Hoover vs Canton McKinley

Canton Repository

SITE: North Canton Memorial Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

RECORDS: McKinley 0-3, 0-1; Hoover 2-1, 0-0

LAST WEEK: Lake 24, McKinley 6; Louisville 35, Hoover 21.

LAST MEETING: McKinley won, 29-6, last year.

WHAT TO WATCH: Teams with big expectations find themselves licking their wounds. Hoover lost two early leads before Louisville pulled away in the second half. “We need to play together and play harder together,” Hoover coach Don Hertler Jr. said. “We need to stop waiting for things to happen and go out and turn up the intensity.” The Vikings had early success last week with the throwing of QB Jared Wackerly. His primary targets are WR Matt Wakulchik and TE Kevin Dahl. RB Erick Howard leads the team in rushing with 382 yards.

Junior QB Jordan Evans will make his first start for McKinley as it looks to jump-start an offense that has one TD in the last eight quarters. “We think we have some pretty good running backs,” McKinley coach Brian Cross said. “But we have to put it together. The line has to block well, and the backs have to run hard. And we have to throw the ball and complete some passes.”

Louisville’s spread offense hurt Hoover last week, but McKinley has thrown for 85 yards this season. “It’s not like we’re going to jump into the spread offense and start zipping the ball around,” Cross said. “But (what Louisville did) gives you ideas on how to attack them. ... It might expose some individual weaknesses that you might try to take advantage of.” Cross knows Hoover’s defense will bring it. “They fly to the football, and they hit when they get there,” he said.

Bulldogs want to jump-start season against N. Canton

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Chris Beaven, Canton Repository

Expect plenty of urgency Friday night from the high school football teams taking the field at North Canton Memorial Stadium.

The McKinley Bulldogs and Hoover Vikings, owners of high expectations entering the season, know another loss could do severe damage to their season.

“It’s going to be a physical game, and both teams are looking at it the same way,” Hoover coach Don Hertler Jr. said. “It’s a critical game for both of us.”

Hoover is 2-1 and lost 35-21 last week at Louisville, one of its bigger rivals. This is the Vikings’ Federal League opener, on their turf.

McKinley is 0-3, having been outscored 54-6 the past two weeks at home after forfeiting a 60-point win in their home opener. The Bulldogs opened league play last week, and Lake snapped McKinley’s 18-game league winning streak.

“I don’t have a word to describe it ... frustrating, I guess,” McKinley coach Brian Cross said. “The thing that’s bothered me more than anything is I don’t see the improvement I wanted to see from Week 1 ... to Week 3.”

Hertler knows the feeling.

“We’ve been in one mode for a long time,” he said. “We have not gotten to the level we need to be a good football team. That starts in practice.”

Cross said Hoover is a dangerous offensive team with an aggressive defense.

“... I know they’re a little discouraged about what happened last week,” Cross said. “But for us, we haven’t been 0-3 in a long time (since 2002). It’s just difficult for us, plus the fact it’s not like the games have been close, and we played well and got beat in the end.

“We haven’t performed well. Offensively, we have been very lackluster. We’re not moving the football. We had only four first downs last week after getting shut out before that.”

Hertler thinks it would be foolish to write off either team. “I see the whole season still in front of both of us.”

But to make something of it, each team must show big improvement.

“We need to raise our intensity level to Federal League intensity level, which we didn’t do last week,” Hertler said. “We need to do a better job coaching our guys, especially our guys who are more of our role players.”

Cross wants his Bulldogs “playing harder, with more intensity, playing with heart.”

He saw that in practices this week. Will it be enough? “We won’t know that,” Cross said, “until Friday night.”

NETWORK

Hoover Vikings Football

Hoover Vikings Football

Canton McKinley Bulldogs Game Preview