Prep 10-7 Halftime
- Thread starter 16th&Georgetown
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Wondering what anyone who saw the game thought of the officiating. I listened to the game on the Prep radio broadcast where the announcers thought some spots, a no-fumble call in the first half, and some penalty calls all pretty much went Freedom's way. Of course, they're Prep students so I'm not assuming they were right. But it did sound as if nearly all the holding calls went against SJP, two of them pretty much putting an end to SJP drives in the fist half.
Also, how serious did Heard's injury look?
Also, how serious did Heard's injury look?
You’re absolutely correct. I don’t want to say it looked fishy but………I believe according to the refs freedom never held last night. They were called for a false start and illegal man down field the entire night. They also played a penalty free first half. A half where they might have threw the ball twice. Heard was on the trainers table before walking around. I think it’s 50/50
how about that qb Jones on the last scoring drive? He gets carried off the field and somehow gets back in the game and scores a few plays later. They had both qbs on the field I didn’t notice he was in until he went in the end zone. He was the difference last night.
You guys are aware how annoying it is that every time a Philly Catholic League team plays a close game, the first series of comments are on how bad the refs were, right? LaSalle is the worst, but it’s grating as somebody from another part of the state that you so dominate every year, and every time you get challenged it must be because you’re getting screwed.
It’s just facts. I think everyone here gave freedom their respect. If we could pull the tape it’s obvious the calls went one way. Not saying whether the calls were legit or not.
Didn't LaSalle have a very good case in 2015 with the PI call in the game against Parkland? I wasn't there but saw it on tape and thought it was one of the worst calls I've ever seen.
As for last night, I asked whether anybody at the game had an opinion about the officiating because the Prep broadcasters raised some questions, especially in the first half. (I wasn't assuming the Prep students were right.) Anybody there supporting Freedom could have responded with whatever opinions they had.
I'm not aware of any Prep guys, including me, questioning the officiating in games against public league teams in years past: against Coatesville or P-R in 2017, against P-R in '14, etc.
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It all evens out in the end for sure
also notice In the first half the refs moved the chains on two questionable first downs without any measurements for freedom
LaSalle also had like eight false starts in that game and there was extensive talk about how the penalty disparity showed the PIAA wanted them to lose. There was also a ton of complaints in the ‘09 and ‘10 Easton games and the ‘11 Nazareth game, and the ‘11 North Penn game, and the ‘12 Coatesville game. My in laws are also LaSalle people, and every time they lose to SJP it also turns into a conversation about how they let them get away with everything, so maybe that’s just a personal problem (they also bitch about recruiting more than everybody on this board combined).
I heard from several Freedom and D11 fans that said Freedom should have won. The LV media made it sound like they should have won too. At no point in the game did I, and I think I can speak for most people, ever thought Prep was in any jeopardy. The last Freedom TD was window dressing and their first was a gift. No disrespect to Prep but this team is arguably the weakest D12 rep in years. Freedom made it sound like they almost knocked off a juggernaut and that’s simply not the case. May not matter in a week or two. I think GV has a good shot of beating Prep and Mt Lebo an even better shot, they are a Monster. Nice season for Freedom, they are a very good team
I just re-read the Call and Express articles, and I don’t get the “should have won” vibe at all. More a “they played hard and had it close late and that hasn’t happened in forever”. I think “valiant effort” is the vibe more than “better team blew the game.”
And while this is obviously not the best version of SJP, they’re 16-1 in the state playoffs since 2013 and I don’t think many of those games have been within two touchdowns. They ARE a juggernaut whether you want to admit it or not, any any team upsetting them across the state is going to be a big deal. Again, while it’s certainly not one of the five best SJP teams of the decade, it’s probably a safe bet that there are more FBS players on their roster than in the entire EPC this year.
A not great Bethlehem Catholic duals team lost in the state wrestling tournament last year. And you know what, it sent SHOCKWAVES through the state that somebody beat them. That’s the same space SJP, and the PCL in general, operates in right now.
I am curious if this is a blip or a reset. I mentioned this on another thread, this Freedom team finished third in the EPC, had two regular season losses, struggled with Northampton in semis, and this was the closets game with the PCL in six years. I, frankly, was shocked that this was a right games and maybe makes me reset some things about this playoff relationship going forward.
In the post McCord/Harrison/Trotter world, is SJP going to be more “great high school football team” and less “don’t even show up” and we’ll get back to seeing some of the really competitive playoff games we saw from 08-15 that we saw between D11 and the PCL, particularly if we get a legitimately great team from our neck or the woods (which Freedom certainly was not) or is this just a blip with a young SJP and they’ll go right back to mercilessly beating our brains in next year? I’d probably lean towards the latter, but I’m less sure than I was 48 hours ago.
