Bmack's Astronaut High School football dynasty

[Bmack]

11/26/1982
District Playoff
Lake Wales at Astronaut
WAR EAGLES ADVANCE

Astronaut rolled to a 28-7 win over the Lake Wales Highlanders Friday night at Draa Field to advance to the Regional playoff next week. The War Eagles will travel to play Naples, a 24-6 winner over St. Petersburg Lakewood. Astronaut is now 10-1 for the season. The War Eagles were paced offensively by Scott McConnico. He rushed 19 times for 100 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also caught a 21 yard pass and had 28 return yards.

Lake Wales scored first with a 14 play 78 yard drive capped off by a two yard touchdown run with 5:16 left in the half. The 7-0 lead was taken into halftime.

Astronaut finally got on the board with 3:06 left in the third quarter. McConnico’s first touchdown came on a 15 yard sweep play. Kurt Aken’s extra point tied the game at 7. Ivan Wilson capped a 9 play 78 yard drive with a 1 yard touchdown run with 8:55 left to play giving the War Eagles a 14-7 lead. On the next series Dan Evans intercepted a Lake Wales pass and returned it to the Highlanders 28 yard line. A few plays later McConnico burst in from 4 yards for his 2[sup]nd[/sup] touchdown. McConncio’s final score came on an 8 yard run with 2:41 left to make it 28-7.

“Scottie played a great game. Our line blocked well for him and our fullbacks led the way,” said Astronaut Coach B. Mack. “We’ve used him all over the field this year but tonight we decided to just line him up in the I and feed him the ball.”

 

[Bmack]

 

[Bmack]

12/3/1982
Regional Playoff
Astronaut at Naples

ASTRONAUT FALLS TO NAPLES

NAPLES--Astronaut’s season came to the end a long way from home as they lost Friday night’s regional playoff game 10-9 to the Naples Golden Eagles. Astronaut finishes the season 10-2.
In the 1[sup]st[/sup] quarter Astronaut’s Ben Burke intercepted a Naples pass and returned it to the Golden Eagles 29 yard line. Astronaut could manage only 7 yards and Kurt Aken put the first points on the board with a 39 yard field goal with 2:12 left.

Naples threatened to score. in the 2[sup]nd[/sup] quarter, but Bogie Statham intercepted a pass in the end zone. After an exchange of punts. Aken connected on a 26 yarder with 28 seconds left in the half. The drive of 69 yards was highlighted by Junior quarterback Ethan Waldron. He completed 5 of 7 passes for 54 yards and rushed once for 23 yards.

Aken’s third field goal came with 8:58 left in the game and was the culmination of a 16 play 72 yard drive that took 9 minutes off the clock. It seemed as if the War Eagles had control. However, Naples passing game began clicking and they connected on a 13 yard touchdown pass with 6:09 left. The lead was cut to 9-7. The War Eagles couldn’t move the ball and Naples took over on its own 42 with 4:30 left. Faced with a 4[sup]th[/sup] and 4 and the season in the balance Naples connected on an 8 yard pass to pick up the firt down. On the next play a long pass moved the ball the Astronaut 5 yard line. Astronaut’s defense held, but Naples kicked a 21 yard field goal to take a 10-7 lead.

With 1:51 left and no timeouts Waldron began to lead his team in hopes of a winning score. He connected on a 15 yard pass to Greg Pelham after an incompletion on first down. Waldron then picked up 3 yards on a scramble. With 53 seconds remaining, his pass was intercepted however ending the War Eagles season.

“This kind of hurts. It’s the second year in a row we’ve squandered a two score 4[sup]th[/sup] quarter lead,” Astronaut Coach B. Mack said. “I put the blame all on myself. I had a feeling settling for field goals all game was going to come back and haunt us. I’m still proud of these guys. They got War Eagle football back into the playoffs.”

A year ago the War Eagles season ending with a 25-21 loss to Titusville for the district championship. Astronaut lead 21-10 with about 9 minutes to play in that game.

 

[Bmack]

 

[Bmack]

REEL TALK:
Since Titusville reely beat Astronaut in the regular season finale, it was the Terriers that went onto the playoffs. They started out with a 33-0 win over Lake Wales at home (Draa field—Titusville and Astronaut shared the same field until sometime in around 2007). In the next round they traveled to Naples and won 21-14. In the state seminfinals, they went to Homestead and won 29-0.

Titusville hosted the State Championship game in Class 3A against Kissimmee Osceola. They won that game 33-0. Gerald White had 139 yards and a touchdown on 12 rushes for the Terriers. White went on to play at University of Michigan from 1983 to 1986. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_White
He rushed for 1,296 yards and 12 touchdowns as a fullback in 4 years at Michigan. He also caught 64 passes for 564 yards and 7 touchdowns. He played on some pretty successful Michigan teams, amassing a 23-3-1 record in 1985 and 1986 along with quarterback Jim Harbaugh.

 

[Bmack]

Long videos, haven't watched them.

Titusville vs. Lake Wales


Titusville at Naples (Note hideous all yellow uniforms)


Titusville vs. Kissimmee State Championship

 

[Bmack]

1982 Season Results

 

[Bmack]

1982 Team Stats

 

[Bmack]

1982 Individual Offense

 

[Bmack]

1982 Individual Defense

 

[Bmack]

