September 13: The Sequoyah Game

Russell Mayes: ...and at this time we are joined by the head coach of the Loudon Redskins Jeff Harig after the Redskins have a very disappointing 35 - 0 loss to Sequoyah. Coach Harig, good morning.

Jeff Harig: Good morning.

Mayes: And [its] never fun to be on the radio, I know, after such a tough loss - just a disappointing night for the Redskins.

Harig: And that's an understatement. Its very disappointing. We're really going to have our character tested this week and the coming weeks, that we can get this thing headed in the right direction.

Mayes: Well, lets talk a little bit about this Sequoyah game. You get off to a very good start. You get Sequoyah stopped on their first drive of the game. Loudon gets the football, actually Loudon gets the football on the opening kickoff and drives down the field. It looks like the Redskins are going to be in a very good position to get the first score of the game, has a first-and-goal situation. Sequoyah gets the stop, and you miss a field goal. That really seemed to be what could have been a real momentum shift in the football game, was the very first drive.

Harig: You're correct. I questioned whether or not we were ready to play, and the fact that we drove the ball down there kind of gave me some false hope that we were ready to play the game. It would have been nice to capitalize there and see how the game could have turned out.

Mayes: And if you get a touchdown there, you put Sequoyah back on their heels. And you really never know what might have happened after that point.

Harig: No question.

Mayes: Well, and that was certainly a tough break for the Redskins. And then Sequoyah gets the football back, and they get a touchdown pass on a halfback pass quite similar to what the Redskins did against Anderson County.

Harig: Yeah. They caught us. Sequoyah does a good job of running a lot of formations, and we got confused on a formation; and they went motion away, and both of our defensive backs went with them and left the tightends and the backside wide open.

Mayes: And Sequoyah, playing on their homefield, certainly had to feel a lot of excietement coming out of this. And this is a much-improved Sequoyah team, and you could kind of feel the crowd kind of getting behind Sequoyah and really feeling like this team can have an outstanding season coming up this year.

Harig: Well, these kids have been playing since they were freshmen, and they've taken their lumps the last three years; and as Seniors, they've kind of banded together to kind of turn things around. And its definitely the most improved team that I've seen in several years.

Mayes: Well, Sequoyah adds another touchdown right before halftime on the interception return for a touchdown. So, the Redskins are down 14-0; and Loudon really dodges a bullet right before halftime to not give up another score as I think Sequoyah has a field goal blocked. So you go to the halftime locker room 14-0; you go over to the softball field and talk. Tell us a little bit about what was going on at halftime and about some of the changes you were going to make for the second half.

Harig: We just decided to make some adjustments defensively to our weak side, and we felt pretty good about things. Although we didn't play well, it was third-and-twelve when the trick play that the tightend caught on the pitch pass. It was third-and-twelve when they completed it. And we gave them a score with a defensive touchdown. So, we weren't totally out of the game at that point, so we made some adjustments on both sides of the football. The biggest adjustment we needed to make was a heart adjustment to the fact that we needed to come out here and be physical. We needed to get out there and play with better pad levels, and those things just never transpired.

Mayes: Going into the second half of the football game, Sequoyah had the football first. You did exactly what you needed to do. You got the stop; you got the football; but really one of the themes of last night's game kind of caught up with the Redskins [which was that] Loudon offensively had poor field position all night long.

Harig: We did have poor field position, and we had poor execution; and when you combine those two things, you're not going to move the football very much.

Mayes: Lets talk a little bit about Jerome Felton, their outstanding player, because that's when he really just basically took hold of that football game was in the third quarter as he had two touchdowns rushing the football. A big fullback, and he's one of the top players we've seen this year.

Harig: No question. He's a heck of a player. He's got good speed and good size, and he's worried me the last three years we've played them. He's a real good player.

Mayes: He had 168 yards rushing and two touchdowns, as we said, in the winning effort for Sequoyah. The Chiefs, Coach Harig, overall only had 237 yards of offense, which kind of inidicates that Loudon had bad field position, and Sequoyah had good field position for most of the night.

Harig: No question.

Mayes: Late in the third quarter the score was still 14-0, and you go with the fake punt. Really, its just a situation, Coach Harig, I think you're just trying to get something going, trying to get some excitement, and probably a good call at that time.

Harig: Well, in hindsight it didn't work out and, like you said, you're either in the penthouse or the outhouse; and it didn't work out. I don't believe our players heard the call because we had several players who were running as though it was just a normal punt, so I don't believe we got the call communicated to the offensive line. Watching it on film, by a linemen it was there. If we had executed the down-down block and kicked out, we would have been fine. But, at that point, you're just grasping for something to try to get a little spark. Backed up against your own endzone, that may have not been the time; but you know, sometimes you win - sometimes you lose.

Mayes: Well, coach, it was certainly a tough loss last night. Now you try to bounce back against a very good Austin East team. You've had a chance to maybe take a look at Austin East. Tell us a little bit about them.

Harig: They're typical Austin East. They've got big kids up front; they've got great skilled players. The Harris kid #14 is obviously one of the better weapons we'll see. They give him the ball any way they can, and he's a big play maker.

Mayes: Well coach, I know its always tough after a tough loss; but I want to thank you for joining us on this Saturday morning; and I look forward to seeing you next week.

Harig: Well, thank you Rusell.

Mayes: That's Coach Jeff Harig of the Loudon Redskins ...