Well, tonight was nothing short of exciting!  The opening minutes of the game saw the Lions and Bulldogs hit some big plays.  Tonight the Lions win was nothing short of special.  The Lions Special Teams and Defense  sealed the deal on Burch's night early.  It was evident that Burch had game planned for Daniel Mounts and Josh Bailey.  The Lions newest weapon, Ashley Vannatter  is quickly becoming their best.  Vannatter again paced the Lion scoring.  It was evident that Burch had no idea the Lions had such a weapon.  The scary thing is, the more experience Ashley gets -  the better he becomes!  If the Lions get in the playoffs, Ashley may be the weapon they need to make an impact on the Class A field.

Ashley Vannatter started the scoring by taking a reverse handoff form Daniel Mounts and going the distance.  Ashley's run covered 65 yards.  The Lions next series saw Ashley fall and just miss a pass from Joe Browning.  However, the 2 would hook up later on a 80 yards TD strike.  Ashley also returned a punt for a TD in the first half that covered 75 more yards.  Vannater had 3 catches that I can recall and 2 rushes.  Throw in several long returns and a solid night at corner back and you would think that Ashley could do no evil.  However,  he kicked a rolling punt which Burch recovered.  This recovery gave Burch life and allowed them to stay in the game a little longer.  Again this was something Ashley will learn not to do when he fully understands football and how it's played.  Tonight was only his 4th game,  so he has a lot of learning to do.  Sounds like bad news for the rest of Class A!

Daniel Mounts,  despite being the focus of the Bulldog Defense, again ran up his usual numbers.  I do not know what his final yardage was,  but he had 134 at half time.  I would only guess he was right around 200 again.  Mounts again showed that he can score anytime he touches the ball.  Mounts had TD runs of 60 and 35 yards.  Mounts also added several 2 point conversion runs.  However,  Daniel made his biggest contribution to the Lions on Defense.  Mounts intercepted a Burch pass that stopped a Bulldog drive early.  This interception  would lead to a Lion score.  Then  in the 2nd quarter, Daniel did his best Wes Ellis impersonation and pulled the ball from a Burch reciever and raced 35 yards for the TD.  (If you don't know what I am talking about ask Wes about Brian Ice in the Championship Game in 1995).    If there were any question about who the best RB in Mingo Co. was -  Mounts answered them tonight.  Mounts outplayed Jenkins in every aspect of the game.  I have been told Mounts is leading the state in rushing.  He has to be close,  but I don't know this for sure.

Joe Browing looked good last night at QB.  Browning laid several balls in the hands of wide- open Lion receivers that dropped them.  However, he did hook up with Ashley Vannatter 3 times, one of which went 80 yards for a TD.  Browning also connected with Josh Bailey on a pass or two.  In the final seconds of the first half, Browning hits a wide- open Brandon Mounts for the TD that gave  the Lions 40 points at the break.

The Lion Defense again played very well.  Burch had a good offensive line.  They got of the ball real well.  Garin Justice, Seth Cook, and Josh Mounts had a little bit more trouble shutting the middle down this week, but in their defense,  this was the best OL and RB they have played against.  Thomas Justice and Josh Bailey did a good job defending the option all night.  Gilbert LB's, Daniel Mounts and Brandon Mounts,  again paced the team with tackles.  Josh Endicott had another good night on defense.  Gibert's DB's played very well last night.  Although Burch completed a lot of passes,  they usually stopped them at the spot of the catch.  Jon Endicott, along with the Vannatter brothers,  Justin and Ashley,  allow Gilbert to take some chances up front they may not had risked a year ago.  Other Lions who saw a lot of action with the first group last night on Defense inclueded Erik Daniels, Brandon Robinson, Anthony Perry, and Preston Lilly.

The GHS OL,  despite opening holes up all night.  did not look at top condition.  I think a few of them were sick and banged up a little.  However,  it is nothing major.  They still did a good job opening lanes for Mounts to run; despite the fact,  that  Burch was playing 8-9 men in the box.

Special Teams were anchored not only by Ashley Vannatter, but also by his brother Justin.  Justin had a few long kick returns of his own, not to mention several tackles  on Special Teams.  Josh Bailey also got off several key punts that really set up the Lions in good field positions.  The biggest  - was a punt coming out of the Lion endzone that pushed Burch back to its own 45.  Bailey also kicked-off real well.

One thing I feel is worth mentioning.  Brandon Robinson was open all night long.  Burch did not bother to cover him on several occasions.  They evidently realized that we have forgotten about him as a part of our offense.  I know when you got WR's like Josh Bailey and Ashley Vannatter it's had to look any where else,  but you got to get him the ball once in a while to keep the team honest.  Brandon Robinson,  along with Erik Daniels, are the forgotten men on offense.  One game -  some team is going to mess up and leave one of them open and they are going to pay. Both of these guys  have  the talent and ability to make the big play.   We just don't have enough footballs for all our weapons.

The only weakness that I saw in the Lions was their kick-off team.  Despite Josh Bailey kicking the ball inside the 10 every time, the Lions just don't get to the ball fast enough.  Coach Carter is trying to let some of you young guys play on Special Teams; however,  if you don't get the job done,  he will put someone out there that can.

The Lions  JV played most the 4th quarter.  They managed to hold Burch to one TD.  Not too bad for a bunch of young kids against half of Burch's Varsity.

Burch has a good team.  Much better than I gave them credit for.  They got a good OL and some solid RB's.  Coach Ward said he found him a QB last night and I agree.  That kid threw the ball well.  We may see Burch again this year -  come November.  So don't think we are done with them yet.

There were several game balls that were easy to give and several that took a little thinking on my part.  Congratuations to all those who receive one and now let's get ready for Baileysville.  Forget about HOMECOMMING and think about football!