West Branch Warriors at Louisville Leopards Week 8 Football Preview

West Branch Warriors (3-4, 3-1) at Louisville Leopards (4-3, 2-2)

SPREAD: Louisville by 5 (According to Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic 50)

WHEN: Friday, October 12 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 21-6 all-time record over West Branch.

LAST MEETING: West Branch defeated Louisville 30-21 at Heacock Stadium on October 14, 2011 to snap Louisville’s 12-game winning streak against them.

2011 Louisville at West Branch Highlights

LAST MEETING AT LOUISVILLE: Louisville won 28-0 in Week 6 of the 2010 season back on October 1. | Highlights & Story for the 2010 Game

Chad Neff 5 Yard Touchdown Run Vs. West Branch in 2010

Schedule So Far:

West Branch — Louisvlle

@Kirtland L 7-39— @Canfield W 21-13

New Philadelphia L 45-49 — @Hoover L 14-41

Streetsboro L 35-37 — Ravenna W 34-20

Alliance W 51-34 — @Marlington L 24-34

@Carrollton W 13-7 — Minerva W 35-14

@Minerva W 35-7 — Alliance W 13-8

Canton South L 23-35 — @Carrollton L 0-21

PREVIEW

Friday will feature a battle between two teams fighting for their last playoff breath.  According to Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic 50, the Leopards have a 16% chance of making the playoffs  if they win out and just a 1% chance if they lose a single game.  For West Branch, they have been given a 14% chance of making the playoffs if they win out versus a 1% chance if they lose a single game.  The Warriors got off to a rough start in dropping all three of their non-conference games, but rebounded with three straight conference victories before falling to Canton South 35-23 last week.  West Branch controls their destiny of winning at least a share of their first NBC Title for the first time since 1999 if they win out.  The Leopards will be fighting to keep their home NBC winning streak alive as it is currently at 18 straight victories.  Louisville has not had a losing season since 1989 and they can remove all talk of that with a win over West Branch Friday.  The Leopards have taken the last 12 out of 13 meetings from the Warriors, but fell to West Branch 30-21 last season.  This classic NBC rivalry from the 1990’s should be back to form come Friday at Louisville Leopards Stadium.

LEOPARDS

OFFENSE: Louisville was shutout for the first time since 2005 last week at Carrollton.  They will look to right the ship this week again likely without starting quarterback Joey Duckworth.  Jeremy McQuilkin has taken the majority of snaps in Duckworth’s absence completing 20 of 36 passes for 137 yards and 1 Touchdown, while rushing for 56 yards on 12 carries.  Wide Receiver Trent Ohman is the Leopards leading rusher (27 carries, 162 yards, 1 TD) and leading receiver (46 catches, 474 yards, 4 TDs) this season.  As the Leopards most explosive playmaker on offense, Coach John Demarco will look to get Ohman the ball  anyway he can.  Runningbacks Trey Hayford (20 carries, 60 yards, 4 TDs) and Walter Schrock (2 receptions, 20 yards) will look to get carries as well as be in on screen plays.  Wide Receiver’s Alex Hollifield (19 catches, 275 yards, 2 TDs), Alex Schooley (29 catches, 224 yards, 3 TDs), and Trevor Hostetler (14 catches, 133 yards) will need to break free for big plays every opportunity they can.  The key to the whole offense will be whether or not the Leopards line can out-physical West Branch.  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.).

DEFENSE: The Leopards defense uncharacteristically forced no turnovers last week against Carrollton, but surely have the players to get takeaways as  they have recorded 14 as a team this season (10 interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries).  Linebacker Gary Anile has picked off 4 passes this year, while Hostetler and Garret Yoder have each intercepted 2 in the secondary.  Yoder also had a game-sealing fumble recovery week 1 against Canfield.  Also in the secondary, McQuilkin and Kyle White each had an interception against Alliance two weeks ago.  Louisville’s defense has recorded 14 sacks this season and a big reason for that has been the relentless play of their defensive line that includes Dylan Kline, Cory Neff, and Mike Weiss.  Charles Beamer and Josh Brown have also made key stops this season at linebacker.  Louisville’s defense is surrendering 297 yards (201 rushing, 96 passing) and 22 points per contest.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Nothing will be bigger for the Leopards special teams than a big play from the return games.  Ohman (24.8 yards per kick return & 15.2 yards per punt return) is capable of taking one to the house every time he touches the ball as he had an 88 yard punt return touchdown in the win over Alliance and a 68 yard kick return against Ravenna.  Schooley (18.3 yards per kick return) and Yoder (13.7 yards per punt return) have also made an impact in the return game.  Louisville has not allowed a touchdown on a return this season, but West Branch has returned 4 kickoffs for touchdown this season.  Merrick Storlie is 18 of 18 on extra points and 3 of 5 on field goals this season, which included a 38 yard field goal.  Schooley has recovered two fumbles in kick/punt coverage this season and has also punted the ball 18 times this season averaging 32.1 yards per punt with a long of 51.  Weiss also has 3 punts this season averaging 39 yards per boot with a long of 43.

