How special is the Warriors defense?
The sledding was tough for Tri-Valley against the Winner defense.
By Rich Winter
I'm sitting there on the Winner sideline late in the second quarter and a pretty good football team, Tri-Valley is driving. Mind you, Winner doesn't have ANYONE move the ball on them with any kind of regularity, so I was watching pretty intently.
Course, they may have gotten a little benefit from two whistles on pass interference that may or may not have drawn the words, "THATS's TERRIBLE" from a certain Winner coach.
Thought this was one of the most athletic plays I've seen at the high-school level...EVER!
The second pass interference call was simply a blown call and yet, Winner wasn't going to allow the Mustangs to cross that goal line without a fight so Winner does what they do, they dug in and forced Tri-Valley into a 4th-and-three from like the five (Can't remember for sure).
And Tri Valley dialed up a pretty solid screen pass into the flat.
And yet, when the receiver had to adjust slightly for the ball, I put my head down and started walking the other way because with that slight hesitation from the Mustang receiver there was no way in heck the Winner pursuit wasn't going to get there.
They got there, and then some with a resounding 40-0 win that sets up a semifinal matchup with a Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan squad that has been chirping pretty loudly about their desire to get a shot at Winner.
So, just how good is this Winner defense that allowed just 22 points this year, a handful last year and pushed the Winner winning streak to a school-record tying 22 games? We see all the boxscore stuff with the nifty runs and the sexy TD passes and such but all the Winner defense does is go out there and destroy people.
Couple moments stood out for me last night:
* Fourth quarter, Tri-Valley goes over the middle and Drew DeMers is back there playing safety. If DeMers had any kind of bad bone in his body, he literally could have killed the young man from Tri-Valley, instead, he let up slightly but the crack of the pads thumping was still pretty intense. Next play, Tri-Valley went back to the play and DeMers stepped in front of it and still might be running if he had corralled that pass.
* Chad Kingsbury can hit - Think it was the third quarter but Kingsbury burst through the line, attacked and lit up a back from Tri-Valley with a resounding thud. I love that sound....It's utter domination at it's finest!
I kept watching the defense last night and asking myself, who is No. 26. Now, I've seen Winner a few times and I follow their football program pretty closely but for some reason the built kid with the great technique at LB's name was escaping me.
Until I saw him come at me on offense.
Oh yeah, Jayden Schroder the guy that no one in South Dakota high school football wants to get hit by.....WOW!
I guess we'll have to start talking about this defense in a different tone. I'm not here to say they are the best ever in Winner or even in south-central South Dakota, but dang if this group isn't in the conversation.
See you Saturday....WHEEEEEOOOOOWWWW!
