Louisville Leopards at Hoover Vikings 2016 Football Preview
Week 2: Louisville Leopards at North Canton Hoover Vikings
WHEN: Friday, September 2 at 7:00 PM
WHERE: North Canton Memorial Stadium
HIGHLIGHTS: Will be available following the game late Friday night or early Saturday morning right here on louisvilleleopards.org
SERIES
ALL-TIME SERIES: Louisville leads the all-time series 55-33-5 which includes a 25-10-2 record at North Canton.
LAST MEETING: The Leopards won 33-20 at Louisville Leopards Stadium back on September 4, 2015.
View 2015 Video Highlights & Recap
LAST MEETING AT HOOVER: The Vikings won 17-14 at Memorial Stadium back on September 5, 2014.
View 2014 Video Highlights & Recap
Schedules:
| Louisville Schedule | Hoover Schedule | |||
| WK | Opponent | Result | Opponent | Result |
| 1 | at Canfield | W 21-17 | at Brush | W 24-20 |
| 2 | at Hoover | 9/2 | Louisville | 9/2 |
| 3 | Austintown Fitch | 9/9 | Akron East | 9/9 |
| 4 | Alliance | 9/16 | GlenOak | 9/16 |
| 5 | Minerva | 9/23 | at Canton McKinley | 9/23 |
| 6 | at Marlington | 9/30 | at Perry | 9/30 |
| 7 | West Branch | 10/7 | Lake | 10/7 |
| 8 | at Carrollton | 10/14 | Green | 10/14 |
| 9 | at Salem | 10/21 | Dublin Jerome | 10/21 |
| 10 | Canton South | 10/28 | at Jackson | 10/28 |
LEOPARDS
94% of the Leopards 347 yards of offense last week went through Quarterback Brody Hahn. Hahn 
finished 22 of 40 passing through air for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also carrying the ball 18 times for 52 yards. Hahn hit Louisville’s top playmaker in Wide Receiver Tyler Adams for clutch fourth quarter touchdown strikes of 41 and 55 yards. The latter came on a last chance 4th-and-10 play from the Leopards Own 35.
Adams finished with 10 catches for 152 yards to single-handily out-gain Canfield in receiving yardage last week. Outside of Adams, Hahn spread the ball around to several receivers including Max Hartline (3 catches, 39 yards), Gavin Birone (3 catches, 32 yards), Sean McKinney (1 catch, 32 yards), and Logan Thomas (3 catches, 23 yards).
Starting Runningback Gavin VanZant (11 carries, 21 yards) will look for a breakout game this week against the Vikings defense who surrendered 9.9 yards per carry in their opener. He will be running behind the Louisville offensive line which includes Dillon Deckered (5’10, 219 lbs.), Sam DeDominicis (5’10, 245 lbs.), Chase Lautzenheiser (5’10, 235 lbs.), and Jerod Warren (5’11, 225 lbs.).
The Leopards defensive line dominated in Week 1, holding the potent Cardinals rushing attack to just 29 carries for 84 yards (2.9 avg.). Canfield Quarterback Jake Cummings gained 31 of those yards on a single 4th-and-12 touchdown run. Take away that big burst and the Louisville defense held Canfield to only 1.8 yards per rush.
Wreaking havoc on the Defensive Line were Jimmy Leonard (8 tackles), Drew Doerschuk (7.5 tackles, 1 sack), Cade Stertzbach (7.5 tackles, 1 tackle for loss), and Dillon Deckerd (3 tackles). These lineman will look to put the same pressure on the Vikings that they brought to the Cardinals last week.
Linebacker Casey Nau (9.5 tackles, 1 tackle for loss) led the Leopards in tackles last week. Fellow 
Linebacker Justin Vanover (6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 pass break-up) also made several key plays for the Leopards.
The Louisville secondary will look to be tested against the Hoover passing attack this week. Leopards Defensive Backs include Adams (5 tackles, 1 pass break-up), Birone (3.5 tackles), Cole Weston (3 tackles, 1 pass break-up), Jared Mathie (2.5 tackles, 1 forced fumble), and Sean McKinney (1.5 tackles).
On special teams, Junior Kicker Hannah Baughman made history becoming the first female player in
Leopards history. She converted 3 of 3 extra points at Canfield and will be called upon to kick field goals 38 yards and in. Junior Kicker Austin Terra will handle the kickoffs and has also made kicks from up to 50 yards in practice. Both kickers also start for their perspective Varsity Soccer teams.
