Did the Bradford High Owls get caught up reading their press clippings?
If so, maybe last week’s loss to Coudersport wasn’t such a bad thing.
The Owls found out that the AML North portion of their schedule wasn’t going to be the cakewalk some had predicted.
“For the past nine months or so we’ve been told how good we are,” Puglio stated during his weekly interview on Tuesday. “The best way I can say it is that we were put at the top of the mountain but had not earned it.”
What Puglio witnessed last Friday night was disappointing to say the least.
“We made so many mistakes that it was hard to keep track of them,” he observed. “I watched one team play loose and was fired up with nothing to lose and the other team was playing really, really tight.”
Obviously, “the other team,” was the Owls and Puglio took some of the blame.
“Maybe I got a little caught up in it [pre-season articles] too,” he admitted, “but it’s my job to get this team ready to play and I didn’t do that last week.
“Every team is going to give us their best game and we have to learn that. Coudersport played with passion. They were fired up, and played with intensity together as a team. They were excited after every play. I didn’t see that from our guys.
“Coudersport outplayed us from start to finish and our kids never really got started,” he added.
In their opener against Smethport, the Owls put 41 points on the board, which was somewhat uncharacteristic of Bradford’s offense which has struggled getting into the end zone the past several years. It may also have led to a little over-confidence.
“We made mistakes against Smethport and got away with them,” Puglio agreed. “We made the same mistakes against Coudersport and didn’t. Maybe this loss will be a good thing, because now our kids know they have to step up their game.
“When we broke down the film, we could see the mistakes are correctable, but we have to get fired up and play with intensity all the time. We’re too young and can’t just turn it [intensity] on and off.
“We also have to do our individual jobs. When we didn’t do things right, it allowed Coudersport to open holes for their running backs. Everyone has to do his job and if one guy doesn’t, it takes out three others. If we don’t come out ready to play, we’ll get beat despite what people are telling us. We have to play with intensity.”
Individually, the Owls coach was pleased with the play of running backs Donny Pattison and Jaron Ambrose last week.
“They are getting better and better,” he stated. “I also think Andy Pantuso is progressing on defense. As he gets more comfortable with it, he’s making more plays. I like the way he’s coming along.”
The Owls play their home opener on Friday night. They will be hosting Cameron County at Parkway Field (7 p.m.) and Puglio is taking a cautious approach.
“Cameron County is big up front and they’re going to come right at us. We’ll find out if we are going to play with the intensity that we need, and are we going to play Bradford football the way it’s suppose to be played,” he stated.
“Defensively, we just need to be more aggressive and create more turnovers. We had opportunities to take ball away [last week] and didn’t get the job done. If we play with more intensity we’ll create turnovers. The loss won’t be a bad thing if we can respond, but we have to get better each game,” he emphasized.
