The Final Tally - Week 2 [ edit | delete ] By Adam Knoll | May 23, 2010 at 11:06 PM EDT | No Comments (0 new) With the Phoenix’s first win of the season in the books, we roll out our first set of awards after a victory (listen to the audible ‘yay’). All in all, some races were tight, some were not. Some of my awards were especially difficult, because we feature a pretty slim roster, and everybody gets good time to make plays and create a name for themselves. It’s looking good as we move forward.Top Offense: Hector Carrasco – 4 catches, a monster TD, a failed dunk on the goalposts. That sums up the man, the myth, the legend.Top Defense: Cody Sisk – What we knew we were getting from Cody Sisk when he finally committed to playing with us: a great athlete and a tackling machine. What we didn’t know we were getting, a madman who laughs as he comes of the field who is becoming a leader on the defensive unit.Top Reserve: Dan Lowes – Let’s be honest, Dan won this award based on 10 plays of actual field time. The lack of PT is not because he’s not a major clog in the engine (he’s the starting FB), it’s because he was an hour late due to work. 10 plays, top reserve…scary production.Top Play: Imagine, you are a soccer player who has always enjoyed a little football (the American version), yet never actually played any organized ball. So one day you decide to try out for a semi-pro team and you run smack dab into an offensive scheme that is screaming for your exact skills. So then an offseason goes by, and nobody knows what to expect from you, yet then in week 2 of the season you find yourself in pads that you’ve never worn before carrying three guys on your back for 30 yards in a game nobody ever thought you’d be in. Say hello to Kyle Ritter.The other eight awards:Quarterback: Adam Knoll This was one of those games where all three QB’s on the roster got a pretty decent amount of time. It was a more fair competition. Josh Zeihen ran a couple of good drives yet one resulted in an ill conceived INT, and Daniel Mikal drove the field a few times as well, showing that he has poise and can command the offense when needed. However, he threw an interception as well. Every drive that Knoll started resulted in a touchdown, and the score racked up enough that he didn’t see the field at all in the second half.Running Back: Ronnie Orr But wait, Nick Weiss had two TD’s! Noted. But wait, Trion Brown had a 30 yard scamper! Yes, yes he did. However, Orr compiled 134 yards on the ground in a performance that SHOULD have netted him at least two TD’s, if not three. It is not his fault the Phoenix went to a larger set inside the 5. Sometimes it’s the setup that counts more than the finish.Wide Receiver: Hector Carrasco Ritter made a great play, Hector made about four. His crack block on a middle linebacker was classic (if you blink you’d miss it on tape), and his adjustment to the ball on his TD was vintage. Racking up another three catches didn’t hurt him either.Offensive Lineman: David Haywood This guy’s +/- is epic, he turns his defensive lineman into a safety. Oftentimes he gets shorted because of his defensive work, yet lets be fair, he may be the best offensive lineman we have as well.Defensive Lineman: Dan Lowes All the man did was record 2 tackles in the game…in about 10 plays. He out tackled Haywood, and in the season statistics he has 1 less tackle and 1.5 more sacks than Haywood. Haywood is the measuring stick, Lowes is keeping pace.Linebacker: Andrew Menard Yes, I’m taking into account Outside Linebackers too. Nick Weiss and Menard finished with the same tackle count, yet it’s Menards tackles that stand out a bit more. He didn’t have a great game on the O-line, yet Menard made up for it on the other side.Defensive Back: Trion Brown To say we were thin at corner would be a fair assessment. We have a roster of 27 and a game-day turnout around 24 players. Missing Linkowski and Purtee at corner is no joke, yet the tandem of Brown, Richardson and Thorpe did a nice job. Brown made a few more plays than the others, yet it was a nice effort all around.Hustle Award: Frank Kiczula I’m giving this one to the Tank. The Gators only have one guy of consequence on the D-Line and he weighs about 360. Frank stood him up (and pancaked him once) time and again. We even switched him relative to where the biggie was. Then, when we needed him to, we moved him to center and he excelled there as well. Frank is much improved over last season, and it is showing in his playing time. The Final Tally: Week 1 Awards [ edit | delete ] By Adam Knoll | May 17, 2010 at 03:45 AM EDT | No Comments (0 new) Offensive Player – Kyle Ritter: 4rec-52yds Stepped up in the game when we started winging it. All that offseason work pays offDefensive Player – Jeff Thorpe: INT, FumRec, Pass D We simply don’t get back into the game without Thorpe playing the outside. He owned that corner of the fieldTop Reserve – Dan Lowes: 1.5 tackles, 1.5 sacks And the stat line doesn’t show his work as a fullbackTop Play – (Tie) Jeff Thorpe/Chris Bella Bella didn’t deserve to get ejected, and Thorpe gave us an opportunity lateLets rap a Second: This is the second week in a row I’ve fudged the Polls a bit. After seeing the final numbers though, I don’t think there would have been a different outcome, yet I’m sure some of you were wondering nonetheless. Nick Weiss should have been on the Top Defense list. I cannot defend why he wasn’t. His game was not statistically grand, yet it was a memorable performance. However, with Thorpe getting 9 votes…how many would have gone to Weiss? That’s a large amount to overcome. So I feel okay about the outcome here. For Top Reserve, Jeff Thorpe wasn’t on the ballot, which he should have been. ‘Reserve’ means ‘backup’, which means ‘non-starter’, Thorpe easily fits there. His statistics and heroics game me pause, and to be honest, I guess I felt he had a starter type game. I fudged this one too. Now, Dan Lowes won with 8 votes, and I’m confident he still would have seeing his stellar