MAC NOTEBOOK/Week 3 Line play difference for Mac There is little doubt that the difference in last week’s Lawton High-MacArthur football game was that the front lines — both offensively and defensively — for the Highlanders won that all-important battle. “I thought we won the war in the line on both sides of the ball and that was the difference in the game,” Mac head coach Brett Manning said. “What people might not have noticed was that Braylon (Freeman) missed the third quarter while getting a couple of bags of IV fluid in the locker room. He was cramping and they had to try and get some fluids in him as fast as possible. “He was going both ways in the first half and he just got dehydrated to the point where he started cramping. But Caleb Kunze was the X-factor the other night because he stepped up when we needed him and he did a great job. He and Braylon were our tackles, Martin Ojeda and Jose Pagan were the guards and Cole Stamps was the center. That group really allowed our offense to operate effectively against a strong defense. “Lawton has a pair of talented ends and while they did make some plays, for the most part we did a good job. Kunze had a great game against (LHS defensive end D.J.) Ward; we thought that was one of the big reasons we won the game.” On defense for Mac, Dewayne Stanford and Derek Block played end, and Freeman and Darren Hart were at the tackle slots. Flags flying While Coach Manning was pleased with most phases of the game, he was a bit upset with the 13 penalties for 93 yards that his team was called for by the officiating crew. Three of those penalties resulted in first downs for the Wolverines. “Sometimes you are going to get a couple of holding calls; that is part of football, but to get offside football, but to get offside penalties and illegal procedure penalties is inexcusable and we have already talked about those,” Manning said. “We also got a couple of late-hit calls along their sideline and after watching those on video, I felt they should have been no-calls. That is a tough thing; you want kids to go hard until the play is over and sometimes you get moving fast over there and just lose track of where you are on the field.” Stats, stats and more stats Defensive end Dewayne Sanford has emerged as the tackle leader after two games as he put together a super effort in the win against LHS. Sanford was in on 12 tackles, including a pair of unassisted stops, plus he had a sack. That gives him 18 total tackles this season. His counterpart at the other end slot — Derek Block — added nine tackles as did Adrian Gaines. Both of them had three unassisted stops and six assists. Austin Payne had another good game, getting seven tackles for the second straight game for 14 total. Of course, the biggest tackle was the solo stop by T.J. Turner on LHS back Dejuan Wojciechowski on the final play of the game. “The film showed that T.J. was a good five to eight yards behind (Wojo) when he broke out of that mass of players around the 50 and you could see him gaining ground in a hurry,” Manning said. “I think if he hadn’t gotten him Sanford would have gotten him before he scored. Our guys really closed in a hurry.” As far as offensive statistical leaders, the clear rushing leader is Darius Graham who has now rushed 61 times for 351 yards and four touchdowns. He’s averaging 5.75 yards per carry. Mac quarterback Taylor Chasteen has completed 42 of 54 for 419 yards and three TDs. That works out to a glossy 9.8 average per completion. Remember, when you talk about statistics at Mac, their old “pop” play, which is basically a shovel pass, is considered a passing play, not a run, so that is why the passing totals may seem rather elevated at times. Mac assistant coach and statistics guru Mike Moore even went as far as to call the NCAA statistical director to clarify the rule. You will soon notice that many NCAA records will include an asterisk to explain the change. Chasteen’s favorite target is Quinton Paras who has caught 15 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns, including one against LHS. “That catch against Lawton was just amazing,” Manning said. “Q is a basketball player who can jump out of the gym, but what you also don’t realize is that he weighs 215 pounds and can run. That guy LHS had on him was a good athlete but when they went up there was just no way he could out-muscle Q for the ball. He just took it away from him. He’s a special receiver.” T.J. Turner is second in receiving with 12 catches for 84 yards and one touchdown , that a 27-yarder against LHS. On that play Turner caught a simple bubble screen about five yards downfield, broke two tackles and raced to the end zone for the game-winning touchdown with 1:08 left in the third quarter. Calling the plays When Mac is on offense, Manning is calling the plays himself, but it is a team effort. “He (dad Ernie) is basically our run-game coordinator and he watches the opponents’ line and offers suggestions on things that he thinks might work,” Brett Manning said. “Coach (Michael) Pooschke has a good feel about the passing game and he has some good ideas in that area. “When it comes time to signal plays in, we have about four ways to do it. Coach Moore, Coach Pooschke, and myself are all signaling different calls and we’ve also incorporated cards this year to signal in different information to our players.” Once Chasteen has the basic formation and play, then he checks back with the sideline for an additional call, or just run what was signaled. “The one thing coaches have to do is not be predictable,” Brett Manning said. “We try to self-scout ourselves and make sure we don’t get locked into certain tendencies. I thought in the Wichita Falls High game we did just that, so we sat down and did some self-scouting and made an effort to not allow that to happen again.” — Compiled by Joey Goodman Open the Magazine Back