The Braves began the contest on Friday night with miscommunication between coaches and players; two early timeouts were called at the beginning of the game. From then on, it did not get any better as the Braves were guilty of missed signals, missed assignments, missed tackles, missing receivers, a missed extra point, missed centering ball to the punter, and missing opportunities to win the game.
The only thing that gave the home-faithful anything to wholeheartedly cheer about was the splendid half-time performance by the Cheraw Pride marching band.
Back to the gridiron. For those of us who did not know what a “Griffin” was, we quickly learned how to pronounce the name as the stadium announcers frequently announced successful plays by The Griffin. A Griffin is “a large species of old world vultures. The male is a combination of an eagle and a lion.” For many of us, that combination of an animal would be somewhat puzzling to imagine. This was the case by the Braves against the Griffin on the field.
Once again, the Braves led in time of possession during the first half but did not have any points to show for it. The Braves even had two interceptions in the first quarter but did not capitalize on them. The lack of productive performance by the Braves and the quick strike tendencies of the Griffin caused the fans to respond with frustrating comments. For many of the fans, the Braves became too predictable as The Griffin appeared to be reading the Braves play book. After surrendering one touchdown to the Braves, the Griffin continued to pluck away any additional scoring threats. By the third quarter, the score had risen to 36-6 in favor of the Griffin and everyone knew by this time that the Braves were truly missing in action.
The final score was 42-6. The question for the Braves is, “Where do you go from here?” The first five games were only tune-ups and preparations for region play. Now that region play is set to begin, the window for missed opportunities becomes smaller. One area of concern is the ineffective play of the line on both sides of the ball. Another concern is the confusion of the defensive backs, not being able to contain against the run and make proper reads against the pass.
Finally, there appears to be the lack of a demonstrative player to lead the charge on the field. No player has stepped up to take on the role of the general on the field and that has been evident in each of the three losses.
The Braves open region play this Friday night by traveling to Indian Land. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
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