Column: Miscues must be eliminated in playoffs
With the calendar turning to playoff football, it’s time to look at what it takes to win in the competitive district playoffs. And maybe the not so obvious things that can either derail a team or propel them to victory.
Little things done right add up to big wins, and two of the things that do not always stand out to fans, like rushing and passing yards do. One of the biggest reasons you do not see many 12- or 13-play drives in high school are penalties and turnovers.
When a team is pushed back five yards on an illegal motion penalty, it becomes a first-and-15 instead of a first-and-10 proposition. This may take a team out of its comfort zone of running the football and force them into something they are not comfortable doing.
And when a team is on the move, a penalty can not only put an offense in a long yardage situation, it emotionally deflates a team and brings the energy level of an offense down while giving the opposition life.
Turnovers are something coaches talk about all the time and an untimely turnover can not only kill a drive for a team, like a costly penalty, can take the energy out of a team and give the opposition a needed spark plus a valued possession of the football.
In a close contest penalties and turnovers can be the difference between winning and losing. People may say they do not matter when a team obviously is better than an opponent, but even a winning head coach does not want to see penalties and turnovers creep into its team’s way of doing things.
Last week I was covering Avon Grove at Coatesville. And even though the Red Raiders had a definite talent advantage on the visiting Red Devils, it was impressive to see Coatesville play mistake free football with no turnovers and just three penalties.
Conversely, the Red Devils, already down 14 points, fumbled and lost a kickoff from the Red Raiders that led to another Coatesville touchdown, and the rout was on at Coatesville Memorial Stadium.
So, while many fans think it is just coach speak to talk about limiting turnovers and penalties, they are a very important component of playing winning football. The winning teams listen and act accordingly on cutting down on these two drive killers. The winning teams in the playoffs, when the talent level with most teams are razor-close, play mistake-free football.
Final scores, offense and defensive point averages are easy to see and are the most talked about, but the teams that do not kill themselves with turnovers and penalties, are the teams that value every possession usually come out on top and advance.
Just because they are not as widely talked about, mistake-free football is winning football. Especially in November.
