [were] a little bit flat-footed; and really, almost did everything they needed to do to make the stop; and ,really, it was a great play by Moore and Ferguson to get the touchdown to win it.

Harig: It was. He just kind of threw it up for grabs right before he got sacked; and Jam, as the story went all night, Jam was there to make the play. He seemed to make the plays all night; and, to their credit, they hung in there and they beat us.

Mayes: Well, we were sitting right on the goal line doing the broadcast, and there were three Redskin defenders right in the area. It was just the perfect pass and the perfect catch.

Harig: It was. We had a guy break on the football, and he kind of misjudge the height of the ball and jumped. It just went over his arms and right into his.

Mayes: Well, the extra point was good, and Sweetwater wins the football game 41 to 40. Coach Harig, now where do you go from here. It was just a devastating loss for this team I imagine.

Harig: It was very devastating. The thing about our kids is that we're resilient; and for these senior, this is their last chance. They're not about to give up. The thing we've go to build on is that now we start our region schedule. This one was for bragging rights. Some of them are going to have to go to church tomorrow and listen to some people from Sweetwater, and their parents will have to go to work and listen to the people bragging. But that's just hurting your pride. We just have to deal with that and move forward and move forward into our region schedule because we still have a lot to play for.

Mayes: Well, and that is what the good news is because there are five regional games upcoming; and, really, its way too early to tell whose going to have a shot to make it into the playoffs. That road to the playoffs begins next week at Fulton, a team that made it to the state championship game last year; but Loudon played maybe their best game of the year last year against Fulton.

Harig: We did. They're real athletic, a big team; and they've got a real good quarterback who cannot only throw the football but can scramble well. So its definitely going to be a challenge.

Mayes: Coach, it should be awfully exciting. I want to appreciate you for joining us, and thank you once again.

Harig: Thank you.