Mendon (Unity) (1-0) @ Carrollton (0-1)
Previous Meeting: October 12th, 2012. Carrollton won 35-12.
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Carrollton will meet their match on Friday night against Unity because both teams run the spread offense. That is a rarity in the WIVC itself, which should make for an intriguing contest. Carrollton will get a big boost of talent with Cole Brannan, Tyler Frye, and Nate Shanks returning. The latter are all starters on defense, but Brannan has been known for his explosiveness at wide receiver for the past two seasons and coach Nick Flowers will be keen on using him.
Quarterback Wade Prough will now have Brannan and Smith to throw to which is a nice luxury to have for any single caller around. Carrollton will want to improve on their ground attack, which produced very little against Brown County. Last week, Unity edged Pleasant Hill 21-20 in overtime, but was outgained 328 to 262. The Mustangs did have more passing yards than rushing, which says a lot of what they might do against the Hawks. Carrollton might actually prefer to defend the air than have to siege the ground because of their all-around athleticism.
Calhoun (1-0) @ Beardstown (0-1)
The Warriors passed their week 1 test by holding on for dear life against Triopia and now they will visit the new kids on the WIVC block, the Beardstown Tigers. Running back Wes Klocke rushed for 78 on only 4 carries last week. It would be a safe assumption that he gets more than 4 carries against the Tigers.
Quarterback Blake Booth rushed for 79 yards. One can assume that the Warriors will try to air it out more often this week. Beardstown could only muster 8 points in their first WIVC game against North Greene last week, but it will be difficult to get going against the physicality and athleticism the Warriors have all over the field on defense.
For Beardstown they have lost 11 straight games dating back to the 2013 season when Farmington eliminated them in the first round 45-6. For Calhoun a victory would make them 2-0, they haven’t been able to say that since 10 seasons ago in 2006.
Camp Point (Central) (0-1) @ Greenfield-Northwestern (1-0)
Previous Meeting: November 1st, 2014. Camp Point won 21-8.
Greenfield instilled plenty of confidence within them by handling Routt 38-6 last week, but will have their full against Camp Point who is 0-1 for the first time since 2006. The Panthers were shutout by West Central, 20-0, and want a swift recovery in momentum and confidence. The Tigers run game was effective last week with Taegan Grigsby rushing for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns.
There is a good chance the Tigers will not have as much joy with their ground game on Friday because it’s hard to find a more disciplined run defense in the WIVC than Camp Point’s, which is one big reason on how they’ve dominated conference play for several years. The Tigers strength is in their defense though and that is where Camp Point is not off to a good start at. This will most likely be a classic trench war because both teams run wing-t offensive setups.
North Greene (1-0) @ Triopia (0-1)
Previous Meeting: October 19th, 2012. Triopia won 34-0.
The Spartans will most likely have a harder time moving the ball as they enter baby blue country at Don Kemp Field. Triopia almost upset Calhoun last week, but will be looking to build off of their offensive output led Blake Lawson at running back who rushed for over 130 yards on 30 carries.
North Greene did shutout Beardstown for 3 quarters last week and will look to build on that, but it will be difficult to keep Lawson and company in check. Both teams primarily run the ball but also like to mix in some passing plays. Jonah Hopper threw 6 passes last week and one of them was a touchdown to fellow sophomore Brett Whicker. For Triopia, Isaac Werries threw only 5 passes, but one of them was a 41-yard touchdown pass. Expect both teams to grind the ball up through the trenches, but be on the lookout for each side to hit each other with a play-action pass to shake things up.
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