Friday, September 12, 2008
A week after suffering a heart-breaking loss to rival Madisonville-North Hopkins, the prospects of a rebound for the Hopkins County Central football team could be quite difficult as the Storm visit Trigg County at 7:30 p.m. today.
Although Trigg County (0-2) has lost its first two games of the season, the Wildcats have played some tough competition in Hopkinsville and Calloway County, and Central coach Rick Snodgrass knows the Storm (1-1) will have their hands full.
“They were touted as one of the better teams in class 2A,” Snodgrass said. “It’s a hard place to play when you have to go down to Trigg County. They’ll have a slew of people and it’s just a tough atmosphere, so we’ll have to play really well.”
The Wildcats return both top running backs as well as their leading wide receiver and starting quarterback from a team that finished 9-4 last season.
Senior running backs Brandon Bridges and Antonio Grubbs will lead the running attack for the ’Cats. Senior quarterback Donald Bush returns in his third year behind center, and his top target will be senior receiver Dustin White.
“All these kids are college prospect type kids,” Snodgrass said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons. They run multiple fronts, multiple sets on offense so they try to confuse. They got guys that can beat you deep as far as receiving and they’ve got guys that can break big plays in the run game.”
Defensively, the Storm have allowed just 81 rushing yards on the season and junior linebacker Nathan Crick has been leading the charge, averaging 20 tackles through his first two games.
Crick said Central’s ability to stop the run comes from their success of improvising plays at the line.
“We’ll call a front and if they come out in something different, we’ll check to a different one, we’ll call a different stunt or blitz, just depends on what they come out in,” said.
Crick said the coaches have prepared the Central defense to expect a mix of counter and trick plays, so the defense will have to focus on properly reading its keys.
Snodgrass said the defense is able to put a lot of players in the box because of its wealth of talent.
“We’ve got some skill guys that we feel like that match up with just about anybody,” he said, “so we can lock up and play a little man coverage, get a little more pressure if we need to.
“Defensively we’ve been playing well all year. I feel like if we continue to do what we’re doing and our guys execute our game plan, we’ll be in good shape.”
While the Storm defense has held on the running game, Central’s rushers have had a fair share of success thus far on the season. Although the Storm rushed for 114 yards in their 13-6 loss to North, the team gained 192 yards on the ground in the season-opening 63-0 win against Fulton County.
“We missed some assignments last week and we did not execute like we had in the previous couple of weeks,” Snodgrass said of the Central running attack. “We went back to the film room and started breaking things down more, try to emphasize the importance of being physical in the offensive line.”
Quarterback Jake Powell led the team against North with 57 rushing yards.
Powell, who served time as running back from sixth grade until his sophomore year, said he is comfortable running the ball and confident in his backfield.
“We got playmakers in the running game,” he said. “As long as we break tackles and the lineman get on the right people, we should have big plays.”
Storm fans can expect to see Powell and the Storm offense put the ball in the air more as Snodgrass said he expects man coverage from the Trigg County defenders.
Coming off a low-scoring, slow-paced game last week, Central will be looking to score first to give the defense points to work with.
“It’s very important because if we get it, come out and set the tone, we may get some momentum going our way, we might get some rhythm,” Powell said.
Notes
n Foreign-exchange student Carlos Diaz is now eligible after participating in 10 days of football practice.
Diaz will be used in the kicking game, and Snodgrass said he expects to get Diaz, also a Storm soccer player, on the field against Trigg County or next week. Diaz will join Wesley Ipock, who also kicks and plays for the school’s soccer team.
Snodgrass said Ipock will retain punting and field goal duties.
“We’re looking at Carlos kicking off because he’s got a strong leg,” Snodgrass said. “He can put the ball down around the goal line or even in the endzone. In high school football that’s a big plus if you can put it in the endzone, you start on the 20-yard line.”
Snodgrass added, however, with Diaz’s strength, he could be called upon in long-distance field goal situations.
n During last week’s contest, many Central players had to exit the game with cramps and various minor bruises, but Snodgrass said he expects to have nearly every one on his roster available for tonight.
Snodgrass said running back Troy Dale Rorer suffered a hip pointer injury and Travis Watts strained his knee against North, but both players “gutted out” their injuries and should be available tonight.
Senior lineman Quentin Gordon strained his MCL and left the game early.
Watts and Gordon were held out of practice on Tuesday, but Watts participated in non-contact drills Wednesday.
Gordon will be re-evaluated today when he receives an MRI, but is expected to miss tonight’s game.
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