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#1 #Argyle(4-0) @ #8 Melissa(3-2)


regaleagle

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On 9/28/2021 at 10:54 AM, GoodOleBoy73 said:

Should be a good game. I think Argyle will win it but Melissa has proven that they belong in the discussion at the top of 4A Division 1 IMO. If Melissa goes out and plays Argyle close then I believe there will be a rematch in the 3rd or 4th round of the playoffs.

 

Edited by CrankyOldMan
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After Celina thumped Melissa to open the season, I think some folks were quick to write the Cardinals off. But a) Celina is very, very good, and b) Melissa has some youth, and they needed time to grow.

Melissa has improved in all facets of the game, and, from a starting point, I think it's easy to say the Cardinals' growth trajectory is greater than Argyle's. However, has Melissa grown enough to take that next step? Maybe.

To do that, they're going to have find a way to exploit a defense that is at the very least as good as Celina's. In all honesty, the Bobcats' and Eagles' defenses are very similar ... lots of speed, lots of aggression, lots of size, discipline, physicality and tenacity. I'd probably give Argyle a slight edge overall, defensively, over the Bobcats, but it's a lot closer than outsiders might suspect.

Melissa struggled to move the football against Celina. Some of that was the Bobcats game plan and sheer ability to be disruptive on defense. Some of it was the fact that the Cardinals couldn't get out of their own way, with silly offsides penalties, illegal formations, holding, etc. IF Melissa can clean up those self-inflicted, drive-killing mistakes, they are talented enough offensively to have some success. But they'll have to start disciplined and sustain that for four quarters, because Argyle's defense is relentless, and I promise they will not stop attacking Finnegan. They've undoubtedly watched the Celina film and saw that persistent pressure kept Finnegan off-kilter all night long.

Argyle's defense is so good that they're never going to be out of any game, period. Their offense is good, not great ... opportunistic, more than explosive. The Eagles typically find a way to create big moments and big plays, and then let the defense do the rest of the work, and if this turns into a defensive struggle, it's right in Argyle's wheelhouse.

Honestly, I'm very impressed with how much Melissa has grown up and improved these past two weeks against quality, state-ranked opponents. I don't want to understate that. Even in the season opener, you could see the talent and potential. But a more experienced Celina squad just snuffed it out and didn't give the Cardinals room to breathe. And I think Argyle's going to do the same thing this week. The Eagles' defense is just a bit too good. BUT, if Melissa's defense can step up, they can keep this game close, which should help give these young Cardinals some more confidence that they can compete with the upper echelon teams.

Now all that said, when the clock reads zeroes, I'm going with Argyle 34, Melissa 14, but I think it could be closer than the score might indicate.

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23 hours ago, regaleagle said:

IF Argyle can hold this juggernaut offensive attack from Melissa to a measley 14 points, then not only will I be in football heaven, but also eat my complimentary words about the Cardinals offensive prowess.......including QB Fennegan.  I would place a bet that Melissa will score at least 14 points in just the first half, and perhaps 14-21 more in the 2nd half.......even against a defense as good as Argyle has this season. That's just what I think about the scoring potential Melissa has this season on offense. Now if Fennegan goes out for some reason........then all bets are off.  He's the key that unlocks their offensive capabilities.

Holding Celina to 0 and LaVega to 14 pretty impressive.   Go Eagles 

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I look for Argyle's coaching staff to try to shorten this game with ball control and lots of ground game on offense.  Knowing Coach Rodgers, I'd say he has a plan to stuff their offense and try to get his defense off the field, then get that good offensive line in there to pound and open some holes for time-consuming drives to put up the points.  I don't think we will see much in the passing game from Argyle this week either........about the same or less than previous games.  In his mind, Robinson will have plenty of season left to blossom at the QB position.  Right now he just needs to make good decisions and take care of the football in this game against such a dangerous opponent offensively.

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3 hours ago, regaleagle said:

I look for Argyle's coaching staff to try to shorten this game with ball control and lots of ground game on offense.  Knowing Coach Rodgers, I'd say he has a plan to stuff their offense and try to get his defense off the field, then get that good offensive line in there to pound and open some holes for time-consuming drives to put up the points.  I don't think we will see much in the passing game from Argyle this week either........about the same or less than previous games.  In his mind, Robinson will have plenty of season left to blossom at the QB position.  Right now he just needs to make good decisions and take care of the football in this game against such a dangerous opponent offensively.

