SHAMROCKS

— that far away from home, you’re not going to have a (large) crowd for you because that’s a big distance,” junior wide receiver and safety J.R. Henderson said. “It definitely helps us, and our seniors get their last home game.”

On the field, Cheatwood and YC aren’t quite sure what to make of Snowflake’s offense. The stats and the two films the Lobos sent say one thing: ground and pound. They run the ball 65 percent of the time, and three running backs — David Brimhall, Cody Fox and Jace Merrell — all have at least 50 carries and 325 yards. Twenty-eight of their 37 offensive touchdowns are on the ground.

“Luckily, stopping the run is our strength,” Cheatwood said. “If they do come down and run the ball, I think we’ll be pretty well-prepared for that because we’ve been preparing for that all year.”

However, Cheatwood got a hold of game film from earlier in the year, and

said “they’re two different teams,” that Snowflake was more spread out with a lot more passing.

Snowflake quarterback Traegon Standerfer’s game log backs that up. In the first half of the season, he averaged 19 pass attempts. In the second half, that number dropped to 13.2.

“It’s two different styles of football that we’ve got to try to prepare for in three days,” Cheatwood said.

Offensively for the Shamrocks, the goal is to be balanced but Cheatwood said they are not going to try to force that, opting to adjust based on Snowflake’s defense. The offensive star all year for YC has been Henderson (53 receptions, 1,117 yards, 12 total touchdowns), who is three yards shy of having half of sophomore quarterback Gage Reese’s 2,240 passing yards. But the balanced attack doesn’t mean complete reliance on the junior receiver, as sophomore Ean Chavez has 850 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on the year.

Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Ricky Gwynn Stadium.