Bearden Vs Knox. West Offensive Standouts

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 1st week of the 2023 season is finally upon us, and the Bearden Bulldogs faced off against the Knox. West Rebels. The game turned out to be a low scoring affair with a few big plays that happened to be the difference maker. After the Knox. West Rebels took the lead on a deep ball touchdown late in the 4th, they sealed the win 14-10. There was plenty of talent for both teams offensively, that played big roles in this game. After watching this intense game, here are the biggest standouts on the offensive side of the ball for both teams.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Knox. West</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["150279"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"The Rebels offense ran through [player_tooltip player_id='150279' first='Marshaun' last='Bowers'] for the entire game. The offense as a whole had a slow start with zero points in the 1st half but he consistently produced chunk gains in the 2nd half. Bowers showed excellent vision, toughness and contact balance to grind out yards and wear the Bulldogs defense down. The whole offensive line stepped up and create nice lanes on their 1st scoring drive and Bowers put them on the board. The touchdown was an impressive run, he found the cutback lane showing nice anticipation and solid strength to run through arm tackles.","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64e37931a5283"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Game Winner:</strong> [player_tooltip player_id='148904' first='Hunter' last='Dance'] connected with Syxx Hoard for the game winning touchdown with only 17 seconds left in the 4th quarter. While the whole offense struggled for most of the game these 2 stepped up when it mattered the most. Dance showed great poise on the final drive completing to long balls that changed the game. Hoard ran a great post route to create deep separation down the field and showed nice concentration to hang onto the ball after a juggle.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Bearden</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["222283"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"[player_tooltip player_id='222283' first='Jaheim' last='Merriweather'] scored on a long touchdown run in the 1st quarter leading to the Bulldogs lone TD. He was explosive in his limited touches, showing great acceleration to hit hole with good elusiveness to make guys miss in tight spaces on a majority of his touches. Good versatility to his game, Merriweather aligned at both wide receiver and running back offensively and looked very comfortable doing both.","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-64e37931a5300"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='800786' first='Tory' last='Beaufort']:</strong> He was impressive in his limited touches and showed off his explosiveness and instincts with the ball in his hands and some great punt returns. The field position battle was won by him alone. Offensively, Beaufort was creating separation but barely got targeted.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Offensive Line:</strong> The whole Bearden Bulldogs OL unit deserves to be listed for the holes they created on multiple long runs for the offense. On the long touchdown run, the offense line was key to creating a nice lane for Merriweather. The Rebels front 7 is strong and the OL showed up to battle, which lead to a great trench game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->