Canton South Wildcats at Louisville Leopards

SPREAD: Louisville By 3  (According to Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic 50)

WHEN: Friday, October 26 at 7:00 PM

WHERE: Louisville Leopards Stadium

RADIO: None

TV: None

HIGHLIGHTS: Will be available following the game late Friday night or early Saturday morning right here on louisvilleleopards.org

SERIES

ALL-TIME SERIES: Louisville holds a 49-17-3 all-time record over Canton South.

LAST MEETING: Louisville won 27-6 at Clyde Brechbuhler Stadium on October 28, 2011

LAST MEETING AT LOUISVILLE: Louisville won 21-17 on September 17, 2010.

LAST CANTON SOUTH WIN: The Wildcats last defeated the Leopards in Week 6 of the 2006 season winning in overtime 27-21 on September 29, 2006.

Schedule So Far:

Canton South — Louisville

@Coventry W 27-6 — @Canfield W 21-13

Medina Buckeye W 35-3 — @Hoover L 14-41

@Northwest W 28-23 — Ravenna W 34-20

Minerva L 14-24 — @Marlington L 24-34

@Alliance W 33-27 — Minerva W 35-14

Salem W 46-15 — Alliance W 13-8

@West Branch W 35-23 — @Carrollton L 0-21

Marlington L 0-14 — West Branch L 17-21

Carrollton L 20-21 — @Salem W 43-26

PREVIEW

Well this is it folks, just 48 minutes of football left.  Both teams were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs last Friday, which will make this week’s classic Federal League matchup a Week 10 Battle for Pride.  For Canton South, they will be looking for their first win over Louisville since the 2006 season.  For the Leopards, a victory would land them their 13th winning campaign in 14 seasons and their 50th win over the Wildcats all-time.  Playoffs or no playoffs, when these two teams collide for their 70th meeting Friday night you won’t want to miss it!

LEOPARDS

OFFENSE: Unless Starting Quarterback Joey Duckworth is healthy enough to play, Trent Ohman will be the focal point of the Leopards offense once again.  Ohman is the team’s leading rusher (69 rushes, 421 yards, 5 TDs) and leading receiver (48 catches, 486 yards, 4 TDs) in terms of yardage.  Runningback Trey Hayford (48 rushes, 213 yards, 6 TDs) gave the Leopards rushing attack a big lift by returning to the lineup last week and will look to improve on his team-leading 6 rushing touchdowns.  Charles Beamer & Walter Schrock have also taken hand-offs this season for the Leopards and could see action in the backfield as well.  The Leopards completed just 1 of 4 passes last week for 2 yards because their 362 yards rushing did the trick against winless Salem.  If the Leopards do not find success in running the ball against South, Quarterback Jeremy McQuilkin (29 of 53 for 254 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INT)  will look to come up big in the passing game.  Ohman will be his main target of course, but receivers Alex Schooley (32 catches, 254 yards, 4 TDs), Alex Hollifield (22 catches, 303 yards, 2 TDs), and Trevor Hostetler (16 catches, 182 yards, 1 TD) have also been reliable receivers all season long.  If the play breaks down, McQuilkin is also very mobile running the ball 24 times this season for 128 yards.  Louisville’s starting linemen include Aaron Carter (5’10, 190 lbs.), Jonah Dawson (6’1, 189 lbs.), Malik Kling (5’9, 271 lbs.), Tanner Metz (5’11, 213 lbs.), and Nate Terry (5’9, 260 lbs.).  If the Leps can win the battle in the trenches, it could be a happy Senior Night for Louisville.

DEFENSE: The Leopards defense has surrendered 22 points and 303 yards per game this season, but has forced 19 turnovers (12 interceptions, 7 fumble recoveries).  They have also recorded 17 sacks this season in large part thanks to the play of the defensive line and linebackers.  Beamer came up big in the Salem backfield last week with his first interception of the season, fellow linebacker Gary Anile has recorded 4 picks himself this year, and linebacker Josh Brown has been a brick wall when it comes to opponents trying to convert third & fourth downs running the ball.  Rounding out the Leopards defensive front are lineman Dylan Kline, Cory Neff, and Mike Weiss who will need to win the battle in the trenches to stop two solid South runningbacks as well as the Wildcats passing game.  The Leopard secondary will look to shutdown Canton South’s talented receiving core as well as create turnovers.  Garrett Yoder leads the secondary with 4 takeaways (3 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery), Hostetler has also recorded 2 interceptions, Kyle White has forced two turnovers (1 interception, 1 fumble recovery), and McQuilkin has also picked off a pass this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Behind Ohman, Kicker Merrick Storlie has scored the most points this season with 39.  Storlie is 24 of 25 on extra point kicks, has made 5 of 8 field goals this season with a long of 38, and even recovered his own onside kick last week at Salem.  The Leopards have yet to attempt a two-point conversion on the season.  Punting duties this season have been shared between Schooley (18 punts 32.1 average, 51 long) and Weiss (9 punts, 35.7 avg. 68 long).  Ohman has taken the majority of both kick returns (13 returns, 24.9 avg., 54 long) and punt returns (13 returns, 15.2 avg., 88 long, 1 TD) through the first nine games.  Schooley has also taken a significant number of kick returns (9 returns, 22.2 average, 53 long) and Hollifield (2 returns, 38.5 avg. 63 long) broke free for a 63 yard return last week at Salem.  Yoder has also returned 7 punts this season for 90 yards. and oppositely blocked a punt that was recovered by Brown last week against the Quakers

