Blair comes up short, despite good defense

Sept. 30, BLAZER STADIUM—

The Blair football has never been much of a match for several up-county foes; one in particular is the Sherwood Warriors. This Saturday morning however, the JV Blazers had the Warriors biting their nails. Despite being shut-out 10-0, the game was not truly decided for Blair until the final minutes.
Blair's defense kept them in the game, but its offense, while effective, failed to produce points. "We just failed to execute on a couple of plays." Coach Adrian Kelly said.

After a quick three and out on Blair's opening drive, Sherwood received the punt and brought the ball up to their forty. Blair was unable to stop the opening run, allowing nine yards to the Warriors' running back, and allowing Sherwood to convert a first down. The Blazers responded well however, and were able to shut down the run.

On one wide run to the left, it seemed as if the Warrior running back had an open field, but sophomore linebacker Andrew Holmes tackled him in the secondary to minimize damage, in a play that set the tone defensively for the rest of the game. The Blazers, despite any big defensive plays, mostly kept the Warriors from braking free for big yardage.

After stopping Sherwood on fourth and two on Blair's 15 yard line, the offense had another shot. The drive started out well with a good run to the wide right in which sophomore Keith Avensu broke several tackles with quick feet and good cuts. Avensu was constant throughout the game averaging about five yards per carry, yet despite his best efforts, the Blazers were still forced to punt.

The next drive was one of Blair's best, with several smashing runs by Avensu in which he showed his strength by breaking through tackles all over the field. It then looked as if the Blazers' drive was over, but a false start and a five yard penalty brought Blair to an unexpected first down. Blair then broke free for twelve more yards after an excellent fullback run up the middle. However, on the very next play they fumbled the ball inside the red zone and lost possession.

Blazer's defense came up big again, and forced a fumble on Sherwood's first play of the drive. Sherwood's running back tried to sneak around the right side but was met by Blair linebackers and fumbled the ball on impact.
The Blazers, though not the most graceful team, do have some muscle. "Blair's program is a smash mouth program, where games are dog fights. We man other teams in the trenches and our linebackers can hit," he said.

The rest of the half was a fight for field position, with some limited success by the Warriors who were able to score three points after a 45 yard run and an 18 yard pass. "We fell off of our game plan a little, and gave up a couple of big plays," said Kelly, in response to the Warriors' drive.

The half finished up with the score still 3-0, a score few in the crowd expected after witnessing the 43-6 Varsity massacre the night before. During the second half, Blair's offense failed to put much together and, except for a 50 yard kick return, there was little to cheer for. Alex Egber, the freshman quarterback, attempted several passes, but was unable to connect.

Blair's defense held strong and Holmes was a center piece, making several big tackles as well as knocking several passes out of the air. But in the fourth quarter, Blair gave up a 50 yard pass and the Warriors went on to score a touchdown in that drive.

While a shut-out is never a glorious outcome, it helped the Blazers see where they are strong and where they need to work. "We are a young team, and it showed when we failed to execute on offense. Once we get a little more experience, we are gonna' make some of those third down conversions," said Kelly. "We get better after each game, and I think were gonna' be able to finish this season with a winning record."