Dyson, Crawford, Potter dislike seeing familiar foes in first round

By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood High coach Ron Crawford and Independence coach Kevin Dyson (yes, he of the Music City Miracle and 1-yard short Super Bowl fame) both aren’t happy about having to face a district opponent in the opening round of the current 6A playoff system. 

And Brentwood Academy coach Ralph Potter isn’t exactly overjoyed about the Division II-AA format, either, where all the teams make the playoffs and have to open against a regional rival.

BHS junior QB Austin Winfree (11) and senior RB Chudi Echetebu (6) huddle up with the offense. (Photo by Peg Fredi)

BHS travels to District 11-AAA Independence for a rematch of their second game – and the winner could face 11-AAA runner-up Franklin in the second round. BA plays host to Pope John Paul II in the sequel to a midseason matchup. Both kickoffs are 7 p.m. Friday.

“We could all end up putting each other out,” said Dyson, the second-year IHS coach and former Tennessee Titans receiver. “I don’t have a problem with it because I don’t know anything else as a coach, but the kind of system we’re in has been tweaked each year for two times already.

“I’m not a fan of playing a district rival in the first round. I’d much prefer to play somebody less familiar to us. You might be able to take some advantages of surprise over someone you haven’t played, but that’s a luxury we don’t get. We’ve all seen each other, and now it becomes strictly about execution and turnovers.”

Crawford noted that out of eight teams in Quadrant 2, three are from 11-AAA and three are from Rutherford County’s 7-AAA (which also has two other teams in Quadrant 3). At one time there was a rule under a previous playoff system where you couldn’t play a district opponent until the semifinals, he said.

Kevin Dyson

“As long as we stay in this system, and it’s the third year to tweak it, I just don’t see how you can seed it and make it right and on top of it then pull your district people out,” the Bruins coach said. “.. How do you work it where you’re not playing your district opponent? They’re working on balancing the quadrants but I don’t see that happening.

“All I know is that if the 2011 Bruins are going to continue to play, we have to go to Independence and come out with a victory.”

Back in September, Brentwood lost at home 13-6 to Indy in a defensive battle. BA, meanwhile, will be facing a JPII team that the Eagles defeated 55-6 before their bye week.

“It’s never really pleasant,” Potter said. “I think in terms of our league we have a great league and system. One big downside is that you have to go back and play the same teams, and you end up playing a lot of teams twice in the same year. It does get a bit old.”

Here is a closer look at Friday night’s BHS and BA playoff games:

Brentwood (6-4) at Independence (8-2), 7 p.m.

So does playing a team for the second time in the season give the upper hand to the team who won the first meeting, or to the losing team that gets another chance at the victor?

“I think it’s very difficult, the familiarity, the magnitude of the game,” Dyson said. “The fact we won the first time around I think it makes it hard. You kind of have to battle the thinking going into it that you’re going to beat them again, and you have to stay motivated. … The only thing is it afforded you the opportunity to be at this point now and to play in the playoffs. That’s what I’ve been preaching all week – it’s a whole new season and what you do now counts.”

But if you’re on the other side -- the losing side -- the last time, you might have a different perspective.

 “To me the advantage goes to the team who won the district and won the game already,” the Bruins’ Crawford said. “You know you can beat them and you know you’ve run the table in the district, and you get to play at home.

“… But, when the playoffs start, it’s all equal except the deal is getting to play at home vs. playing on the road.”

Bruins defender knocks a pass away against Franklin. (Photo by Peg Fredi)

Independence’s defense has been strong all year, including basically winning the district title on a safety by virtue of a 5-3 victory over Franklin. BHS has also been tough on defense with a D-line led by Nicholas Coffey and Demetrics Brown, and it was a defensive battle in the first go-round especially since it was early in the season.  

Free safety Brandon Swayze (No. 3), in particular, “destroyed” the Bruins in the first game, and the linebackers are also aggressive with a defense that’s in attack mode, Crawford said.

“I think both coaches would say it came down to pretty much the same thing. We had some mistakes on the offensive side of the ball,” Dyson said of the first HIS-BHS game. “I think we’ve both improved in areas since then. The defense has played well pretty consistently for both teams. Our offenses kind of struggled on that evening.”

