EVERYTHING EVERGREENS (FOX SPORTS WAUSAU-WSAU) – Job number-one on Friday night is to win. The Evergreens did that. They've won five straight for the first time since 2008. And that's very good.
But the Evergreens had a 24-point lead in the third quarter, and desperately held on for a 6-point win, 54-48, over Kaukauna. What are we to make of that?
Nothing. They still won.
And Kaukauna's comeback was fueled by an unusual situation that the Evergreens are unlikely to ever see again. The team — players and coaching staff — didn't make an adjustment to a crazy Kaukauna offensive formation. In the fourth quarter Kaukauna switched to a five-receiver formation, which is unheard of in high school football. Call it a diamond-and-one. Kaukauna clustered four receivers on one side of the field and a fifth receiver on the other side. Kaukauna would throw a short pass to one of the receivers in the cluster of four, and the other three receivers instantly became blockers. The Evergreens didn't know how to defend it, and the diamond-and-one carved up the defense late in the game. Kaukauna outscored Everest 22-3 in the fourth quarter, and the game was in-doubt until a short kickoff was recovered and a final first-down was gained with under a minute remaining. Everyone at the game had the sinking feeling that if Kaukauna got the ball back they would have scored and won the game.
How should the diamond-and-one have been defended? I'm sure the Everest coaching staff will be talking about that. Since the backfield was empty, the right decision may have been to rush three and use an extra safety up high or put an extra linebacker wide near the cluster of receivers. Bottom line: it's hard, maybe impossible, to make that kind of adjustment in-game. You're asking coaches to draw something up on the fly and you're asking defenders to play out of position in an alignment they haven't practiced. The chances of a missed assignment would be very high.
Kaukauna made some mistakes earlier in the game that allowed the Evergreens to build the cushion they needed. Kaukauna went on 4th down deep in their own end, and the Evergreens scored on a short-field touchdown when they failed to convert. Kaukauna's defense played soft late in the first half, allowing Everest to complete back-to-back passes underneath to set up a 43-yard field goal on the last play before halftime.
The unusual fourth quarter meltdown does nothing to tarnish the achievement of Stephen Paoli. He ran for six touchdowns, had 313-yards rushing, and picked up the key first down late in the game that finally put the game away. He jumped from 3rd to 1st in rushing yardage in the VFA-North. He continues to have a memorable senior year.
Chris Conley
10.3.15