1982 All-State and Scholarships
[xtable=562x@]
{tbody}
{tr}
{td=64x@}YEAR{/td}
{td=137x@}PLAYER{/td}
{td=82x@}CLASS{/td}
{td=48x@}Pos{/td}
{td=97x@}All-State{/td}
{td=134x@}College Scholarship{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1982{/td}
{td}McConico, Scott{/td}
{td}Senior{/td}
{td}WR{/td}
{td}1st Team{/td}
{td}Florida{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1982{/td}
{td}Burke, Ben{/td}
{td}Senior{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td}3rd Team{/td}
{td}Georgia Southern{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1982{/td}
{td}Waldron, Ethan{/td}
{td}Junior{/td}
{td}QB{/td}
{td}3rd Team{/td}
{td}-{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1982{/td}
{td}Ledford, Mark{/td}
{td}Senior{/td}
{td}WR{/td}
{td}Hon. Mention{/td}
{td}Carson-Newman{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1982{/td}
{td}Pelham, Greg{/td}
{td}Senior{/td}
{td}TE{/td}
{td}-{/td}
{td}Valdosta State{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1982{/td}
{td}Evans, Danny{/td}
{td}Senior{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td}-{/td}
{td}Carson-Newman{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1982{/td}
{td}Marshall, Wendell{/td}
{td}Senior{/td}
{td}FB{/td}
{td}-{/td}
{td}Lees McRae{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]

 

[Bmack]

Tracking Dynasty vs. reel life
[xtable=414x@]
{tbody}
{tr}
{td=64x@} {/td}
{td=colspan:3|92x@}Re-enacted{/td}
{td=colspan:3|94x@}Reel Life{/td}
{td=colspan:3|164x@}Difference{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}Year{/td}
{td=39x@}W{/td}
{td=39x@}L{/td}
{td=14x@}T{/td}
{td=42x@}W{/td}
{td=22x@}L{/td}
{td=30x@}T{/td}
{td}w+/-{/td}
{td}L+/1{/td}
{td}T +/-{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1972{/td}
{td=39x@}4{/td}
{td=39x@}6{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}3{/td}
{td=22x@}5{/td}
{td=30x@}2{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}-2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1973{/td}
{td=39x@}11{/td}
{td=39x@}1{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}9{/td}
{td=22x@}2{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}-1{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1974{/td}
{td=39x@}9{/td}
{td=39x@}1{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}9{/td}
{td=22x@}1{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1975{/td}
{td=39x@}11{/td}
{td=39x@}1{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}9{/td}
{td=22x@}2{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}-1{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1976{/td}
{td=39x@}13{/td}
{td=39x@}1{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}10{/td}
{td=22x@}3{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}-2{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1977{/td}
{td=39x@}11{/td}
{td=39x@}1{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}9{/td}
{td=22x@}1{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1978{/td}
{td=39x@}8{/td}
{td=39x@}2{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}8{/td}
{td=22x@}2{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1979{/td}
{td=39x@}11{/td}
{td=39x@}2{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}10{/td}
{td=22x@}3{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}-1{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1980{/td}
{td=39x@}7{/td}
{td=39x@}3{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}7{/td}
{td=22x@}3{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1981{/td}
{td=39x@}8{/td}
{td=39x@}2{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}8{/td}
{td=22x@}2{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td=64x@}1982{/td}
{td=39x@}10{/td}
{td=39x@}2{/td}
{td=14x@}0{/td}
{td=42x@}7{/td}
{td=22x@}3{/td}
{td=30x@}0{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}-1{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Total{/td}
{td}93{/td}
{td}20{/td}
{td}0{/td}
{td}82{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}-5{/td}
{td}-2{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]

 

[Bmack]

1982 was notable for its November thrills. November 11, Space Shuttle Columbia launched for the first operational mission of a space shuttle, and became the first shuttle to carry four astronauts. Nov 20[sup]th[/sup] Cal beats Stanford on “The Play.” And on November 30[sup]th[/sup] Michael Jackson releases Thriller, the best selling album of all time.

The Astronaut football team produced some November thrills as well. A come from behind victory over rival Titusville produced a return trip to the playoffs and a first round victory. It wasn’t until December that things fell apart and the War Eagles lose a 1 point 2[sup]nd[/sup] round decision. Despite the loss, Coach Mack and the War Eagles won’t stop believing that a championship will soon come their way…

 

[Bmack]

SEPTEMBER 1983
SPACE COAST FOOTBALL SEASON PREVIEW
ASTRONAUT WAR EAGLES
HEAD COACH: B. MACK (12[sup]th[/sup] year, 103-22, 7 district championships)
CLASS/DISTRICT: 3A, 9 (new alignment)
1982 RECORD: 10-2 (District, Regional Champion)
Roster Size: 51 (15 seniors, 31 juniors, 4 sophomores, 1 freshman)

ASTRONAUT EYES STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

If you listen to Astronaut Coach B. Mack, his War Eagles should win a state title every year, at least that’s the goal. “We always start the season with the team goals of winning the district and then advancing through the playoffs to win the state championship. It just hasn’t happened yet,” says Mack.

Yet is the key word. In his 11[sup]th[/sup] season, he has guided the War Eagles to the best overall record of any school in the State of Florida, 103-22, but no state titles. They came close in 1976 when current NFL standout Cris Collinsworth got the War Eagles to within a field goal of championship. “Those early years laid the foundation for success, “says Mack. “We got so far so fast as a new school, we sort of said to ourselves as a coaching staff that there was no reason we couldn’t keep challenging for that prize.” The War Eagles made it to the second round of the playoffs a year ago but fell to Naples 10-9.

This year’s edition of Astronaut football will count on the leadership of returning Senior quarterback Ethan Waldron. In 12 games last year Waldron threw for 1,230 yards and 10 touchdowns, while rushing for 288 yards and 3 scores. His backups will be Sophomores Keith Mack and Clark Cook. Mack is the 2[sup]nd[/sup] eldest son of Coach B. Mack. “No question he is our leader. We rise and fall with him.”

Coach Mack’s oldest son, Junior Mathew, will be the starting tailback. Junior Steve Godfrey will be the starting fullback. Both Godfrey and Mack saw limited duty last year, playing behind a trio of seniors who got the bulk of the carries. Junior Bogie Statham is expected to lead the way at receiver.

