Scouting report: Hoover at Jackson

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

David Harpster, IndeOnline.com

The teams:

The Jackson Polar Bears are coming off perhaps their best all-around effort of the season in last week’s 28-7

victory over Perry. The victory moved the Polar Bears to 5-4 this season and 3-3 in the Federal League.

Jackson enters this week having won three of its four games during the season’s second half. Jackson coach

Thom McDaniels is already assured of bettering last year’s record of 4-6 in his second season on the Polar Bears’ sidelines.

The only blemish on the Hoover Vikings’ record this season is a Week Two 22-0 loss to Louisville. Since then the 8-1 Vikings have reeled off seven straight wins and have clinched no worse than a share of the Federal League title, as McKinley finished its league slate at 6-1. One of the most impressive aspects of the Vikings’ season is that they appear capable of winning any number of ways. They outscored Austintown Fitch 45-42 in double overtime three weeks ago, beat McKinley 30-20 the next week and then won a defensive slugfest, 14-10, against GlenOak last week.

The strategies:

McDaniels wanted his multiple formation offense to be balanced from the beginning of preseason practice, but the Polar Bears struggled with achieving it throughout the first of half of the season. They finally achieved that desired blend between the run and the pass in last week’s victory. Quarterback Max Paulus had one of his best games this season and directed the offense on two long first-half scoring drives. He also misfired on just two of his 14 pass attempts and was effective when the Bears elected to run the option. Senior Jimmy Hanlon had his second consecutive 100-yard effort and showed good vision and burst running behind an effective offensive line. Tackle Erik Carlson paces the Jackson line, while fullback Kyle Arrington delivers some crunching lead blocks. The Polar Bears have been getting contributions from a bevy of receivers recently, including Ramon Brown, Will Pachan, Cody Stoll and Zach Faas.

Defensively, the Jackson 3-4 unit has been reasonably steady most of the season, with the exception of a Week Eight loss to Lake. Hanlon is one of the leaders from his outside linebacker spot, while Drew Blinco is coming off a good performance against Perry. Any good 3-4 needs a solid nose tackle and Jackson has one in senior Alex Gorgievski. The secondary has gotten solid contributions from Nathan Kanam, Casey Irwin and Wyatt Lloyd.

The Hoover Vikings want to attack defenses with a multiple formation offense, and that plan has been pretty effective for the most part this season. Eventually, though, everything comes back to junior running back Erick Howard, who is definitely the main piston driving the Hoover offense with more than 1,500 rushing yards already this season. Howard will get the ball out of a variety of sets devised by coach Don Hertler Jr., including the I formation and various tosses, sweep and counters. McDaniels is also very wary of the Vikings’ ability to set up screens to Howard and other players. Quarterback Brett Tulodzieski has become more settled in his role as the season has progressed and has passed for nearly 1,000 yards. One of his favorite targets is receiver Dan Nettleton, but the fact is Howard’s presence helps to open the field for many other players. Hoover’s line is anchored by the interior unit of center Nate Dodds and guards Dom Boyle and Mark Wiley.

Defensively, the Vikings haven’t strayed from the 5-3 scheme that has almost become their trademark, but McDaniels did notice that the prevalence of spread teams has led to Hoover taking a player off the line and going to more of a 4-3 look. Whichever way the Vikings decide to line up, Howard is one of their top players from one of the linebacker spots. The secondary is led by Joe Cerrata, who opened the season as the team’s quarterback.

The key matchup:

One might try to look high and low for a key to this game that doesn’t in some way involve Hoover’s Howard, but they would eventually come up empty. Although Hertler said that his team sometimes may rely on the talented Howard too much, the fact remains that any team that has one of the best players in area would be foolish not to utilize him to the max. The Vikings do that, and in turn Howard helps elevate the level of his teammates play. Howard rushed for more than 160 yards last week against a GlenOak defense designed to expressly shut him down. If the Polar Bears want to have any chance of springing an upset, they’ll have to find a way to bottle up Howard and not let him get loose.

Streaks, stats and facts:

Jackson traveled to Hoover last season and absorbed a 31-0 beating at the hands of the Vikings. ... Hoover is currently first in the Division I, Region 2 computer rankings and has locked up a home playoff game for the first round. ... Jackson is still not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, at least according to the numbers on the Web site www.joeeitel.com. Currently in 14th place in Division I, Region 2, the Polar Bears would need a lot of events to fall into place to leapfrog over six teams and grab the eighth and final playoff spot. ... Howard has rushed for 1,585 yards and 22 TDs this season. For good measure, he’s added 324 receiving yards and three scores on 15 catches. ... Tulodzieski has completed 69 of 120 passes for 977 yards and seven scores. He’s thrown just two interceptions this season. ... Last week against Perry, Paulus was a very efficient 12 of 14 through the air for 130 yards and one touchdown. For the season, he’s completed 84 of 149 passes for 897 yards, 10 TDs and just four interceptions. ... Brown leads Jackson with 29 catches for 317 yards and six scores, while Faas and Lloyd each have 12 catches this season. ... Hanlon had his heaviest workload of the season last week and he responded with a 140-yard night on 25 carries. He got half of those on Jackson’s opening touchdown drive of 70 yards, as he carried the ball on all five plays.

Coach speak:

“I think (beating Hoover) begins with trying to stop their running game and limit Erick,” McDaniels said. “He is so much a part of what they do on offense. He’s not the only thing, but a plan to stop them defensively begins with dealing with him and his ability to run the football. He’s powerful, he breaks tackles, he pushes the pile, he has enough speed to get to the edge and I don’t think there’s a lot of people in the secondary who enjoy tackling the guy.

“They get off of blocks really well on defense. They don’t stay blocked. They’re not a really big football team, and nor are we, but when you’re not big you have to get off blocks well. They get off blocks well.”

“Jackson can mix the run and the pass, so that makes them doubly dangerous. They can run the option well,” Hertler said. “They’ve got their base running game, their option game and their passing game, so that makes them pretty balanced. Except for the Lake game, they’ve played pretty well the second half of the season. Defensively, they’re very sound and their linebackers are physical and their secondary is sound. They’re just a very well coached team in all phases of the game.

“They’re a typical Thom McDaniels-coached team in that they’re sound and they’re going to be well-prepared. This is their last game of the year and they’re going to play it like this is their Super Bowl. We have to come out and match their intensity.”

NETWORK

Hoover Vikings Football

Massillon Jackson Scouting Report