Nick Mathews
09-25-2007, 11:56 PM
Powerful ground game at Tabb
By Jason Jordan | jjordan@dailypress.com (jjordan@dailypress.com)
Corey Legister wasn’t bombarded with an unusual number of well-wishers Monday morning when he strolled through the double-doors at Tabb High.
He didn’t get any extra smiles from the girls or high-fives from the boys, and there weren’t any congratulatory signs in the hallways.
In fact, aside from a few pats on the back from a teacher or two, Legister wouldn’t have been reminded at all that he led the Tigers past Smithfield just three days before, helping Tabb become one of the two undefeated teams in the Bay Rivers District.
But Legister wouldn’t have it any other way.
"I don’t really like all of the attention," Legister said. "It’s nice, but it would be OK if I didn’t get it. We just keep it regular around here."
Good luck keeping a low profile come Friday. That’s when Lafayette (4-0, 3-0) heads over to Bailey Field at 7:30 p.m. to settle who the district’s No. 1 spot belongs to — for now anyway.
"Our people were excited before," Tabb coach Matt Lawson said. "I don’t know that they’re any more excited headed into this week."
Maybe they should be.
The Tigers (4-0, 3-0) last won the district title in 1993, but shared it with Nansemond River and Smithfield. The last time they won it outright was in 1992.
That’s what makes Friday’s game so important for Tabb.
After the Rams, the Tigers are at York, have a bye week and then host Poquoson, Jamestown, Bruton and Warhill.
So in essence the Tigers will have five home games — they share Bailey Field with York — that they will be heavily favored to win.
"Yeah at the beginning of the season we looked at our schedule and said if we could win four of our first five games we could coast for the rest of the season," Lawson said. "Well that was then, but these teams are playing better now. It’s going to be a fight every week for us."
The best way to ensure that the Tigers have no slips-ups is to run the ball.
Through its first four games, Tabb has rushed for 1,187 yards, tops in the district. Legister and Meltoya Jones make up 993 of that.
With that type of success, the Tigers’ passing game has been almost nonexistent.
They’ve thrown 15 times for 151 yards and managed just one touchdown pass. Lawson said that almost all of those yards were from screen passes.
"We don’t really have to pass because our running game is strong," Legister said. "Until defenses stop our running game, I think we’re fine. If it gets to that point where we need to pass the ball, we’ll get done what we need to get done. But we’re not there yet."
Lawson agrees but realizes that the Tigers will have to diversify their offense in the long run.
"I think the longest pass we’ve completed, besides screen passes, was a 3-yard extra-point pass," Lawson said. "It’s not that we can’t, we just have had some real success running the ball. We’re actually working on our passing game because we’re going to face teams that are going to put 11 guys in the box, and we’re going to have to do something with that. Like Lafayette, if they do that we’re going to have a tough time."
Sure seems that way.
The Rams only allow 121 rushing yards per game. Tabb averages 296.
The part that helps Tabb is that if the Rams slow up Legister’s bruising style, the Tigers can run outside with speedy back Jones.
"They’re not stopping it, so let’s keep running it," Jones said. "That’s how I
look at it. We’ll do whatever it takes to get into the end zone. I can catch the ball, too."
Lawson added: "Having two backs like we do helps. Both of them run a little different and that helps us be a little unpredictable in what types of runs we do."
Lafayette coach Paul Wheeler agrees.
He said that Legister is not only one of the best running backs in the district, but also in the state.
"I think that the fullback (Legister) is really tough," Wheeler said. "He and the other back (Jones) are the best combo in the district. But we won’t prepare any different for them. We just continue to work on fundamentals, but they’re a very good team."
And well-conditioned. The Tigers are outscoring opponents 84-15 in the fourth quarter this season.
Lawson said that’s a testament to his team’s hard work in the offseason.
"Also, we play 16-to-22 guys meaningful minutes, and we can rest players," Lawson said. "That should help us. We know that Friday is a big game, but we don’t want to over-hype it. This is just the fourth step in our goal of a district championship."
