Portage @ Blairsville Official Game Thread

[PortagePride]

The announcers on the radio said the portage players got a hold of Lees ankle and were twisting it trying to injure him.

The MSA Radio Broadcasters for Homer and Blairsville are an absolute joke so I take no factual info out of that.

I'm not saying Portage is innocent at all here so lets not start that either. I had no view of inside the pile hence why I asked If anyone else saw maybe from a better angle or closer. However the actions of that young man were absolutely unacceptable, punching other players is one bad thing, fighting refs off with shoves, elbows and kicks is a totally different ball game.

[kmr]

35-14 Blairsville over Portage

[PLDragons24]

I agree with Portagepride. You can't retaliate and get in a big fight and get thrown out. It only hurts your team. The only thing you can do is keep telling the officials what's going on (which they did a few times before this incident happened) and hope they do something about it.

[kmr]

So if your brother was being hurt right in front of you like this kids brother was you would stand around and not do anything.

[PLDragons24]

Not saying that I wouldn't go after the player doing it, just that it's not the smart thing to do and it doesn't help.

[kmr]

First Jesse Lee was trying to pull the Portage players off his brother because he was yelling in pain. When that didn't work he started throwing punches. Maybe the refs should have stepped in earlier instead of standing around. If they can clear Shereef of any wrong doing earlier this year, I hope they can review this tape. Having a teammate injured in front of you is one thing but a brother is another. I could never see myself standing around while my brother was being hurt.

[PortagePride]

First Jesse Lee was trying to pull the Portage players off his brother because he was yelling in pain. When that didn't work he started throwing punches. Maybe the refs should have stepped in earlier instead of standing around. If they can clear Shereef of any wrong doing earlier this year, I hope they can review this tape. Having a teammate injured in front of you is one thing but a brother is another. I could never see myself standing around while my brother was being hurt.

His brother was yelling in pain...man you had to been right on the field for that, because although I was blocked from view I was definitely close enough not to hear anyone screaming in pain. I get what you're saying and I agree if this was happening over and over again the refs should have taken control much sooner and most of the blame is on them. HOWEVER he still threw multiple punches and contacted a ref with shoves, swinging elbows and kicks....no you DON'T clear that player from any tape for those actions. He was WAY out of control.

And with that being said I'm sorry for switching subjects on this thread. Let's try and get it back to the regular Portage vs Blairsville subject for others wanting to chime in. Thanks for the input though on the situation at hand.

[kmr]

Portagepride how do you feel about this game and this Portage team? Do you think this team could be better if they didn't limit themselves to only running the Wing T.

[PortagePride]

Portagepride how do you feel about this game and this Portage team? Do you think this team could be better if they didn't limit themselves to only running the Wing T.

I said in my first post on this thread that I could see this game literally going in ANY direction. Watching Portage in person every game this season I've seen them physically dominate teams, but then get flustered, pushed around, missing every tackle in the second Berlin game after going up 14 - 0. Blairsville has a pretty balanced attack running and passing. Portage has for the MOST PART done quite well against the run because of their size up front however to the edge with a speedy back like the Bobcats have it could be trouble especially if those missed tackles come into play again. Blairsville's QB has been prone to turnovers the past two seasons and the Mustang's defense has done quite well in forcing them this season having 17 Interceptions. This COULD be a major factor in how it plays out.

As far as being better without the Wing T....It's an offense that is mastered here from the Flag Football level on up so to change it up would honestly be unheard of. Having a special back like Kephart and a great compliment in Dividock the Wing T is probably the perfect way to implement them both into the offense unless you're running some type of triple option or maybe even a proset or power I. Portage does throw in a shotgun formation about 10 - 15 times a game however its usually nothing too exotic run out of it. They also have used the Wildcat or "Wild Horse" package with either Kephart or Dividock at QB and the 6'4ish Bryja split out at WR. For the first time all season they looked like they were going to throw out of this set against Homer Center near the goal line however they had three straight fall start penalties that killed that idea.

[reugenev]

I like Portage 28-21. If the field gets sloppy it favors the stangs.