Give up eight turnovers, two safeties and lose a pair of touchdowns on penalties and what do you get? In Rolla’s case Friday night a 68-0 pasting at the hands of visiting Haviland after three quarters. The Pirates are not only 0-3 after the first third of the season, but find themselves having been outscored 160-8 in those three games.
As if Coach Jason Pierson’s squad wasn’t enough of an underdog heading into Friday’s contest, he had to go without his top three players—quarterback Bo Ferrell, slot receiver Koda Rich and tight end Demetrius Edmondson whom Pierson says is also his “best cover guy”—because of a two week suspension levied against the trio for having broken team rules.
“They ran and threw on us at will,” Pierson said later of Haviland’s effort on the field. “We held them once on their second possession when they got inside our 10, but other than that, forget it.”
Ruben Perez again did a stellar job filling in for the injured Ross Binford at quarterback; Pierson saying the Haviland senior “was definitely the best athlete on the field. I knew he could run from what I saw on tape against Greensburg, but I wasn’t prepared for his passing accuracy. He’d throw the ball 40 yards and hit his receivers in stride. He’d slide right or left in the pocket without any effort. He was terrific at throwing screens. I’d take him in a second as my backup quarterback. In fact, I’d just take him as my quarterback.” Rolla’s quarterback, Ferrell, is a converted tight end.
Pierson also praised the play of Tanner Stevens, saying, “he caught some really deep balls thrown by Perez and he murdered us on the reverse.”
Other than the running of Perez and Stevens, Pierson told The Signal the Dragon ground attack “didn’t hurt us all that much. I mean their backs—number 48 (Garret Somerhalder) and 4 (Tanner McFarland)—didn’t do much against us, but with the way Perez and Stevens performed it didn’t matter.”
With Ferrell suspended Pierson had to go with his center/defensive end, Hiram Olinger, at quarterback, hence the five picks suffered by the Pirates. The absence of the suspended players didn’t help his team’s mindset heading into the contest according to Pierson.
“We played scared,” he said. “I mean we had all kinds of kids in new positions for this game. We were just very tentative and Perez and his crew came out and hit us right in the mouth from the beginning.
“This was the most deadly passing attack we’ve faced so far and I hope we don’t see anything like it the rest of the year.”
Notes and quotes…
*Asked his opinion of the two teams after having reviewed tape of the previous week’s Haviland/Greensburg game, Pierson said his impression was of the Rangers being “more fundamentally sound. They found out what worked and then stuck with it as long as it kept working. Their line got off the ball really well. You could tell they were a little more experienced and they knew what they were doing. But Haviland stuck with them until the fourth quarter. They fought hard.”
*As for the offensive formations Haviland used Friday night, Pierson told The Signal, “None of their formations hurt us. What hurt us was we’d have Perez pinned down and then he’d get loose and be out the gate. We just couldn’t contain him.”
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Give up eight turnovers, two safeties and lose a pair of touchdowns on penalties and what do you get? In Rolla’s case Friday night a 68-0 pasting at the hands of visiting Haviland after three quarters. The Pirates are not only 0-3 after the first third of the season, but find themselves having been outscored 160-8 in those three games.
As if Coach Jason Pierson’s squad wasn’t enough of an underdog heading into Friday’s contest, he had to go without his top three players—quarterback Bo Ferrell, slot receiver Koda Rich and tight end Demetrius Edmondson whom Pierson says is also his “best cover guy”—because of a two week suspension levied against the trio for having broken team rules.
“They ran and threw on us at will,” Pierson said later of Haviland’s effort on the field. “We held them once on their second possession when they got inside our 10, but other than that, forget it.”
Ruben Perez again did a stellar job filling in for the injured Ross Binford at quarterback; Pierson saying the Haviland senior “was definitely the best athlete on the field. I knew he could run from what I saw on tape against Greensburg, but I wasn’t prepared for his passing accuracy. He’d throw the ball 40 yards and hit his receivers in stride. He’d slide right or left in the pocket without any effort. He was terrific at throwing screens. I’d take him in a second as my backup quarterback. In fact, I’d just take him as my quarterback.” Rolla’s quarterback, Ferrell, is a converted tight end.
Pierson also praised the play of Tanner Stevens, saying, “he caught some really deep balls thrown by Perez and he murdered us on the reverse.”
Other than the running of Perez and Stevens, Pierson told The Signal the Dragon ground attack “didn’t hurt us all that much. I mean their backs—number 48 (Garret Somerhalder) and 4 (Tanner McFarland)—didn’t do much against us, but with the way Perez and Stevens performed it didn’t matter.”
With Ferrell suspended Pierson had to go with his center/defensive end, Hiram Olinger, at quarterback, hence the five picks suffered by the Pirates. The absence of the suspended players didn’t help his team’s mindset heading into the contest according to Pierson.
“We played scared,” he said. “I mean we had all kinds of kids in new positions for this game. We were just very tentative and Perez and his crew came out and hit us right in the mouth from the beginning.
“This was the most deadly passing attack we’ve faced so far and I hope we don’t see anything like it the rest of the year.”
Notes and quotes…
*Asked his opinion of the two teams after having reviewed tape of the previous week’s Haviland/Greensburg game, Pierson said his impression was of the Rangers being “more fundamentally sound. They found out what worked and then stuck with it as long as it kept working. Their line got off the ball really well. You could tell they were a little more experienced and they knew what they were doing. But Haviland stuck with them until the fourth quarter. They fought hard.”
*As for the offensive formations Haviland used Friday night, Pierson told The Signal, “None of their formations hurt us. What hurt us was we’d have Perez pinned down and then he’d get loose and be out the gate. We just couldn’t contain him.”