Of course.......IF Melissa breaks out on top and maintains a lead, then suddenly shortening the game is no longer a good strategy.  Then Argyle would want to throw the ball more, or go to their more balanced attack.  They may do that anyway because that's the way the offense is most successful.

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18 hours ago, BulldogBacker12 said:

When is the last time Argyle lost a regular season game? 2015 to Celina?

Yep.......that was it alright.  In Celina 46-36.  Then lost to La Vega in the SC game 33-31 with less than a minute left and those two weird calls in row with too many men on the field......just crazy.  Argyle ended up 14-2. Celina ended up 15-1 with a loss to WO-S in the SC final  22-3.  That's when their good QB Pingleton broke his arm or something on the first or 2nd play, as I recall.

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In Region 2 D-1.......I think the best teams will be Argyle, Melissa, Stephenville, and La Vega......not in any particular order.  There are other "contenders" that have the capabilities to go deep, but I think the winner in Region 2 D-1 emerges from the 4-team group mentioned above.

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2 hours ago, Footballalltheway said:

My concern is I don’t know how good those wins that Melissa had against Paris and heritage are at this point.  I don’t think either team will be ranked near the top 10 at the end of the year.  

I agree with Regal that Argyle will use ball control, Time consuming running game and will really shorten the game.    Argyle can get pressure with four so I don’t think Melissa‘s gonna have that much success throwing the ball especially if its raining and don’t think they will run it that effectively either.  Watch the Argyle/Celina game.  This game will be similar I believe.  

I see Argyle winning by 3+ TDs and that could be 21-0.  I think it will be more like 35-14 but Argyle will dominate much like Celina did Melissa.  

Heritage(4-1) looked very impressive against an undefeated Springtown(now4-1) last week and pretty darn good against Melissa too.  Their 1st yr QB Caden Brown(6-1/175/Jr) is very athletic, accurate, and slippery.  He's already thrown for over 1,000 yds in 5 games and is averaging over 50 yds/game rushing the ball.  He has 7 TD's passing and 8 rushing.  They have some excellent receivers that know how to get open and make great catches also.  So I see Heritage only getting better going into the playoffs.    IMO.....Paris is too one-dimensional offensively against very good defensive teams.  Melissa basically shut their rushing attack down and dared them to throw it. They did score a TD throwing it......but their Wing T was stopped by the Melissa D.  Heritage hung most of the game with Melissa until halfway thru the 4th......so I would say Heritage will be competitive in the playoffs for sure......depending on their bracket.   Heritage's offensive line is a little undersized......not much but enough to cause some problems in the run game against good defensive ballclubs.  I would assess Melissa's D-line and linebackers this year as better than Heritage and Paris......and obviously better than Springtown.  Melissa definitely has very athletic players at all positions on both sides of the ball this season......just wondering how they will perform against a team like Argyle.  They are still committing tons of penalties.......too many.......on both sides of the ball, but moreso offensively.

 

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On 9/29/2021 at 2:55 PM, regaleagle said:

Heritage(4-1) looked very impressive against an undefeated Springtown(now4-1) last week and pretty darn good against Melissa too.  Their 1st yr QB Caden Brown(6-1/175/Jr) is very athletic, accurate, and slippery.  He's already thrown for over 1,000 yds in 5 games and is averaging over 50 yds/game rushing the ball.  He has 7 TD's passing and 8 rushing.  They have some excellent receivers that know how to get open and make great catches also.  So I see Heritage only getting better going into the playoffs.    IMO.....Paris is too one-dimensional offensively against very good defensive teams.  Melissa basically shut their rushing attack down and dared them to throw it. They did score a TD throwing it......but their Wing T was stopped by the Melissa D.  Heritage hung most of the game with Melissa until halfway thru the 4th......so I would say Heritage will be competitive in the playoffs for sure......depending on their bracket.   Heritage's offensive line is a little undersized......not much but enough to cause some problems in the run game against good defensive ballclubs.  I would assess Melissa's D-line and linebackers this year as better than Heritage and Paris......and obviously better than Springtown.  Melissa definitely has very athletic players at all positions on both sides of the ball this season......just wondering how they will perform against a team like Argyle.  They are still committing tons of penalties.......too many.......on both sides of the ball, but moreso offensively.