In the punting game, Hahn (4 punts, 35.8 avg.) buried the Cardinals in week 1 with two boots inside the opponents 20 and a long kick of 57 yards.
Canfield’s kicking game did not allow for a Louisville kickoff return last week. Adams (3 punt returns, 6.0 avg.) had a punt return of 15 yards last week to flip field position in the fourth quarter. Adams has the ability to make kick/punt coverage miss and is nearly impossible to catch in the open field.
The Leopards defensive line dominated in Week 1, holding the potent Cardinals rushing attack to just 29 carries for 84 yards (2.9 avg.). Canfield Quarterback Jake Cummings gained 31 of those yards on a single 4th-and-12 touchdown run. Take away that big burst and the Louisville defense held Canfield to only 1.8 yards per rush.
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VIKINGS
North Canton rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the host Brush Arcs 24-20 in their season opener last 
Friday. On offense, Hoover finished with 283 total yards of offense (188 passing, 95 rushing) while surrendering 336 yards to Brush (79 yards, 257 rushing). The key difference was turnovers, as North Canton recorded 6 turnovers (4 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions), while giving the ball up just once via fumble.
Vikings Junior Quarterback John Keller finished 22 of 34 for 188 yards and a touchdown last week against the Arcs in spreading the ball around to 9 different receivers. Starters at receiver include Ben Harris (5 catches, 65 yards), Eric Sarbaugh (4 catches, 24 yards), and Alex Nicholson (3 catches, 21 yards). Junior Receiver Cord Haubert (2 catches, 28 yards) also made an impact in the opener, while Senior Receiver Donnie Genetin (2 catches, 19 yards) and Junior Tight End Will Reisinger (2 catches, 3 yards) also made grabs.
Senior Tailback Nate George (11 carries, 55 yards, 1 touchdown; 2 catches, 12 yards, 1 touchdown) 
was Hoover’s leading rusher in Week 1 and found his way into the endzone both on the ground & via reception . Junior Runningback Luke Reicosky (6 carries, 19 yards, 1 touchdown) also carried for a score and Keller (19 carries, 24 yards) accounted for the rest of the Vikings rushing offense. Expect to see Reed Davis (1 catch, 14 yards) and Jackson Davis (1 catche, 2 yards) in the mix as well.
North Canton’s offensive line averages about 236 pounds across. Linemen include Left Tackle Andy McDonald (6’1, 185 lbs.), Left Guard Frankie Kaye (5’9, 200 lbs.), Center John Wood (5’10, 210 lbs.), Right Guard Jeremy Allison (5’10, 300 lbs.), and Right Tackle Luke Vannest (6’4, 285 lbs.).
On defense, Senior Middle Linebacker Dillon Smith (14 tackles) led the team in tackles against Brush. He will be accompanied in the linebacking core by starters Ben Smith (6’0, 200 lbs.) and John Vallos (6’0, 170 lbs.).
Sarbaugh (10 tackles) and Sophomore Mike Sandt (5’10, 170 lbs.) each recorded interceptions in the defensive backfield for Hoover last week. Other starters in the secondary include Nick Binnie (5’11, 175 lbs.), Genetin (6’0, 165 lbs.), Seth Graham (6’4, 200 lbs.), and Zach McHenry (5’10, 145 lbs.).
Senior Defensive End Ben Hayden (6’1, 185 lbs.) led the defensive line in tackles with 6 last week. His partners in 
the trenches include Defensive Tackle Mitch Lofland (6’1, 205 lbs.) and Nose Tackle Bruce Wolff (6’2, 250 lbs.).
The mutli-faceted Sarbaugh is involved all throughout special teams as well. Sarbaugh successfully booted through 3 of 3 extra point attempts and also added a 24 yard field in the third quarter. As a punter, Sarbaugh (8 punts, 30.0 avg.) helped change field position in favor of the Vikings by placing two punts inside the Arcs 20. Sarbaugh also averaged 16 yards on 3 kick returns.
Genetin is listed as North Canton’s starting punt returner this week after Ben Harris returned 3 punts for no gain last week. Harris did however return a kickoff 40 yards against Brush in Week 1 so expect him to impact the return game if the ball finds his hands.
