Offense vs. Defense
This Friday night’s playoff football matchup between Jeff Davis and Rabun County brought to mind the ancient irresistible force paradox, also called the unstoppable force paradox.
The paradox dates back at least as far as the 3rd century BC when a philosophical book tells the story of a man who was trying to sell a spear and a shield. When asked how good his spear was, he said his spear could pierce any shield. Then, when asked how good his shield was, he said it could defend from all spear attacks. Then one person asked him what would happen if he were to take his spear to strike his shield; the seller could not answer.
That story led to the Chinese word for contradiction, which basically translates into “spear-shield.”
There are other ancient stories that illustrate the paradox, such as a fox which can never be caught and the hound which never misses what it hunts.
These days the paradox is expressed as “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?”
So what does all this have to do with the Jeff Davis-Rabun County football game?
Rabun County has the best scoring offense in Georgia in Class 2A and is averaging 50.2 points per game.
Jeff Davis has the best scoring defense in Georgia in Class 2A, giving up an average of only 5.4 points per game (That’s not including the forfeit win over Atkinson County, listed as a 2-0 win).
So, one could consider the paradox: “What happens when an unstoppable force (Rabun County) meets an immovable object (Jeff Davis)?”
The Yellow Jackets have five shutouts this season and the most points they have given up in any game is 15 in a 15-14 loss to Swainsboro. The Wildcats from Tiger are yielding 12.82 points per game and have only one shutout.
Coach Lance Helton’s charges also have a respectable scoring offense, as they are averaging 34.0 points per game.
In last week’s first round playoff games, Jeff Davis defeated Jefferson County 40-0 and Rabun County downed Pace Academy 63-14.
There is another old quote that has been attributed to legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant. He once said, “Offense sells tickets but defense wins championships.”
I’ve always heard it as, “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.”
Whatever the case may be, this Friday night’s Jeff Davis-Rabun County game should be something extraordinary to watch.
I freely admit I’m biased, but I’m a huge fan of Coach Jay Cravey’s Yellow Jacket defense.
I think that defense will prevail.
