Bees Focused On Blocking Right People

Upperman head coach Adam Caine praised his team for an outstanding day of practice on Friday. Upperman’s season opener scheduled with Cookeville for Thursday night got postponed until Saturday due to lightning.

“Just mentally we were in it,” Caine said. “We were sharp. We had a lot of energy. It pretty much carried over into Saturday night’s game. I was a little concerned Thursday. It just seemed like we were a little anxious and nervous and a little bit tired and lethargic.”

Caine pointed out that early in the game, Cookeville moved the ball a little better than they did. He looked to senior Donnoven McCallister to make a play. McCallister answered the call with a 43-yard pick six midway through the first quarter.

“We needed something to pick us up,” Caine said. “You know (McCallister) is our guy. Everybody looks to him to set the tone and make a play. He knows that and he was able to do that. It was big and we got a little energy off of that.”

A tale of two halves might be the best way to describe Caines thoughts on his offensive lines performance from Saturday night. Caine said a mark of a good football team is people blocking who they are supposed to block.

“In the second half I was very pleased,” Caine said. “In the first half we were not very good. In the second half of the ball game our offensive line started really started blocking… We were finally able to do that and play with a little bit of physicality on that side of the ball.”

Al Pacino’s character, Tony D’Amato, in the move Any Given Sunday says, “Life, is this game of inches, so is football.” Caine’s defense stopped Cookeville on three plays from inside the one-yard line.

“It was crazy,” Caine said. “You know they say it’s a game of inches and it really was for sure that night. A couple of moments before and it’s third and 30 and I felt pretty good about our chances. We let them down there and they get to snap the ball three times from inside the one yard line and you don’t know what to expect of your chances.”

Caine took advantage of having his Friday night open in week one. He watched DeKalb County play their opener against Warren County in McMinville. Caine said they line up in the same style of defense that Upperman does but they run it much different than they do.

“They run a similar defensive scheme as we do,” Caine said. “They do a lot of blitzing and moving in it. Where we just sit and play defense. So, it’s a little different for us. We have got to be able to pick up the slants and the blitzes.”