The 2012 season continued for the Miramar Patriots, as they hosted the Blanche
Ely Tigers for game #2. Following a 21-14 first half, the Patriots pulled
away and defeated the Tigers 42-20.
Let’s take a look at
what happened:
Blanche Ely:
Blanche Ely didn’t have
many bright spots in this game, but capitalized on Miramar mistakes with great
success.
The Tigers could only
muster 30 yards of Total Offense in the first half, but thanks to a 96 yard
Kickoff return for a TD, and a tipped ball interception giving them a short
field, they only trailed 21-14 at the break.
After Miramar’s opening
score, Senior CB Rashard Robinson returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a
touchdown, quickly igniting the Ely team. Robinson, who is committed to attend
LSU like Patrick Johnson (Peterson) and Avery Johnson before him, is far and
away Ely’s best player. Outside of this play, his impact on the game was fairly
minimal. In fact, his only other play of
note was fumbling a kickoff after Miramar’s final touchdown late in the 4th
quarter.
Ely RB #9 had a nice
game running between the tackles. He gained less than 50 yards on the night,
but his hard running style will be a challenge for teams to contend with later
in the season.
One thing that stood
from the press box was the size of the Ely receivers. I can’t do names like I
normally do, because I left my copy of their roster in my office, but #5 and
#19 were 6’4” and 6’5”, and looked like they should be bigger mismatches than
they were. Their route running technique could be better, but with time, these
players should prove to be dominant on the outside for the Tigers.
#33 at Defensive End
played a good game. I remember him getting early jumps on passing plays, and
stuffing a couple running plays. His size makes him project to the next level
as a Linebacker, and not Defensive End, but his physical skills are undeniable.
Ely hung around with
Miramar for a while. As the game wore on, however, it became clear they were
just no match for the Patriots.
Miramar:
Another week, and
another huge game from Alex Lee. The Senior RB accounted for 208 yards of total
offense, rushing for 163 and adding 45 receiving. He scored 3 touchdowns, 2
rushing and 1 receiving, and all those stats (total yards, rushing yards,
receiving yards, and touchdowns) were career highs. Many people talked about the Gold cleats he wore in the game. If wearing those cleats makes you play like that, I have a feeling that a lot more players might follow in Lee's footsteps.
Over the first 2 games, Lee
has 299 rushing yards, 65 rushing yards, and those 3 touchdowns. Without
question, he’s been the MVP of the team to this point of the season.
Lee was not the only
running back to find success on the night for the Patriots. Alex Anderson,
Khalil Lewis, Malik Mapps, Cameron Rigby, and Eric Pittman all contributed to
the rushing attack that totaled 304 yards on 49 carries. Miramar finally found
it’s swag by running the ball. It’s fair to say that we now know what happens
when we pound the rock at the opponent.
After a shaky game at
Manatee, Nick Jeanty had a solid performance for Miramar. He finished 14/21
passing with 166 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Unlike last week with a couple mental
errors leading to turnovers, the only blemish on his record on this night was a
tipped ball that was intercepted by the Ely defense.
One thing that concerned
me was actually the batted ball situation. I remember 3 or 4 passes being
batted or tipped near the line of scrimmage. Teams are a bit too good at
catching those free balls, so Jeanty would be wise to eliminate those plays, as
best he can.
Lastly, Jeanty is still
getting comfortable in the offense, and playing at the 8A level. I know we’ve
played to 7A teams, but both Manatee and Ely are very good teams, and play much
faster, and much more physical than the teams Jeanty faced in his time at
Archbishop McCarthy. The last Miramar QB who came from a private school took a
couple games to hit his stride too. If my memory serves me right, that season
ended pretty well.
The Wide Receivers got
some work in this game, but most of their catches were underneath routes. With
a top college recruit like Rashard Robinson patrolling the secondary for Ely, I
understand that strategy completely. Geonte Smith and Sean Avant were the top
targets, ending the game with 4 and 3 catches, respectively. Other options were
out there, but I have no problem with a controlled passing game for the time
being. As Jeanty becomes more comfortable in the offense, expect the receivers
to emerge with more and more impact.
On defense, the G-Unit
at safety (Andre Godfrey and D’Kambui Greaves) played a solid game in the secondary.
They fixed the coverage errors that we’d seen the past couple games, and
imposed their physicality on the Tigers. The last TD pass for Ely came when the
2nd team defense was on the field, so you can’t fault the G-Unit for
that pass.
Many other defenders
played strong games on this night. Ja’Quan Smith and Telvin Arnold proved to be
destructive forces in the middle of the defense, combining for 11 tackles and 2
sacks. Ryan Samuels and Kaywon Davis played good defense from their linebacker
positions.
Apart from those
players, there were 2 headliners on this night: Tyrek Cole and Jermaine Grace.
Cole, a Sophomore,
started in place of the injured Terence Gaskins and had a very good night.
Dealing with the physically imposing Ely receivers, Cole allowed 1 catch on the
night, and ended the game with 7 passes broken up. Now, I know people will say “You’re
just inflating stats for your Miramar players”, but on every play Cole made, I
checked with coaches and journalists to make sure we had all seen that before
counting it as a PBU. A couple of those plays could have been interceptions
instead, but for a sophomore making his first start, I think 7 PBUs is a solid
night.
By now, you know who Jermaine
Grace is. The captain and leader of the Darkside defense once again played a
solid game in multiple areas. His 8 tackles were tied for team-high (with Ryan
Samuels) and that was just the beginning for Country. He also had an
interception (off a tipped ball) and a 7 yard return. His biggest play,
however, was not universally appreciated.
Neo in the Matrix....or Jermaine Grace? Which one is it?
On a punt return in the 3rd
quarter, Grace delivered an absolutely massive crackback block, springing
Tanares Robinson for a 47 yard return. Grace, feeling the power of the moment,
yelled to the crowd and flexed like Neo at the end of the first Matrix Movie as
he walked to the sideline. Grace drew a flag for…something on that play. I
disagreed with the penalty call then, and I disagree with it now. In either
case, his play awakened the Patriots, and kept the momentum going as the lead
ballooned to 35-14 on the ensuing drive.
Player of the Week
Alex Lee – 16 carries,
163 yards, 2 TDs, 1 catch, 45 yards, 1 TD
Career highs in all
categories other than catches.
Enough said.
Where do we go from
here?
As the season progresses,
we’ll continue to do a brief look ahead. Here are my keys to staying on the
winning side of thing:
1.
Address special teams.
Last week, it was missed kicks and blocked punts. This week, we fixed those
things, but went back to old problems by allowing a kick return for a
touchdown. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I think more starters
should be playing on the special teams units.
2.
Solidify Passing game. Running
the ball controls the clock, but passing puts points on the board. Against good
teams, you have to be balanced on offense, and for us, that means having an
effective and timely passing attack.
3.
Run. The. Ball. 49
carres. 304 yards. 4 touchdowns. Do I really need to say anything else?
4.
Stop cheating on
Defense. Once again, the defense got caught cheating, and that’s how Ely scored
their last touchdown. We are good enough to let our players and our schemes
stifle opposing teams. There’s no need to cheat. And, honestly, we’re too young
on defense to “cheat” effectively. It hurts more than it helps. Stop it.
This week’s game was a
good one for Miramar to work out the demons of the Manatee game, and get back
into the Win column. Now that that’s done, it’s time to keep the momentum going
as we build toward district play, and a matchup with a certain Catholic school
(but we’ll talk about that in a couple of weeks).
Those are my thoughts.
What are yours?
Until Next Time,
Cameron J. Underwood
Miramar Sports
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