Hoover @ Uniontown Lake

SITE: Lake Stadium, 7:30 p.m. (Hartville, OH)

RECORDS: Lake 2-2, Hoover 3-1.

LAST WEEK: Lake 34, Boardman 27; Hoover 35, Perry 7.

Lake vs Boardman Game Notes:

Lake Blue Streaks had a 21-point first quarter and maintained a 13-point lead throughout the game.

Lake Senior Ryan Christiansen (12 for 17 - 210 yards) threw two touchdown passes to Mitch Paulino (136 yards receiving on four catches).

Jim Luther (20 carries for 66 yards) had two touchdown runs for Lake.

Derek Sitzlar (6 catches for 106 yards) also had a touchdown catch for Lake.

Boardman's Nick Buonavolonta (13 carries for 147 yards) had a 10-yard touchdown run.

Boardman's Rob Boyd (15 for 26 - 174 yards) threw a touchdown pass and ran for another for the Spartans.

Boardman's Chase Hammond (8 catches for 119 yards) caught Boyd's touchdown pass.

LAST MEETING: Hoover won, 27-7, last year.

WHAT TO WATCH: Last year, the Vikings punished Lake for 404 yards on the ground and nearly doubled the Blue Streaks in time of possession. Erick Howard carried the ball 43 times for 337 yards. Look for Hoover to attempt a repeat performance behind a fast developing offensive line.

To counter Hoover's ball control offense, Lake will more than likely stack eight in the box hoping to contain Hoover's ground attack. That leaves Hoover's quarterback Brett Tulodzieski and his core of receivers with the task of creating space between them and the man-to-man coverage Lake will implement.

Defensively, Hoover will challenge Lake's balanced offensive attack. Through four games, Lake has thrown for 562 yards and rushed for 549. Expect to see Lake hand the ball off to junior running back Jim Luther at least 20 times. Luther has 347 rushing yards on the season in 84 carries. Lake possesses a good game manager in quarterback Ryan Christiansen who has avoided costly mistakes to this point.

Lake Blue Streaks Roster

Howard Getting Better

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Todd Porter, Canton Repository

Everyone knows how good Hoover running back Erick Howard is.

The 2008 Ohio Mr. Football has a very good chance to become

Stark County’s all-time leading rusher this season.

What makes it tough to stop Howard is defenses have to get behind

the line of scrimmage and hit Howard before he gets to the line or

he’s gaining 4 or 5 yards. There are two things Howard doesn’t get

enough credit for: his field vision and his balance. Read more...