W2 PREVIEW: North Canton Hoover Vikings at Louisville Leopards

North Canton Hoover Vikings (0-1) at Louisville Leopards (0-1)

WHEN: Friday, September 2 at 7:00 PM

WHERE: Louisville Leopards Stadium

RADIO: 1480 WHBC, AultCare Stadium Show beginning at 5:35 PM

TV: Rebroadcast on Saturday, September 3 at 9:00 AM on WIVM TV-39 Canton/Massillon.  WIVM TV-39 is also available on Time Warner Cable in Stark County at channel position 989, WIVN TV-29 Necomerstown, & WIVX TV-51 Loudonville.  WIVN TV-29 can also be seen on Time Warner Cable on channel 4 in Tuscarawas, Holmes and Carroll Counties.

ONLINE STREAM – You can view the scoreboard stream on Leopard Nation Click Here to View it on Game Night.

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 52-31-5

LAST MEETING: Hoover beat Louisville 28-25 in Week 2 of the 2010 season back on September 3 at Memorial Stadium.

LAST LOUISVILLE WIN: Louisville last beat Hoover 34-13 in Week 2 of the 2009 season back on Thursday, September 3, 2009. The game was broadcast on Fox Sports Ohio.

LAST HOOVER WIN AT LOUISVILLE: The last time Hoover won at Louisville was on September 5, 2003 when they won 38-7 in Week 3 of the 2003 season.

*** See full series results and stats at the bottom of this post! ***

PREVIEW

They are the oldest rival to Louisville football.  Since October 4, 1924 when the Louisville Blue Raiders defeated North Canton 31-6, the two teams have met 88 times and have played every single year.  If it weren’t overshadowed by the most historical rivalry in all of high school football, it would be the biggest and oldest rivalry within the borders of the Stark County.  A Classic Federal League rivalry is renewed…its Hoover week!

LEOPARDS

OFFENSE: Chad Neff will again lead the offense as a multi-dimensional quarterback.  Neff was 21-of-35 for 266 yards passing with 4 touchdowns against Walsh.  Gavin Lovejoy, Trent Ohman, & Alex Schooley were on the other end of those touchdown passes and should shine again this Friday.  Lovejoy led all receivers with 7 catches for 94 yards and two TDs.  Neff was also the team’s lead rusher breaking the century mark at 103 yards on 24 attempts.  Runningback Lucas Poyser was held to 63 yards in last Friday’s game, but Stow ran all over Hoover last week so look for him to have a breakout game in this one.

DEFENSE: After surrendering 17 points in the first half the Leopards defense clamped down to allow really only one major error the rest of the way.  They were gouged for 159 yards on the ground, but most of that was early on in the contest.  Hoover passes a lot more than Walsh, so the Leopards secondary will be tested much more than the 11 passes thrown at them last week.  There are still holes in the defense, but this is Hoover and the Leopards defense will set the tone and come ready to play.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Don’t expect the same blunders this week that cost Louisville the game this week.  Leopards kicker Merrick Storlie has been working on his height on kicks all week long and will be poised to come through.  Despite the one blocked punt Neff still averaged 25.8 yards a boot including a long of 40 yarder during last Friday’s game vs. Walsh.  The Leopards return unit really didn’t get a chance to display their true identity last week with Ross Martin kicking every kickoff but one into the endzone last week and nearly every punt had to be fair caught.  Returners Ohman and Dillon Stertzbach should have plenty saved up after last week and you may see their athleticism take over on returns.

VIKINGS

OFFENSE: Unlike the last time Hoover played at Louisville, expect the Vikings to pass not run.  Last week the Stow defense gave North Canton fits holding them to just 43 yards on 20 carries.  Hoover should run the ball a little better against the Leopards, but Louisville should still be able to key in on the pass.  The Vikings will be led on offense by quarterback Austin Appleby who will be playing for Purdue upon graduation.  Appleby was 15-of-35 passing last week for 197 yards.  He also threw one touchdown and also had one pass picked off.  Stephen Denissoff was his main go-to guy with 7 catches for 114 yards.

DEFENSE: While the Hoover defense only surrendered 31 yards through the air, it was torched for 356 yards against Stow last week.  If the new turf at Memorial Stadium was the issue, then its bad news for the Vikings because they will be playing at a turfed surface at Louisville for the first time this Friday.  If they couldn’t stop the run knowing it was coming, I don’t see them being able to stop the dynamic Louisville offense.  Eric LePage is a third-year starter in the secondary so look for Louisville to pass the other way.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Scouting reporst say Hoover has one of the best kickers in Stark County in Ryan Sarbaugh.  However, Sarbaugh was only 2-of-5 on field goals in 2010 and 18-of-23 on extra points.  He hit a 27-yard attempt last week against the Bulldogs.  He’s no Ross Martin, but Louisville shouldn’t let Hoover get close if the game is on the line.

1986 Program Cover from the Hoover-Louisville game which the Vikings won 45-0, their largest win against Louisville ever. - Program photo provided by Thad Henderson.

PREDICTION

The last time the Leopards lost by a single point to a non-conference opponent was 2007 and it didn’t sit well.  The 35-34 loss to Lake the week before fueled Louisville’s fire and they shalacked Hoover 35-21.  The Leopards had the ball just yards away from the endzone at the end of the game and Hoover scored a touchdown in garbage time so it easily could have been 42-14 or 42-21.  I don’t expect anything less from this Louisville team.  They have heart and last week’s loss to Walsh is only going to make them play even harder.  However, Hoover will have the ability to pass the ball and does have confidence after beating the Leps last season, I’m gonna go with a nail-biter: Louisville 34, Hoover 28

ALL-TIME SERIES:

Number of Shutouts: Louisville-21, Hoover-6

Leopards Highest Margin of Victory: 1949 they won 49-0

North Canton’s Highest Margin of Victory: 1945 they won 45-0

Total Points Scored: Louisville-1549 Hoover-1122

Average Score: Louisville-18, Hoover-13

Overtime: Louisville is 2-0 when going to overtime (1996 and 2002)