On the defensive side of the ball, Coach Mack is excited about the defensive tackle tandem of Frankie Glenn and David Montgomery. “They are the keys to stopping the run and getting pressure on the quarterback.” Other leaders of the defense are Benny Boyd, a junior linebacker and son of defensive coordinator Ben Boyd, and Safety Dwayne Glover. Mack says Glover has the most athletic ability on the team, and will also play receiver.

 

[Bmack]

1983 Schedule
[xtable=267x@]
{tbody}
{tr}
{td=36x@}Year{/td}
{td=32x@}Site{/td}
{td=77x@}Date{/td}
{td=122x@}Opponent{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}A{/td}
{td}9/9/1983{/td}
{td}Sanford Seminole{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}H{/td}
{td}9/16/1983{/td}
{td}New Smyrna{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}H{/td}
{td}9/23/1983{/td}
{td}Ft. Pierce Central{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}H{/td}
{td}9/30/1983{/td}
{td}Rockledge{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}H{/td}
{td}10/7/1983{/td}
{td}Satellite{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}A{/td}
{td}10/14/1983{/td}
{td}Palm Bay{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}A{/td}
{td}10/21/1983{/td}
{td}Eau Gallie{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}A{/td}
{td}10/28/1983{/td}
{td}Orlando Colonial{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}H{/td}
{td}11/4/1983{/td}
{td}Cocoa{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}1983{/td}
{td}A{/td}
{td}11/19/1983{/td}
{td}Titusville{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]

District games in bold.

 

[Bmack]

I remember as a youngster newly moved to Florida, my uncle was on the freshman team or something like that at Astronaut. One of the more vivid memories that’s stuck in my mind is him telling me of these two big lineman that the War Eagles varsity had. He said one had his hair cut like Mr. T on the A-Team. That was Frankie Glenn. Then when I got to Astronaut and got my hands on a football game program, there he was low and behold in the All-State pictures with his Mohawk.

Classmates.com comes through again with this yearbook pic from 1983:

 

[Travis7401]

That's a big dude

Excited for this season, with some key players returning looks like it could be one of your better teams in a few years. At some point when I have time I'll watch at least that 1982 state championship game. Love watching old high school games to see different schemes.

This is easily the best dynasty ever.

 

[Bmack]

Montgomery (72) and Glenn (74) next to a human adult in 1984 (senior year) as co-captains. The human adult ref does not seem to be a twink hisself.

 

[Bmack]

Those jersey's they are wearing in that pic became the Freshman and JV jersey's I wore when I got to school in '90. I think I was 79 doe, so I didn't wear that exact jersey.

 

[Bmack]

9/9/1983
Astronaut at Sanford Seminole

ASTRONAUT KICKS SANFORD SEMINOLE

SANFORD--Kurt Aken kicked 4 field goals to provide all the offense the Astronaut War Eagles would need to overcome the Sanford Seminole Seminoles, 12-7 Friday night in the season opener for both teams. The defenses ruled the day for both sides as the War Eagles outgained the Seminoles 182 to 155.

Aken’s first field goal came with 3:43 left in the 1[sup]st[/sup] quarter. The Junior converted a 38 yarder to give the War Eagles a 3-0 lead. On the next possession, Seminole fumbled on the first play and Astronaut’s Todd Bynum pounced on the ball at the 6 yard line. Astronaut actually lost 1 yard in 3 plays and had to settle for a 24 yard Aken conversion, making it 6-0.

The 2[sup]nd[/sup] quarter saw a 27 yard Aken field goal with just under a minute remaining, giving the War Eagles a 9-0 halftime lead.

“It felt like last year’s playoff loss,” commented Astronaut Coach B. Mack. “I hate settling for field goals but when our defense is playing so well I think it’s important to get points on the board and keep the pressure on.” Mack was referring to his team’s 2[sup]nd[/sup] round playoff exit a year ago to Naples. In that game Aken booted 3 field goals to take a 9-0 lead into the 4[sup]th[/sup] quarter only to lose 10-9.

In the third quarter, Aken’s 21 yard kick made it 12-0. Sanford finally got on the board with a 20 yard touchdown pass with 2:01 remaining in the game. Trailing 12-7, the Seminoles attempted and recovered an onside kick, setting them up for a chance for a winning touchdown. They drove to the Astronaut 18 yard line with 54 seconds left. On 4[sup]th[/sup] and 1, the Seminoles were stuffed short and turned the ball over. Astronaut ran out the clock at that point.

“Our run defense was great all night,” said Mack. The Seminoles gained 15 yards on 21 carries. Mack had high praise for the play of junior defensive tackle Frankie Glenn and senior end Todd Bynum. “They were in the Sanford backfield all night.” Glenn had 2 sacks and 6 tackles for loss while Bynum had a sack and 3 tackles for loss.

 

[Bmack]

 

[Bmack]

REEL TALK:
This was a 14-6 win for the War Eagles, so pretty close in score. They ran for 228 yards however, I could not replicate that success. They only threw for 10 yards on just 6 pass attempts. Sanford was held to 150 yards total, so that was in line. Steve Godfrey ran for 90 yards on 11 carries and Bogie Statham had 72 yards on 11 carries. Sanford was in the lead 6-0 at halftime. Statham scored on a 34 yard run in the third and Godfrey on a 6 yard run in the 4[sup]th[/sup].

 

[Bmack]

9/16/1983
New Smyrna Beach at Astronaut

ASTRONAUT BASHES BARACUDAS

The clashes with the New Smyrna Beach Barracudas were a staple of the 1970’s for Astronaut High School. After a 4 year hiatus, the rivalry renewed Friday night at Draa Field. New Smyrna may be rethinking the decision after the War Eagles blasted them 31-7.

After settling for field goals a week ago, the War Eagle’s offense got going under the direction of Senior quarterback Ethan Waldron. He completed 7 of 12 passes for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also added 54 yards on the ground on just 6 rushes including a scoring run.

