The gridiron playoff hunt is on
Thursday, 04 October 2007
Finley-Sharon-Hope-Page plavers covering up the ball after an onside kick by Hillsboro last Friday. The Burros onside kicked it a few times against the Spartans, including the first kick-off of the game. The Spartans lost 30-14 and look to get back on track. (Matt Blumkin/VCTR)
By Matt Blumkin
Valley City Times-Record
The Hi-Liners (2-4, 1-3) will need a win over the Firebirds (5-1, 3-1) on Friday in order to keep their fading playoff hopes alive. It won’t be easy as the Firebirds come in ranked No. 2 in Class AA.
“They run the football like crazy, and they get their big yards off the run,” Hi-Liners coach Scott Roehrich said. “They got two big tackles that they love to run behind, and we’re going to have to control that off-tackle play and get after it when they run.”
The Firebirds also have two strong running backs in Sean Ballard and Casey Byrum to tangle with. The defensive challenges won’t end there, either.
“They’ve got some big-play capability on their wide receivers, too,” Roehrich said. “We’ve got to make sure that we don’t give up a big play that way, too.”
The Hi-Liners won’t change their defensive scheme significantly, but they’ll need to change one season-long habit – giving up third-down plays. It has hurt the Hi-Liners in getting poor field position for their offense and ball control.
“We’ve played pretty good defense, we just can’t get off the field on third-down,” Roehrich said.
When they do get their defense off the field, the Hi-Liners’ offense will have to tangle with an aggressive Firebirds defense, which allows 7.2 points per game.
“We have to make sure that we keep them from pursuing so hard to the ball, so we’ll have to try and use the misdirection when we can,” Roehrich said.
“We’ve also got to be able to throw the ball because they really come after you,” he added. “We have some kids that we think are tough to play man to man.”
FSHP (5-1, 4-1) at Wyndmere-Lidgerwood (5-1, 4-1)
Finley-Sharon-Hope-Page could not stop the high-powered Hillsboro running game in a 30-14 loss last Friday.
It put the Burros (7-0, 5-0) in the driver’s seat for first nine-man Region 2. Now the Spartans will duke it out with the Wyndmere-Lidgerwood Warriors for a claim on second-place.
In addition, the Spartans will have to find an answer for the Warriors’ running game.
Warriors senior quarterback Zach Puetz will run with the ball, and he has senior running back Chris McKay to hand off to.
“We can’t allow Wyndmere to have long drives and wear our defense down,” Kainz said. “We have to do a much better job controlling the line of scrimmage against Wyndmere than we did against Hillsboro.”
Wyndmere-Lidgerwood also gave the Burros a closer game in a 21-20 loss earlier in the season, the Warriors’ lone loss of the season.
“We need to a get ahead of Wyndmere and force them to play from behind,” Kainz said.
The Hope-Page half of the co-op also has some history with Wyndmere. The last time Hope-Page made the playoffs was a quarterfinal loss to the Warriors.
“It should be a good game,” Kainz said.
LaMoure-LM (5-1, 2-1) at Lisbon (6-1, 3-0)
LaMoure-Litchville-Marion can’t afford the same series of plays they had against North Sargent-Milnor to happen again at Lisbon on Friday.
“In our first seven plays, we snapped the ball over our heads on a punt, we fumbled, and we threw an interception,” Loboes coach Greg Hermes said about his team’s 30-19 loss to the Bobcats last Friday. “They came to play and we did not.”
Lisbon, however, pulled off a dramatic 23-22 win over Linton-HMB last Friday. The Broncos scored a late rushing touchdown to win the game and stay unbeaten in Class A Region 1.
The Loboes will look to get back into a share of first place if they can hand the Broncos their first loss since losing 12-6 to Valley City in their second game of the season.
Maple Valley-Enderlin (0-6, 0-3) at Linton (4-2, 2-1)
The Maple Valley-Enderlin Falcons will enter Friday’s game at Linton as confident as ever after falling shy to Kindred, 27-20.
“I think we will be all right,” Falcons coach Brett Kaupan said. “They are not as big as they were last year.”
In addition, Linton-HMB is coming off a heart-breaking 23-22 loss to Lisbon from last Friday. The Lions got beat on a late rushing touchdown by the Broncos.
The Lions like to run the football, and they can open up the passing game with their quarterback and tight ends.
“We need to get pressure on him (the quarterback) so that he can’t throw to his tight ends,” Kaupan said.
Kaupan liked his team’s defensive effort against Kindred. The Vikings didn’t score on offense in the second half, but they got kick off return for a touchdown, which secured the win.
N. Cass (2-4, 1-4) at BCN (0-6, 0-5)
The Bison know well not to be deceived by Northern Cass’s 1-4 region record.
“They’re playing everyone tough,” BCN Bison coach Dale Undem said. “They’re a good solid team.”
Northern Cass running back Blake Osmon will be a challenge for the Bison to stop.
“We need to limit his yards,” Undem said.
