Party Crashers
Emporia High Spartans hope to ruin Shawnee Heights’ Homecoming Friday night
By Michael Ashford
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Long before the Emporia High football team got off to its 3-1 start, Shawnee Heights had tabbed Friday night’s game against the Spartans as its homecoming game.
Though the current group of Spartans had little to do with it, they are using being tabbed as Shawnee Heights’ homecoming opponent as motivation, as teams usually schedule the team they perceive to be the weakest as the homecoming matchup as a way to ensure victory.
“It’s more of a point to beat them,” senior defensive back Bryce Shaver said. “We want to go up there and show them that we’re a different team. We’ve changed this year, and we want to give them a hell of a game.”
Shawnee Heights (3-1) presents the Spartans (3-1) with their stiffest test since the opening game of the season against Blue Valley West, as it will be the first team the Spartans have played this season that boasts a winning record, not including Blue Valley West.
“Coach (Bill Lowe) said this will probably be our toughest challenge,” junior running back Edd Noonan said. “We’ll have to play well and be ready to play.”
Offensively, Shawnee Heights poses a balanced threat, as the Thunderbirds average 140.5 rushing yards and 122.3 passing yards per game.
“The thing that has made them so good this year is that they can run and throw,” Lowe said. “In the past, they just tried to throw it around all the time, but they can run the ball really well this year. We’re just as worried about the run as we are the pass this week. It makes it really tough to defend.”
Quarterback Tyler Herl is the offensive catalyst for the Thunderbirds, as the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder does a little of everything for his team. In a 33-18 victory over Washburn Rural last week, Herl compiled 234 yards of total offense to go with three touchdowns — two rushing, one passing.
“They have a really good quarterback who throws the ball well, plus, he runs well,” Lowe said. “He can hurt you in so many ways.”
The Shawnee Heights offense may present the toughest test for the Emporia High defense since Week One, but the good news for the Spartans is that over the past few weeks, they have been one of the best defensive teams in the state.
Last week against Topeka West, the Spartans held the Chargers to just 110 total yards of offense — and only three yards rushing — including a measly 34 total yards in the second half. On the season, Emporia High is surrendering just 92.3 yards rushing and 219 total yards per game.
“We’re going to get after it, run to the ball and get nasty,” junior linebacker Ryan Bass said, repeating a mantra the EHS players have shouted all this week. “As a defense, we feel comfortable, we fly to the ball and we do what we need to do.”
Not only have the Spartans been shutting down opposing offenses yardage-wise, but they have also been taking the ball away from teams at a blistering rate. The Emporia High defense has created 11 turnovers this season, while the Spartans have only lost four, putting EHS at plus-7 in turnover margin.
Lowe said it will take more of the same if his team hopes to beat the Thunderbirds on Friday.
“The defense been outstanding, and that’s what were counting on this weekend,” Lowe said. “ We’re going to have to have a great effort this week because Shawnee Heights is a really good offensive team. That’s our challenge.
“We’re going to have to play great defense and create some turnovers like we’ve been doing, and hopefully we’ll get a few breaks.”
If there is one area in which the Thunderbirds have been susceptible this season, it has been in run defense.
The Thunderbirds are giving up 140.3 yards per game on the ground through four games, which could play right into the Spartans’ game plan, which figures to showcase several new looks this week should the need arise.
Noonan is coming off his best game of the year, rushing 22 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns last week against Topeka West, including a 76-yard TD run in the second quarter in which he nearly went untouched through the right side of the defense.
Noonan, though, gave all the credit for last week’s performance to his blockers.
“It feels like our offensive line has been getting better each week,” Noonan said. “They’re opening up a lot more holes. It just seems like they keep taking a step up each week.”
As the Spartans make the trip up I-335 to Topeka for the third time in the last four weeks, they do so hoping to protect their position atop the Centennial League standings. Emporia High, Hayden and Seaman all have unblemished league records so far, and a win Friday night would ensure that the Spartans keep their spot for at least another week.
By beating Shawnee Heights on Friday, Shaver said the Spartans will earn the right to call themselves league leaders.
“It’s going to be a test,” Shaver said. “We know right now that we’re No. 1 in the league, but this is really going to prove it. This is going to show us if we are what we say we are, and that’s Emporia High Spartans.”