Wildcats solve puzzle of Cabot's tight end counter
El Dorado defensive coordinator Justin Wylie could write a book on tight end counter. Before Friday night's game at Cabot, few people would've been interested enough to read it. Saturday morning, however, it might've been a best seller, especially for Wildcat fans.
El Dorado weathered the Panthers' pounding ground attack and prevailed 28-24 to improve to 2-0 on the season. Cabot churned out 313 yards, all on the ground, against the Wildcats. A lot of the yardage came on the same play.
"We gave up 11 big gains. They ran 60 plays and 11 of them went for 10-plus," said Wylie. "Six of those 11 were tight end counters, where they were pulling everybody on that side and handing it to the tight end. It's something he's done for years. I mean, that's a base play for them."
It's a base play for Cabot but
not for most other offenses.
"Never been a part of a game where the leading rusher and the second leading rusher were tight ends," said Wylie of Panther tight ends John Wiens (5-85) and Ayden Shurley (5-60).
Of Cabot's 11 big plays, six were tight end counters with two going for touchdowns.
However, the final four times they ran the play, it netted a total of 10 yards.
"At that point, we were running mainly five front," said Wylie. "The last couple of times they ran tight end counter, they moved their halfbacks - split them out, which benefitted us because it cleared up everything in the box. The last two times they ran it, we should've hit 'em for a loss. We read it really well."
Wylie said Cabot ran the tight end counter exactly one time last year at Memorial Stadium.
"It's not something you see very often, at all," he said. "Last year they had given us a lot of trouble with halfback counter. Early in the game, on that first drive, they tried a halfback counter and we actually had a corner blitz into it. So, we hit it for no-gain or a 1-yard gain. Then, he started going tight end counter. You have to read your keys and see the contradiction in flow and the pullers. It took us a long time. There were a couple of times we'd have two out of three linebackers read it and the third wouldn't get there and the two that saw it would get washed out and blocked. But, we should've adjusted a lot faster. We made a few adjustments at halftime, not massive overhaul changes. We made adjustments on the sideline in the fourth quarter about reading it differently. You look at their offense, of those 11 plays, it was 145 yards of their offense."
El Dorado's Mon Trae Marshall racked up 16 tackles to lead the team. Tyrek Rucks had 11 stops with Calab Scott in on seven tackles. Duke Miller had six tackles, including one tackle for a loss. Gavin Heustis had six tackles, Jerric Jefferson and Jalen Reynolds had five tackles apiece.
Bishop Foster had five tackles, including an interception in the second quarter that proved pivotal.
"It was going to be fourth down on the next (play) and they've got a good kicker. You don't know it at the time but if he doesn't pick that ball and they kick a field goal, that's three points. Well, the field goal he missed off the uprights, would've been for the lead, later on," said Wylie.
"You never know how it's going to play out but it was big to not even give them a field goal opportunity."
Cabot, which did not complete a pass in the game, tried to fool the Wildcats with a halfback counter pass. Wylie credited Foster for staying alert and not getting suckered in on the play.
"He was reading the tight end. The thing about their offense, everything complements everything. So, if they're going to run that particular run play, that tight end is going to go block Bishop," explained Wylie. "It's extremely hard to read and understand that, nine times out of 10, he's coming to block you and on that 10th time, they lull you to sleep and he just slips right by you."