By Jason Jordan | jjordan@dailypress.com (jjordan@dailypress.com)
Corey Legister wasn’t bombarded with an unusual number of well-wishers Monday morning when he strolled through the double-doors at Tabb High.
He didn’t get any extra smiles from the girls or high-fives from the boys, and there weren’t any congratulatory signs in the hallways.
In fact, aside from a few pats on the back from a teacher or two, Legister wouldn’t have been reminded at all that he led the Tigers past Smithfield just three days before, helping Tabb become one of the two undefeated teams in the Bay Rivers District.
But Legister wouldn’t have it any other way.
"I don’t really like all of the attention," Legister said. "It’s nice, but it would be OK if I didn’t get it. We just keep it regular around here."
Good luck keeping a low profile come Friday. That’s when Lafayette (4-0, 3-0) heads over to Bailey Field at 7:30 p.m. to settle who the district’s No. 1 spot belongs to — for now anyway.
"Our people were excited before," Tabb coach Matt Lawson said. "I don’t know that they’re any more excited headed into this week."
Maybe they should be.
The Tigers (4-0, 3-0) last won the district title in 1993, but shared it with Nansemond River and Smithfield. The last time they won it outright was in 1992.
That’s what makes Friday’s game so important for Tabb.
After the Rams, the Tigers are at York, have a bye week and then host Poquoson, Jamestown, Bruton and Warhill.
So in essence the Tigers will have five home games — they share Bailey Field with York — that they will be heavily favored to win.
"Yeah at the beginning of the season we looked at our schedule and said if we could win four of our first five games we could coast for the rest of the season," Lawson said. "Well that was then, but these teams are playing better now. It’s going to be a fight every week for us."
The best way to ensure that the Tigers have no slips-ups is to run the ball.
Through its first four games, Tabb has rushed for 1,187 yards, tops in the district. Legister and Meltoya Jones make up 993 of that.
With that type of success, the Tigers’ passing game has been almost nonexistent.
They’ve thrown 15 times for 151 yards and managed just one touchdown pass. Lawson said that almost all of those yards were from screen passes.
"We don’t really have to pass because our running game is strong," Legister said. "Until defenses stop our running game, I think we’re fine. If it gets to that point where we need to pass the ball, we’ll get done what we need to get done. But we’re not there yet."
Lawson agrees but realizes that the Tigers will have to diversify their offense in the long run.
"I think the longest pass we’ve completed, besides screen passes, was a 3-yard extra-point pass," Lawson said. "It’s not that we can’t, we just have had some real success running the ball. We’re actually working on our passing game because we’re going to face teams that are going to put 11 guys in the box, and we’re going to have to do something with that. Like Lafayette, if they do that we’re going to have a tough time."
Sure seems that way.
The Rams only allow 121 rushing yards per game. Tabb averages 296.
The part that helps Tabb is that if the Rams slow up Legister’s bruising style, the Tigers can run outside with speedy back Jones.
"They’re not stopping it, so let’s keep running it," Jones said. "That’s how I
look at it. We’ll do whatever it takes to get into the end zone. I can catch the ball, too."
Lawson added: "Having two backs like we do helps. Both of them run a little different and that helps us be a little unpredictable in what types of runs we do."
Lafayette coach Paul Wheeler agrees.
He said that Legister is not only one of the best running backs in the district, but also in the state.
"I think that the fullback (Legister) is really tough," Wheeler said. "He and the other back (Jones) are the best combo in the district. But we won’t prepare any different for them. We just continue to work on fundamentals, but they’re a very good team."
And well-conditioned. The Tigers are outscoring opponents 84-15 in the fourth quarter this season.
Lawson said that’s a testament to his team’s hard work in the offseason.
"Also, we play 16-to-22 guys meaningful minutes, and we can rest players," Lawson said. "That should help us. We know that Friday is a big game, but we don’t want to over-hype it. This is just the fourth step in our goal of a district championship."