regaleagle Posted November 21, 2021 Posted November 21, 2021 Tough 3rd Round matchup again in Region 2......like always. But this year Argyle is the underdog against Stephenville, not vice versa. I think this game should be worthy of a poll......it will be interesting to see which team the Smoaky fans think will win. I don't do polls.....so someone will need to intervene with their expertise please. Stephenville is (1-4) all-time against Argyle......their only win was a 31-28 victory in 2017 in this round. Four of the five meetings have been in the playoffs. Argyle won in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Argyle also won a predistrict game in 2018. Stephenville has the offensive stats this year, but Argyle has the defense. Both teams are highly capable of winning out.
regaleagle Posted November 21, 2021 Author Posted November 21, 2021 This game will be held at Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield......a very nice stadium that seats over 11,000. Artificial turf, a very nice large jumbotron video scoreboard, a 25-second clock in each endzone, and a perfect halfway point for both schools. Argyle and Stephenville have met here in years past also. 1
regaleagle Posted November 21, 2021 Author Posted November 21, 2021 The main characters starring in this game for Stephenville on offense will be #7 QB Ryder Lambert(6-1/180/Jr), #2 WR/FS Coy Eakin(6-3/185/Sr), #24 WR Reese Elston(6-0/175/Sr), # 17 RB Tate Maruska(5-10/170/Soph), and #23 RB/SS Julian Irribarren(5-8/160/Jr). On defense for Stephenville, #42 MLB Reese Young(6-1/225/Sr) is the team leader in many categories. Also #9 LB/TE/K Corbin Poston(5-11/180/Sr) is all over the field and their kicker too. I would describe Stephenville's defense as impressive with size, speed, and excellent pursuit to the ball. They are stingy and have allowed an average of just 12 pts/game this season. Argyle has its work cut out for them to score on this bunch, for sure.
regaleagle Posted November 21, 2021 Author Posted November 21, 2021 Lambert is the key to the Yellowjackets offense......he does it all both running and passing the ball. He's rushed for 683 yds on 81 carries in 12 games......about 8 yds/carry. That's impressive for sure.....considering he has 2 RB's with more rushing yds than him and his passing yards are so high. Lambert has thrown for 3343 yds in 12 games this season, completing 70% of 275 attempts for 14 TD's. He's personally scored 9 TD's on the ground. Slow down Lambert and you slow down the entire Stephenville offensive attack.
regaleagle Posted November 21, 2021 Author Posted November 21, 2021 Coy Eakin is the main target for Lambert......he has 1595 yds receiving with 23 TDs thru the air. He's also scored 2 TDs on the ground. Elston has 1089 yds receiving and 11 TDs also. These 2 guys are by far the main two targets for Lambert and the Yellowjackets. Lambert, Eakin, and Elston are responsible for 45 of Stephenville's 68 TDs this season.......so about 2/3's of the Yellowjackets total scores come from these 3 guys. But Stephenville has almost 2600 yds rushing also......so like Argyle they are very balanced in their attack. But Stephenville has scored 44 TDs thru the air(to Eakin/Elston mainly) and only 24 on the ground. Looks like the Argyle secondary better be ready, Huh?
regaleagle Posted November 21, 2021 Author Posted November 21, 2021 It might be worth mentioning before you vote......Argyle's premier and heavily recruited defensive stud #99 Michael Madrie(6-4/225/Jr) will not play this week due to a leg injury sustained earlier in the season and re-aggravated in last week's game.......just to let you know. Argyle does have capable back-ups for Madrie, but he is basically a man on an island on the defensive side......and a man on a seek and destroy mission, LOL. He definitely will be missed this week.
CH76 Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 Argyle has plenty of talent and coaching skills to win this game. Eagle defense needs to keep pressure on Lambert which they are capable of doing.
WhoamI97539 Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 Did Argyle make a QB change after the Melissa game?
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 Yep.......moved QB Jacob Robinson #3 back to last year's position at safety. Installed last season's backup QB and all-state safety #7 Jett Copeland as the new starting QB. The trade off has helped the offense and had minimal if any negative effects on the defensive side since Robinson was a key starter on defense last season.
