PeeWee Game Recap, Loss 30-14

Last night, we had 5 turnovers in our home opener. Three fumbles and two picks. Both interceptions and a fumble in the red zone. Two fumbles led to defensive touchdowns. Talent-wise, we were evenly matched with our opponent. We just didn't hold onto the ball. Both teams moved the ball on the ground at will.

The opponent had a spotter in the press box that would radio the HC where our weakest D linemen was lined up and they'd run to that gap. I found this to be a little overkill for JV football.

We suffered our first blow of the night when one of our two key skill players went down with a knee injury after he returned a pick to the 5 yard line. We scored on a fade after the pick to tie the game at 6. By half-time, my knee injury kid was feeling "okay to go" so I put him back in at middle linebacker.

On the first defensive play of the second half, he was sandwiched by two OL and they popped his helmet like a bug hitting a windshield. Knee injury kid became concussed kid and he was out for the game. The half-time score was only 13-6.

Our first offensive play of the half saw me receive my first "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty of my 5 week coaching career. Our basic formation is a two tight end set with two 6th graders at wide out. We run 6th graders in and out to call plays. They are always off the ball and relative non-factors to the outcome of the play, which is good because they are way too small to be involved in dog piles.

We ran our base offense onto the field and told the QB the play but didn't send a 6th grader out as the second wide out. I said, "Woops we're missing a kid. It's okay 'cause it's a wide out." Ref throws a flag when he hears me. After the play, they call ILLEGAL FORMATION. Here is the ensuing exchange...

Me: Woah woah. What's the call?
Ref: Not enough men on the LOS.
Me: That's impossible, we run a two tight end set at ALL times. One wide out wasn't on the field. No biggie.
Ref: I only counted 6 on the LOS.
Me: You're wrong. There were 7.
FLAG THROWN.

Pretty weak, right? I thought so, too. Apparently, refs don't like being told they're wrong. Needless to say, it was 1st and 25 and we didn't convert the 4th and 15 we attempted on a halfback ISO. The game continued and eventually more turnovers led to two defensive touchdowns and the game ended.

We have something to work with as our offense is finally moving the ball with a revamped O line. We're changing QB's in the middle of the season, which sucks but is gonna have to happen. Next week is our second home game.