Following three weeks of competitive bouts against Northern Lakes League foes to begin conference play, Springfield’s wheels fell off at Napoleon to the tune of a 51-6 throttling.
The host Wildcats built a 38-point lead by halftime, instituting a running clock after intermission that essentially secured an easy win for the home team.
Though winless, the blowout defeat was hardly an expected outcome.
The Blue Devils had looked increasingly better throughout NLL play with competitive one-score losses to Southview, Bowling Green and Northview, respectively.
Those gains, however, quickly evaporated in a game that Head Coach Jerry Bell thought beforehand could have been the Blue Devils’ first victory of the trying season.
Instead, he and his staff were left largely perplexed on how things went so far off the rails.
“Our d-line played really well even though you wouldn’t think that with the score,” he said. “But we had secondary issues and we had linebacker issues. On offense, we had receiver issues and quarterback issues where we were pressing too hard to make plays. Our o-line was okay at times but they didn’t play great either.
“We watched the tape, we talked as a team and they all even said that when we got off the bus, they didn’t have any energy and I don’t have answers for that. We were super flat in pregame but I thought we were going to be okay because of the way we started off both offensively and defensively. But then it just snowballed out of control.”
Indeed, the start was their best of the season and something that should not have come as a surprise. Against Northview the week prior the defense proved quite stout against the run inside– on which Napoleon’s offense is heavily predicated.
Springfield won that strength-on-strength matchup early, forcing a punt on the Wildcats’ opening drive and getting great field position as a result.
They could not turn that into points however, missing a field goal try and then things quickly unraveled.
“We opened up with stopping them three and out,” Bell explained. “Then we got the ball around the 50 after the punt and moved it down to their 20 and pushed the field goal try wide right. Our body language and demeanor just completely changed. When you get into the next series for Napoleon, we get them to third and 13 and we’re in man coverage and we get a blown assignment on a two-man route and we didn’t cover the tight end and he’s wide-open for a touchdown. That’s where things just seemed to fall apart.”
That change in demeanor wasn’t a subtle one for the coach and his staff. They recognized things were much different compared to previous league matchups.
“When we were down 14-0, I pulled the entire team in because we just weren’t playing,” the coach said. “We weren’t attacking, we weren’t playing physical and I got after them and told them this isn’t the way we play football and this isn’t who we are. But things didn’t turn around from there. We fumbled twice and they capitalized on both of those fumbles.”
The poor performance was not reserved to just the offense and defense in what became a miserable second quarter. Special teams also let the Blue Devils down late in the first half after the Wildcats had extended their lead to 35-0 when they pooched and recovered the ensuing kickoff.
“I don’t think it was a called onside kick but we didn’t react to it,” said Bell. “We just let it drop and they recovered. As the half expired, they kicked the field goal and we’re down 38- 0 at halftime after giving up 31 points in the second quarter.”
Needing at least two scores to take the running clock out of effect, there was little doubt in the locker room that the outcome had already been decided. Nonetheless, Bell implored his team to put forth a much better effort at halftime to at least get something upon which to build leading into their Homecoming tilt the following Friday.
But turnovers again prevented that from coming to fruition in the second half.
“I got after them at halftime because this wasn’t something that we’d ever done,” he said. “The Sandusky game is the only thing that I’d say would be in comparison. We came out and I thought we were going to move the ball pretty well. We got a decent return and then we threw a pick-six to open up the second half.
“After we scored on a third and long play, we went with the onside kick because I wanted the kids to understand that I’m not giving up and we’re going to keep fighting. We got it and then the fourth quarter hit and we threw another pick-six.”
With so much going awry, there was no one individual or aspect to blame. The Blue Devils were missing their best player in senior tailback Brandon Langston, but nothing he could have done–and he can do quite a bit, including at linebacker on defense–would have changed the outcome.
His absence, or that of any player, is something Bell preaches time and again cannot be used as an excuse for poor performance.
“We had some new guys in some different positions and Brandon Langston didn’t play. But we have this next man mentality and we had great practice all week. It’s just very disappointing the way we performed and the way we executed.”
Part of the reason in not being able to turn things around in the moment could be linked to the team’s youth. The few seniors on the team have put together some valiant efforts this season, but they make up a small fraction of the team.
“Remember we have only six or eight seniors on this team and we’re still striving to get that leadership,” said Bell. “That is what I think we lacked on Friday was that leadership to take a hold of the team and try to get this ship in the right direction.”
“Our conversation was that we all agreed that was never going to happen again as a program,” the coach said. “We were not going to bring Napoleon back up because that’s just not indicative of what we’ve done this season. Even though we haven’t won a game, we have not played that poorly. That is what is mindboggling to me is how poorly we played and performed.”
The hope now is the Blue Devils have hit rock bottom and have nowhere to go but up. Even though the game was largely forgettable, there were some lessons to be learned.
“They have to understand the fact that they can’t turn on the brotherhood when things are going poorly,” said Bell. “They have to overcome the adversity and they can’t sit there and point the finger at each other and blame everyone else without first having some self-reflection. We do that as coaches, too.
“I do hope that the Napoleon game has been an eye-opener for them because we are a talented football team,” he continued. “But we’re not playing together, we’re not making plays together, we’re not supporting each other. Those are the things that just have to get rectified when it comes to playing as one. We lost that piece against Napoleon.”
