Upon Further Review

Some Monday evening thoughts from a guy who is still amazed at what he saw out of R.E. Lee on Friday at Rockbridge . . .

Yeah, there. I said it. I’m amazed. Not shocked. Just amazed because, as R.E. Lee coach Dave Tibbs put it, his defense was maligned all season long for giving up the big plays and forcing the offense to score a gazillion points to win games. Maligned is an understatement. Reading some internet trolls on VirginiaPreps.com and hearing people talk at football games, you would have though this R.E. Lee defense had leprosy or something.

Turns out, they were just waiting for the right time to shine. Like, oh, I don’t know, like when a Southern Valley District title is on the line. On the road. Against another high-powered offense.

Perfect time to shut up the critics. Wonder what they’re saying about Tibbs now? Or what they’re saying about that defense that kept the Rockbridge offense scoreless? Hmmm. Just wondering.

So Dae Quan’ Scott takes the opening kickoff, squirts up the middle, then angles toward the left sideline for a 85-yard score (untouched, we should add) that completely took the Rockbridge fans out of the game Friday night before most of them even hit the seats. Awesome.

On the third play from scrimmage for Lee, Scott goes down and doesn’t get right up. The crowd holds its breath. Heck, ESPN 1240’s Jerry Carter said as much on the broadcast Friday. You could have heard a pin drop out there.

Then in comes Devante White who does a good job, makes some nice runs and leads the Leemen on a 21-play drive that ate 11:07 off the clock and added seven more points to the Lee side of the scoreboard.

Good on White . . . nah, scratch that. Great on White.

As good as White was, however, I’m going to hold off the coronation ceremony for a year. Sure, he was good Friday, but he wasn’t “tremendous” nor was he “outstanding.“ The truth is, he was very, very serviceable for a kid called into duty in what was the Leemen’s most important battle of the year so far. Sure, Tibbs made sure to let us know he was to blame for that interception White threw, but let’s be honest here, it wasn’t the greatest pass in the world and it went right into the hands of Rockbridge’s Jaqwan Briggs (and, well, all he did was return it 69 yards for the Wildcats’ lone score.)

So White’s performance in one word? Nice. White’s future? Now that’s “tremendous” and “outstanding.“ Can’t wait to see it happen.

But this win was all about the defense. And that’s no lie. The maligned defense that has read more that its fair share of ink (and internet bits and bytes). So much so that if the two captains, Kameron Coverstone and Dwight Godwin, wanted to wrap their paws around the collective media necks and squeeze the life out of it, all of Staunton would have cheered.

What the Lee defense did was totally unexpected. They did all the right things. Open-field tackles? Check. Putting pressure on the quarterback? Check. Turnovers? Check. Keeping the Wildcats out of the end zone? Priceless. Check. Lock. The. Thread.

That defensive unit did it all against Rockbridge. Want to call any part of Lee’s win over Rockbridge “tremendous” or “outstanding”? Then sling those words the defense’s way. You know, like Tibbs did.

“In one word, coach, describe your defense?“

“Outstanding,“ he said on a wet Rockbridge field. “Outstanding.“

Whoa, coach, we said one word.

Ah, go ahead and use two. After all the crapola Tibbs puts up with from internet trolls and some fans in the stands, he deserved at least two words.

And another thing: Why all this hate for White, Sacco? Some of you may be asking. Sorry to disappoint, it’s not “hate.“ It’s just a let’s-wait-and-see-what-he-does-as-the-full-time-starter mantra I like to take.

Heck, this kid looked great for a sophomore and proved everybody wrong when they said this Lee team can’t win without Scott. First off, whoever said that is a fool. There’s more weapons in this arsenal than just Scott. (Though, he is the most powerful. Hands. Down.)

If anything, Lee proved Friday that its defense can be a weapon. Or how about Terrell Mickens? How about Mark Anderson at running back? Heck, what about the Lee place kicker Dustin Burdick? All this sophomore (there’s that wonderful football word again. Sophomore.) did was split the uprights on a 40-yard field goal that would have cleared from 46. Then he adds a 22-yarder later in the game.

White is going to be a beast next year, no doubt about that. And with Mickens, Anderson and Burdick back, maybe the Leemen won’t be falling as far as some expect.

But in the right here and right now (which is where football is played so, sorry), the Leemen need two things if they don’t want this postseason to be another short one:

They need that defense, the one that stymied Rockbridge, on the field starting Nov. 14.

And they need Scott at quarterback. Sorry.

Yes, it’s time to lock that thread.

Any questions? Good. Let us continue.

Hey, we know how Wilson’s Derek McDaniel feels about good old No. 7, you know the kid that used to play quarterback at Buffalo Gap. (His name is Travis Morris.) And when McDaniel said the Bison, when the playoffs come around, will need to be throwing the ball more and will miss Morris, we were listening and nodding our heads.

Looks like current Bison quarterback Ryan Sheridan was listening too.

How much did Stuarts Draft need to end that four-game skid? If you ask coach Rod Bowers he’s going to tell you the Cougars didn’t need to end the skid at all. What the Cougars needed to do was to, oh, I don’t know, actually start playing like they’re capable of. You know, like they did against Riverheads, Wilson Memorial and Waynesboro.

They got it against Fort Defiance.

“I am proud of these guys tonight,“ Bowers said.

See, playing like you’re supposed to makes coaches happy.

Hey, the Indians are struggling though another losing season. That happens in high school sports, just ask Waynesboro football. But it’s really, really easy to get on a message board, hide behind some lame screen name (joethinksIknoweverything or something like that) and throw barbs at the Fort Defiance coaching staff. Hey, got a favor to ask you mouth breathers, why don’t you quit your jobs, kiss your evenings goodbye and, oh, I don’t know, COACH THE TEAM YOURSELF. You know, like Dale Spitzer has done since the Valley Turnpike was macadamized.

Just a thought.

I’ve thought about it long. I’ve thought about it hard. Which, no doubt, explains the smoke billowing out from my ears. But, try as I might, I can come up with no better way to describe Friday’s Riverheads at Buffalo Gap football game as, simply, The Game.

So let me ask a few questions regarding The Game coming up Friday:

1) How early will we have to get there so we don’t have to walk a mile to the school?

2) Does the person who parks the furthest on Va. 42 without going over the county line win both Showcase Showdown prizes?

3) Who else is giving up a night sitting by the door eating Skittles to go watch this game?

Seriously, I mean I love my Skittles. Love. Them. But I am gratefully choosing this game over eating my favorite candy. Here’s hoping The Wife saves me some, unlike the caramel corn she claims she made for me, yet I caught her eating the other night. Yeah, thanks for that.

Speaking of thanks (the non-sarcastic type): Has Staunton thanked the Leemen defense yet for shutting up the critics, giving the team its second straight Southern Valley title and suddenly making a playoff matchup with Brookville not look as dark and dim as it once did? Seriously, has anybody thanked them yet? If you haven’t, fix this.

Fix this now.