After a scoreless 1[sup]st[/sup] quarter, Junior fullback Steve Godfrey broke the ice with a 1 yard touchdown run early in the 2[sup]nd[/sup]. The 5 play 57 yard drive was highlighted by a 20 yard pass from Waldron to running back Matthew Mack and a 34 yard run by Senior running back Chester Guinyard. Guinyard paced all rushers with 64 yards on 11 carries.

The Cuda’s answered with a 2 yard touchdown run with 4:10 left in the half to tie the game 7-7. Waldron then went to work directing a 7 play 76 yard drive which culminated with his 23 yard touchdown pass to Bogie Statham with just 37 seconds left in the half.

With about 4 minutes left in the 3[sup]rd[/sup], Mack took a screen pass from Waldron and followed his blockers to a 19 yard touchdown, making it 21-7. The scoring drive spanned 73 yards over 8 plays. With 7:09 left in the 4[sup]th[/sup], Waldron’s got his rushing touchdown with a 5 yard bootleg capping an 11 play 50 yard drive which consumed five and a half minutes. Kurt Aken added a 37 yard field goal with 2:03 left to finish the scoring.

“I’m glad the offense finally got rolling and a lot of kids had good nights,” said Astronaut coach B. Mack. “But man I like what I see from our defense so far this year. If they can keep playing like this we’ll be in every game.” The War Eagle defense allowed just 69 yards of total offense and 4 first downs.

 

[Bmack]

 

[Bmack]

REEL TALK:
This was a 13-0 win for Astronaut. I guess the imported New Smyrna team builder team hasn’t been recruiting too well over the years, since I put up 31 points on increased difficulty. In the reel game the Astronaut defense limited New Smyrna to 108 yards. Godfrey and Statham once again each had a rushing touchdown. Godfrey’s a 19 yard run in the 2[sup]nd[/sup] quarter. He is beginning to establish himself as the go to guy in the running game with 13 carries for 88 yards. I think one of my frustrations so far in this dynasty years is that I haven’t been able to replicate his individual success so far in the games.

This was the first meeting between Astronaut and New Smyrna since 1978. When districts realigned in 1979 they couldn’t figure out a way to schedule each other. This is also the first year since 1974 that the War Eagles didn’t play the Merritt Island Mustangs. I suppose dropping that thorn in the side allowed room to schedule New Smyrna. From 1972 to 2001 Astronaut and New Smyrna played 21 times in 30 years. This makes them tied for 5[sup]th[/sup] most played rival, and most played rival amongst non-Brevard County teams.

 

[Bmack]

9/23/1983
Ft. Pierce Central Cobras at Astronaut

ASTRONAUT STEAMROLLS FT. PIERCE CENTRAL

The Astronaut running game moved into full gear Friday night at Draa Field. It was there that they rolled to 318 yards rushing and a 41-14 win over the Ft. Pierce Central Cobras. Astronaut, now 3-0, was in full control for the entire game.

Junior fullback Steve Godfrey got things going in the 1[sup]st[/sup] quarter when he burst through the line and rumbled to a 20 yard touchdown run with 8:50 left. Dwayne Glover returned a punt 29 yards to the Cobra 36 to set up the next War Eagles score. The quick drive culminated in Junior tailback Matthew Mack’s 1 yard touchdown run with 5:27 left in the 1[sup]st[/sup] quarter. Godfrey made it 21-0 with 1:40 on his second touchdown run, this time from 1 yard away.

Senior quarterback Ethan Waldron continued the route after Glover intercepted a Cobra pass giving the War Eagles the ball at their own 47. Waldron lead an 11 play 53 yard drive that he finished off with a 9 yard rushing touchdown. Ft. Pierce finally got on the board with a 2 yard touchdown pass with 1:19 left in the half.

With 5:41 left in the 3[sup]rd[/sup] quarter, the Cobra’s threatened to make a game of it when they scored on a 48 yard touchdown run, making it 28-14. However, Astronaut tacked on two 4[sup]th[/sup] quarter scores on runs by Bogie Statham of 2 yards and Waldron again for 9 yards.

Matthew Mack lead the way with 104 yards on 15 carries. Waldron added 73 yards rushing to go along with 104 through the air (but two interceptions). Godfrey picked up 69 yards.

“Tonight the offensive line played great. Our backs had some pretty good holes to run through,” said Astronaut Coach B. Mack. Mack was an assistant coach for Ft. Pierce Central from 1969 to 1971 before coming to Astronaut. He helped them to 13-0 record and a state championship in 1971, an achievement the War Eagles have yet to match.

 

[Bmack]

 

[Bmack]

REEL TALK:

This was a 29-12 win for Astronaut. I had very little information for this game as I could not find the box score or game article. I had only a couple things to go off of to piece together the stats. 1) the stats leaders after this game (I compared to stats ytd to get some amounts for this game) and 2) the player of the week article.

Dwayne Glover was named Space Coast athlete of the week for his play against Ft. Pierce Central. Glover scored two touchdowns, a 35 yard reception and a 78 yard kickoff return.

 

[Travis7401]

I like to see the team rolling like this, exceeding expectations in the last couple of games! Was Corch Mack proud of that 100 yard game for Mathew Mack? I noticed you were doing the classic dad corch move of not playing favorites, spreading the carries around pretty equally so far!

 

[Bmack]

I like to see the team rolling like this, exceeding expectations in the last couple of games! Was Corch Mack proud of that 100 yard game for Mathew Mack? I noticed you were doing the classic dad corch move of not playing favorites, spreading the carries around pretty equally so far!

Ha ha, yeah proud papa. Kid costs me an arm and a leg taking his girlfriend to the movies every saturday night. I'm on a teacher's salary here!

