Louisville Leopards (5-4, 4-2) at
Canton South Wildcats (1-8, 1-5)

SPREAD: Louisville By 29 (According to Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic 50)

WHEN: Friday, October 28 at 7:00 PM

WHERE: Clyde Brechbuhler Stadium | Click Here for Directions

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 48-17-3 all-time record over Canton South.

LAST MEETING: Louisville won 21-17 in Week 4 of the 2010 season back on September 17.

LAST MEETING AT CANTON SOUTH: Louisville defeated Canton South 17-14 in Week 4 of the 2009 season back on September 18, 2009.

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:

Louisville — Canton South

Walsh Jesuit L 26- 27 — Coventry L 22-42

North Canton Hoover W 50-7 — @Canfield L 14-41

@Ravenna L 6-31 — Northwest L 21-49

Marlington W 35-28 — @Minerva L 20-48

@Minerva L 26-29 — Alliance L 21-49

@Alliance W 43-14 — @Salem L 0-17

Carrollton W 43-7 — West Branch L 14-21

@West Branch L 21-30 — @Marlington L 6-39

Salem W 21-7 — @Carrollton W 30-27

PREVIEW

The Canton South Wildcat’s quest for 0-10 has failed.  The Wildcats got a come from behind victory against Carrollton last week and are riding momentum into Week 10.  Louisville gutted out a 21-7 win over Salem, but later found out that they had been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.  Playoffs or no playoffs, winless or undefeated, Federal League or NBC,  it doesn’t really matter when these two teams play each other.  The South-Louisville rivalry always seems to produce a great football game, especially in recent history.  On a muddy field in Canton Township the Leopards and the Wildcats will meet each other for the 69th time, but the first time ever in Week 10.

LEOPARDS

OFFENSE: The timing and rhythm isn’t completely there yet with young quarterback Joey Duckworth and his receivers, but Louisville still put up decent numbers in the passing game last week against the Quakers.  Two of the scoring drives that Duckworth led were by the book as he completed 5-of-6 passes on each drive.  The other touchdown was an explosive 53 yard touchdown pass to Gavin Lovejoy.   Outside of these three scoring drives Duckworth was just 3 of 19 and also threw an interception.  Still the Leopards managed 217 yards through the air and the 10 play 95 yard game-clinching drive in which Duckworth found Trent Ohman five times should instill confidence in the Sophomore quarterback.  Ohman continues to lead the NBC in receptions with 63 and also yards with 725.  Lovejoy has caught 27 passes for 463 yards and leads the team with 6 receiving touchdowns.  Look for runningback Lucas Poyser to have a big final game against a South defense that is given up nearly 250 yards on the ground per game.  With possibly muddy conditions on a field that has been torn up all year from soccer and football, look for the Leopards to pound the ball away at the run more than usual.

DEFENSE: The Leopards defense arguably had their best game of the season last Friday.  They were aggressive and flew to the ball.  They allowed Salem just 2 third down conversions in 11 attempts.  A big part of the reason for the Leopards success on defense was their ability to get into the backfield.  The official stats had Louisville with 5 sacks accounted for 19 yards against the Quakers.  The Leopards most piercing weapon was linebacker Aaron Reynolds who was a part of at least 3 of those sacks and found the Salem backfield several other times.  Charles Beamer, Jake Sluss, and Jon Crank also played key roles in stopping the Salem offense for losses.  The play of the night on defense came when Garrett Yoder jumped and picked off a pass to set the Leopards up with great field position.  This athletic play was only the Leopards third interception of the year.  Look for the defensive chemistry to continue to mix Friday when they play the Wildcats.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Look for Kick/Punt Returners Dillon Stertzbach and Ohman to have a big night Friday against a South team that has given up 3 return touchdowns this season.  Stertzbach has returned 12 kickoffs this year and averages 20.8 yards per return, while also returning 9 punts for an average of 11.6 yards per return.  Ohman has returned 6 kickoffs for an average of 17.8 yards per return and is averaging 12.0 yards after returning 6 punts this season.  Louisville punted for the first time since the Alliance game against Salem last Friday.  Alex Schooley had 2 punts for 62 yards and has averaged 33.0 yards per punt this season.  Merrick Storlie has made 22 of 27 extra points this season, but had an extra point blocked last week against Salem.  Louisville needs to have better protection when attempting kicks to be successful Friday, especially if it turns out to be another classic in Canton Township like their field goal deciding 17-14 victory in 2009.

WILDCATS

OFFENSE: The young Wildcats offense has improved all season long and has been very balanced gaining 1051 yards passing and 935 yards rushing.  Sophomore Quarterback Josh Lyon is coming off his two best games of the season throwing for 166 yards against Marlington and throwing for 267 yards and three touchdowns against Carrollton last week.  Although their air attack has improved, Sophomore Deonte Settles is their main weapon.  He has produced 7 touchdowns on the ground and 4 receiving touchdowns this year.  In the game against Carrollton last week, Settles rushed 13 times for 78 yards and had 6 catches for 111 yards for three total touchdowns in the game.  Another up and coming Sophomore is wide receiver Allec Eller who caught 7 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown last week at Carrollton.  Wide Receiver Jerry DiMinno is another target for Lyon, he had an excellent game against Marlington when he caught 5 passes for 55 yards.  Look for the Wildcats to pull out all the stops verse the Leopards on Friday.

DEFENSE: Opponents have played perfect while torching the Wildcats defense this season.  Canton South is giving up 37 points per contest and 368 yards per game to opposing offenses.  Their main weakness lies in stopping the run as they have given up 6.9 yards per rush and 242 yards on the ground per game.  The Wildcats have also had no luck in the takeaway department as South got their first takeaways of the season last week at Carrollton (an interception and a fumble recovery).  Through the first eight weeks of the season Canton South opponents threw no interceptions and only fumbled once (West Branch fumbled, but recovered).  South has also had huge issues in stopping explosive plays.  The Wildcats have giving up touchdowns of 30+ yards 15 times this season, 6 of which went for 50+ yards.  Look for the Louisville offense to exploit these weaknesses and score on explosive plays.  However, if the Leopards turn the ball over the Wildcats will take advantage.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Andrew Restanovich is listed as the kicker for South, but that doesn’t mean they use him to score.  South has attempted 12 two-point conversions this season and converted on them 67% of the time.  They were 3 of 4 on two-point conversions last week, which proved to be the difference in a 30-27 win over Carrollton.  South is 6-of-9 this season kicking extra points, but has yet to make a field goal.  South’s return coverage has giving up 2 punt return touchdowns and 1 kick return touchdown this season, while having no returns of any kind for touchdowns themselves.

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-1536, Canton South-824

Average Score: Louisville-23, Canton South-12

Note: 1939-1947 they were called Canton Township