Louisville Leopards at Canfield Cardinals 2014 Football Preview

Louisville Leopards at Canfield Cardinals

WHEN: Friday, August 29 at 7:00 PM

WHERE: Bob Dove Field – 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: The Series is tied 2-2.

VIEW FULL ALL-TIME SERIES

LAST MEETING: The Leopards won 13-10 at Louisville back on September 2, 2013.

View 2013 Video Highlights & Recap

LAST MEETING AT CANFIELD: The Leopards won 21-13 back on August 24, 2012.

View 2012 Video Highlights & Recap

LAST CANFIELD WIN: Canfield won 7-0 in a DII Regional Championship Playoff Game on November 18, 2005.

View 2005 Video Highlights & Recap

Schedules:

PREVIEW

Its a new season and as magical as last year was for the Leopards, they won’t get to start where they left off. Everyone is undefeated heading into this week and each team will chose its own destiny. Louisville defeated Canfield in their previous two meetings, but each game was decided by a single possession. It should be a warm evening at Bob Dove Field come Friday. The key to victory for both teams will be limiting mistakes, penalties, and turnovers.

LEOPARDS

Louisville was dominate in their one half scrimmage against Orrville last Friday. The Offense moved the ball with ease racking up 179 yards on 32 plays. The Defense also reeked havoc as they held the Red Riders to -10 yards on 27 plays, recored 5 sacks, and produced 2 takeaways.

Connor Zwick returns at Quarterback for his Senior year. Yes folks, not Wide Receiver as the roster lists, but Quarterback as the position he played in the Orrville Scrimmage. Zwick accounted for 64% of the Leopards offensive yards as he led the team in both rushing (183 Carries, 780 Yards, 9 Touchdowns) and passing (100 for 158, 1412 Yards, 15 Touchdowns, 6 Intreceptions)

In the receiving game, Louisville returns just 8 catches for 64 yards from a year ago. Kyle Woost has the most Varsity experience at receiver catching 4 passes for 45 yards last season. Woost showed his ability to breakaway during the Intersquad Scrimmage when he caught a 75 yard touchdown pass. Seven different Leopards made receptions in the scrimmage against Orrville. Josh McQuilkin led them all with 2 catches for 29 yards. Alec Jones also caught a touchdown pass in the Intersquad Scrimmage and Ryan Lautner (6’4, 180) has the ability to out-jump any coverage.

Walter Schrock returns at runningback after carrying the ball 161 times for 758 yards and 9 touchdowns a year ago. Look for Dalton Deckerd, who scored a touchdown against Orrville, and Casey Nau to get touches in the backfield as well. They will be looking to run through the holes created by returning starter Nick Nappi (5’7, 210) and the rest of the Louisville line that includes Terry Gooch (5’11, 259), Alex Hall (6’6, 244), Jarrod Moran (5’9, 226), and Austin Shaheen (6’0, 217).

On defense, Junior Defensive Back Stephen Kerzan (32 Tackles, 1 Interception) and Junior Linebacker Frank Falcone (19.5 Tackles, 8 Tackles for Loss, 2 Sacks, 1 Force Fumble) return with Varsity experience. In the Intersquad scrimmage Falcone was seemingly unstoppable. Defensive Lineman Daichi Castles also proved to be uncontainable in Louisville’s final dress rehearsal. He recorded 3 sacks, forced a fumble, and tackled the punter deep in the backfield against the Red Riders.

The Leopards secondary shined as well during this preseason. Josh Swanson intercepted a pass and then tipped a pass that was picked off by Brock Haren in back-to-back possessions. Jake Mathie also scored on a fumble return touchdown and nobody wants to throw Joe Crank’s way. Tanner Brahler (5’10, 210), Marco Buccasso (6’0, 169), Kyle Ashcraft (6’1, 212), and Nau (5’8, 171) are also rumored to be starters for the Louisville Defense.

On Special Teams, Boys Soccer Star and Kicker Austin Terra made 2 of 3 Field Goals in the scrimmage against Orrville. Terra connected from 24 and 38, and just missed from 41. He has hit from as long as 47 yards in practice. Zwick keeps the Quarterback/Punter tradition alive this year. A year ago he averaged 37.1 yards per boot with a long of 58.

In the return game, we saw the athletic combination of Joe Crank and Tyler Adams go back to return punts in scrimmages. There has not been a kickoff yet, but Woost (6 Returns, 13.8 Average) and Brock Haren (1 Return, 16.0 Average) had experience last year in that department.

CARDINALS

The Cardinals lost a lot to graduation, but are returning five players on both offense and defense. Canfield ran a run-heavy offense as they averaged 288 yards on the ground per game a season ago verses just 42 yards passing per game. They produced 24 points per game, but surrendered 28 points per game. Their defense gave up 315 yards (174 Passing, 141 Rushing) per contest in 2013.

Three year letterman Drew Rodgers returns to power the running game after rushing for 310 yards a season ago at runningback. He will look to get a push from Junior Guard Jacob Esarco (6’4, 221) who will anchor the offensive line.

Junior Quarterback Aaron Jenkins has big shoes to fill after Kimu Kim led the Cardinals in both Passing & Rushing a season ago at the same position. Jenkins proved to be an all-around athlete last season as he was actually the team’s top target with 9 catches for 158 yards receiving and showed his ability to run the ball (39 carries, 292 yards). He did see some game action passing the ball as well. He threw for 96 yards and a touchdown through the air. Don’t be surprised if you see him in the return game as well after averaging 18.3 yards on 23 kick returns last season.

Canfield won 3 of their last 5 games after starting the 2013 campaign a dismal 0-5. They appear to have lost some size on the line, but make up for it with a faster team this year. On a side note, the Cardinals have struggled on opening night losing 4 out of their last 5.