So new season, whole bunch of old kids.

First game of the season today. Lost 24-0. But not all bad.

Background: I moved up to JB level this year. This team struggled big time last year, coach was a disaster, only 3 returning players. Whereas I brought up 7 or my 9 players that would have moved up from last year. Of the two that didn't, one to rival org. and one to rep hockey. On top of that, 5 players brand new to football, and two moving over from other orgs. We have 17 total, 15 dressed for game one playing 9 on 9. One of the players from last year joined up just at the start of this week. He was going to switch to another org. since all of his friends played on that team, and was waitilsted. A week before the season they decided to come back, otherwise likely not gonna play this year. This kid was our team MVP last year, so very happy to have him back. A little rusty on our stuff, but I knew he'd pick it up quickly. More on his shortly.

Offence struggled in the first half, but Defence balled out. It was only 8-0 going into the 3-minute warning of the first half. Defence had several big stops in their own end, offence just couldn't make much head way. Biggest issues were not getting good blocks on the edge (WB & BB mostly) and runners running tentatively, not attacking the whole. Had a couple decent Wedges but only a couple first downs overall. Two fumbles on Reverse, each by a different pair of QB/WB.

In the second half, I could only hold the beast back for so long. Mostly because he and his dad who was an AC last year understood I had to go with the guys that were there all summer first. He'd get to play but would have to wait his turn. Also had a couple of my QB options banged up in the second half. Put him in, and he had a day. Unfortunately couldn't break a long one, just wasn't getting the blocking sustained for long enough, but he was dragging 3 and 4 tacklers for a few yards each play. Can't wait to get him up to speed, and hopefully fix out other issues up front and down the field.

On the defensive side, we got worn down on defence. Overall still played well, but two long runs given up put the game out of reach. A few too many missed tackles at that point. Again smaller roster, a couple key kids hurt, handful of brand new football players, and a pretty warm day did us in. However all things considered I was happy with the effort. We did not give up before the final whistle and kept playing. Good to see.

Got another brand new kid last week that never played before and didn't dress. He's got some size too him and looks like he can move pretty decently. Maybe another option at RG/RT and DT/DE.