Thinking about Fred T. Foard

Did you know that this year marks the Golden Anniversary of Fred T. Foard football? It was in 1958 that the first Tiger football squad took the field. And throughout the past half-century there have been a few "big moments" for Tiger football. Most of them took place back in the early 1980s. A few more moments happened about 10 years ago. The 2008 season has already gotten off to a historic start for the Tigers and has all the earmarks of being one of the best seasons in school history.

Make no mistake about it: Beating the Red Tornadoes in Frank Barger Stadium on Hickory's Homecoming would be the icing on the cake. Not to mention that a Tiger victory on Friday would eliminate Hickory from the CVAC title chase and seriously jeopardize our playoff hopes. It's happened before. In 2000 the Tigers defeated a depleted Tornado team in Frank Barger Stadium and prevented Hickory from making the postseason. That was the second and last time the Tigers got a win over the Red Tornadoes. Hickory has won the last seven meetings between the schools. Click here for more information about the Tigers.

Here are some Wednesday observations about the Tigers.

The Tigers are extremely athletic and have speed on both sides of the ball. It's a scary thought, actually, but I believe in this respect the Tigers are a lot like Catholic. Quinton Owens, Jaheil Washington, Alex Miller, Trent Safrit, Tyler Ruth and others are as fast a group as any Hickory has faced this year, including Statesville. The evidence can be found when you look at how Fred T. Foard scores its points. Take the season-opening win over South Caldwell. After spotting the Spartans a touchdown in the first quarter the Tigers scored 33 unanswered points on five touchdowns. Touchdown #1: Quinton Owens on a 53-yard run. Touchdown #2: Trent Safrit on a 50-yard pass from Landon Isenhour. Touchdown #3: Alex Miller on an 18-yard run. Touchdown #4: Jake Sweatt on a 66-yard pass from Isenhour. Touchdown #5: Jaheil Washington on a 27-yard run. That's five different players winding up in the end zone. That's multi-dimensional football. That, my friends, is an arsenal.

Although it was the slaughter of Maiden in Tom Brown Stadium that first caught people's attention and sounded the alarm that the Tigers are "for real," I believe that Foard's most impressive victory was the opener against South Caldwell. The offense averaged 7.2 yards per carry. The passing game averaged 37.5 yards per reception. Half of Landon Isenhour's pass completions were for touchdowns. The Tigers did not turn the ball over. They were only flagged six times for 55 yards. And perhaps the most impressive thing of all is that Foard was not at all affected by South Caldwell's clear advantage in size. One of the knocks against Foard this year is that they are not very big. South Caldwell, on the other hand, is huge. So the wishful thinking that maybe Foard can be pushed around by a more physical team was disproved in the very first week of the season. Which doesn't mean that the Tigers are ready to take on the Carolina Panthers. Size alone is not a guarantee. Size + speed + power is the killer. Somewhere down the line Foard may face a team with players who are both big and fast, but realistically that won't happen till they are deep in the playoffs.

The Tigers score points in bunches. They score a lot of points early in the game. They score points in a variety ways. Last week I mentioned that while Newton-Conover likes to play rope-a-dope in the first half the Tigers like to go for a quick kill. When you break down the Tiger scoring by quarters you will see that they have outscored the opposition 62-22 in the first quarter and 64-0 in the second quarter. More specifically, the Tigers gave up a touchdown to South Caldwell in the first quarter of the first game of the season and then did not allow another score in the first half until last week when Newton got off to a fast start and put up 15 points in the first quarter. How did Foard respond to suddenly being down 15-0? The Tigers roared back (no pun intended) in the second quarter and scored 20 points while shutting the Devils down to take a 20-15 lead into halftime. The Tigers are capable of overwhelming an opponent but they do not get rattled by what the opponent is able to accomplish against them. And it's not good enough to simply stop the offense. Against West Lincoln the Tigers opened the scoring on a 95-yard kickoff return by Quinton Owens. Later in the game Tiger linebacker Jake Sweatt scored on a 49-yard interception return. In the Maiden game it was Quinton Owens scoring four first-half touchdowns on runs of six, five and nine yards, followed by a 28-yard interception return. Against Patton the Tigers scored a touchdown when Taylor Lassiter recovered a Panther fumble and took that 65 yards "to the house." What's the common denominator? You guessed it: speed!

Tiger quarterback Landon Isenhour reminds me of former Red Tornado quarterback Chris Rogers. The things that I really appreciated about Chris were his speed and his toughness. There is no question that Chris Rogers was one of the fastest quarterbacks in Hickory's long football history. His running ability gave Hickory an extra weapon in 2003 and proved deadly to the opposition. He was a decent passer and also just a tough hombre. I see all those qualities in Isenhour. He is a three-sport athlete who can run, throw and take a hit. He had a 55-yard touchdown run against West Lincoln. He's rushed for 186 yards so far this season. He averages more than 100 yards passing per game. He can scramble and he doesn't make bad decisions. He is a leader and a prime example of the experience and efficiency of the Tiger offensive machine.

If Isenhour is the leader then Quinton Owens is the spark for the Tigers. He is Foard's leading rusher and also a key member of the defensive secondary. He also is a dangerous return man. He has already scored touchdowns not just on offense but defense and special teams as well. But he is just one of several playmakers the Tigers can rely on for production. Jaheil Washington is right behind Owens on the rushing charts. Alex Miller and fullback Micah Huffman are also valuable. The Tiger receiving corps is as dangerous as any Hickory will face this season.

The Tiger defense leads the CVAC in almost every category. That's pretty much all you need to know about Foard's prowess on that side of the line of scrimmage. Only Hibriten has allowed fewer points this season. The Tiger defense couldn't maintain Foard's halftime lead last week and it cost them their first loss of the season. Odds are good that they will be looking to atone for that this week against Hickory...

THIS MEANS WAR!