 

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Edited by CrankyOldMan
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7 minutes ago, regaleagle said:

From what I saw on Melissa's football twitter,  WFAA out of Dallas has this week's Youtube Livestream of this game......so I guess it will be available for everyone, Huh?

Argyle's football twitter says the same thing......so looks like it will be Livestreamed on Youtube by WFAA.   7:30 Kickoff this Friday.

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10 hours ago, regaleagle said:

Argyle's football twitter says the same thing......so looks like it will be Livestreamed on Youtube by WFAA.   7:30 Kickoff this Friday.

I don't know how to put up links......so I'll just suggest you go to Argyle Football twitter and click their link or the link at Melissa's football twitter.   

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Okay.....thanks d0tc0m.  So there ya go, folks......just click the link above and you'll be able to see this game on Youtube Livestreamed on Friday Night......even if it rains, I guess.  In this particular season, the rain will be Argyle's friend.....just like LV's in the past.  Yeehaa and Whoopee.......rain actually HELPS Argyle now!!  Who'd a thunk, Huh?

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Not convinced the weather will ba a factor tomorrow night. The official NWS forecast says 60% chance showers and thunderstorms, but that's been the forecast from Tuesday til today and other than 10 minutes laste this afternoon there has been no rain in the VannalissaPlex this week. It will rain at some point between now on Saturday just doubtful to me that it will be tomorrow between 7:30-10PM.

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12 minutes ago, Texski said:

Not convinced the weather will ba a factor tomorrow night. The official NWS forecast says 60% chance showers and thunderstorms, but that's been the forecast from Tuesday til today and other than 10 minutes laste this afternoon there has been no rain in the VannalissaPlex this week. It will rain at some point between now on Saturday just doubtful to me that it will be tomorrow between 7:30-10PM.

In that case......there will be no weather excuses for either team.  Whichever team is able to execute their gameplan the best should win.  In a game like this, that's the way it should be, and that's the way you know it will be a game worth viewing.  My hope and prayer is that every player in this game comes out on the other end without any serious or season-ending injury.  It's almost that time......Argyle will be READY TO RUMBLE with the Cards in Melissa in less than 24 hrs from now.  It should be a fantastic game to watch.

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Great discussion as expected in anything involving Regal even though 90% of the contriburion is from him...just kidding around, Regal is one cool dude.

Argyle has to be at least midly concerned that they have only scored a total of 3 offensive TDs in the past 2 weeks. That happened against great Ds in Celina & LV but nothing like that happened to Eagles last year. I think they scored at least 4 offensive TDs in all 16 games last year. I've been told Arygle's D is the best in school history this year which seems likely, so that may counterbalance any struggles on O.

The key to Melissa keeping this game close or even possibly winning is to eliminate the 'stupid' stuff...penalties and turnovers. They have far too many of each this season although the turnovers have been far less the past 2 weeks against good opponents. If Cards have less than 2 turnovers and less than 7 penalties think they have a fighting chance. The 10+ penalties and 4+ turnovers non-sense will never cut against a great team like Argyle. Melissa also can't let Arygle jump out to a big early lead. The past 3 times these teams have played the Eagles were up 14-0 before they fans were settled in.

 

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35 minutes ago, Texski said:

Great discussion as expected in anything involving Regal even though 90% of the contriburion is from him...just kidding around, Regal is one cool dude.

Argyle has to be at least midly concerned that they have only scored a total of 3 offensive TDs in the past 2 weeks. That happened against great Ds in Celina & LV but nothing like that happened to Easgles last year. I think they scored at least 4 offensive TDs in all 16 games last year. I've been told Arygle's D is the best in school history this year which seems likely, so that may counterbalance any struggles on O.

