(Harlan) Harlan will play for their 14th state football championship in school history on Friday afternoon. The top rated and 11-1 Cyclones face #2 Mount Vernon. KSOM will will have the broadcast at 1:00 p.m.
Harlan coach Todd Bladt jokes there’s one thing that undefeated Mount Vernon isn’t good at. “There’s one thing Mount Vernon doesn’t do very well and that’s lose. They are undefeated going into the ball game so they are going to want to continue that. I think they’ll try to put every egg in the basket and try to get it to the house.”
Mount Vernon has been very stingy on defense this season, with an average of 5.4 points per game allowed. Harlan coach Todd Bladt points out the Mustangs are big and aggressive. “Up front the D-Line is tough and their linebackers are pretty fast. In the backfield they go and make plays. They were doing that against Humboldt and forcing him into bad decisions. We are maybe going to have to come up with some new protections and things we can do to try and keep them from getting pressure on the quarterback.”
The Mustang offense has passed for 2,614 yards and 25 touchdowns. They’ve scored at least 40 points in 7 of their 12 games. “They have those big kahunas in there. They have 270, 250, and their center is a little bit smaller at 200, but they use him in different ways. Their guards and tackles are really big people and they do a good job of protecting that quarterback. I think it’s a big task for the D-Line to get some production going there. Our linebackers are going to have to do some coverage stuff that might put them outside their comfort zone. We have to rep it and see it. They are going to be pretty efficient throwing the football. They’ve been that way all year.”
This is Harlan’s 23rd state championship game appearance. Mount Vernon last won a state championship in 1994, but they’ve been a runner-up three times since then including as recently as 2015. The Mustangs are appearing in the finals for a 10th time in program history.
Harlan coach Todd Bladt:
