Middle School Football Opens This Afternoon

[1987alum]

Noah's season starts this afternoon against Newtown, who went undefeated last year, as usual.

After riding a lot of bench last season, he's currently starting at weakside guard on offense and outside LB on D. It's still amazing for me to see him as NOT being one of the bigger kids on the field. At 5-9, 150 he is the smallest, by far, of the offensive linemen.

That being said, the head coach told me he wants to move Noah to NT after this week. The kid who is there now is 6-4, 290. Don't ask.

Anyway, there's rain in the forecast - as there has been every day for the past 2 weeks! - which will make for a muddy track. I've watched almost every practice and can honestly say, the team looks rather weak, so expectations are low. Still, it's football and it's my son playing, so I'm looking forward to hearing the pads pop and seeing the bodies fly!

[Class of 61]

After seeing him for the 1st time in a few years, I'd say LB or DE would be more ideal than NT....of course, you could always "fatten him up" to fill that slot I guess.

[Tech83]

Invest in some quality rain gear.

Good luck to Noah and the team!! Weather can be a great equalizer.

[hammb]

Holy crap after seeing him I thought he was in hs as tall as he is. If he's gonna keep growing He should move to db. He's skinny too... If he still wants to hit people I'd make him a safety.

[h2oville rocket]

Noah's season starts this afternoon against Newtown, who went undefeated last year, as usual.

After riding a lot of bench last season, he's currently starting at weakside guard on offense and outside LB on D. It's still amazing for me to see him as NOT being one of the bigger kids on the field. At 5-9, 150 he is the smallest, by far, of the offensive linemen.

That being said, the head coach told me he wants to move Noah to NT after this week. The kid who is there now is 6-4, 290. Don't ask.

Anyway, there's rain in the forecast - as there has been every day for the past 2 weeks! - which will make for a muddy track. I've watched almost every practice and can honestly say, the team looks rather weak, so expectations are low. Still, it's football and it's my son playing, so I'm looking forward to hearing the pads pop and seeing the bodies fly!

Mike Pensinger, a pole vaulter at UT during my time there, doubled as a UT defensive back at about 5'7" and 150 pounds. Now you tell me that a 5'9", 150 kid (my size as a freshman) is the SMALLEST lineman in MIDDLE school? And there's a 6'4", 290 pounder there? YIKES!

[footballguy51]

In the lower levels, a lot of coaches prefer smaller, quicker NT because they drive the center crazy. The center has trouble reacting to the quickness because they are still thinking about snapping the football and THEN blocking. As the years progress, the centers get better and the skinny nose tackles that are quick lose their edge. They get pushed around too easy if they get blocked properly. In middle school, a strong, quick kid is an excellent NT. By high school, or even college, that same kid will be useless at NT.

[Falcon Fanatic]

Was just stunned at how much Noah had grown since the last time we saw him! And what a great, outgoing personality he has!! Tell him we wish him the best this year!!! Keep us posted on how his team does each week!!!

[1987alum]

Tough start to the season. The DEs couldn't contain and Newtown ran sweeps up and down the field for 2 TDs. Our QB threw a bad pick 6 and another Newtown sweep had us down 28-0 at the half.

Noah played well on both sides of the ball and on special teams, too (including grabbing a squib kick). But we were getting NO penetration on defense, in addition to our containment issues.

Well, the father of one of our players used to coach against me. He took it upon himself to go up to the defensive coordinator and told him, in short, he had to get some pressure in the middle and the answer was to put Noah at NT.

So that's where Noah went and that helped change the equation. He was in the backfield most of the second half and wrought havoc on the Newtown offense. The only TD they scored in the second half was a kick return for a TD.

I think that confidence helped on offense, too, because he just began serving pancakes. We put together two decent TD drives and moved the ball effectively until the coach put in the second string O in the fourth quarter.

All in all, a good performance in a loss against the best team in our league.

Next week: Log College, a team we should beat.

The added bonus this week? Noah's Uncle Kenny & Aunt Jill came out from Ohio!

[BGFan]

Had Noah been allowed to use his Nerf gun he would've been unstoppable!

[truth]

I remember smaller nose tackles in high schools. The lower weight wrestler guys used to excel at NT. My buddy Joe used to run down RB's on a sweep from behind.

It'll be interesting to see how Noah does this year! Hard to believe how big kids are at that age now..

[Pete Segaard]

Love that jersey color. Nice that that old opposing coach gave the props to Noah and then Noah delivered the goods.

[Falcon Fanatic]

Love that jersey color. Nice that that old opposing coach gave the props to Noah and then Noah delivered the goods.

Agree!! Glad Noah had a good game, personally!
Good luck next week!!

[1987alum]

Had Noah been allowed to use his Nerf gun he would've been unstoppable!

Ha ha! I'd better not suggest that.

I wonder what the penalty would be?

[1987alum]

Good news, bad news.

The good news: Noah played well at guard and celebrated his move to NT with six tackles, including a QB sack. Oh, and he was named a team captain for the remainder of the season.

The bad news. For a seven-game season, it's going to be a long one.

His team lost 26-7 Thursday in a game that they should have won running away. The opponent was, by far, the weakest on the schedule. But sloppy play will kill you ever time.

The starting QB was 0-for-4; 1 int (run back for a TD), 2 drops (1 that would have surely been a score) and 1 really off-target throw. They lost three fumbles on offense, too. They punted the ball to the other team's best player twice (instead of kicking out of bounds as instructed) and he ran it back both times, though one came back for a penalty that really had no impact on the play.

Oh, but here's Noah executing his captain's duties before the game (got a good picture as I was working the chains).

[Falcon Fanatic]

Being named captain says a LOT about his character and leadership abilities! GOOD JOB, MOM AND DAD!!!