Week 1 Football Preview: Indians ready to buck Broncos' passing attack
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By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Hillsboro Indians will be back on the gridiron “for real” this Friday night as they are set to travel to Kibler Stadium as they hope to hold onto the Broncos of Western Brown for 48 minutes.
Both teams have different looks this year, but it is the difference of the Western Brown offense that has caught the attention of Hillsboro head coach Brian Spicer, who is entering his second season with the Indians.
Western Brown, who are coached by second-year coach Evan Dreyer, returns 17 starters combined on both sides of the football.
Spicer, who led HHS to an 8-2 record last year with a spread offense, said the Broncos will go from using an option heavy offense to a empty spread offense, (different from the spread used by HHS), as they will air it out on Friday nights.
"We scouted them (Western Brown) last week and they have a second year coach like we do and they are coming off a season that was a similar situation like we had," Spicer said. "The big difference was the success we had.
"They implicated changes to fit their personnel, and I can see them as looking at this as a season for a chance to improve."
One year ago at Richards Memorial Field the Indians defeated the Broncos, 41-32; before that, the Indians lost three straight to WB. Last season, WB finished 4-6 overall, 4-3 in their combined Southern Buckeye Athletic Academic Conference (SBAAC) schedule. Their wins came against Clermont NE, Blanchester, Williamsburg and Bethel-Tate.
The Broncos' spread empty offense will allow them to use five wide receivers, as they have been seen in scrimmages using three receivers on one side of the offense and two on the other. Spicer said he felt the Broncos passed the ball 85-90 percent of the time.
"Western Brown doesn't hide the fact they like like to throw the football with their empty sets. This will be different for us because we don't see many passing teams since the SCOL is, for the most part, a run first league."
At quarterback for the Broncos is senior Matt Corcoran (5-10, 175). Last season as a junior, the WB signal caller passed for 1,100 yards and 853 yards rushing.
The top returning receivers for the Broncos is senior Brad Rhodes (6-0, 195), who caught 650 yards. Also returning is junior Nick Woodyard (5-11, 150) at receiver and sophomore running back Gunnar Woodyard (5-8, 160). Gunnar Woodyard rushed for 476 yards and caught 176 yards receiving.
"This will be a big first game for both teams," Spicer said. "We have to play well on both sides of the ball, and we have to keep them out of the end zone.
"Their QB is back, and they have a lot of athletic ability. They had a good effort last year, but they didn't throw like they do now."
With this being the first game, Spicer said he didn't know what to think of his team after their first scrimmage against Adena, but once the finished their scrimmage their second scrimmage against Paint Valley he was pleased with what he saw.
"I thought we made a lot of improvements from when we started two-a-days up to our last scrimmage. During two-a-days the guys had to fight through the heat, and we had to learn how to stay focused, Spicer said. "But after that first scrimmage, I was a little worried, and again, we had to battle the heat.
"But after the second one I felt happy and I felt good."
Spicer said he was pleased with the effort of the first unit against a quality Paint Valley team.
"It was a great effort by our first team," he said. "The thing is after that, we don't have a lot of depth."
But facing a pass-first team is something the Indians aren't used to facing as mentioned earlier the SCOL is historically full of team who like to run the football first.
"We preach run-first in our league (SCOL), and last year, toward the end of the season, our defense stepped up and stopped the run. But now, we are going to have to shift gears headed into week one and stop the passing game first," Spicer said. "Plus, they (WB) return 14 lettermen and both teams have a good mixture and both of our lineups are similar.
"We have to make sure we are ready for the passing game. We usually like to have nine in the box, but this week we have to play out of the box, and our kids have to recognize the receiver formations and limit certain plays."
Spicer mentioned his defense must be mentally prepared to play the Broncos.
"Our guys have to pick up tendencies, and the quicker we can pick those up, the better defense we can play," Spicer said.
WB not only changed their offensive strategy, but their defense will have a different look, as well. Last year, WB allowed 32 points per game.
Last year in their four-win campaign, the Broncos used a 4-4 look; this season, they have converted to a 3-3 stack defense.
All-SBAAC player Kyle Puckett is out for the season due to a torn ACL, according to a report on highschool.rivals.com. Also returning to the Broncos on defense are senior Matt Canter (5-8, 175) and sophomore Jake Morrison (6-0, 180), both linebackers. Canter led the Broncos with 90 tackles last season. Fifteen tackles were for a loss.
"In the scrimmages they blitzed a lot," Spicer said. "They send eight guys and creates negative yardage situations. They force teams to do what they want them to do, and we'll get an odd look and they will blitz."
With this being the opening game of the season, when asked how his team was looking forward to the first game, Spicer responded with they were just ready to play for real.
"It's just one of those things where we are ready to go," he said. "We've worked and sweated out two-a-days, and the guys are like, let's do this for real.
"The anticipation is here all week in practice and it builds up into Friday night. For some of the guys this will be their first time playing on Friday nights and they will then realize game days are different from scrimmages. The guys will build confidence and we have to have 11 guys on the field doing their job."
WB is a Division II school as HHS plays in Division III.