Dyson pointed to the IHS defense as the team’s top unit for “their passion, their resolve, their willingness to sacrifice.”

The Independence coach said the key component to the team’s success this season is that the seniors got to “play in the same system for consecutive years for the first time since they were little kids.”

Fan fun

Independence coach Kevin Dyson, who scored on the Titans’ Music City Miracle kick return, said some Siegel fans this season body-painted themselves to spell out "1 yard short" for his play that almost tied up the Super Bowl agains the Rams.

Independence primarily plays two QBs, Adam Thompson (No. 18) and Chase Swayze (No. 6), with Thompson getting most of the snaps according to game film. But Dyson quipped that he probably really has a “four-quarterback system.”

Asked if he liked a two-QB system as a receiver, Dyson said: “I don’t like it now as a coach; it’s just kind of a necessity. I think all the guys back there add a different dimension to the game, and we try to utilize those dimensions to the best of their ability to give ourselves the best chance to win.

“They all have different skill sets, and it’s hard to go with just one guy. And that’s OK. I’d obviously rather ball everything up from 3 or 4 into one guy, but we’ve dealing with the hand we’ve been dealt. We have three or four guys who have great skills in one area and not so great in other areas.”

The Independence coach said the Bruins are playing a lot better than when the teams met last, especially on offense. Senior RB Chudi Echetebu is running behind a rebuilt line this season, and junior quarterback Austin Winfree is a first-year starter for the BHS triple-option.

“I think they were young in the beginning of the year . . . and they’re more seasoned obviously than they were at the beginning of the year,” Dyson said.

“I think that is the scariest thing about them is they are jelling. This time of year is critical – you want to be on an upswing. Once you get here anything can happen.”

Crawford also has seen improvements in the Independence offense and says the Eagles have added more triple-option into the mix. Kicker Landon Foster, committed to play for Kentucky, also “continues to be an amazing guy with the things he does to help them win.”

“I think they were so solid on defense they didn’t need to improve much,” the BHS coach said.

Crawford, disappointed about his team’s loss to Franklin last week, noted that 11-AAA seems better defensively this season and 7-AAA is better offensively – when it’s usually the other way around.

“It’s kind of been our goal to finish strong,” he said. “We’ve got another chance, and we need to make the most of it … regardless of the outcome, not worry about it but just finish each play, play each play."

Brentwood Academy (8-2) vs. Pope John Paul II (2-8), 7 p.m.

BA has three seniors already committed to Division I college programs but two of them are out for the first-round playoff game. Linemen Graham Shuler (Stanford) and Woody Baron (Virginia Tech) will miss this week, after Baron re-tweaked his knee early in last week’s McCallie game and then Shuler sprained his ankle.

BA running back D'Montre Wade eludes a tackle in the homecoming win over McCallie. (Photo by Renee Yarbrough)

“I think they had quite a moment during the game last week,” Potter said. “Woody was already in the training room getting looked at, and Graham came in next. They kind of looked at each other – this is not the way they were envisioning it happening.”

Shuler will be back from his injury quicker and could possibly go if needed. But Jud Potter, Baron’s backup and the coach’s son, also has a sprained ankle and a couple of the younger running backs are injured. Outside linebacker Connor Johnson will also miss Friday’s game.

“Right now, we’re very beat up,” Coach Potter said Wednesday. “… It’s an opportunity for some of the younger linemen to step up and have the opportunity to play. We’ve had a good two days of practice with them.”

Wide receiver Al Thompson (Arizona State) had a big game against JPII last time, and the offense got cranked up.

Potter had hoped before the loss to Ensworth that the Eagles could finish third, where BA ended up again after a three-way tie atop the region with EHS and Baylor. With a victory Brentwood Academy would now travel to Memphis Christian Brothers for the second round, and then meet top seed Baylor in the semis.

“It’s kind of the same ole, same ole,” he said. “We’ve done the same thing the last two years now. We’ve gone to Memphis and played well after beating John Paul II, and then lost in the semis. That trip back has an impact on your team – even coaching-wise, your brain doesn’t function after you’ve made that trip a couple of times.”

Potter knows it’s a tough road ahead to try to make it to the state finals in Cookeville, but said it’s “not a bad path for us. It could be worse … We’ve already beaten Baylor once, at least we know what we would be getting into.”