SCPrepTalk

Not sure what to think of this game. Early Thursday night at the Byrnes game I thought Dorman might be in some real trouble against the Vikes. Spartanburg's defense was taking it to Byrnes. The amount of pressure on the Rebel QB made you think there must be open receivers but I didn't see many of them. Some of the best secondary play I've seen in a while. It reminded of the 2010 State Championship between Dorman and Byrnes. Byrnes' D was so tight it seemed at times like there must be 13 or 14 of them on the field. They were in the backfield, they were stopping everything from crossing the line and they were downfield blanketing our receivers. Spartanburg had the same impact in the first half against Byrnes.

Late in the game Byrnes found their feet and began to churn out some yardage which eased some of my concerns. My Rebel buddies assured me that they thought Dorman had a better O-Line than Byrnes and probably a better running back. We will see. Our O-line is better at pass protection than they are at opening up running lanes I think. Also, our ground game is pretty good at grinding out yards but I'm not sure if we have the break away speed for big gains. Spartanburg look well disciplined and will probably stay in their lanes/zones and be able to prevent big gains on the ground. Of course I'm hoping we will be able to average 4 or 5 yards a carry.

Spartanburg's defense will undoubtedly penetrate our pass protection and harass our QB and where as Micah is maybe a better scrambling QB than pocket passer, Hill is, I think, a better pocket passer. So that might spell some consternation for us but Hill is taller and maybe just a bit more accurate and he will have better protection. I predict that Spartanburg won't notch 12 sacks on us like they did on Byrnes.

The biggest concern for me is our D, especially our secondary. Our D line has been pretty good at stopping the run, but we haven't dominated in the backfield or downfield. Spartanburg's offense looked really good Thursday and would have looked even better except for Byrnes' opportunistic bend but don't break defense. The interception, forced field goal attempts, and goal line stand for Byrnes are great examples of why that strategy works if you have the right talent and coaching. All night long I thought the Byrnes D was just gonna wear down waiting for an offensive statement but they stayed strong all night.

Obviously Dorman needs to avoid the rush and exploit all the blitz packages we're gonna see. I think if we can establish the run early we might be able to keep the Spartanburg defense honest. Hill will have to be able to get rid of the ball quickly and accurately when passing. I'm not sure we should take many shots downfield early. I want to see us controlling the clock on our possessions.

I think Dorman will be able to win this game but not if the defense allows the kind of points that Dutch Fork scored on us. Spartanburg will be bringing a better offense than Dutch Fork showed and the Dutch Fork game was a shootout. We need to get some 3 and outs and force a turnover or two.

I will give Spartanburg the edge in this game, but I am confident it will be a contested win if they get it. Let's GO CAVS!

I think that our D will have trouble containing Feaster. Our Dbacks might not be up to the challenge of Scott-Scott.

The only thing that will alow us to win is the boys THINKING THEY CAN. Bringing some NASTINESS over there. Not DIRTINESS. Hitting through the whistle, making receivers pay, hard hits/tackles. Attitude. Like SHS did last year when they came and threw 2 up on us in the first 5 minutes. The Seniors will need to step up.

On a related note, it is funny watching all the Spartan High posters setting up the OFFICIAL SPARTAN HIGH-DORMAN THREAD and having only Spartan High fans posting. They will understand sooner or later how they messed things up

I think it's going to end up exactly how you said it would with, us playing and leaving it all on the field, us playing them knowing we don't have to see them again come postseason.