The Indians will travel to Western Brown with a kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Past HHS vs. WB results
2005: HHS 33, WB 6
2006: WB 25, HHS 14
2007: WB 33, HHS 27
2008: WB 28, HHS 14
2009: HHS 41, WB 32[[In-content Ad]]
Both teams have different looks this year, but it is the difference of the Western Brown offense that has caught the attention of Hillsboro head coach Brian Spicer, who is entering his second season with the Indians.
Western Brown, who are coached by second-year coach Evan Dreyer, returns 17 starters combined on both sides of the football.
Spicer, who led HHS to an 8-2 record last year with a spread offense, said the Broncos will go from using an option heavy offense to a empty spread offense, (different from the spread used by HHS), as they will air it out on Friday nights.
"We scouted them (Western Brown) last week and they have a second year coach like we do and they are coming off a season that was a similar situation like we had," Spicer said. "The big difference was the success we had.
"They implicated changes to fit their personnel, and I can see them as looking at this as a season for a chance to improve."
One year ago at Richards Memorial Field the Indians defeated the Broncos, 41-32; before that, the Indians lost three straight to WB. Last season, WB finished 4-6 overall, 4-3 in their combined Southern Buckeye Athletic Academic Conference (SBAAC) schedule. Their wins came against Clermont NE, Blanchester, Williamsburg and Bethel-Tate.
The Broncos' spread empty offense will allow them to use five wide receivers, as they have been seen in scrimmages using three receivers on one side of the offense and two on the other. Spicer said he felt the Broncos passed the ball 85-90 percent of the time.
"Western Brown doesn't hide the fact they like like to throw the football with their empty sets. This will be different for us because we don't see many passing teams since the SCOL is, for the most part, a run first league."
At quarterback for the Broncos is senior Matt Corcoran (5-10, 175). Last season as a junior, the WB signal caller passed for 1,100 yards and 853 yards rushing.
The top returning receivers for the Broncos is senior Brad Rhodes (6-0, 195), who caught 650 yards. Also returning is junior Nick Woodyard (5-11, 150) at receiver and sophomore running back Gunnar Woodyard (5-8, 160). Gunnar Woodyard rushed for 476 yards and caught 176 yards receiving.
"This will be a big first game for both teams," Spicer said. "We have to play well on both sides of the ball, and we have to keep them out of the end zone.
"Their QB is back, and they have a lot of athletic ability. They had a good effort last year, but they didn't throw like they do now."
With this being the first game, Spicer said he didn't know what to think of his team after their first scrimmage against Adena, but once the finished their scrimmage their second scrimmage against Paint Valley he was pleased with what he saw.
"I thought we made a lot of improvements from when we started two-a-days up to our last scrimmage. During two-a-days the guys had to fight through the heat, and we had to learn how to stay focused, Spicer said. "But after that first scrimmage, I was a little worried, and again, we had to battle the heat.
"But after the second one I felt happy and I felt good."
Spicer said he was pleased with the effort of the first unit against a quality Paint Valley team.
"It was a great effort by our first team," he said. "The thing is after that, we don't have a lot of depth."
But facing a pass-first team is something the Indians aren't used to facing as mentioned earlier the SCOL is historically full of team who like to run the football first.
"We preach run-first in our league (SCOL), and last year, toward the end of the season, our defense stepped up and stopped the run. But now, we are going to have to shift gears headed into week one and stop the passing game first," Spicer said. "Plus, they (WB) return 14 lettermen and both teams have a good mixture and both of our lineups are similar.
"We have to make sure we are ready for the passing game. We usually like to have nine in the box, but this week we have to play out of the box, and our kids have to recognize the receiver formations and limit certain plays."
Spicer mentioned his defense must be mentally prepared to play the Broncos.
"Our guys have to pick up tendencies, and the quicker we can pick those up, the better defense we can play," Spicer said.
WB not only changed their offensive strategy, but their defense will have a different look, as well. Last year, WB allowed 32 points per game.
Last year in their four-win campaign, the Broncos used a 4-4 look; this season, they have converted to a 3-3 stack defense.
All-SBAAC player Kyle Puckett is out for the season due to a torn ACL, according to a report on highschool.rivals.com. Also returning to the Broncos on defense are senior Matt Canter (5-8, 175) and sophomore Jake Morrison (6-0, 180), both linebackers. Canter led the Broncos with 90 tackles last season. Fifteen tackles were for a loss.
"In the scrimmages they blitzed a lot," Spicer said. "They send eight guys and creates negative yardage situations. They force teams to do what they want them to do, and we'll get an odd look and they will blitz."
With this being the opening game of the season, when asked how his team was looking forward to the first game, Spicer responded with they were just ready to play for real.
"It's just one of those things where we are ready to go," he said. "We've worked and sweated out two-a-days, and the guys are like, let's do this for real.
"The anticipation is here all week in practice and it builds up into Friday night. For some of the guys this will be their first time playing on Friday nights and they will then realize game days are different from scrimmages. The guys will build confidence and we have to have 11 guys on the field doing their job."
WB is a Division II school as HHS plays in Division III.
The Indians will travel to Western Brown with a kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Past HHS vs. WB results
2005: HHS 33, WB 6
2006: WB 25, HHS 14
2007: WB 33, HHS 27
2008: WB 28, HHS 14
2009: HHS 41, WB 32[[In-content Ad]]