The key to Melissa keeping this game close or even possibly winning is to eliminate the 'stupid' stuff...penalties and turnovers. They have far too many of each this week although the turnovers have been far less the past 2 weeks against good opponents. If Cards have less than 2 turnovers and less than 7 penalties think they have a fighting chance. The 10+ penalties and 4+ turnovers non-sense will never cut against a great team like Argyle. Melissa also can't let Arygle jump out to a big early lead. The past 3 times these teams have played the Eagles were up 14-0 before they fans were settled in.

 

Agreed on all points, Texski.  There are some good reasons Argyle's offense has been inept early this season......besides the schedule with Nolan Catholic, Celina, and LV......all three highly ranked teams in their respective classifications.  I'm pretty sure the Argyle coaching staff is purposefully "holding back" some key elements of the Argyle offensive attack in favor of greater benefits later down the road.  They don't want to take any chances with Scoggins......who is by far the Eagles best RB in their fold this season.  I'm convinced they are protecting and bringing along QB Robinson in stages also.......to give him the reps, the gametime experience and confidence, and to help him use this time to develop his skills so that when crunch time comes in the playoffs, he will be healthy, confident, and be more well-established as the offensive leader for this team.  He's just a junior this season and has never played QB at any level before.  But with Argyle's superb defense and O-line this season, we can all agree that this kind of strategy seems logical and best for the team as a whole.......for even more reasons than those given above.  I'm personally excited to see just how talented Jacob Robinson will be when the playoffs get here.  The best part of the equation is that IF some kind of injury DID occur to Robinson, Argyle has Sr. QB Zach Ohlemeier(6-1/185) ready to take the reins.  Right now Ohlemeier is reserved for a backup role at QB and plays safety on defense, but not as a starter......it just depends on the opponent and the situation.  They use his skills at safety rotationally during the game.

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So in summary........to Recap everything discussed in this thread so far, just think of it like this:   BOTH TEAMS ARE LOADED WITH PERSONNEL AND ATHLETES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL>>>>>>EVEN THE KICKING TEAMS!!

 

 

PS>  But I'll take Argyle's kicking and kick coverage teams all day long......and esp. on Friday Night Lights!!  :D  :football:  :thumbsup:

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On 9/28/2021 at 8:33 PM, BlackShirtD said:

Holding Celina to 0 and LaVega to 14 pretty impressive.   Go Eagles 

Yes........cheers for those games, for sure.  BUT Melissa is a whole different animal offensively than both of those teams.  There is no way that either team is structured with the same kind of offense that Melissa runs.  Melissa is more like Argyle's offense last season, but with very tall receivers.  Argyle was very successful with CJ throwing it last season......just like Melissa is doing this season.  Both teams run the spread w/ an H-back in the backfield that acts as a blocker/receiver and both teams can run effectively from this formation.  So it's not an offense that Argyle is not highly familiar with.......it's just one that is highly effective when all the pieces are in place with a very good QB back there controlling the action.  It can be very difficult to stop when everything is clicking......even against a top-notch defense.  

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16 minutes ago, regaleagle said:

Yes........cheers for those games, for sure.  BUT Melissa is a whole different animal offensively than both of those teams.  There is no way that either team is structured with the same kind of offense that Melissa runs.  Melissa is more like Argyle's offense last season, but with very tall receivers.  Argyle was very successful with CJ throwing it last season......just like Melissa is doing this season.  Both teams run the spread w/ an H-back in the backfield that acts as a blocker/receiver and both teams can run effectively from this formation.  So it's not an offense that Argyle is not highly familiar with.......it's just one that is highly effective when all the pieces are in place with a very good QB back there controlling the action.  It can be very difficult to stop when everything is clicking......even against a top-notch defense.  

Viewers of this game tonight will notice that both offenses look like mirror images of each other for the most part.  That fact will make this game even more interesting to watch.  I don't think Argyle will try to outgun Melissa's offense and get into a scoring battle......Melissa has too many tall weapons that Argyle's secondary will not be able to consistently defend against, and a better, more seasoned and experienced QB back there throwing it.  So I would expect Argyle to modify their offense and burn more clock with ball control tonight against  Melissa's defense.......you can run from this offensive scheme successfully if you keep the defense honest by also throwing from it at the same time.  The difference is that Melissa will try to throw the ball 65-75% of the time, while Argyle might run it that much tonight from virtually the same offensive set.

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