Preps
The seven maxims
General Robert Neyland introduced the seven "Game Maxims" to his University of Tennessee team during the 1930s. Many high schools and colleges still can use them 70 years later. Restated throughout the season, the maxims remind players what they need to do to win. Each week, the Times will apply Neyland's seven maxims to a previous week's game to see how they hold up.
By Times staff writers
Published October 16, 2003
The Maxims
NO. 1: The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
NO. 2: Play for and make the breaks, and when one comes your way - Score!
NO. 3: If at first the game or the breaks go against you, don't let up - put on more steam.
NO. 4: Protect your kicker, your quarterback and your lead.
NO. 5: "Oskie." To alert teammates, yell "Oskie" when you intercept, cover, block and gang tackle, for this is the winning edge.
NO. 6: Press the kicking game for it is here that the breaks are made.
NO. 7: Carry the fight to your opponents and leave it there for the whole game.
Applying the maxims
A closer look at Friday's Middleton-Sickles game (which Middleton won 25-23) displays how the maxims hold true.
NO. 1 - MISTAKES: Neither team threw an interception. But Sickles lost a fumble, and Middleton did not. The Gryphons' only punt traveled 16 yards.
NO. 2 - BREAKS: Both teams created them. Sickles scored on a 95-yard pass with 1:30 left to take the lead. Middleton then drove the length of the field to kick a 35-yard winning field goal with nine seconds left.
NO. 3 - DON'T LET UP: The lead changed hands seven times. Middleton was the only county team last week to rally from a halftime deficit to win.
NO. 4 - PROTECT YOUR QB, YOUR KICKER, AND YOUR LEAD: Middleton allowed its quarterback to complete 12 passes for 199 yards compared with Sickles' 95 yards, all on the score. The Tigers protected their kicker in the end, resulting in the winning field goal. Even though the Tigers lost an early lead, they retook it late. Sickles lost four leads.
NO. 5 - OSKIE AND GANG TACKLE: Gang tackling and effective pursuit held Sickles' running game to 4.2 yards per attempt. Middleton's blocking enabled it to get more than 6 yards a carry and control the line of scrimmage during the winning drive.
NO. 6 - PRESS THE KICKING GAME: Middleton averaged 46.5 yards on two punts. It also stayed faithful to its kicker, Jose Garcia, who missed an extra point and 26-yard field goal before the winning field goal.
NO. 7 - CARRY THE FIGHT FOR THE FULL GAME: It would have been easy for Middleton to quit after allowing the late touchdown. The Tigers already had come from behind three times, and they did it a fourth time to win it.
- Compiled by Times Staff Writer Scott Purks and Jim Reese.
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