Photo by Adam Vogler
Emporia High's Corey Bacon runs down the sideline during EHS's 43-19 win over Topeka High Friday, Sept. 5.
This week, Emporia High’s football team faces an early “for real” game.
The Spartans know they’re good, and they showed as much last Friday, opening their season with a convincing 43-19 victory over Topeka High. Just how good they are might be revealed in this Friday’s trip to Hayden, the top-ranked team in Class 4A.
An EHS victory would be fairly Earth-shaking. Win or lose, how well the Spartans compete will be what counts. Are they for real — as in, a team that can hang with any team in the state?
Hanging with Hayden in Topeka — let alone topping the Wildcats — would suggest that the answer is yes. Going into Hayden’s house and getting body-slammed — well, there’d be no shame in that. EHS would join a few dozen other teams in recent memory who’ve suffered the same fate. But it would cast doubt on whether the Spartans are ready to be mentioned among the Centennial League’s elite.
“It’s definitely a test,” EHS coach Bill Lowe said. “We know we’ve got our work cut out for us, and we’ve got a lot of improvement to do. But we’ll get us an idea of where we stand as far as conference.”
Scouting Emporia
Starting fullback Mark Kolmer is still questionable for Friday’s game with a sprained ankle, but Sheldon Patton performed nicely in his place in week one, rushing for 81 yards against Topeka High.
Where the Spartans may really have missed Kolmer last week was in run support on defense. An All-Area selection last year at linebacker, Kolmer was moved to free safety this year. Without him in the lineup, Topeka High ran the ball with impunity on its first two drives, straight up the gut of the Spartan defense, and came away with a touchdown on each one. With new starters in all three defensive units, the Spartans showed their youth. The Trojans’ Riley Williams ran for 145 yards in 22 carries for the game, and D.J. Wakes also added some productive runs, logging 59 yards in 11 carries.
Lowe said Kolmer’s absence made a difference on defense, as it will anytime a team is missing an athlete of his caliber.
“If nothing else, hopefully we can just get him ready for one side of the ball,” he said.
Still, Emporia’s run defense appeared to improve as the game went on — Topeka High finished with only 190 rushing yards for the game. Lowe said improving the run defense is a matter of filling gaps.
“We were a little more patient (later in the game), and plus, we kept the ball a little more, so they didn’t have it quite as much,” he said. “But we still gave up too many yards than what we’d like to have given up. And we’ll definitely have to improve this, because Hayden’s a very good offensive football team, and they’ll present a lot of challenges to us.”
Offensively, Emporia’s game plan won’t change: use the athletic abilities of its backfield and its big and skilled offensive line to sustain drives and keep the ball out of the Wildcats’ hands. To beat Hayden, the Spartans will need slotback Cory Bacon to be every bit the explosive playmaker he was against Topeka High. Bacon caught all four of quarterback Taylor Euler’s completions for 80 yards, including TD catches of 12 and 42, and had a 27-yard score among his eight carries and 64 rushing yards. Euler ran for 59 yards against T-High, the bulk of it coming on a 45-yard option keep that set up Bacon’s 12-yard scoring catch.
Hayden second-year coach Bill Arnold said what’s as important to the Wildcats’ chances as anything is making the tackle on the guys carrying the ball for Emporia.
“I think (Emporia’s) quarterback... and just the system that coach Lowe runs down there, you’ve got be very disciplined defensively,” Arnold said. “And I think Emporia, as big as they are up front, (their) offense is very scary.”
Scouting Hayden
Hardly any high school team plays its best football in week one, and Hayden is a case in point. The Wildcats 28-7 win over Shawnee Heights last week was a less-than-dominant performance that didn’t exactly remind Arnold of last year’s 10-2 team that made it to the sectional round of the 4A playoffs.
“I was a little disappointed in the way we performed,” Arnold said. “I guess maybe I had some unrealistic expectations as far as us picking up exactly where we left off (from last year). We didn’t do that.”
Hayden’s offensive attack begins with TJ McGreevy, the 6-foot-2 senior quarterback who earned All-Centennial first team honors last season. McGreevy had the typical dual-threat kind of day he’s known for against Shawnee Heights, putting up 192 yards of total offense, including 67 rushing yards.
“He’s real good,” Lowe said. “He’s big, and he’s probably 220 and can run. He’s tough to bring down. He likes to keep the ball, and he’s a handful. He also throws the ball well, so it makes doubly tough.”
For a high percentage of the time when McGreevy’s not carrying the ball, he’ll either be handing it off to Raymond Gragg or throwing it to Blake Rothschild. Gragg ran for 40 yards in nine carries and two short TDs against Heights. Rothschild showed big-play ability, catching three balls for 78 yards. The O-line is anchored by senior center Cole McVay, a second-team All-Centennial pick last year.
The Wildcats have decorated players at every level of the defense. Up front, senior defensive tackle Corey Ingenthron will be a challenge for the Spartans’ interior offensive line. Ingenthron was a first-team all-league pick last year, as was senior linebacker Michael Peterson. Rothschild also plays safety and was an all-league second team pick at that position in 2007.
Who’s afraid?
Guess which head coach in Friday’s game said the following: “I just hope we can compete with ’em a little bit. They look that good on film, so we’ll see.”
If you noticed Arnold’s quote above about Emporia’s scary offense, and you’ve got a nose for trick questions, you might have guessed that it was Arnold, not Lowe, expressing concerns about Hayden being able to hang with Emporia.
Respectful, insincere coachspeak? Quite possibly, seeing as it’s rare that Hayden has any trouble competing with anyone anywhere, let alone in its home environment. It’s also safe to say, though, that regardless of the Spartans’ chances of winning, they’ll be game for a challenge — and a bid at an upset.
“It’ll just be a physical game,” Lowe said. “We’ll have to be ready to hit. It’ll just come down to mental toughness, I think, in the fourth quarter.”
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Posted by UsayULoveGod (anonymous) on September 11, 2008 at 10:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good luck !
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