Merino vs. Stratton Thoughts

Merino 29 Stratton 16 Don't let the score fool you, even though this was a relatively close game looking at the final, the game didn't have the feel of a close game. Merino showed why they are a title contender early. After forcing a 3 and out on Stratton's first drive, the Rams put together a 14 play, 68 yard scoring drive that took 7:11 off the clock...and that wasn't even Merino's longest drive of the game (more on that later). Stratton was unable to answer, but the Eagles did hold the ball for over 6 minutes. 3 drives and we were already midway through the 2nd quarter in 8 man football, with only one score. Now the low final may start to make sense. Stratton would take an 8-7 lead in the 2nd quarter, the only lead the Eagles would hold, but Merino was able to answer for a 15-8 halftime lead. Merino established dominance in the 2nd half, scoring on their 2nd and 3rd drives to take a 29-8 lead. Stratton went 3 plays and 60 yards to make it 29-16. At that point Merino showed why they can be very good. The Rams got the ball back with 10:12 to go in the game. They wouldn't give it up until there was 1:58 left. They didn't score, but they killed over 8 minutes of clock. That is how you salt away a game. Merino finished with 338 total yards, 318 on the ground according to my stats guy. David Michel and Jaden Jole both went over 100 yards rushing. Curran Barnes and Josh Baker also chipped in. Merino's running game is outstanding. Jole had success passing, going 6-9 for 81 yards. The Merino passing game is definitely set up by the run. My concern though is Jole had a tendency to tuck the ball to early and stop searching downfield. In addition, he had a few times where he would just run out of bounds when scrambling under pressure (for loss of yards). Both those are something that the Merino coaching staff can work on, and it is better than throwing picks. Defensively the Rams are solid, but there is some concern about pass coverage. The Rams got beat on one long pass, and had a couple of times when Stratton had shots deep with open receivers but missed. Stratton has some nice pieces. QB Kyle May throws a fantastic ball and runs well. The running back combo of Corliss and Burton shows promise, but the line had trouble opening holes and sustaining blocks. The defense was solid at times, but gave up too many 4th down plays that allowed Merino to continue drives and struggled against the run at times. Stratton got pressure at times when Jole was passing for Merino. Merino looked like more of a complete team and looked more in sync, while Stratton looked like a team that had a number of new guys starting...but remember, it's only week 1. Next week, Weldon Valley @ Otis.