PG Stats and Research Department Week 9 Berryville edition

[zarns]

2014 Records
Berryville 2-6 (0-5)
Prairie Grove 4-3 (3-2)

Last meeting
PG 35 BV 12 (2013)

Broadcast
www.pgtigersonline.com 645 PM

PG Stats and Research nugget of the week
Berryville has not won a football game in the month of October since 2008 and only one in the month of October since 2006

After a self imposed weeks exile the Prairie Grove Stats and Research Department is back and a day early this week!

The Tigers broke their two game losing streak against Gentry last week 30-13 en route to giving Coach Danny Abshier his 150th career victory. It wasn't easy however, the Pioneers used five PG turnovers to get within nine (22-13) in the fourth quarter before PG added a late score to give them the final margin of victory.

Berryville was beaten by Pea Ridge 49-2. Probably best not to recap that one.

Berryville last beat PG in 2006, since then the average margin of victory in the series for PG has been 29.4 points.

When Prairie Grove has the ball

It has become clear to me, that the Tigers success offensively has nothing to do with X's and O's or what the other team is doing. The Tigers offensive numbers mirror their 2011, 2012 and 2013 teams. They can run the ball when they want to and have had reasonably good success throwing it. The Tigers simply have to hang on to the ball.

Going into Friday night the Tigers are -7 in turnover margin in 2014 (For comparison, in 2013 through seven games the Tigers were +19). Prairie Grove has thrived in recent years creating turnovers, giving the offense short fields and scoring. The flip side of the equation is that they rarely turned it over themselves... That recipe has gotten a little out of whack in 2014.

I'm going to go there... the woulda, coulda, shoulda but didn't zone. The Tigers are about a dozen plays away from being 7-0. The turnover has absolutely killed PG this year. With that being said, the errors are correctable and if they can hang on to the ball, they will be a dangerous team in November.

We finally saw the real Bobby Catt last week. BC (52-433-5) ran for 177 yards and three scores last week en route to eclipsing the 1000 yard career rushing mark and looks to be healthy again which could be bad news for Berryville this week.

The Tigers are averaging 135 yards a game through the air with most of that going to Dylan Soehner (29-390-4). As I've said before, Soehner is all but unstoppable in a one on one match up and PG just needs to find a way to get him the football. Senior QB Ryan Marrell (65-100-922-10-3) had been very quietly having a very efficient season under center for the Tigers. Last weeks two interception game kind of put a damper on his season but one game does not a season make and I'd expect a recovery this week and next.

Last year the Tigers jumped out to a 35-0 first quarter lead and the gave was over. Unless Berryville plays way above their paygrade and gets a ton of help in the form of turnovers I just don't see a way that The Tigers don't score 30.

Since 2011 PG is 30-0 when they score 30 points or more. 5-9 when they don't.

When Berryville has the ball

In all of my years on this planet one of the things I've learned is lawyers, exes and stat sheets all lie. If I had handed you the stat sheet at the end of PG's game last week and asked you tell me what the score was, you would have said 50-0. PG's defense was that dominant. Outside of one 50 yard play the Tigers held the pioneers to 100 yards of offense in what may have been their best performance of the season.

The Tigers will see a player unlike any they have seen thus far in 2014. Deonte Payton of Berryville is quick and elusive and can lose you in a phone booth if you're not careful. Payton's biggest issue is the lack of support he gets from the other Bobcats around him. He will be priority one for the Tiger defense and if they can bottle him up and gang tackle their aren't a lot of other options for the Bobcats.

At 0-5 in the conference Berryville has little to lose and everything to gain. PG has given up some big plays in the back end this season and Berryville will have to take a few shots to try and stay in the game. There is simply no way they are going to pound the ball between the tackles for four quarters and expect to stay in the game let alone win it.

As always, the broadcast starts at 645pm.

[Bigbossman]

Great post.

[CoachS5055]

I'm gonna stand up for my guys in Berryville on this one. Coach Eric Daniel was hired in 2009 and really turned the program around, despite what the records said. In 2010, AT LEAST 16 sophomores started for the Bobcats. He had little talent, and when he finally got the talent he needed, he was controversially fired. Lee Atkins was then hired, although most of the town wanted one of the many qualified assistants hired for the head job. Atkins had an immense amount of talent and wasted it. He's done the same thing this year. He has ruined what remained of Berryville's football program. It's sad that once Berryville actually had talent to win, they had an extreme lack of coaching. The entire town of Berryville will agree with me on this one.

[Tigerdad2]

I agree also!

[zarns]

The biggest and best battle tonight will be between the bands.

The Big Bad Band from Tiger Land flat out brings it with an Ed Sullivan themed Beatles tribute... Berryville had best be on their A game.

And yes I'm being serious. I like the bands.