WARRIORS

Anonymous Writer

OFFENSE:  “They’re huge,” Canton South Head Coach Moe Daniska said on West Branch before their game last Friday. “They’re like Clydesdales up front, 300-some pounds, a couple of them are 6-7, 6-6. They’re big and physical, and the Wells kid runs the ball extremely hard. He’s a physical back and probably one of the best backs in the league.”  West Branch’s offensive line consists of two seniors in Jake Griffith (6’7, 277 lbs) and Connor Sharp (6’4, 301 lbs), two starting juniors in Andrew Filp (6’2, 288 lbs) and Logan Sharp (6’4, 301 lbs), and finally starting Sophomore Jacob Zinni (6’4, 290 lbs.).  The most well-known player on the Warriors offense is Senior runningback Brenden Wells (91 carries, 637 yards, 7 TDs rushing).  Wells did not play during weeks 2 and 3, but has made an impact in NBC play.  Wells has 91 carries for 637 yards and seven touchdowns and is a large part as to why the Warriors are averaging 30.5 points per game against NBC foes.  With Wells absent earlier in the season, quarterback Troy James led the Warriors back from a 28-3 deficit to take the lead before visiting New Philadelphia pulled out the victory.  James is a threat through the air (39 of 77 for 528 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT), but may be an even bigger threat on the ground (112 carries, 490 yards, 9 TDs).  The combination of Wells and James is why the Warriors are averaging nearly 30 points per game.  If the Leopard do not plug the West Branch run, it could be a long night for the Leps.  Kip DeShields (10 catches, 185 yards, 2 TDs) leads the Warriors in receiving this season, while Jeff Vizzuso (3 catches, 71 yards) Kenny Faulkner (6 catches, 53 yards), and Matthew Edie have also caught touchdown passes for West Branch.

DEFENSE: The Warriors defense is the most inconsistent part of this West Branch’s team as they have surrendered 34+ points in a game five times this season.  The schedule has not been an easy one for the Warriors defense though as they have faced four All-Ohio runningbacks (Damon Washington, Jamal Johnson, Dorian Williams, and Dymonte Thomas).  Even with this being the case, nobody in Beloit would have predicted West Branch’s defense with 8 returning starters to be giving up 30 points per game and 398 yards per game (234 rushing, 164 passing).  They’ve had some good moments though this season including holding Carrollton to 7 points even though the Warriors from down South entered the redzone several times.  They also held and injury-plagued Minerva to a single touchdown earlier this season.  The West Branch defense has forced just 5 turnovers (1 interception, 4 fumble recoveries) in their 7 games this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: If there is one area of the game that has been a game changer for the Warriors, it is their special teams. After what happened in Beloit week 4 against Alliance, teams have kicked away from the Warriors.  Against the Aviators, Wells ran two kick returns (70 yards and 90 yards) back for a touchdown and Brandon Woolf took another to the house.  Wells also had another 88 yard kick return in the opening game against Kirtland.  West Branch also has a reliable kicker in Senior Brock Trimmer, who is 22 of 24 on extra points, and has made three field goals this season(31, 29, 24).

ALL-TIME SERIES:

Number of Shutouts: Louisville-4, West Branch-0

Leopards Highest Margin of Victory: 1970 they won 42-0 and 2005 they won 48-6

West Branch’s Highest Margin of Victory: 1990 they won 35-15

Highest Combined Score: 76 Points – 2008 – Louisville 48, West Branch 28

Lowest Combined Score: 6 Points – 1968 – Louisville 6, West Branch 0

Longest Winning Streak: Louisville – 12 Games – 1999-2010

Longest Warriors Winning Streak: 2 Games – 1990-91 and 1997-98

Total Points Scored: Louisville-650, West Branch-352

Average Score: Louisville-24, West Branch 13