Patriots Winning Battles

How important are turnovers?  Last Friday night, Christ Prep won the turnover battle.  Last Friday night, Christ Prep lost the war.  The 6-0 defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for a team that played hard and played well.  McLouth was favored to win - the Bulldogs were ranked #11 among the 41 2A schools while CPAs rank would have put them at #21.  McLouth gained more yards 277 compared to 196 for the Patriots.  But usually the team that can limit their big mistakes can bring home the victory.  That didn't hold true last week.

Christ Prep picked off a pass and recovered two fumbles and essentially gained another when McLouth punter, Nick McAferty, bobbled a high snap on fourth down at his own 20.  CPA on the other hand had zero turnovers and yet only penetrated into the McLouth red zone twice during the game.

Here's a look at the drive summary:

Here are some reasons CPA came up short:

1) Poor special teams play resulted in poor field position for the Patriots including a kickoff and a punt that were not returned and resulted in drives starting inside their own 10.  

2) McLouth turnovers kept the Bulldogs out of the endzone but didn't help the Patriots.  The interception resulted in a touchback and the first fumble occurred at the CPA 30.

3) Penalties turned valuable field position into 3rd and unmakeable.

For the first three games of the season Christ Prep is a +5 turnover margin against McLouth they were +3.   Lesson learned.  Usually the team that wins the turnover battle wins the war. 

Usually.