Film Review: Indian Rocks (13-0)
2A State Championship game vs. Victory Christian at 1pm Friday at the Citrus Bowl.

• SMART COACHING – Mark Buchanan and his staff do not out think themselves. They force the defense to think more. What I mean by that, once IRC finds something that works offensively, they stick with it. If the defense can’t stop the sweep, IRC may run it every other play until the defense adjust. What’s even better, they already have plan B ready anticipating how the defense will adjust and then the IRC offense will run the sister play to counter it. Then, they come right back to the sweep. Keep it simple!
• LINE BACKERS – The front 5 are good, but the inside 2 are better. Defensively, the strength is in the middle. Both inside LBs do a good job reading and reacting to the play, IRC does not blitz often. But their reaction is often so quick, it looks like a blitz may have been called.
• MISDIRECTION – The offensive line is not big enough to plow over teams. So instead of running at defenses, IRC will run plenty of misdirection from a handful of I-formation sets. The top 3 leading rushers have 58 TDs between them. Rarely will IRC chunk the ball in the air. They are a ground team and do not attempt to hide it. As a team, IRC has 332 rush attempts and 3518 yards on the ground.
• THE KING RETURNS – ATH Damian Kings returned for the playoffs and has given the Golden Eagles a true perimeter run threat (22 attempts, 248 yards, 5 rush TDs) and athletic corner on defense. Head coach Mark Buchan said King will shadow Victory Christian leading recover Alvin Harper Jr. defensively in an effort to limit Harper’s production.
• SWARM – For a 2A school, The Golden Eagles swarm to the ball on defense. The majority of their defensive snaps, 5 or more players are around the football. This is nothing more than coaching. Their staff must put heavy emphasis on “11 hats to the ball and no plays off.”
• CONCERN – The defensive secondary has some holes and can be lazy at times. I expect Jacquan Fuller to play more defense this game to match the Victory athleticism on offense. On film at times, receivers ran right past IRC defenders or Golden Eagles would get undisciplined in their zone or technique.
• CONCERN – Because IRC does not throw the ball much, their offensive pass routes (When they do throw the ball) are very basic and usually under center play action routes. Receivers get lazy with their route running at times. If forced to spread the field and pass the ball around the yard, IRC could be in trouble.