(Anita) CAM and Stanton/Essex meet for a 2nd time this season with a trip to the third round of the playoffs on the line.
The Cougars will play a Stanton/Essex team that gave them some trouble in the regular season. CAM won 34-20, but it was their closest game all year and the Vikings held them to their lowest offensive output of the season. Coach Barry Bower says, “They play hard. Their kids do a very nice job of their motors are just constant time in and time out and they have some good skill athletes. Carter Johnson is a dual threat and he can scramble a little bit, but he’s so efficient on his throwing that you have to stay in coverage. In the 8-man game you have to make sure you are very sound defensively. They have a good running game and have some guys up front that are very big and physical.”
Bower gives credit to Stanton/Essex for how well they played in the Week 6 matchup against his squad, but he knows his team has some areas they can improve on. Among those is their intensity. “I don’t think that we came out ready to play last time. It’s my job to make sure that the mindset is different this time around.”
CAM opened up some things in the passing game last week that they hadn’t shown a lot of previously. Now that they playoffs have arrived they want to put the whole package on display to make themselves even more difficult to prepare for. Lane Spieker went 5/5 passing in the first round for 108 yards and two scores. Ethan Arp was 2/3 for 49 yards and two TD’s. Colby Rich tallied four receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown. Joe Kauffman hauled in two TD catches covering 55 yards and Connor McKee had a 37 yard touchdown reception. Plus Spieker averaged 15.8 yards per rush with five of his nine carries going for touchdowns. “We’ve had this in from day one to be honest with you. If you go to the well too often people are going to hone in and stop it. We’ve always had this in our arsenal. It was just a matter of throwing it out and executing it when it counts. We did that on Friday and this proves we aren’t just one-dimensional.”
Coach Bower admits he was pleased with what he saw from his team in their 67-18 win over Griswold last week. “Absolutely I was. Anytime you get into postseason play kids come in with a different mentality. If you’re a competitor this is what’s really going to drive you and I think that really drove our kids on Friday.”
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