Yeah, that could lead to an interesting discussion (to me anyway--something I think about on long drives to orlando/my parent's house) about how the reel corch spread the wealth around. So there are a few points of discussion:

1- Since high school teams in this era are doing what seems to be an 80/20 run/pass ratio, I'm interested in not just getting the top rusher. I know the top rushers each year because I found a website years ago where some retired (I think) Kennedy Space Center worker (facebook stalk!) compiled a list of the top passer, rusher, and receiver each year with thur numbers. He essentially took this from the final stats that were in the paper each year. I think its pretty impressive and dedicated he did this. One reason I know he took it from the paper was because one year the paper missed counting the stats from Astronauts last game in the leader board, and the guy replicated the same amount in his compilation. Since I had the final game article I was able to add some stats to that years numbers in the compilation I'm doing.

So the point of that is, I'm also interested in the second, third, fourth,etc leading rusher (and pass catcher etc., but the run game is more important). WIth the expanded boxes of 1983 forward I'm able to do that. The reason I want to do that obviously is to set the depth chart for the Rb/fb positions. So in doing this I see how corch donnelly distributed carries, and I pretty much follow suit. I'd have to rummage through some stats, but he typically had his top rusher at around 12-13 carries a game. Maybe it was his way of keeping backs fresh. And when you think about in TODAY's terms, it does seem kind of against the whole "protect our kids from harm" to load up a 16 or 17 year old 25 to 30 times a game.

Also, Astronaut had 1 regular season 1,000 yard rusher from 1972 to 1985... David Bovain in 1973. There were 10 from 1986 to 2001. Also, I have some rudimentary calcs to determine the Stamina of running backs. It is based on a couple metrics, like average carries per game, and known high carry game. This limits myself so that I do give a someone more carries than they really had they will fatigue more toward the end of the game. I noticed this in the 1975 year in one of my previous runs at this (I got midway through 76 then my old pS3 crapped out so I started over and went "live" with it here). That year I think I ran Reggie herring 23 times in a game and with about 4 minutes in the game his back up was in. And he never came back. I looked and he wasn't injured so the game just said, "this kid is done for awhile or the whole game." Herring was also a defensive player so that plays into it as well. I make an add on to stamina of 10 if the running back is a two way player. Its worked pretty well so far.

2- This is related to the 1981/1982 seasons, but one of the surprises to me was when Donnelly moved Scott McConico to wing-back from halfback. McConico had 510 yards in 7 games in his injury plagued 1981 junior year. He was all-state at running back. thats about 72 yards a game and probably one of the highest ypg averages for a running back since herring in '76. But the next year it was stated in the preview articles that he was moving to wingback. He carried the ball only about 19 times in 1982 and did so well, at 9+ ypc. I sort of deviated from this and fed McConico a little more from the halfback spot in the dynasty. I just couldn't fathom only 19 rushes for him. Maybe one of the things is that he was listed as 6-3 180 as a senior. Maybe there was a growth spurt and Donnelly figured its better to use him in the passing game. He did catch 17 passes for 340 yards and i think 4 or 5 tds and was all-state as a receiver. Btw he went onto Florida but battled knee injury's and had a ACL replacement surgery early in his time there. i'm not sure he played much but I found a couple articles about his knee surgeries.

3- I forgot 3. ha. I can talk about this stuff all the fucking time. This thing has been the best time killer ever. I'm always thinking about it and different angles I can take. The last few weeks have I've had a lot of fun with it. I think because Astronaut was dominated by Titusville during this period and I know if I can somehow win that game I can extend into the playoffs. Also, the period of 1982 to 1984 is probably the period I knew the least about going into the whole thing.

Anyway I'm glad you like this and always appreciate your comments and input

 

[Bmack]

Oh shoot--now i remember point 3 I was gonna talk about..

Who are the stat losers when I insert the Son's of Mack? I.e. who did they take carries, pass attempts etc. away from. I think I planned to talk about this at the end of each season, so I'll discuss it then.

 

[Travis7401]

This almost makes me want to obtain a PS2 and some old NCAA games and just play a "dynasty" by playing through each season using your slider rules/adjustments to replicate old seasons... playing each season on that year's game. Going from NCAA03 or whatever to NCAA10 would be fun. I've played the PS3 gen games too much to want to play them again, but the old gen stuff might be so old that I'd be bad at it again and not remember any exploits, thus could play it blank slate.

I tried to run NCAA06 on a PS2 emulator on my computer, but it was some fuckshit.

 

[Bmack]

This almost makes me want to obtain a PS2 and some old NCAA games and just play a "dynasty" by playing through each season using your slider rules/adjustments to replicate old seasons... playing each season on that year's game. Going from NCAA03 or whatever to NCAA10 would be fun. I've played the PS3 gen games too much to want to play them again, but the old gen stuff might be so old that I'd be bad at it again and not remember any exploits, thus could play it blank slate.

I tried to run NCAA06 on a PS2 emulator on my computer, but it was some fuckshit.

will give some thoughts on this tonight.

 

[Bmack]

This almost makes me want to obtain a PS2 and some old NCAA games and just play a "dynasty" by playing through each season using your slider rules/adjustments to replicate old seasons... playing each season on that year's game. Going from NCAA03 or whatever to NCAA10 would be fun. I've played the PS3 gen games too much to want to play them again, but the old gen stuff might be so old that I'd be bad at it again and not remember any exploits, thus could play it blank slate.

I tried to run NCAA06 on a PS2 emulator on my computer, but it was some fuckshit.

I just want to clear some things up about my adjustments.

I've stopped adjusting opposing coaches as I did in the beginning because, well I don't have a good reason. It would still be very easy. Basically what i was doing was taking the run/pass % the opposition had in that game I was playing and set the coach to that mix and leave it for years. I guess as coaches have come and gone that has drifted over time.

