AGWSR traveling to North Tama for district clash
The AGWSR football team will continue district play with a trip to North Tama Friday night.
The Cougars are 1-1 overall and 1-0 in Class A District 3 after a 26-15 win at BCLUW last week. Senior Kaden Abbas racked up a career-high 222 rushing yards and three touchdowns as the Cougars methodically stretched their lead throughout the game. Head Coach James Koop says he hopes to continue the powerful running game against a defense that will show some different looks than what they’ve faced this year.
"We've worked this week on blitz pickup," Koop says. "They're pretty good at disguising things, but they blitz much more frequently than the previous two teams we've played. The good thing is, if we pick the blitzes up, any defensive coach will tell you when you're blitzing, it can be high-risk, high-reward. If you get home on the blitz, it's going to be a huge loss for the offense. If you don't get home on the blitz, it could be a touchdown for the offense. Hopefully we can pick more of those up than they beat us on."
Along with Abbas’ recent rushing success, junior quarterback Collin Willems has proved to be serviceable in the passing game, having completed eight of 13 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown.
The Redhawks are 0-2 overall and 0-1 in district play after a 22-20 loss at Nashua-Plainfield last week. Their defense has shown some gaps by giving up 295 rushing yards against the Huskies and 158 rushing yards in the season opener against Hudson. Quarterback Kolt Knaack leads a balanced offense as a dual-threat, and has accounted for all but 13 of the team’s total yards. Koop says containing Knaack and winning the line of scrimmage battles should lead to a win.
"Open-field tackling is going to be paramount, keeping their quarterback contained, and knowing what we're doing on their coverages in their different formations. If we have good recognition on defense and can keep #4 contained. We need to win the offensive line battle and the defensive line battle. If we can do that, I think our linemen will put our team in a good position to be successful."
AGWSR won last year’s meeting 28-0 in Ackley.
Friday’s game will air on 99 The Wave. The Roling Ford Road to the Dome Warmup Show will begin the broadcast at 6:15, followed by the opening kickoff at 7:00.