Next week's game against Garnett valley should be interesting. Garnett valley is a better team then freedom and sjp's recruits are all young this year and there's a chink in their armor. GV is senor heavy so if D1 is to knock off D12 this is the year.
Rover, you may be onto something in relation to LaSalle people. My impression--from an admittedly SJP perspective--is that for more than a decade LaSalle has played on its own (self-proclaimed?) reputation as a "clean" team, especially in contrast to the less clean SJP. Certainly in the '15 regular season SJP-LaSalle game the refs seemed to go overboard in giving LaSalle very favourable spots, in calling personal fouls against SJP, etc.
I was watching the Michigan-Ohio State game today--where I didn't favor one team or the other--and noticed many instances where there were questionable holding calls or no-calls. It strikes me this is an area where some kind of bias, including unconscious bias, can most easily come into play. A strict interpretation/enforcement of the rules could easily result in a holding call every second or certainly every third play, whether in HS, college, or the NFL. As far as I can remember Freedom got called for no holding penalties last night. It could be they didn't deserve any, but given the way the Prep plays defense it struck me as something unusual.
Also, I know sometimes people (myself included) can suspect or even assume bias when it's only a case of a bad call by an otherwise good official.
This will be kind of a dick thing to say, but D1 has won, what, two state playoff games since 2004? Much like D11, I’m at the point where I have to see it first.
As an Ohio State degree holder, you probably had much more fun than me watching the game.
The flip side on Freedom and the holding penalties is the offensive line is the one place where Freedom does have some elite talent. I’m assuming Moore will be an all stare LT and he might compete for playing time early at Virginia Tech (I think he’s better than his brother who started at guard as a true sophomore). Feliciano may get some honorable mention all state nods at guard and the center and right side had kids that could hold up. Freedom is also pretty simple up front - I find your gap scheme teams in HS get penalized way less than the zone ones, for whatever that’s worth.
Where was the crew from last night? Obviously different sport, but I know in wrestling District varies wildly in terms of style at the state tournament - D3 refs, for instance, really let the top guy work on top compared to D7 being more quick to call stalling there, for example - and are their similar reps in football?
Rover,
About the future: it would certainly seem that SJP will be very strong for the next two years but nothing is close to certain. Their coaching staff has been quite stable for several years but circumstances having nothing to do with football can cause guys to leave. And as we saw this year, players sometimes leave the Prep for one reason or another, even after junior year.
There are also lots of other schools in the Philly area with successful programs (Tep, Malvern, Wood, LaSalle, N-G, etc.) and some schools that are trying to build such programs (Roman Judge, Bonner-Prendie, some of the other Interac schools, etc.) that are looking for good players and that can probably almost guarantee playing/exposure time that SJP probably can't. And--as many have noted--SJP draws a number of players from South Jersey and if Eustace or Holy Cross, or Camden Catholic gets really good, the Prep would have a harder time getting players from there.
Then there's the economy. Private schools are obviously more vulnerable to downturns than public schools so if you're a parent driving your son to 7:00 am summer practices in North Philly and passing 5+ public high schools and 2+ Catholic ones--all much cheaper--en route you might wonder if something closer and cheaper would be better.
Last thing I'll mention are the potential perils of being a high-profile program. Of course there are big advantages to having a high profile, but a misstep by a coach or a player that might get no attention elsewhere gets lots of attention when it happens at the Prep. Remember Brooks' Comcast video.
That freedom team was well coached from what I seen. They may have lacked a bunch of athletes but they were nothing to discredit at all. They had size on both sides of the ball. Qb was a load wasn’t that great of a passer but there’s not many great passers this yr in my opinion. Offensive line had nice size and moved well. Defensive line was mobile and wrecked all night.
I’ve said before the first sjp/ lasalle game if there was a yr for teams to dethrone sjp this would be it. Most of their offer holders are underclassmen and with the short season last yr this is new to most of them. Experience plays a huge role in a state playoff run.
I’ve said before the first sjp/ lasalle game if there was a yr for teams to dethrone sjp this would be it. Most of their offer holders are underclassmen and with the short season last yr this is new to most of them. Experience plays a huge role in a state playoff run.
You are right but it has a lot to do with them having to play the Philadelphia Catholic league. I'm not even going to get into my thoughts on that league but this is the best district one has produced in a long time and sjp is down this year. There is a chink in their armor. I think both GV and Lebo can beat them.