OPINION: Grading Wallace and Kellogg after season openers
McDonald
Wallace and Kellogg opened their respective football seasons with “zero week” games last Friday, and early indications are that one of these teams is poised to make some serious noise this year, while the other is still figuring some things out.
Here’s how the Wildcats and Miners graded out for their season openers in this overreaction Tuesday opinion.
WALLACE
Wallace led Timberline 24-0 at halftime and proceeded to win 32-12 in freshmen quarterback Cooper Miller’s high school debut at Sather Field.
OFFENSE
The Wallace athletic community has eagerly anticipated Miller’s arrival after watching him carve up the junior high ranks for the past few years and with the influx of youth on Wallace’s squad, they were absolutely right to be excited.
Miller completed 50% of his passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns, while scrambling for 141 yards and another pair of scores. The Miners’ offense is a target-rich environment, which Miller used to his advantage as he spread the ball out among six different receivers.
Senior Julian Davis, who had two touchdown catches and 72 yards on three catches, will be a problem for opposing defenses as his size and speed make him a threat to house short passes, as well as make plays over the tops of defenders on deeper throws.
He also had two turnovers, one interception and a fumble, but Friday night’s game was played in possibly the worst August weather imaginable with high winds, pouring rain, and cooler temperatures.
Still, with only a handful of practices under their belts, Wallace managed to amass 369 total yards of offense in their win.
Grade: A
DEFENSE
The Miners had the game well in hand before they allowed the Spartans to get on the scoreboard. Wallace had nine tackles for loss and eight sacks while forcing two fumbles.
After the game, head coach Jared Young highlighted how the defense was able to get off the field – which is a big-time skill when you have an offense as potent as Wallace's.
Plain and simple, the Miners blanketed the field against Timberline and made plays everywhere. Five players got to the Spartan quarterback during the game resulting in 50 total yards lost on just sacks.
Sophomores Marley Pearce and Reece Williams dominated up front for the Miners with Pearce finishing with 2.5 sacks, 11 total tackles, and a forced and recovered fumble. Williams had one sack to go along with 10 tackles and a fumble recovery.
Should the Miners continue to play this style of aggressive defense, it's going to be a very long season for their opponents.
Grade: A
Final Thoughts
It wasn't perfect, coach Young will likely want to clean up the turnovers from his young quarterback, but with only a handful of practices under their belts, Wallace managed to amass 369 total yards of offense, while dominating the defensive side of the ball. You can't ask for a better start than 1-0.
KELLOGG
The Kellogg Wildcats did not have the luxury of opening their season within the friendly confines of Teeters Field, but that may have been for the best because there’s still a lot of work to be done. They will also have to fill some holes because they did not leave Moscow healthy and will reportedly be down at least two starters after injuries to junior Andrew Lewis and senior Wyatt Storey – both two-way players.
OFFENSE
Offensively, Kellogg had substantial weapons going into Friday night’s game. Sophomore quarterback Porter Lewis is a capable passer and is lethal on the ground. He’s surrounded by plenty of speed and experience, including senior first-team wideout Coleman Blalack. However, on Friday night, Kellogg gained 82 total yards and Blalack never once touched the ball.
The splits are even more jarring, with Lewis throwing for just 37 yards, while he and three other rushers gained only 45 yards on the ground.
The real story here was Kellogg’s offensive line.
Poor conditions threw off a significant amount of the Wildcats’ snaps, followed by poor protection. Lewis never had time to cleanly drop back to pass and struggled to complete handoffs before Moscow defenders had their hands on him. All these issues led to several turnovers.
The yards Kellogg did gain, often came on broken plays or Lewis just running for his life.
It’s hard to grade an offense when it feels like you didn’t get to see it executed, but Storey and Lewis were key members of this unit and now it’s back to the drawing board for a team that already had depth issues.
GRADE: Incomplete
DEFENSE
Losing a game 43-0 may give off the idea that the defense was no better than the offense, but that isn’t the case here.
The Wildcats simply couldn’t finish defensive possessions and get off the field. Kellogg’s run defense and even their work on short passes was very good, but for one reason or another, when it came to third and long, they just couldn’t get the job done.
Moscow scored on touchdown passes of 72, 19, 9, and 86 yards – the big ones coming on plays where Kellogg had the Bears behind the chains, and the shorter ones either came right after a big play or because of a shortened field.
When the Bears tried to run the ball, Kellogg routinely shut them down quickly and was also disciplined enough to draw multiple penalties to aid their cause – But then another big third-down pass would crush their momentum.
In a cruel bit of irony, Kellogg outgained Moscow on the ground by seven yards during the game, giving up just 38 total yards on the ground to go along with one rushing touchdown after a blocked punt. Moscow took over inside the redzone and scored on a one-yard QB keeper.
To make matters worse, on one of the few times Kellogg did force a punt, the ball took an awkward bounce as the returner moved out of the way, and slightly grazed his foot, Moscow recovered deep in Kellogg's territory.
Storey’s injury weakens a secondary that struggled mightily against Moscow, but Kellogg did look substantially better on defense than they did on offense. Not many teams will have a quarterback as talented as Moscow’s, but they must be ready to stop big plays.
GRADE: C
Final Thoughts
This is one the Wildcats will want to flush and move on from. However, if they can't get their offensive line right, it's going to be a painfully long season. The injuries hurt, but there is a silver lining here. Last year, Moscow thumped Kellogg in a similar fashion and the Wildcats recovered and were essentially a handful of plays away from getting into the playoffs.