(Harlan) The Harlan Cyclones enter Week 5 as the #1 ranked football team in Class 3A. The unbeaten Cyclones start district play against winless Saydel.
Harlan had a rigorous non-district schedule and emerged with a 4-0 record. Head coach Todd Bladt says, “Anybody that is 4-0 after non-district play is going to be feeling pretty good, but you get into district play and you’re back to 0-0. All that really matters is your district play so we are taking it one game at a time. We are happy with where we are at and our development. You have to keep getting better and improving each week. You can’t get stuck on what you’ve done. You have to look ahead to the future. So that’s what we’re going to be doing.”
A key development for the Cyclones this season has been the use of Aidan Hall in the running game. Last season he was among the team’s leading receivers with 34 catches for 860 yards and eight TD’s. He had just one carry over the first two weeks, but since then has rushed 24 times for 252 yards and six touchdowns. “He’s a real athletic kid and we asked him to do it. He kind of embraced it and took to it like a fish to water. It’s a real surprising element that we have a run game going. He has some speed and he’s getting better at reading blocks and finding holes. He’s only going to improve with that as he gets more reps.”
Hall’s running ability has helped open the door for the likes of Connor Frame, Joey Moser, and Jacob Birch to make plays catching the football. All three have over 200 yards on the season. “We have some tools out there on the field. When he’s in the backfield we are just a little bit better football team. We’ll do what’s best for the team and he will as well. It opens up for some of those other guys to make big plays down the field if you have a breakaway threat in the backfield. It makes our offense better which makes us a better team.”
Harlan has been sharp in a lot of areas, but coach Bladt still wants to see them take better care of the football. “The last game we put it on the ground three times. I think we just lost it once, but we had it bouncing around three times against Glenwood and before that we had struggled with that. This week it’s going to be ball security and assignment football. We had three blown assignments on Friday.
The defense is allowing 15 points per game over the last three outings and limited Glenwood to 215 yards last week. Coach Bladt says his team needs to get up to play for every game. He’ll be looking for 100% effort from his team against a Saydel group that has been outscored 144-30 this season.
Harlan coach Todd Bladt:
