McLoud High School’s football season came to an end last Friday night when the Redskins dropped a 41-6 decision to Plainview in the first round of the playoffs.
Coach Rusty Hall said, “We just didn’t play very well. Collin (senior quarterback) Gibson wasn’t nearly as mobile with his injured knee. He couldn’t scramble and his ability to throw was hampered.
“He didn’t pass very well, he was just off,” Hall added.
Gibson wore a brace for a MCL injury to his knee he suffered the prior week against Douglas.
“He only threw one interception, but had some bad throws and we dropped a couple of passes that would have been touchdowns,” the coach said.
“We didn’t have any designed run plays for him and you could tell on scrambles his knee just gave out a couple of times,” Hall stated.
The Redskins finished the season with a 5-5 mark and made the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season. “We were 500 percent better,” Hall noted, pointing to last year’s 0-10 winless record.
Hall said Plainview beat the Redskins mainly through the air. “They have a really good receiver, about 6-2 and 205 pounds, that caught three or four TD’s. He’s tall and big and just a sophomore.”
The coach pointed to his offensive line that only had two starters, saying “we were undersized and we just didn’t play well. We couldn’t get anything started offensively.”
But Hall said of his players this year, “I was impressed because of all the injuries we had. They kept battling. I was proud of our guys for that. We had a pretty good year considering all the things we were up against,” he believes.
He pointed out, “We didn’t play a single game with our full potential.”
Already looking forward to next season, Hall said, “We should have eight starters on each side of the ball. We’ll be very big and strong.
“We need to fill the quarterback hole and some others, but I think we can compete for the district title next year.”