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Saturday, November 1, 2008
Defense Wins Championships!
Eastern Oklahoma, OK
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By: Willie B. Alexander III
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Photo(s) By: Brett Rojo
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Since the beginning of American football history, players have been told by Coaches that “Defense Wins Championships!” and “The best offense is a good defense!” and as a matter fact; these are the most widely used clichés in football today but not many people are familiar with what these clichés actually mean and why so many coaches believe them whole heartedly?
Looking back on my aspirant youth, I can remember the first thing that my dad taught me about football. He told me to take the ball and run to the goal line. He then said, “This is called offense and what you just did, is called a Touchdown!” The next lesson that he taught me was that when I am on the other side of the ball, “I should stop the other team from getting a touchdown, which is called defense”. He then sat me down with a serious look and said that defense is the most important side of the football, but I didn’t understand because in a football game, the crowd seems to get more excited when a team scores a touchdown. At that instant, I learned my first cliché, “Son, offense puts people in the stands but defense wins championships”. Today, I pass on those everlasting words to my son. Let’s face it, offense is exciting; the long runs, phenomenal passes and gadget plays can almost take your breath away but what is necessary to win the game, strong defense.
The most prominent force behind every championship team is a strong defense and the Glenpool Warriors are excellent examples of that. With players like B.J. Herring who leads the team in sacks and defensive linemen like Jason Shrinski and Thomas Eipp, the Warriors are tough to do anything against much less score. Defense is the ability to keep points away from your opponent and if an opponent cannot score, then theoretically, how can the other team win. Remembering last year’s State Champion Jenks, is an excellent example of defense winning championships. The final headlines highlighted the accomplishments of many offensive players for the Trojans in that game but which side of the football truly won the game, offense or defense? The final score reflected a 42-24 point victory in favor of Jenks but the Trojans also scored 42 points earlier in the season in a loss to Union in the backyard bowl. The same amounts of points were scored but Jenks lost the game. The difference between the state championship game and the backyard bowl was that in the championship, Jenks only allowed Union to score 24 points. The same amount of offense was produced but better defense play won the championship game for their team. A solid defense has always been the key to Jenks’ successful track record in football.
A team with a tightfisted defense that is able to stop a high powered offense, can anticipate having a seat in post season play and a team that is capable of keeping the other teams from scoring, may have a sparkle of championship quality. Also, “The best offense is a good defense” is another cliché that has been soundly used throughout coaching history. Coach Steve Edwards A team can have a non-existent offense and still win games with a stellar defense. I once asked a coach if he cared that his team won a game by a safety and the coach replied, “A win, is a win!” So, the answer is that a strong defense wins football games.
Football teams are made up of three components; offense, defense and special teams. Each component has equal importance but taking away a team’s ability to score is the difference in winning and losing. For Glenpool the play of their special teams have been just that. Isaac Maslera and Deshon Wiiliams are key components on special teams and on the defense. Most championship teams actually combine the perfect combination of offense and defense and an ideal mixture of these components with an emphasis on defense, is what really wins championships. And some guys like Taylor Fowler will play both ways as well as many of the lineman. So the next time if asked does defense really wins championships, the answer is yes, because it does in combination with a good offense.
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