WILDCATS

OFFENSE: The Canton South Offense has averaged 26 points and 308 yards (194 Passing, 114 Rushing) per contest.  Commanding the Wildcats attack is Junior Quarterback Josh Lyon who is 130 of 198 passing this season for 1656 yards and 17 touchdowns versus 2 interceptions.  Lyon has also run for 2 touchdowns on the ground.  In the backfield, Junior Runningback Deonte Settles (147 rushes, 787 yards, 5 TDs) and Senior Fullback Josh Kenny (59 rushes, 328 yards, 8 TDs) makeup a deadly combination that has averaged over 5 yards per carry this season.  Both backs are also multi-dimensional threats as Settles has caught a touchdown as well as thrown a 73 yard touchdown pass this season, and Kenny has caught 7 passes for 153 yard and a touchdown.  The most explosive player on the Wildcats offense is Wide Receiver Noah Mallen (58 receptions, 939 yards, 12 touchdowns) who has caught at least 2 touchdown passes during five games this season and has also broken free for 4 scores of 53+ yards.  Wide Receivers Armand Fontes (24 catches, 249 yards, 2 TDs), Allec Eller (13 catches, 100 yards), and Trey Taylor (11 catches, 99 yards, 1 TD) will look to spring free for big gains in the passing game.  Mark Nicoletti, Jordan Williams, and Jake Trubisky have all each caught a touchdown pass this season as well for the Cats.  The key to Canton South’s success has been the blocking of lineman Jake Taylor, Dennis Parsons, Terry Williams, Zaire Daniels, and Adam Criswell on the offensive line.

DEFENSE: The M.O. of the Canton South defense this year has been takeaways as they have had 18 total (9 interceptions, 9 fumble recoveries) this season from 9 different players.  The Wildcats ball-hawking secondary includes John Strasser (63 tackles, 2 sacks), Dejon Newell (34 tackles, 5 INT, 1 FR), Mallen (32 tackles, 3 INT), and Wade Schnegg (31 tackles, 1 INT).   Their front seven has also forced 8 fumbles this season.  The linebacker core includes lead tackler Kenny (95 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 FR), Jake Newell (43 tackles, 8 for loss, 1 sack), Jordan Williams (42 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT), Mark Lancaster (22 tackles, 3 for loss), Peter Brown (16 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 sack, 1 FR), and Terry Williams (9 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FR).  Anchoring the defensive trenches for the red & silver defense will be Jason Merriweather (26 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 FR), Taylor (12 tackles, 1 FR), Daniels (7 tackles, 1 sack), Gust Malavite (5 tackles, 2 sacks), and Andrew Scarpino (4 tackles, 1 sack).  The Wildcats are surrendering 17 points and 256 yards (158 rushing, 99 passing) per ontest for the campaign.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Andrew Resanovich has converted 24 of 28 extra point kicks and the Wildcats as a team have are 2 of 7 on two-point conversions (2 of 6 passing, 0 for 1 rushing).  Lyon at quarterback will also double as the Wildcats punter, which leaves the option for a fake wide open.  Strasser has multiple years of experience at punt returner for the Wildcats and also returns kicks.  Settles and Mallen have also taken plenty of returns on kickoffs this season.

ALL-TIME SERIES:

Number of Shutouts: Louisville-11, Canton South-2

Leopards Highest Margin of Victory: 1997 they won 62-0

Canton South’s Highest Margin of Victory: 1960 they won 50-14

Highest Combined Score: 64 Points – 1958 – Louisville 44, Canton South 20 and 1960 – Canton South 50, Louisville 14

Lowest Combined Score: 0 Points – 1975 – Louisville 0, Canton South 0

Longest Winning Streak: Louisville – 11 Games – 1988-98

Longest Wildcats Winning Streak: 3Games – 1951-53 and 1967-69 and 1985-87

Total Points Scored: Louisville-1563, Canton South-830

Average Score: Louisville-23, Canton South-12

Note: 1939-1947 Canton South was called Canton Township