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Tigers, Bulldogs to clash
Although the Nevada High School Tigers put up 25 points in a 34-25 loss at Bolivar last Friday, they are a far cry from becoming balanced, something first-year head coach Shannon Jolley knows.
The Tigers (0-1) entertain nearby rival El Dorado Springs (0-1) Friday night at 7 at Logan Field.
"I don't necessarily consider ourselves as being balanced at this point," Jolley said. "We did have some big plays, along with a defensive touchdown."
Nevada's Ronnie Herda had an 83-yard interception return for a touchdown from his safety spot and on offense, he used a razzle-dazzle gadget play from his quarterback position, pitching to teammate Jake Cherry on an option keeper. Cherry went out of bounds at the 1-yard line after gaining 34 yards down the right sideline, and Herda scored a 1-yard TD on the next play.
"When we talk about balance, I think a lot of people place an emphasis on our offense and as a coaching staff, we look at all three phases of the game -- offense, defense and special teams," Jolley said. "I'd liked the fact that we put ourselves in some good situations to make some plays last Friday night.
"Unfortunately for us, we had some communication breakdowns that really held ourselves back."
El Dorado Springs, which lost to Warsaw 29-21 last Friday, had 175 rushing yards and 43 passing yards in that game. The Bulldogs' quarterback, Alex Boonyakiti, completed 3-of-11 passses, and the team managed just nine first downs, compared to 19 for Warsaw. It had six punts for a 36.0 average, and had seven penalties for 31 yards.
"It's called a pistol offense, kind of a modified shot-gun," Jolley said of the Bulldogs' offense. "They run an offset back and a basically a pro-flanker spot."
Bulldogs head coach Chad Depee says he's not sure what to expect from the Tigers.
"They have a completely different philsophy than what they had last year," Depeee said. " Instead of passing on nearly every down and running the no-huddle offense, Coach Jolley has implemented the Wing-T offense and they ought to be more efficient.
"Either way, they look very sharp on film."
Depee said he knows one thing for sure.
"We don't want to get inito a shootout with them," he said. "Besides the Herda guys, they have virtually all of their starting lineup back and most of them are seniors. That's going to be a huge challenge for us."
Of course, there's bragging rights at stake, with the two schools less than 20 miles apart.
"It gives a lot of bragging rights for the winning team," he said. "A lot of people from (El Dorado Springs) work in Nevada, so it makes it a fun deal."