WhoamI97539 Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 24 minutes ago, regaleagle said: Yep.......moved #3 QB Jacob Robinson back to last year's position at safety. Installed last season's backup QB and all-state safety #7 Jett Copeland as the new starting QB. The trade off has helped the offense and had minimal if any negative effects on the defensive side since Robinson was a key starter on defense last season. Had Robinson ever played QB before?
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 So both QB's in this game wear the #7.......I wonder which #7 will be the winner. They are both winners this season really......regardless of the outcome of this game. But one #7 will advance to the regional finals and the other will have his season end when the clock hits zeros. This game will most definitely be a very physical battle as the players on both teams realize it's "do or die" time now. Up until this game, I think that feeling has never surfaced for either team. Perhaps Stephenville felt a little tinge of it last week in the first half against a quality Paris team.
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 1 minute ago, WhoamI97539 said: Had Robinson ever played QB before? Not much really......a little in junior high. But he has the athletic skills and did fairly well for not having much time to develop those skills. Ultimately, Copeland's speed, athleticism, and previous experience as last season's backup provided Argyle the opportunity to make this midseason change. Really it wasn't even a midseason change.......it happened after the 5th game of the season........which for Argyle is not midseason. Getting the rest of the team coordinated to the change on both sides of the ball was not difficult since Argyle has plenty of depth and plays so many different players all the time anyway.
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 I believe the new move-in from up north Alex Moeller #17(6-0/180/Jr) has now proven himself worthy to be the backup at QB to Copeland.....even though Robinson could be that guy......both are juniors. But Robinson needs to be the starter at safety now if Copeland were to go out with an injury. #9 Zack Ohlemeir(6-1/185/Sr) could be that guy too, but he's the other starting safety too. Then Argyle moved up this season's JV starter to the varsity #11 John Gailey(6-0/178/Soph) but he's basically a greenhorn just suiting up and has no minutes whatsoever at the varsity level.
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 To be honest......the most difficult adjustment has been for Copeland himself. He's just now gathering in all of those skills necessary to excel at this position at this level. He did not compete in offseason for this position......it was a competition between Ohlemier and Robinson. His position as an all-state safety from last season was pretty much sealed for him. In early season, Argyle did not use Copeland at QB at all. They rotated Robinson and Ohlemier and gave Moeller mop up minutes.
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 But since Ohlemier had played safety at FM Marcus last season and made all district there, that was a natural position for him even though he was their backup QB last season. So it fell to Robinson vs Ohlemier for the starting position and stayed a competition thru preseason and the first several games. Then Ohlemier was moved to starting safety when it became clear that Moeller had the skills needed to become the backup.
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 But the truth is that Jett Copeland should have been the QB from the start......for whatever reasons that did not happen. Sometimes a wealth of talented players can get in the way of the best laid plans......know what I mean? But methinks the Argyle coaches came to that conclusion 6 weeks ago.......to their credit. They were willing to make the moves necessary after 5 games in to improve the team for the long run.
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 Copeland had to change gears, Robinson had to get readjusted to playing on defense again, Moeller had to get better, and Ohlemier was probably the happiest to be at his starting safety position for the rest of the run. Now all of those adjustments are finally set in stone.....so everybody knows what to expect going into each week.
regaleagle Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 I guess y'all didn't realize what was going on over in Argyle all of this season, Huh? It's been an unusual set of complicated circumstances......to say the least!!
KirtFalcon Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 I'm going with the Argyle Gargoyles .....
WhoamI97539 Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 All in all this game should be a very good un'. Just have a feeling Argyle will take over in the second half. From what I heard Paris gave Sville fits just about all game they said the final score was kinda closer than what it actually was.
CrankyOldMan Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 (edited) On 11/22/2021 at 1:00 PM, WhoamI97539 said: All in all this game should be a very good un'. Just have a feeling Argyle will take over in the second half. From what I heard Paris gave Sville fits just about all game they said the final score was kinda closer than what it actually was. Edited September 26, 2022 by CrankyOldMan
micotrav Posted November 23, 2021 Posted November 23, 2021 Argyle has been in the high school football news a lot in the past 10 years, prior to that it was Stephenville for that prior 10 years before that. I think Stephenville has about completed their rebuilding decade and they are on the verge of going back to their glory years. I am going with Stephenville in this one, even though some may consider it a slight upset, others may be saying they are a higher ranked program this year and they should win. Stephenville 35 Argyle 31
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