The Point After: Behind The Scenes Round I
Round One of the playoffs was as exciting as we had hoped. James Wood pulled out a close one against Loudoun County, and South County finished the night off by knocking off the Westfield Bulldogs 27-23...
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James Wood senior Brock Lockhart rolled up big numbers on Saturday with 266 yards on 34 carries. He scored 3 times, and his 85 yard run helped turn the game around for James Wood. The Colonels play Sherando this Friday in second round action.
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South County's Aaron Andrews led a comeback in Saturday's nightcap to beat Westfield 27-23. His touchdown pass with 5 seconds left in the 1st half was the difference in the game. South County will play Woodson this Friday in second round action.
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DULLES, VA - The opening round of the 2009 football playoffs was exciting, and for us here at Gameday, it was more organized chaos. I personally, along with our game of the week production staff, called 3 games in 24 hours. That doesn't happen too often, but it was fun. Two of the games we put on the air were instant classics, and the other was a blowout. Oh well, two for three gets you in the hall of fame in baseball, so we'll take it.
Here's a look at how our weekend unfolded here at Gameday for the opening round of the second season.
Friday 7:30pm: Madison vs Edison:
Our weekend started with Madison and Edison, and the Warhawks looked impressive. Madison ran at will against the Edison Eagles, and with the 31-10 win they also locked in a rematch with Stone Bridge this coming Friday.
Two players really stood out to me in this game. Eric Leeson at linebacker for Madison was destroying kids with his bruising style of play. Leeson at one point hit Eagle quarterback Levi Barber so hard on a quarterback sneak, that Barber actually looked like a fighter that had taken one of those haymakers on the chin. I'll give him credit, he stayed in the game despite being a bit woozy, and continued to play well.
Tavin Thomas was the other hero for the Warhawks, carrying them to victory with 134 yards and two touchdowns. He is a game breaker, and a player the Bulldogs better get ready to see plenty of Friday night.
What impressed me about this Madison team was their ability to neutralize speed with toughness, and it worked. Edison was beat up at the end of the night, and it was visible. The Warhawks have a legit chance to move on this week if they can put together another solid game defensively.
The key for Madison will hinge on their ability to score early, and stay in the game late offensively. Don't get me wrong, I love the smash mouth football that Madison plays, but it is not built to come from behind.
Stone Bridge head coach Mickey Thompson likes to defer to the second half if he wins the toss, but Friday, I think he should take the ball and tell his offense to go get a lead. If they play ahead, I think the Bulldogs will make it difficult for the Warhawks to sweep the series.
Friday 12am - The Work Begins
Due to the rain in the region, 5 games were moved to Saturday that we had originally planned on broadcasting. After each game, our staff goes back to the office to drop off equipment and coordinate post-game production responsibilities.
Those that visit our website on Saturday morning may not realize that by the time you are waking up to read about or watch the games, we are just going to bed. It makes it very difficult to get all of the video up by Saturday morning when we have a full schedule of games on that day, and that was the case this weekend.
Every game has an audio file, photos that need to be formatted into our graphics, and a story that needs to be edited. In addition, our video replays must be encoded from tape back into the computer in real time, which means each game takes nearly 3 hours to complete for your viewing pleasure.
With seven games each week available for replay with on-demand video, sometimes the actual work after the games is the most trying.
Saturday 6am: Time for bed.
This week, we completed our work around 6 am, and had 4 hours to catch some Z's before we left for Handley High School at 10:30am. The Loudoun County Raiders were hosting James Wood in the first round of the Region II playoffs, and we knew it was going to be a great game.
Saturday 11am: We Arrive At Handley
The great staff at Handley High School had our spot all ready for us when we arrived, and thankfully, the rain was holding off. Bill Stewart, the Athletic Director for the Judges, always treats our staff with class, and we love going to Handley to broadcast. It is truly a fun place to be, and what a facility they have!
Loudoun County and James Wood kickoff at 1pm, and in the first half, the Raiders take it to the Colonels. They led 11-7, and it could have been worse. Austin Campbell was impressive for the Raiders, and my eyes were opened as to why Loudoun County has been so good this season. He's a major reason why, and on Saturday, he put together another fine performance finishing with 239 yards passing on 21 completions.
Campbell was only outshined by one guy in the game, and unfortunately for the Raiders, he happened to play for other team. Brock Lockhart, who hit 1,000 yards rushing in the first 5 games of the season, put another big number on the Raiders Saturday. He finished with 266 yards on 34 carries, and 3 touchdowns.
James Wood came out in the second half of the game and played inspired football. Devin Stonier was a big reason why defensively. The senior linebacker hit Campbell on 4th and 1 and forced a bad throw. On the very next play, Lockhart took it to the house from 85 yards out in one of the great runs we've seen this season.
That swing in momentum was huge. Some have questioned the call to go for it on 4th and 1 and not kick the field goal, but I liked the call. You don't go from 0-10 to 8-2 three years later by just playing the odds. You have to take some chances, and the Raiders really did call a good game.
Loudoun County had one final chance to win the game at the end, but a field goal attempt by Calle Brown was deflected off the helmet of a James Wood player, and the Colonels advanced.
