The 1-0 Hudson Tigers are in a familiar position; they have won their first game and are looking to keep it rolling. This week they will play against another county school in the 1-0 Morenci Bulldogs, a team that have had quite a bit of success against. With a strong performance in their first game on both sides of the ball against the Addison Panthers, they will look for a repeat performance this week.
Much like Hudson, Morenci is going to look to keep it on the ground and the run the ball. In their first game against the Lenawee Christian Cougars, they ran the ball for 223 yards as a team. Morenci was lead by Cody Powell who rushed for 80 yards and had 2 touchdowns. With such a strong running game it actually opened up the passing game for the Morenci as well. Their quarterback Torin Merillat threw for 115 yards with 68 of it going to Austin Sandusky. The Bulldogs are going to be running into a much stronger defense this week though.
Morenci is going to be running straight into the strength of the Hudson Tigers defense. Hudson’s defensive line is its asset, being lead by Zach Rieger. Along with the rest of this group they will look to get into the backfield and break up plays before they even get started. With as much havoc as they cause, they will allow their equally strong linebackers to roam free to fill the holes created. Morenci is going to need to create time for Merillat to throw some passes, but it won’t be easy.
Hudson is a team that doesn’t worry about what you do on defense. They are going to run the ball and force you to stop it. It is a very difficult thing to do when they run a full-house T-backfield. They love to run misdirection and counters, which the only way to stop is to stay home and play your assignment. They don’t pass often and usually only do it after they’ll got you only thinking run. With a running game like that they have, they don’t really need to put it in the air, because they are always playing ahead of the chains with 2nd or 3rd and short. Morenci’s defense will need to play a perfect assignment defense to have a chance.
Last year when these two teams met, Hudson won the game 47-25. I look for a similar score again this year. The game will be played at Morenci, but I don’t think that will be much of a factor. I look for Morenci’s offense to amount a little bit more of a threat than what Addison did, but not by too much. My prediction for this game will be that Kameron Belfy and Alex Messer will lead the way once again as Hudson will defeat Morenci handily.
This game will be played Thursday August 30th, at 7:00 p.m. at Morenci High School.
