Week 3 - Highland @ North Royalton

[On The Money]

Hornets really have their hands full this week. Depth is going to be a serious issue. Bears suited up 80 players against Revere and use a two platoon system. Like the Minutemen, the Hornets have multiple players going both ways (Maslowski, Serafin, Butler, Phillips, Justick, Kronenberger, maybe one or two others?). Bears rolled up 353 yards on Reverewhile holding the Minutemen under 200 yards. Bears didn't punt until the fourth quarter. Battaglia is a good back and he was held to 60 yards on 17 carries. IMO, Hornets will need to win the turnover battle to have a chance to pull an upset.

Article on Revere/NR game:

http://www.sportsink.com/NewsDetail/tabid/259/tblNewsID/171/Default.aspx

 

[OhioBobcatFan06]

I too am real concerned about depth after reading about North Royalton's rotating system.

We're a lot better of a team then Revere though, and deeper too. This should be a good game, although we are probably a bit of the underdog headed in. To me, it all starts with the run. If we can force North Royalton to go to the air against Maz, and Kronenberger, they are in huge trouble. I was shocked when the Buckeye QB threw in Maz's direction last week. He is a shutdown, avoid at all cost corner this year. Kronenberger is so tall that any deep ball is his if he is with the guy, and he's been good about that thus far. Our short passing game seems a bit more suspect, with as far as our CB's play off the line that is understandable, our LB's need to help with that. Now stopping the run so they must go to the air is easier said then done. We've done an okay job so far, but not good enough to really force teams to throw. NR also brings what would appear to be the best O-Line we have seen so far... That is definitely the main concern for me defensively.

Offensively, we simply must improve our interior rushing game. Whether the issue is opening holes for Serafin and Maz, or if it falls on them making more from that little space is a tough call. Probably a bit of both, although I think I'd lean towards the line play. Scholle has been great thus far, that must continue, both in the rushing and passing. Kronenberger has proven to be a threat in the passing game, we really need someone else to step up though to really spread the defense out... If we can really get a passing attack going, Maz could kill teams with screens and draws. To do so we probably need to give Scholle more time to pass, he has had to dance like crazy (usually turning into a nice 10 yard scramble!). Offense is probably the bigger concern this week then defense.

Still, I'll go with the Hornets. Our defense steps up and is able to force NR to throw on 3rd and longs, causing plenty of turnovers from our talented defensive backfield. Offensively we continue to have issues running inside, but do enough to keep North Royalton pinned deep, capitalizing on our chances.

Highland-17
North Royalton-16


Swarm.

Edit: Both Buckeye and RR QB's have hurt us running. We must improve there as well. Does NR have a speedy QB? System on offense?

 

[On The Money]

I don't know the type of offensive system used by NR. Against Revere they threw 17 times for 149 yards and ran 28 times for 204 yards (7.3 yards per carry). The rushing yards are a little skewed because 90 yards came on one play. 27 rushes accounted for 114 yards, which is still an excellent average of 4.2 yards per carry - even taking away the one big play. From reading that article it looks like they are a run-first, ball control type of team. I would expect that to be the case given the size of their offensive line reported in the PD earlier this year.

I think we need a few turnovers to push us over the top. I say keep 8 or 9 in the box and dare them to throw at Maz and Kroney. My only concern with that strategy is making sure the backers pick up the backs out of the backfield - you don't want a quick 5 yard dump pass to the flats to turn into a big play.