It was a pretty surprising turn of events at Arcadia on Friday night, where the Titans defense played great and the team rolled to a 35-14 win over the previously undefeated Black Hawks.
A few observations:
- If the Arcadia defense can contain the run, it has the type of offense to play with anyone in 4A-II. It must be a nightmare to defend the Titans. First of all, quarterback Colby Kirkegaard spreads the ball all over the field so zeroing in on one wide receiver won’t work. Also, the passing game has to be respected, so a bruising back like Pat Schrimsher will get four of five yards a pop whenever he wants. Finally, Kirkegaard also has that ability to scramble, so even if the secondary has a play covered, he can pull the football down and take off. The biggest key, in my eyes, to stopping Arcadia is pressure on the quarterback. The defensive tackles have to stay in their gaps, and if the ends can get pressure, it can disrupt Arcadia.
- Arcadia did all this without Jake Hirschi, one of their most potent and versatile playmakers. Hirschi has a strained tendon in his foot suffered last week against Tempe. Coach Jim Ellison said that Hirschi might be back for the first round, although a more realistic timetable might be the quarterfinals.
- I’m not sure if Williams Field got rattled or panicked, but after the first two drives, the offense didn’t look good. It seemed like everyone was trying too hard and getting frustrated instead of just letting the game come to them. The Williams Field defense did a decent job and forced two turnovers to keep the game close, but the offense could never recover. Arcadia dared Williams Field to pass, so coach Steve Campbell did. Between inaccurate passes, dropped balls and good coverage, Williams Field could never get anything going in the passing game, which limited what it could do throughout the contest.
- To that end, I thought Brandon Warren should have ran the ball more. Despite Arcadia stacking the box, Warren was ripping off good gains in the first quarter. After the first couple drives, though, he was almost non-existent. Campbell began splitting out Warren to wide receiver, presumably to take advantage of one-on-one matchups, but Williams Field couldn’t get it to work. Josh Montoya and Alex Howard are two solid backs, but Warren is the one with the game-changing ability, and I thought he should have touched the ball more.
- I wouldn’t count out Williams Field, though. On the first possession, Tom Ross threw a strike to Aaron Hill for a big gain, but Hill fumbled. On the next possession, Ross missed a wide open Howard in the end zone and the Black Hawks were eventually stopped at the 1-yard line on fourth-and-goal. If the Black Hawks score there and tie the game, the offense builds some confidence and it’s a whole new ballgame. Instead, the mistakes seemed to snowball. I expect Ross to have a better game next week, and the offense has too many playmakers to be limited that much.
