BY TIM BIRNEYValley Sports Report
SAYRE "" Sayre saw its season come to an end Friday night with a 26-20 loss to Muncy in the District 4, Class A semifinals. and second-year coach Kevin Gorman was a bit disappointed with the way season came to a close for the Redskins.
"After talking with the staff, and some of the seniors, I'd say we're pleased with the season, but not satisfied," he said. "It was a good season, but not great. We didn't achieve everything we wanted to achieve.
"This could be one of the most talented teams we'll ever have here. I think we may have under-achieved a bit," said Gorman.
"It's a situation where we have a talented football team, and we didn't play up to our abilities Friday night in the semifinals, which I think everyone associated with the team would agree with," added Gorman. "If we play up to our standards, it's probably a different story."
In Gorman's first two years on the Sayre sidelines, the Redskins are 14-8 - the most wins in a two-year stretch since 1980-81 when the program posted back-to-back 7-2 seasons. The last two-year span to top 14 wins was 1969-70 when the Redskins were 16-1-1, including a 9-0 mark in '69.
Gorman also guided the Redskins to back-to-back postseason berths for the first time in program history.
Friday night, Gorman believes his offense was just a little out of synch.
"Muncy has a very good coaching staff, and they coach their guys incredibly hard," said Gorman. "They do a lot of good things, and they came in with a good game plan, but we did a lot of little things wrong.
"We had some over-throws to open guys, a couple drops, missed a few blocks, threw a pic at the goal line - we did a lot of things to keep us from finishing off drives.
"We slowed ourselves down on offense more often than not," noted Gorman. "I think Muncy did a nice job defensively, but I think we were our own worst enemy in that game.
"We did a lot out of things that were out of character for our offense all season," he added.
Defensively, Gorman said the Redskins missed opportunities to end Muncy drives.
"Muncy made a few more plays than we did," he said. "You look back and we had them in third-and-seven or more, on several occasions and they picked up a first down to keep a drive going.
"Defensively, you have to make those plays - - that makes a big difference in a game," noted Gorman. "We had opportunities to get off the field, and we just didn't do a great job finishing.
"Two weeks ago, we did a great job finishing. This week, we just didn't play up to our ability," added Gorman. "Bottom line is, (Muncy) played better than we did."
Gorman said the defense's biggest problems came against the Muncy run game.
"In the fist half, especially in the drive right before the half, we had too many people trying to do too much, and not doing their job.
"(Muncy) ran that counter play three or four times for 15 or 20 yards a pop," said Gorman. "We saw it two weeks ago and shut it right down, but Friday guys were tying to make the big play, instead of doing their job and getting the job done.
"I also don't think our tackling was all that great," he noted. "Too many times, we had guys going in to wrap someone up, and other players thinking the play was over, instead of going in to finish off the runner.
"(Muncy) has some nice backs, and ran hard, so you need to gang-tackle. I don't think we did a good job of it Friday," he added.
Gorman said the Redskins were "solid" on special teams.
"I thought Luke (Horton) and Nic (Bentley) did a nice job punting and kicking, but the snap could have been better on the one PAT we missed," he said.
"Jake Bennett had one nice kick return.
"Overall, special teams were solid," added Gorman.
GRADE: B. "I've been wracking my brain about this game the last two days," said Gorman. "Our guys played hard, but sometimes we tried to do too much, and didn't do our job.
"We didn't execute completely, and made some dumb mistakes; that could be the six-point difference in the game," he said.
""""""""""""
IN PHOTO: Sayre coach Kevin Gorman.
