Pleasant Hill looking to learn from season-opening loss

Photo by Griff's Pix

By Jimmy Gillispie

PLEASANT HILL — Coach Justin Hamilton knew his team was facing one of its toughest opponents in the season opener, but he hoped for a better result.

His Roosters squared off with a Savannah (1-0) team that went 10-2 last year – nearly opposite of the Roosters’ 3-8 record. They welcomed Savannah to Eklund Field on Friday night, but the Roosters fell 38-0 in a game where Hamilton said his team’s offense never got into any rhythm.

“It was kind of Murphy’s Law in the first half – what could go wrong, went wrong,” Hamilton said. “Four of our five linemen are first-year varsity starters, and one of them is a sophomore and one is a junior. We have some guys had some new spots off offensively, and we have two quarterbacks who are capable of playing. But, it looked like a team with eight returning starters with some all-state kids versus a bunch of first-year starters, especially from an offensive standpoint in the first half.”

Hamilton said the Roosters’ first drive was a three-and-out and punt. Their next drive ended in a lost fumble on the first play. 

Meanwhile, Savannah went four-and-out on its opening drive before scoring a field goal on the next drive. Savannah took advantage of the turnover, along with two more Pleasant Hill turnovers and a bad snap on a punt. That momentum never slowed down all night.

“They looked seasoned, and when you make mistakes against a team like that, it's not going to be close,” Hamilton said. “We were never able to get anything going offensively. I thought our defense played really hard.

“Defensively, especially early, but they just spend so much time on the field,” Hamilton added. “I think we probably ran four offensive players in the first 12 or 13 minutes of the game. Our defense came out firing from the get-go.”

Pleasant Hill also introduced a new offensive scheme Friday night. Hamilton said it was hard to see how the new scheme worked, but he added the coaching staff saw where it needs to improve moving forward.

“Right now, it’s about improvement and gaining experience for our kids,” Hamilton said. “After the game, I told them come Week 9, Week 1 doesn’t matter as long as we learn and get better from this.

“I think one thing we take pride in is by the end of the year, we are playing better than we were at the beginning,” Hamilton added. “Hopefully, that's where we are at this year.”

The schedule won’t get easier for Pleasant Hill this week. It will travel to Maryville, which won its Class 3 district last year, to play at 7 p.m. Friday. 

“As bad as it was offensively, when you watch film, it was just a bunch of little things,” Hamilton said. “When we watched film after the game, there were moments if we hit the right hole, we’re still running because there is nobody in the middle of the field. It was little, small details, and that’s our theme for the week.”