I don't really mess with sliders that much. What I mean is that I remember seeing copious threads in the past about "x -nutopians new passing game sliders" or whatever. Where it seemed like people were putting alot of work into figureing them out. I mainly have offensive penalties turned up to the max and have everything else default except, QB, WR, and RB abilities. they are 25 instead of 50.

So what are my main variables. They are quarter length and difficulty level.

For difficulty level, the one thing I'll say, and not to discourage you, is that the version of the game I'm on has difficulty for both offense and defense. I suppose what you would do on an older version if you needed different difficulties for o and d is constantly go in and change the setting at the changes of possession. I change at very few points. Beginning of game I set the respective difficulties based on the known score. I based this on the min and max score of both teams. For instance if the most points a team scored in any game that season is 40 and there was a shutout, I divided by four and my initial difficulty changes at each interval of 10. IN game adjustments are made based on how the score by quarter went. Which has been a way of providing pretty good variation for me from reel life. For instance, I could have a 21-10 loss on my hands where the opponent scored all 21 in the 4thQ. They will have Heisman to start lets say, but when they score in the first Q, at the end of that Q they are up 7-0 and they should have 0 points, I drop them down to All-American.

Then the length of Q. I not only want to have a game that has a realistic range of total plays, but I don't want low scoring games getting out of hand and I don't want high scoring games not having enough time. So, for a high school game that typically goes 48 minutes, I will range from 32 min to 48 min (8 to 12 min q's). Now, I'm also on chew clock always for offense. I don't know if that feature is in older versions. But I am getting very good # of plays replication with this. THis has always been a focus for me with the game even when I was doing college dynasties. FOr instance i wanted to get a Q length that would give me 120 to 140 plays total each game.

And btw. I think I have all the games from 03-08. I wouldn't need you to pay me for them but I'd let you borrow them. But honeslty I may never want or need them back, as long as the teambuilder feature is still up and I can go grab a 2005 or 2006 team if I wanted to do something with them. I'm going to be on NCAA 2014 for a long time. I've got up to 32 more Astronaut seasons and I'll be getting the college Mack thing going to. I even thought of doing a dyansty that tracked the fictional coach Mack's day's as a high school QB in the 60's in West Virginia and then into college. I even got a bunch of football team pics from yearbooks at the high School where I was born in WV. And I've also talked about doing a Hurricanes dynasty from say 1983 to today or even thought about a WVU dynasty going over 30 years starting back in the 80's or something.

The good thing about the 2014 version is that you have bowl tie ins and conferences you can change to try to replicate that stuff over time (think Old BIg 8). I just have endless possibilities with NCAA 2014, its going to keep me busy for so long. I don't ever see me needing to buy a PS4 unless I get into Madden (have a bunch of them but never really have). Maybe Coach mack's boys will need to play in the NFL. who knows?

 

[Bmack]

I've got NCAA 2002-2007 for PS2.

 

[Travis7401]

I considered doing one season of ma'high school team, because my mom made me a really nice scrap book with photos, news articles, etc... but I looked through the scrap book and there are almost no box scores or stats. Our local newspaper just wasn't very good about high school sports

Going back and replaying CSU seasons in EA roster alternate reality I'd have a much easier time with stats and news stories.

 

[Bmack]

I considered doing one season of ma'high school team, because my mom made me a really nice scrap book with photos, news articles, etc... but I looked through the scrap book and there are almost no box scores or stats. Our local newspaper just wasn't very good about high school sports

Going back and replaying CSU seasons in EA roster alternate reality I'd have a much easier time with stats and news stories.

Yeah college is definitely easier. Before I got really into the library research I was scouring for whatever sources of info their were online. Google Newspaper archive https://news.google.com/newspapers you can see if your local paper is listed there. LIkely its not as they stopped the digitization project in 2010 or 2011 I think.

I mean, are you looking to do the year you played? If so, i'm sure you kinda remember your teammates and who your stars were. One of the keys is knowing the game scores. Sometimes the astronaut yearbooks had the schedule and game scores. Shit even the old WV hometown yearbook I found for 1961 and 1963 had the football and basketball schedules and scores. If thats all i had i would just divide the score by 4 and assume it was scored evenly throughout the game.

I really only have special ratings I do based on stats for Qbs, rb's, kickers. Everyone else gets an overall rating based on their class, what level they achieved (All-Amierican, All-State, College Scholarship, Varsity Starter, Mentioned in a game article, or simply on varsity). I do spend alot of time editing rosters before each season to get the names in , numbers, and get the players to the overall rating I've determined for them (got to tinker alot with the indiviudal rating categories to get to the overall I want).

 

[Bmack]

9/30/1983
Rockledge at Astronaut

WAR EAGLES HOLD OFF RAIDERS

Astronaut withstood a late push from the Rockledge Raiders to come away with a 13-10 win Friday night at Draa Field. The Homecoming win moves the War Eagles to 4-0 on the season. Rockledge falls to 2-2 after the non-district loss.

Astronaut scored first when Senior quarterback Ethan Waldron connected on a 16 yard touchdown pass with halfback Matthew Mack with 2:41 remaining in the first quarter. The drive spanned 60 yards in 11 plays taking over 5 minutes off the clock. It was a special night for Waldron, as his girlfriend was named Homecoming Queen. Kurt Aken’s extra point was missed and the War Eagles took a 6-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Waldron made a spectacular play, shaking off a Rockledge defending and scrambling before hitting Dwayne Glover for 25 yard pass which put the ball on the Raider 7 yard line. Two plays later, Senior running back Chester Guinyard scored on a 3 yard run with 4:07 left in the half. This War Eagle drive went 55 yards in 10 plays, taking 4:59 off the clock. Aken connected on the kick this time to make it 13-0.

Rockledge finally got on the board with 3:49 left in the third quarter via a 36 yard field goal. They pulled to within 3 points on a 39 yard touchdown pass with 9:09 left in the game.