Brown is one of the area's best kickers, and I know he is probably taking the last play awful hard, but the game wasn't lost on that play.
The Raiders lost this game in the 3rd quarter, when they allowed James Wood to start to control the game in the trenches. Brown's kick was what some will remember, but Lockhart and that big offensive line was the difference.
Congrats to James Wood, who will move on to play Sherando in what should be one of the great match-ups this week in Round II.
Saturday 4:00pm: On The Road To Westfield
We cut down our equipment and packed it quickly at Handley, racing out of town (doing the speed limit), on our way to Westfield High School. The Bulldogs had a big game with South County, one that we were fortunate to televise live online for the Gameday Nation.
We stopped at our world headquarters in Dulles to get Richard Colven and Tom Whipple video equipment for their games on Saturday night. Colven was headed to R.E Lee High School, while Whipple was set for Robinson vs Chantilly II.
Saturday 5:30pm:
Our producer Helene Shain and I left our office to meet up with the rest of our staff at Westfield, but before we did that, we had to eat something. We hadn't had the opportunity to eat all day, so a quick trip to a pizza place in Chantilly was necessary for our survival.
We rolled into the facilities at Westfield at 6pm, just about one hour before we were to go live on the air. Chris Bourassa, our color analyst met us there, and our new production assistant Chris Barron from Centreville High School, helped us unload our gear and begin our second set up of the day.
Saturday 7:15pm: We Go Live TV!
Don't get me wrong, I love live radio, and always have. But there is something about doing a live television broadcast online that makes it more fun. The fact that people can watch our game broadcast live, with no delay, is really cool. Those that logged on with their MVP accounts were treated to a great game between the Bulldogs and the Stallions.
Westfield jumped up early with a Bryan Monticue touchdown run, but South County answered right back to tie the score at 7-7.
Then, it appeared Westfield was set to advance to next round as they rolled up 16 straight points to lead 23-7. A fumble, interception, and some big plays by the Westfield defense allowed the Bulldogs to take a commanding lead.
With the 2nd quarter just a few minutes under way, South County started one of the great comebacks we'll see this season. They scored twice with David Jordan taking the ball across the goal line from inside the 5.
Trailing Westfield 23-20, South County got the ball back with one more chance before the half ended. With 5 seconds on the clock, junior Oyinemi Iyebote jumped in the air and hauled in a hailmary pass from Aaron Andrews, and the Stallions celebrated with a huge score to take the lead 27-23.
50 points in total scored in the 1st half, and Bourassa and I were staring at each other in the booth as if to say, what's next?
In the second half, neither team scored. It became a true defensive battle, and South County held on to win 27-23. The Stallions became the only lower seed in the Northern Region playoffs to beat a higher seed in the opening round, and they will get a second chance at Woodson this Friday.
Saturday 10:20pm: We Head Back To The Office
Tom Whipple and Richard Colven meet us there to drop off equipment, and get us their tapes for us to encode their games. Meanwhile, Justin Waddle is hard at work uploading his games from the day as well. Waddle and his partner Derek Goode called the instant classic of a game featuring Brooke Point and William Fleming. Brooke Point held on for an exciting win in the Northwest Region playoffs.
After that game, Justin and Derek joined up with Barry Sudduth to call the Osbourn vs G.W Danville game. The Eagles rolled to a 56-15 win to move on to the second round, and Waddle had to get both radio games archived, and the video from Osbourn's game uploaded.
Saturday 11:45pm: The drive home, but more work lies ahead.
Whipple and Colven focused on writing their game recaps, as did Waddle, and I took off for the ranch to get started on a long night of production work. Helene Shain began designing the graphics for each game, and uploading audio files, and when I got home, I immediately began encoding our four games from the day I had in my possession.
Sunday 4:30am: Almost Done!
The James Wood and Westfield games were done, and R.E Lee and Robinson games were on their final tape. Finally, some rest is near!
After making sure that all games were working on our video player, I closed the door on a long day's work and the first round of the 2009 football playoffs. It was an interesting beginning to what should be a great finish to the football season.
This week, we'll broadcast 10 games, and every one of them should be worth the admission. We'll have two live TV games, one at Woodson and one at Sherando for you to follow, and 6 more will be taped for on-demand video replay.
It's 2am on Monday, and it's time for more sleep as we'll be at Osbourn Park Monday night for their 1st round game against Riverbend. Ahhh, don't you just love the playoffs?
Before I go, let me just say that I have the greatest staff in the world. Many of them devote so much more time than they probably should to make this thing happen. We have covered over 125 games this season already, and 80% of them have been televised.
Our broadcast teams travel across the region to get these games covered, and our staff works tirelessly to get the games up so you can enjoy them the next day. It is grueling work, but in the end, we do it so your experience can be the best around.
It takes a team effort to run this operation, and we have a tremendous team! Our photographers are second to none, our broadcasters are top notch, and our graphic design staff is really amazing. They all add up to one big finished product that in my biased opinion, is second to none in the marketplace.
I'm really proud of my people as you can tell, and if you saw their dedication on a daily basis like I do, you would be too.
With that, it's time for me to sign off. I hope you enjoy the coverage in Round II! Stay tuned for Gameday All-Access this week as we'll break down the match-ups and the big games coming up!
Hayes
