Maroons look to get offense back on track

Friday, September 19, 2008

Despite the scoring slump during the Madisonville-North Hopkins football team’s past two games, Maroon head coach Will Weaver is confident as ever in his offensive playmakers.

Although the Maroon defense has been steadfast in its last two contests, the team’s offense will certainly have to rise to the occasion 7:30 p.m. today as North (2-1) visits the Hopkinsville Tigers (2-1), who average 40 points a game.

Weaver said it’s not a time to panic, it’s just a matter of time before North catches a break.

“We’ve had wide open receivers, we’ve had guys in the open field, one block away from sprinting the big one, just haven’t been able to do it,” he said. “We’re moving the football, but in the end, what’s most important is we’re not putting points on the board right now.”

Making the Maroons’ offensive attempt of a “coming out party” even more difficult will be the limited availability of leading rusher Chris Scisney. Scisney went down with a sprained MCL in last week’s 8-3 loss to Apollo and has been in therapy all week.

Weaver described Scisney’s performance level at 80-85 percent, and hopes to use the powerful back tonight, but said it would be sparingly.

With Scisney’s role diminished against the Tigers, running back Ryan Robinson will get most of the carries from the backfield.

Robinson rushed for 58 yards on nine carries in North’s season-opener, but as a team the Maroons collected just 43 yards on the ground in week two. Last week Robinson amassed just seven yards on two carries, but was used effectively in the passing game.

For the Maroons’ running attack to be successful against Hopkinsville, Weaver said North’s backs will have to pound the ball into the heart of the Tiger defense.

“One thing that we preached on this week is that you can’t go east to west, side-to-side, we have to go north and south,” Weaver said. “Last week, I think we lost 15-20 yards where we were trying to make the big play and actually went backwards instead of forward.”

Robinson said he understands the strategy as well.

“Stick it in there and run hard, run it up the gut,” he said.

Also helping Robinson in the backfield tonight will be junior Isiah White and freshman Trey Carr.

Carr, who has been used sparingly in varsity games, may be called upon even more than usual.

“(Carr’s) a gamebreaker,” Weaver said. “When he gets in the open field, he’s one of the most explosive kids we’ve got. That’s one thing we talked about last week, maybe we should have thrown him in a series or two and kind of see what he had against Apollo.”

Quarterback Matt Levin said Hopkinsville likes to play cover two defense and it will be important for North to beat defenders to the edge and sweep them.

The Tigers’ speed may actually play into the hands of North, Weaver said.

“They’re very aggressive and they do fly to the ball, which kind of opens them up to a little bit of play-action and counters,” he said. “The faster you are to the football, you’re vacating the zone. There are some things that we plan on doing that will help us be successful.”

Defensively, the Maroons have taken note of Tiger wide receiver Victor Moulden. In Hopkinsville’s season opener, a 49-21 win over Trigg County, Moulden grabbed six catches for 143 yards and a touchdown.

“He’s their go-to receiver,” Weaver said. “If we shut him down and not let their backs break the big plays, which they thrive off from, then we’ll be OK.”

Sophomore defender Rashad Combs said he expects the Tigers to use a pro-set formation, which will force North to respect the run as well.

Combs said of Moulden, “He’s a very athletic guy, so we’re going to have to play very hard on him.”

Combs said despite Moulden’s playmaking threat, North’s plan to pin down the opposing offense has remained relatively stable.

“We’ve just been going hard, giving it 110 percent in practice and just keeping it up all the time, no matter who we’re playing,” he said.

The team’s defensive effort during the past two weeks has not escaped the attention of Weaver and his staff as North has limited opposing teams to just 14 points.

“They’re running to the football and playing with a lot of heart over there,” he said.

The effort has been critical as North labors to score points, but Combs said the defense uses it as motivation to perform better.

“Sometimes we feel pressure when the offense isn’t moving the ball, so we just go out there and go harder than we did before,” he said.

Even with a limited amount of points the past couple games, Weaver pointed out his team is just one play away from being 3-0.

While the team may not be undefeated, Levin said he sees tonight’s game as an opportunity to notch victory number three.

“We just move the ball and then it just seems like one play or series we just start stuttering and we don’t get that first down that we need at the time, we’ll get that corrected this week,” he said.