SPENCERVILLE-It’s no secret that will be battle of different styles of play on Friday night in Convoy. However a boost in playoff rankings is on the line for both teams in this one.
The Crestview Knights come in as league leaders on offense despite being shutout by the NWC gauntlet the last two weeks in Bluffton and Columbus Grove. The Knights average 28 points a game and average 353 yards of offense and first year head coach Cole Harting hopes to get back to that on Friday.
“Our primary focus needs to be on our execution,” said Harting. “The past two weeks we have done some good things, but at times lacked execution which put us in bad positions. If we can focus on executing our assignments, we can put ourselves in a position to win.”
Spencerville meanwhile kept their playoff hopes alive last Friday with a 35-14 homecoming victory over the Ada Bulldogs. Zach Looser and Carter Layman were the main forces in the victory. However the boys upfront have to win the line of scrimmage battle on Friday.
“Zach and Carter had a great game running the ball and a lot of the times they broke tackles in the backfield to make those big runs for us,” said Koenig. “This week we have emphasized with our guys up front that we must sustain blocks in this game coming up.”
Harting comes from Van Wert where he ran one of the top offenses in the WBL so it’s no surprise to many that he has Knights on top of the NWC stat leaders. Harting had plenty to say about coaching in the NWC.
“What I’ve learned most about coaching in the NWC is all of the coaches do a fantastic job of using the kids they have,” commented Harting. “Throughout our league, our rosters aren’t large and we constantly have to make adjustments based on injuries and need. Week in and week out, they put kids in positions for their teams to be successful.”
Maintaining long drives will be a key for the Bearcats if they want to pick up back to back victories before Jefferson comes to town on Friday. Crestview remains the same and that’s one thing Koenig has told his team this week.
“They do a lot of empty sets and try and play a numbers game with the back end of your defense,” added Koenig. “We need to stay disciplined and know our rules to prevent them from breaking off a big play. Too add to it, it is still Crestview they are always big up front and very physical and very well coached, they are just a good football team and we are going to have to match that physicality and aggressiveness to win this game.”
The Bearcats are sitting at a 93 percent chance to make the Division 5 region 18 rankings according to Drew Pasteur. Crestview is in a must win to make the postseason in Division 7 region 26 playoffs. With a victory they have 81 percent chance to get in and loss puts them at 22 percent.
Both teams should want to stick to their identity if they want to win on Friday.
“We need to pursue tackle. They do a lot of screens and our interior is going to have to be on the move to limit the gains they make in their screen game.” Concluded Koenig. “We need to control the line of scrimmage. If we can dictate run or pass for them it will help our defense process things much quicker. This means winning on first down to put us in a good spot. Don’t give up the big play. They have some explosviveness to the offense and we need to be able to keep them in front of us to prevent those big plays.”
“Defensively, Spencerville does a great job of moving their linebackers around and creating confusion up front. We must communicate and pick up blitzes and stunts in order to avoid negative plays. Offensively, they want to establish the run and take shots downfield when they can. They do a great job of getting matchups they like and then attacking them. Player needs to take care of their assignments and keep their eyes on their work in order to prevent big plays. We must make them drive the field. We need to win the explosive play battle, create turnovers, and play with tempo.” Concluded Harting.
If you can’t make to the game tune in to Zsports3 as Brett Beckman and Brock Blythe will have all the action with the pregame show at 6:30 followed by kickoff at 7pm.
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