Rockledge had a final chance to win or tie the game after intercepting a Waldron pass at their own 11 with 2:52 left. The Rockledge quarterback broke away for a 50 yard run putting the Raiders on the Astronaut 39 yard line. After moving the ball 5 yards on 3 plays, the Raiders threw incomplete on 4[sup]th[/sup] down. Astronaut ran out the clock to secure the 13-10 win.

“We are very lucky to win this game. Maybe the guys started to believe their press clippings,” said Astronaut Coach B. Mack. “We’ve got a tough Satellite team coming up next week. We’ve got a lot to improve upon to be ready.”

 

[Bmack]

 

[Bmack]

REEL TALK:

This was indeed 13-10 win for the War Eagles (yay re-enactment!). However, it played out differently in reel life. Waldron’s girlfriend was the homecoming queen. But it was Rockledge that held a lead heading into the 4[sup]th[/sup] quarter.

Steve Godfrey put the War Eagles up with a 13 yard run in the 1[sup]st[/sup], 6-0. He picked up 72 yards on 16 carries. Rockledge got a field goal in the 2[sup]nd[/sup] and took the lead with a touchdown in the third, 10-6.

Waldron scored the winning touchdown on a 4 yard run with 6:56 on a 4[sup]th[/sup] and goal play.

 

[Travis7401]

Nice reenactment. Loving how you are spreading the ball around too, you mentioned this earlier, but I really do think a high school coach has almost an obligation to do that. Winning matters, obviously, but giving one stud 35-40 carries a game just seems to take away from the TEAM element that really is important in high school. Winning is fine, but giving as many kids as possible a quality experience is the real goal, IMO. I love offenses that do that by design, including multiple ball carriers in ways that allow different types of kids to succeed (sometimes you have a big bruiser with no speed, sometimes you have a quick speedy back who can't break a tackle, etc). All of those players add value if you use them correctly and I think the net effect is that your teams are better on average because you don't have to rely on the crap shoot of getting one super talented feature back (and then hoping that kid is mentally good too). Spreading the ball around and involving as many kids as possible in the success and fun of being a ball carrier or receiver is awesome. I definitely took that mindset when I corched that middle school teams. I wanted every single RB/WR on the team to score some points (either a TD or 2pt conversion) at some point during the season and finding an offense that allowed for that was key. I also loved having a position and a play that allowed even the most clumsy/awkward kid to score a 2pt conversion. We'd take whichever offensive lineman who had worked the hardest in practice that week, and give him the 2pt conversion carries until he scored. So at the end of the best season, every single QB/WR/TE/RB on the team had scored at least a TD or 2pt conversion and 8 linemen had scored 2pt conversions as well. If I was a HS corch, I'd probably never kick extra points just for that reason, lol. 2pt conversions provide many low risk plays throughout the season where you can give someone a chance to score points.

I think I've mentioned it before, but my outlook on this comes from experience. My first HS corch favored a multiple pro style offense that always had a single feature back every year. That one kid accounted for like 80% of the carries/points/etc. The second corch (the good one) we ran a relatively strange under center "single back spread" (spread meaning the O - line splits) offense with with 2 slot/wing backs that moved around a lot with pre snap motion. So you always had 2 WRs, but the slots would move around so you'd have everything from a 4 WR spread look to double wing look (albeit with the single back still deep)bone look to an inverted bone look (the tailback was always in the same spot. The reason the offense was so cool was the single back and slot back positions were really flexible in use depending on what type of kid you had. When I was a senior, one of the slot backs was more of an H-Back or TE role (He was basically an extra lineman when it came to blocking and was a good receiver too). A lot of the plays and philosophy of the offense seemed based on the Wing-T and we'd motion into Wing-T type sets a lot.

Anyway, I was initially bummed that the offense didn't have a true TE position (the position I'd played previously) so I turned into utility lineman where I was first backup for each line spot and then for the H-Back style slot position as well (I started on Dline so corch tried to platoon us as much as possible as well, another cool way to get more kids involved that a lot of HS corches won't do). Anyway, another reason corch was awesome was that he designed some tackle eligible alignments as well to get the linemen chances to catch the ball on 2pt conversions (we'd have lineman receiving contests in practice to determine who got the chance that week). I got my 2pt conversion one game and it was definitely a highlight of my career, lol.

on an NCAA note...
I played one game each on NCAA 07-NCAA 09 last night. Each game was as CSU with default playbooks on All American, no slider changes. Won each game, but they were all close. Mostly I was winning because the CPU always seemed to make a few drive killing stupid plays for losses that were nonsensical. Was interesting how the game changed in good and bad ways, lol. Loved the way the run game felt for both human and CPU in 2007 and hated it in 2008. 2009 was the year of the Goatse gameplay, so even being rusty on the sticks and not familiar with the game or playbook, it was a shoot out... but that was the year the CPU QB would look completely inept for most of the game (panic throwing the ball in 1 second nowhere near a WR) and then when it was time for the CPU to score, they'd march down the field completing every single pass. So far I'd say NCAA07 was the most "realistic" of the bunch for CSU and opponent.

 

[Bmack]

About to get in the road to Orlando but good post.

Here's a tidbit that shows the spreads it around mentality. From 72 to 85 the highest single season carry mark was 166 for David bovain in 73 (10 gm reg season-1242 yds). The fullback that year had over 600 yds and even missed 2 games. So they never did load it up (I mean in 73 if you remember bovain did carry 25 times against new Smyrna in the season finale to clinch district). So it's like, we may lean on one guy in the toughest most meaningful games, but other than that we are spreading it around.

This should be an interesting thing to keep an eye when I get to later years where different coaches come into play. But even in the year the all time single season rushing record was set, that guy only carried 205 times in 10 games. (Approx 40% of the plays).

