Old-style fb in store for Lv-culver
One of the final Hoosier North Athletic Conference contests to end the regular season has Culver (2-4, 1-4 HNAC) visiting Laville (5-2, 3-2 HNAC).
Last week, Laville’s staunch defense did its thing again, but the Lancers lost to North Judson, 10-9, in overtime.
“Those kids play hard on that side of the ball (defense) and do a real nice job for us,” said Laville head coach Will Hostrawser. “It’s the old adage, ‘If they don’t score, they can’t win’. We held a very good North Judson team out of the end zone until overtime. I feel that if we can put up two touchdowns a game, we’ve got a pretty good shot. The question is how do we get to the end zone twice? We tend to have problems doing that. We’ve shown signs on offense. We’ll have a great series and move the ball, but we just can’t consistently keep things moving. I think we’re on the doorstop though. When we put it all together, look out. We’ll be a dangerous team. We don’t have a tremendous amount of team speed. We’ve got to do things more methodically. I’m looking forward to getting some of that progress on the offensive side of the ball.”
The Lancers have won the last nine meetings with the Cavaliers, but they are by no means taking them lightly.
“One mistake could cost you the game,” admitted Hostrawser. “They run that old-style offense to a T. They are grinders. They are like an army tank going up and down the field. You’ve got to be able to jump in front of that thing, slow it down, stop it and get the ball back. This game has the potential to be the fastest game in the state of Indiana. Hopefully no punts, just old-style football. They’ve got some edge speed, which causes some concern. You’ve got to gang tackle and everyone has to be in a bad mood when they get there. Offensively, we’ve got to run the ball consistently. When we’ve been able to do that, it sets up our passing game.”
Although coming up short, Culver hung with perennial HNAC power Pioneer last week before finally succumbing, 28-6.
“I like what we did against Pioneer to tell you the truth,” said Culver head coach Mike Zehner. “The stats were fairly equal. I thought we moved the ball well. We had a nine-minute drive, but it didn’t produce any points. We did some good things defensively. We didn’t give up the big plays and made
them earn it. I felt we got better. The kids played hard for four quarters and that’s all we can ask.”
The Cavs’ running game has been solid all year, but will tested by the Lancer defense.
“Laville’s defense is special in what they do,” added Zehner. “They probably have the best defense in the conference. Offensively, they present a lot of problems, just the way they are physical up front and the athletes they have. We’ve got to play sound, solid football.”
Laville leads the series 28-12 over the past 35 years and won last year’s meeting, 42-6.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Lancer Field.