Week 5 Preview - Hamilton Big Blue

What: Week 5 Preview
Who: Colerain Cardinals (2-2) vs. Hamilton Big Blue (1-3)
Last 3 meetings between these programs
2007: Colerain 35 – Hamilton 7
2006: Colerain 24 – Hamilton 0
2005: Colerain 51 – Hamilton 12
Where: Hamilton High School - Directions from CHS
When: THURSDAY September 24, 2009 @ 7:05 PM
TV: Fox Sports Net Ohio
Radio: 1480 AM (Colerain), 1450 AM (Hamilton)

Key Players & Stats/Comments
HAMILTON BIG BLUE (1-3, 0-1 in GMC)
Last Game – Lost to Lakota West, 6-20

QB - #12 Drew Townsend (Sr.) – 31-64 for 417 yds, 6 TD-1 int
RB - #7 Devin Jarrett (Jr.) – 80 for 359 yds (4.5 avg), 3 TD
RB - #33 Chris Tarrant (Jr.) – 30-129 yds RUSH (4.3 avg), 1 TD
WR - #9 Brian Cleckley (Jr.) – 32-111 yds RUSH (3.5 avg), 1 TD, 14-164 yds REC, 4 TD
WR - #19 Kenny Lewis (Jr.) – 9-136 yds REC, 1 TD, 33.7 yds avg. kickoff return
DB - #4 Casey Rowlette (So.) – 0.5 sack, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 INT
DB - #2 Todd Dockery (Sr.) – 2 INT for 18 yards
DT - #56 Terrion Jackson (Jr.) – 6’4” 249lbs, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble

COLERAIN CARDINALS (2–2, 1-0 in GMC)
Last Game – Beat Lakota East, 48-24

QB - #8 Greg Tabar (Sr.-CAPT) – Mr. Tabar is tearing it up. 329 yds rushing and 4 TD’s in last two games
RB - #1 Tyler “Uno” Williams (Jr.) – WOW! Welcome back Mr. UNO! 219 yds RUSH, 1 TD, 63-yd punt return for a TD…all last week. Rasied YTD rushing avg. from 5.3 to 9.9
RB - #34 Trayion Durham (Jr.) – Continued steady play from the big Jr. fullback opened up big lanes for Tabar and Williams last week against Lakota East
RB - #22 Chris Davis (Fr.) – 7-65 yds in 2nd varsity game, pitched in a 19 yd kickoff return as well
DL - #50 Jake Blust (So.) – continues to be a strong contributor on defense
LB - #5 Tyon Dixon (Sr.) – verbal to Louisville, aggressive & emotional leader on the field
LB - #44 Jarrett Grace (Jr.) – @ 6’4”, 210 lbs, already offered by UC after limited action his Sophomore year
LB - #25 Joe Bolden (So.) – quietly leading the team in fumble recoveries and is really making a name for himself on defense
DB - #21 Chris Dukes (Jr.) – will be tested this week against two 6 footers for Hamilton in #9 Brian Cleckley and # 19 Kenny Lewis, also both Juniors WILD CARD –K - #26 Jordan Pleasants (Sr.) –6 for 7 on XP duties last week and looked good on kickoffs as well. Only missed XP was on a bad snap, never got kick off. Cardinals may have found their kicker.

Keys to Victory for Colerain
• 3RD DOWN DEFENSE– This cannot be stressed enough. The Cardinals are not getting off the field defensively on 3rd down. They are allowing opponents to convert on 3rd down a remarkably high 37% of the time. That may not seem high, but consider this:
- It’s the 3rd worst % allowed in the GMC, only Lakota West (37.3%) and Mason (39.6%) are higher
- It’s the highest % allowed by any Colerain team since before 2004. Over the past 5 years (04-08), that avg. has been 21%
The Cardinals must improve in this area defensively. Last week in the 1st quarter against Lakota East, the Cardinals allowed two 3rd and long conversions on the same drive allowing the Thunderhawks to march 80 yards for a TD. That’s NOT Colerain football as we’ve come to expect it. It will be interesting to see if this defense can turn up the intensity on 3rd downs and prevent the long, time-consuming drives by the opposing team.
• PRESSURE THE QB – Hamilton QB Drew Townsend is a very talented football player. He was third in the GMC in passing last year behind two guys named Watkins and Ware, not too shabby, huh? He has matured as a QB and has improved his completion percentage over last year. He has already thrown for 6 TD’s this year against only 1 INT. In 10 games last season, he threw 9 TD’s to 7 INT’s. That being said, the Cardinals must apply pressure to Mr. Townsend because he simply cannot move well in, or outside, the pocket. In 2008, he “rushed” (i.e. “ran for his life!”) 81 times for (-81) yards…yes, that’s NEGATIVE yardage. This year, it’s more the same. 20 rushes for (-56) yards. If the Cards Defense can pressure Townsend and either force him to scramble or make poor passing decisions, it can create short fields and possibly some turnovers which would make Defensive Coordinator Shawn Cutright very happy as that is an area of emphasis in his mind (see Lakota East pre-game video preview).
• PENALTIES! PENALTIES! PENALTIES! – It’s starting to get ridiculous. 10 penalties for 89 yards last week against Lakota East. Now I realize that some of those came late in the game and were mostly of the 5 yard false start and illegal motion type penalties due to waves of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th teamers making their way into the game, but that’s no excuse. Forget the impact of the yards, think about what offensive penalties do to the rhythm of your offense. The Triple Option is a rhythm offense. Once you get in that groove and you’ve got the defense back on their heels…look out! But if you are constantly stopping for penalties, it destroys your momentum AND moves you backwards on the field. It might not have nearly as much of an impact against the softer part of the schedule, but every week is a playoff week for this team and championship behaviors must be learned now, not week 9, 10, or 11.

Bottom-Line
Hamilton came into this season with high hopes as they improved to 6-4 last season. May not seem like much, but that was the first winning season for Big Blue since their last playoff team went 7-3 in 2001. Head Coach Jim Place has revitalized Big Blue and has them believing they can compete with anyone. A tough OT loss in week 1 and a big loss last week to GMC rival Lakota West has Hamilton looking to gain confidence and keep the hopes alive of a second consecutive winning season. Unfortunately for Big Blue, the Cardinals are not going to help in that endeavor. What was a very good defense last season (allowing only 175 yards/game) has sputtered to find that same success in ’09 (allowing 284 yards/game). While only allowing opponents 116 rush yds/game this year, expect for Colerain to double that output easily. If the Cardinals can step up the defensive effort on 3rd downs, Hamilton should have trouble moving the ball. However, don't expect a shutout as the Big Blue are too talented for that to be the case and when opponents have scored on Colerain, they are averaging 20 points/contest. Look for a high scoring affair with the Cards putting it away late in the third quarter.

GO CARDINALS!

WE ARE...COLERAIN!!


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