 

[Bmack]

One of the reasons I'm keeping formations like flexbone, wishbone, and wingbone, even Maryland I, is that it puts a third back on the field. This allows me to get carries to my #2 hb (or Fb if I go jumbo). Life course I go spell hb or hb sub also on two back sets to get the #2 carries.

I think I'm gonna keep these forms despite the change in style over the years.

My current playbook I've labeled 82to89. I figured I'll do a new one in 90 and add in some one back sets. I picked this time period with the reasoning that it became viable after Dennis Ericsson started using it with Miami in 89. I may be wrong by attributing it to him but since Bmack is a corch in Florida that's when it will come on his radar. Maybe I'll add just a couple forms of it.

I've also thiught of adding more shotgun in about 94 to 96 due to Charlie ward /Florida state influence.

And then of course in the 2000's I got put all this bs spread stuff. Maybe that will be the demise of corch Mack as he refuses to change with the times.

 

[Bmack]

10/7/1983
Satellite at Astronaut

ASTRONAUT RELIES ON DEFENSE IN FINAL MINUTE WIN AGAINST SCORPS

Astronaut moved to 5-0 on the season after escaping with a hard fought 10-7 win over Satellite, getting the winning touchdown in the final minute. The War Eagle defense held Satellite to just 106 yards of offense for the game.

The only points of the first half came on a 29 yard field goal by Junior kicker Kurt Aken. The War Eagles squandered a scoring opportunity in the first quarter when they went for it on 4[sup]th[/sup] and 11 but could only manage a 7 yard pass play at the Satellite 18.

Satellite took a 7-3 lead with a 1 yard touchdown run on an option pitch with 2:55 left. Things looked bleak for the War Eagles but Dwayne Glover responded for the home team. He took at Ethan Waldron pass and raced 59 yards before being pushed out at the Satellite 16 yard line. . Steve Godfrey ran for 9 yards on the next play, then picked up the first down with a 2 yard run putting the ball at the Satellite 5. Matthew Mack then rushed 4 yards to the Satellite 1 as the clock ticked under 1 minute. The next play was another Mack run, and he plunged through with the winning score with just 33 seconds left.

“I’m proud of these guys for coming back at the end, and our defense played very well, but we certainly aren’t where we need to be,” said Astronaut Coach B. Mack. “We open up with our first district game next week, and if we play like this we’ll get whipped against Palm Bay.”

 

[Bmack]

 

[Bmack]

REEL TALK:
This was a 9-7 win for Astronaut. The War Eagles got a safety and a 13 yard td pass from Ethan Waldron to Dwayne Glover in the 1[sup]st[/sup] quarter. Satellite got a 6 yard touchdown run in the 2n quarter and that was the last of the scoring. Satellite outgained Astronaut 161 to 156. Steve Godfrey only had 2 yards on 2 carries in the game. Waldron was the leading rusher with 38 yards on 11 carries.

 

[Bmack]

10/14/1983
Astronaut at Palm Bay

ASTRONAUT WINS KEY DISTRICT CONTEST

Astronaut took a big step towards its goal of winning a district championship with a 27-14 win over Palm Bay. The War Eagles move to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in district play. Palm Bay is now 2-4 and 0-1 in district play. With only 3 district games there is not much room for error.

The War Eagles got big performances from three offensive standouts in the win. Quarterback Ethan Waldron was perfect in the passing game, completing all 9 of his pass attempts for 123 yards and a touchdown. Wide out Bogie Statham caught that touchdown, one of his six receptions for 90 yards. In the running game, Matthew Mack had a breakout performance with 154 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 carries.

After a scoreless first quarter, Kurt Aken put the War Eagles up 3-0 with a 19 yard field goal. Later in the half, Waldron connected on his 35 yard touchdown pass to Statham with just 37 seconds left. “We had no timeouts so we went for the deep ball to the end zone, Bogie beat his man and Ethan hit him right on the money in stride,” remarked Astronaut Coach B. Mack in postgame comments. Astronaut took a 10-0 lead into halftime.

In the third quarter, it was Matthew Mack bursting for an 84 yard touchdown run with 8:44 left to make it 17-0. Palm Bay came back with a 63 yard touchdown pass to make it 17-7 on the very next play from scrimmage. On Astronaut’s next possession, Steve Godfrey lost a fumble and Palm Bay recovered on the Astronaut 23. The Pirates then pulled to within 3 with a 14 yard touchdown run with 4:24 left in the third.

The War Eagles got the ball back and went on a 5 play 57 yard drive capped off by Mack’s second touchdown run of the night, a 30 yarder. The score put the War Eagles up 24-14 with 1:44 left in the quarter.

Palm Bay turned the ball over on downs with 9 minutes left in the 4[sup]th[/sup] when they were stopped on a 4[sup]th[/sup] and 3 run. Astronaut drove the ball to the Palm Bay 16, where Aken added his second field goal, a 33 yarder. The score stayed at 27-14 as Statham intercepted a Palm Bay pass with 46 seconds left to end a scoring threat.

“We got good effort tonight from the boys,” said B. Mack. “They were able to slow our fullbacks down but they contributed by opening up the holes for Matt to run through.”

 

[Bmack]

 

[Bmack]

REEL TALK:

Not one I expected to win. Astronaut lost this game 28-0 to Palm Bay. This was a rain soaked game that was scoreless at halftime. Palm Bay removed a fumble and returned it 66 yards in the third quarter to lead 7-0. They then scored 21 points in the 4[sup]th[/sup], including a 41 yard interception return. The War Eagles managed just 104 yards of offense but Palm Bay only had 164. Only 1 Ethan Waldron pass hit the ground during the game. But Palm Bay caught of them than Astronaut. He was 4 for 10 for 36 yards and 5 interceptions. The War Eagles were then in the backseat of the district race.

 

[Travis7401]

Nice win! Love the stat line with that long run making it a 150 yard game for mack