A-B Football Return to Glory III: Do or Die for the Colonials

What’s Happened:

After a stunning loss to Waltham (score 42-21) in the Dual County League opener, the Acton-Boxborough Colonials (6-2) have now put themselves in a big hole. 

The team plays Lincoln-Sudbury this Friday and this could be the season for the team in terms of competing for the DCL championship, and making a Super Bowl run. Quite simply, a team with three losses cannot win the DCL and has a slight chance at making the playoffs (Everett, Barnstable, and Lincoln-Sudbury are almost guaranteed to make it, which leaves one spot left).  

L-S Warriors beat Waltham 24-0, so the Colonials will have a tough task at hand. The Colonials will need to have a good week of practice, and translate that to the game.

Strategies to Employ:

AB will really need to be strategical in this game against L-S; the biggest advantage the team can make is play to advantages:

1. If A-B wins the toss, do NOT defer to defense.

If the offense is A-B’s strength, the team needs to play to it. If the team wins the opening toss, the team needs to start on offense. By doing this, the team can come out with a long six minute drive for a touchdown, and set the tone/pace of the game. If A-B scores on its opening drive, L-S will be put back on its heels and a good concerted defensive effort can easily force a three and out.

2. Offensively, use all the time you can.

Once again, if A-B’s weakness is its defense, try to put the defense out for the least amount of time. How do you do this? Keep L-S’s offense off the field. If A-B keeps the pace of the game slow, and owns the possession of time, the team will have a much better chance of winning.

3. Try a totally new formation/set

This is something A-B may or may not want to do. Last year, the team ran a lot of wildcat and led by Billy Jackman, the team excelled. L-S will probably have the wildcat better scouted for this year, so maybe the team should look at running the double wing offense or the spread more often. The double wing offense is a set that A-B ran two years ago with Rob Goguen and David Immerman at the split backs and Eric Apgar as the running/featured back. This might not be a good idea because the formation might take a while for players to really feel comfortable with.

 4. Run the Plays that Work

Once again, this goes to playing to A-B’s strengths.

The team needs to start running the plays that have brought them success. Offensively, one example is the wing formation with Joe Euele/Jack Perry split out to the left. This formation allows for Euele/Perry to catch some slant passes, and some streaking passes from a play action fake.

Another example is the play action (Arnold rolls out to the right) pass to Will Tejeda (Tejeda’s yards after the catch have always been impressive with this play).

Defensively, I would call for more blitz packages. Although they have the potential to give up big yardage, over a number of plays I think they will be successful in stopping run plays and giving pressure to the quarterback (esp. keeping him out of rhythm).

5. No Penalties

Last year, the team had a lot of energy going into the A-B vs. L-S game, and I suspect the same will happen this year. One thing to note is that this needs to be controlled energy. Last year, the team was over anxious and had many procedural calls on offense (moving before the snap). This can’t happen. Every yard is going to matter. The team cannot hurt itself with 5 yard penalties backwards.

Also, and this general, the team cannot have any dumb penalties. Face masks, personal fouls. These are not good penalties because they are preventable.

6. Give Hunter Arnold more freedom

One of the other things that is noticeable is that quarterback Hunter Arnold hasn’t been given much freedom to call audible at the line of scrimmage. As the leader of the offense, he should be able to do this. This is most relevant when the defense makes it obvious what they are running.

One example of this was in the 3rd quarter of the Chelmsford game with 3:09 when A-B had a 3rd and 16, Chelmsford had eight in the box with a ninth corner back coming in when A-B had Trips (a three wide receiver set). The call for A-B was a buck run for Sapanaro. First, on a third and long A-B shouldn’t be running. Outside of that, if Arnold sees 9 men in the box when A-B has 3 wide receivers, clearly, the team shouldn’t be calling a run play. In this case, it probably would’ve been better for Arnold to audible, and call a right side screen or some sort of quick pass play.

Conclusion

AB needs to approach this like this is the last game of the season (i.e. like a Super Bowl) going in with the mindset that there are no other practices, no other meetings left. That this A-B vs. L-S game is the season. The players cannot let up, and they need go all out.

The most hopeful outlook:

A-B beats L-S, Newton South, and Westford à Win the DCL, and make postseason.

More realistic:

A-B loses to L-S, beats Newton South, and Westford à Have a chance of making postseason (A-B would have 8-3 record, top 4 teams in Eastern Mass Division 1a make the playoffs). For example, L-S made it in 2010 with an 8-4 record.

Downward outlook:

A-B loses to L-S, beats Newton South, and loses to Westford à No chance of DCL or postseason.