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| Friday: January 26, 2001 |
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Practice
Notes Index | Game
Notes
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The Outlaws scrimmaged the San Francisco Demons
today at Silverado High School in two quarters of regulation play,
and the Outlaws came away victorious 8-0. There was no second half
of regulation play, but instead there were several controlled series
by each team from various stages on the field. Check out the photos
HERE.
 The
Outlaws started the scrimmage on defense, which performed very well
throughout the afternoon. The Demons were forced to punt,
and the Outlaws would have had great field position except for a
bobbled catch on the return. The Outlaws offense was led initially
by Ryan Clement (#16), but after this series was over Mike Cawley
(#10) performed the majority of the QB duties. In what would become
the theme of the day for the Outlaws offense, several penalties
set them back early and they were forced to punt. On the punt, Toran
James (#50) leveled the Demons receiver, rousing the Outlaws players
on the sidelines and the several fans in the bleachers.
The Outlaws defense was penalized for roughing the QB on the next
series, but were able to stop the Demons on 4th &
1. On the following offensive series, the Outlaws moved the ball
to midfield with a 13-yard scramble by Mike Cawley (#10). Rod Smart
(#30) got the ball on the next play, got outside and ran nearly
50 yards for a touchdown. The offense made some spectacular blocks
all over the field on this play, even downfield by the receivers.
The PAT failed, however, even after a Demons penalty gave the Outlaws
another shot.
The Outlaws defense held the Demons offense once more; during the
punt attempt the ball launched over the punter’s head and out of
the end zone (“X Zone”) for a safety and two more Outlaws points.
The Outlaws received the ensuing kickoff, and their offense began
to drive the ball into Demons territory. Mike Cawley (#30) was sacked
and lost the football, but he was able to scramble and recover it.
This forced a punt by the Outlaws, which pinned the Demons deep
in their own end of the field, and they were unable to move the
ball.
The Outlaws fielded the ball well, and the offense was back out
on the field once more. Mike Cawley (#10) had a nearly 20-yard scramble
that put the Outlaws in field goal range. But, another holding penalty
pushed the Outlaws back, and once more Mike Cawley (#10) had to
scramble for positive yardage; this time, Cawley was nailed by a
Demons defender and fumbled the ball away.
The Demons recovered this fumble in decent field position and managed
to run the ball almost within field goal range. However, a critical
pass play was broken up by Outlaws linebacker Mike Crawford (#44),
and on the next play Kelvin Kinney (#92) sacked the Demons QB Pat
Barnes (#18) that pushed the Demons well out of field goal range.
The Outlaws offense got the ball back with under two minutes remaining
in the half, and tried unsuccessfully to add to their score. On
one 60-yard bomb by Cawley (#10), Reggie Swinton (#80) made a valiant
diving attempt for the ball in the end zone (“X Zone”), but was
unable to hold on to it when he hit the ground, with two defenders
hanging off his back.
After halftime, each team took turns running plays against each
other from various points on the field. For the Outlaws, Mike Buck
came in several times, but they were unable to move the ball very
far with any of the three QB’s in. When staged for play on the 15
yard line, though, the Demons were able to score two touchdowns
against the Outlaws: one sweeping run around the outside, and another
pass to the corner of the endzone. After several stages from various
yardages, the field goal units faced off against one another from
around 40-45 yards out. The Demons kicker missed four of five attempts
(Ignacio Brache, #17), whereas Paul McCallum (#17) of the Outlaws
was successful in four of his five attempts. That ended the scrimmage,
and the second half was not scored.
In the first half of regulation-style play, the Outlaws defense
performed very well. Both Pat Barnes (#18) and Mike Pawlawski (#9)
of the Demons were sacked several times each, and both were flushed
from the pocket on nearly every passing play. The Outlaws defensive
linemen were able to contain the running attack of the Demons, and
the secondary of the Outlaws maintained tight coverage on the Demons
receivers. The Demons weren’t completely without first downs, however,
but the Outlaws defense came up big when they had to.
However, the one glaring weakness of the Outlaws is on offense,
mainly because of constant penalties. In fact, the Outlaws did a
better job of stopping their own drives with holding penalties than
the Demons defense was able to do.
After the game, the Outlaws players were excited and happy with
their performance, especially the defensive players. Final cuts
come this weekend, and they won’t be easy to determine. Nearly every
Outlaws player got playing time in the scrimmage, and they all looked
very good. The final 45 Outlaws to make the team will be well prepared
for the start of the season next weekend. |
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