Tiger Gameday – Week 8
Tiger Gameday – Week 8
Last Game: Hutchinson 48 Totino Grace 7
Game Recap: Boy that was fun last week wasn’t it? A complete, dominating effort over a good TG team. Hutch garnered 446 yards of total offense last week, while the defense allowed just 129 yards to the Eagles. Jack Maiers had 3 Touchdowns, while Landon Teetzel scored 2. The Defense also got a sack for the first time in 5 weeks, and Hutch picked off TG twice.
Current Record: 3-4
This Week’s Opponent: Westonka (2-5)
About the Opponent: Been an up and down season for the Whitehawks. They’ve played a tougher schedule just like Hutch has. Offensively you’ll the spread tonight, but a spread that Westonka will run and throw out of, maybe a little more run than pass, but it’s close to 50/50. Defensively they have given up 28 or more points in all but one game this season.
Key Hutch Players: Defensive Front. As mentioned above, Westonka can run and throw out of their Shotgun Spread Offense. The Defensive front needs to quickly identify if it’s a run or a pass and then tackle well. It sounds simple, but it’s not. Westonka’s QB is a nice mobile threat and can be hard to bring down. Good assignment oriented defense is the key, just like you showed last week against Totino Grace.
4 Downs/Storylines:
First Down: Get some stops early. You saw the body language change from TG last week when the defense came up with stops. If you do the same to Westonka, will their body language change? Will they get into a “Oh, here we go again” mindset. That would be a good thing for Hutch.
Second Down: Tackle the Elephant in the Room. And that would be Kick Returns. Hutch has given up…a few, shall we say….Kick Return Touchdowns this year. Including last week’s vs TG. It does take a certain kind of player to play Kick Coverage. You gotta have that mentality that I’m gonna tackle this person no matter what. As coach Andy Rostberg calls it on the pregame interview…”You gotta have that Want to.” Whatever it’s called…You gotta have it, or it can ruin a game.
Third Down: Keep the Run game rolling. Your coming off your two best rushing games of the season. No coincidence both were wins. The key to Hutch’s Offense always has been having an effective run game to shorten the game and keep the ball moving. Can Hutch make it 3 straight 300 yard rushing games in a row?
4th Down/Quick Hit Keys: Limit big plays. Getting into a shootout benefits Westonka. If you can make them drive the length of the field that will help…Hutch played Westonka (then Mound Westonka) many times over the years after being in Conferences with them since the 70’s. But this is the first meeting between the two schools since the Conference schedule ended and the MSHSL went to Districts a number of years ago…While he’s not listed on the official roster, former Viking Jim Kleinsasser is an assistant coach for Westonka.