performance on both sides of the ball. Yet it’s my job to be fair. So, I’m learning here; the kinks are being worked out. I don’t see this problem of mine continuing going forward.The other Eight:Quarterback: Adam Knoll When forced to throw, was able to overcome and lead the field. Came up a bit short yet played well enough to winRunning Back: Ronnie Orr The running game was shut down a bit throughout the game, yet Orr picked up some nice runs from time to time. His excellent pickup blocking in the second half was a true attribute to the offense.Wide Receiver: Kyle Ritter It was between Carrasco and Ritter here, and unlike last week, run blocking did not play a factor. Hector seemed to slip up, get tangled and misjudge a few balls, which happens throughout a game. Ritter stepped up and went over the middle like a mad man, doing exactly what I told him we would need him to do.Offensive Line: Frank Kiczula It’s hard enough to block the Cougars D-linemen from a ready position, doing it as a first time Center had to be a treat (or, maybe not). I was real happy with most of the O-line play this week, yet Kiczula stepping in was a huge boost when we needed it.Defensive Line: David Haywood I should just rename this the Haywood award and get it over with. He is a monster, and we all know that. Just imagine what he could do if we stopped playing him both ways.Linebacker: Nick Weiss I’ve said before, this award is a tossup between Weiss and Bella every week. The only way to make it simple it seems is to subtract one of them…and wouldn’t you know it, Bella didn’t play the second half. In all seriousness, Weiss deserves major credit for keeping the Defense poised and on target all game long.Defensive Back: Jeff Thorpe Linkowski played awesome until he got hurt. Purtee did too. Brown was always making tackles as the last line of defense, yet Thorpe changed the game. Multiple times turning in a running back toward the middle of the field, Thorpe didn’t register any tackles. However, he did put up numbers in key areas, and came up huge when the chips were down.Hustle Award: Nick Weiss The man will eat your children….at least we all think he’s capable of it.. Final Tally - GFL Tournament [ edit | delete ] By Adam Knoll | May 09, 2010 at 12:33 PM EDT | No Comments (0 new)
Top Offensive Player - Nick Weiss (breaking tackles, great blocking)Top Defensive Player - Richard Linkowski (Dropped 3 picks...yet you have to be in the play to miss a pick)Top Reserve - D'Angelo Richardson (Played well on both O and D)Top Play - Hector Carrasco (30 yard catch and run. YAC baby)Now, for my awards:Quarterback: Adam Knoll The offense didn’t exactly hum away in either game, yet in the first game the offense showed poise, even after getting a 3 and out in the first series. Driving the length of the field is always a good sign, and things weren’t easy in game #1 as we tried many different things in such a short time.Running Back: Ronnie Orr Nick Weiss had the more memorable run, yet Ronnie toiled away for most of his runs before being able to finally break through a few times. The offensive line wasn’t exactly good in either game, yet when given a hole Ronnie shined.Wide Reciever: Kyle Ritter This was a hard choice. The only receiver to make more than one catch was Andrew Menard (who had 2). When 9 passes are completed in two games, and seven receivers are the benificiaries, that means we spread the ball well. Hector Carrasco had a catch and run of 30 yards, which was really nice. He went up in traffic and made a great play. He won Best Play for it. Kyle caught a ball like that too, only his defender grabbed him mid air, no chance to make a move. So, what did it come down to? Blocking. Kyle was consistently in the secondary pushing people everywhere. That is exactly what we want our receivers to do. I didn’t see it as much from the others (save for Thorpe, another guy who constantly hand fights). So Ritter wins this one on grit…it’s not all about catching passes.Offensive Lineman: Andrew Menard TJ Dotson and David Haywood are monsters. They have offensive linemens body type and aggressive style. In two games, based on my +/- system, Haywood had a wonderful +17, and in only one game, Dotson had an astounding +10…in 10 snaps. So why does Andrew Menard get the award then? Even though the other two have linemen physiques, Menard doesn’t. He’s tall and skinny, yet he fights his head off. His +/- in two games (21 snaps): +13. Any of these three could have won, they all deserved it. Menard though was a bit more impressive.Defensive Lineman: David Haywood If Dotson would have played in both games, this would have been far more interesting. Haywood is a man child playing both ways. He won, it wasn’t close.Linebacker: Chris Bella Bella and Nick Weiss are going to give me headaches over this spot the entire season. Bella runs the D, yet Weiss gives it it’s flavor. In any week, flip a coin. This week, Bella was in on just a little bit more than Weiss.Defensive Back: Nic Purtee Even if I hadn’t accidentally forgotten to put his name on Top Defensive Player or Play of the Game, this award was going to him. The only INT we got in both games, and some stellar open field tackling provided all the reasons we needed to awards him hereHustle Award: Nic Purtee On a single play in the second game, Nic Purtee was outside LB on a toss to his side. He got sealed out to the outside and fought to get through. The back passed him up, and Nic finally got free. Chasing the HB down, the back stutter-stepped back outside, right into Purtee, yet going full speed Nic took a bad angle and slid off his side for a missed tackle. Play over right? Nope, not with Nic. The back kept going down the sideline, using his speed to outrun the pursuit. Nic, after missing his tackle, got up, got back up to full speed and chased the play down. Even though the back was eventually tackled by someone else, Nic had made it back to in front of the play by the time it was over. Even after all that, Nic Purtee…all hustle.