WEEK 3 PREVIEW: Louisville Leopards at Ravenna Ravens

Ravenna Ravens at Louisville Leopards 2012 Football Preview

Louisville Leopards (1-1) at Ravenna Ravens (1-1)

WHEN: Friday, September 9 at 7:00 PM

WHERE: Gilcrest Stadium in Ravenna (Click 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 12-1-2 record over Ravenna

LAST MEETING: Louisville won 37-34 to open the new Louisville Leopards Stadium in Week 3 of the 2010 season back on September 10.

LAST RAVENNA WIN: Week 2 of the 1929 season Ravenna beat Louisville 20-0, which presently stands as their only ever win against Louisville.

LAST LOUISVILLE WIN AT RAVENNA: Louisville won 28-0 at Ravenna in Week 1 of the 2009 season on August 28, 2009.

PREVIEW

Its been dubbed the Battle for Route 44, and although this small out of conference rivalry has been one-sided it certainly has had some exciting moments.  The series should get even better this year with both teams returning from seasons in which they just barely missed the playoffs.  Ravenna is out for revenge, Louisville is out to continue their domination of Ravenna in the 16th meeting of the Battle for Route 44.

LEOPARDS

OFFENSE: Chad Neff has completed 67% of his passes, thrown for 418 yards & 5 touchdowns, and has yet to be picked off this season.  Neff also has 178 yards on the ground and one rushing touchdown thus far this year.  Louisville’s offense is very balanced, especially after runningback Lucas Poyser’s 206 yard 4 touchdown rushing performance last week.  Receivers Gavin Lovejoy and Trent Ohman have combined for 19 catches and 260 yards receiving this season.  Also, remember Louisville’s offense has really only played 6.5 quarters this year after many of the starters were pulled midway through the third quarter during the Hoover game.  They should have no problem running right through the Ravens defense that has given up 65 points in two games.

DEFENSE: The Ravens will quickly learn that this Leopards defense is not the same one they faced during the 2010 campaign.  After spotting Walsh a 17-0 lead in the first half of the opener, Louisville has allowed just 17 points in 6 quarters.  If it weren’t for a  hiccup on a screen pass in the Hoover game, Louisville would have shutout the Vikings.  The Leopards have given up 138 yards a game on the ground and will need to contain a strong Ravenna running game to force them into their weaker passing attack.  Adam Nees picked off a pass for a touchdown to open up the scoring fest vs. Hoover last week, if Ravenna is forced to go to the air Louisville will be ready and better off.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Most of the time we talk about kicking and return games in this portion of the preview.  But first and foremost we must dedicate this part of the preview to Charles Beamer who last week pounced on a fumbled kickoff and forced a Hoover safety on a punt attempt after a high snap.  After the Week 1 meltdown on special teams, the kick coverage was hungry against the Vikings pinning them back deep all night long.   Look for them to try to repeat that feat Friday night.  By the way, Merrick Storlie was 6-for-6 on extra point kicks against Hoover, the only failed attempt came on a bad snap after the last touchdown of the night and a kick attempt was never made.


RAVENS

OFFENSE: The Ravens offense is all about #28.  I can still hear Mr. Gresko’s voice ringing in my ear over the PA system during the first game at the new Louisville Leopards Stadium every time D.J. Jones got a hand-off.  Jones torched L0uisville for 219 yards and a touchdown last year in the home opener that saw the Leps narrowly escape on a Jaron Lohmeyer last second field goal.

Jones is back and better than ever for his senior year averaging 8.5 yards a carry, which included a 291 yard 4 touchdown performance during a 47-44 win over Tallmadge & a 142-yard performance during a 21-14 loss to Mentor Lake Catholic.  Ravenna only had to attempt 6 passes against the Blue Devils, but threw 24 times against the Cougars.  Quarterback Brandon Holt is 12-of-30 passing this season, 216 yards, & 3 touchdowns.  Jermaine Justice, Kyle Cornbau, & Matt Thomas will be his main targets if and when they throw.  The threesome has combined for 189 yards on 8 catches this season.  Bottom line, if the Leopards force them to throw they are going to score less and that will up Louisville’s chances of winning.

DEFENSE: The Ravens defense has surrendered an average of 342.5 yards per game and 32.5 points per game this season.  Most of the damage has come through the air when Tallmadge quarterback Anthony Gotto nearly passed for 300 yards against Ravenna.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Ravens kicker Martin Van Hoose is 3 of 4 on extra point kicks this season, but the team’s faith in him seems a bit shaky.  After missing an extra point against Tallmadge, Ravenna decided to go for two almost all the rest of the way.  They successfully converting on two-point conversions  2 out of 5 times.  Louisville better be when covering kickoffs, because Malcolm Wilmington already took a kick to the house once this season.  However, Ravenna’s kick coverage is about as good as their return game, because the score immediately prior to Wilmington’s 80-yard return for a touchdown, was a 99-yard kick return touchdown for Tallmadge.


PREDICTION

A shootout. What else would you expect from these two juggernaut offenses?  Just like last year, it will take Louisville awhile to figure out what makes D.J. Jones and Ravenna tick, but they eventually will and if they shut down the Ravens running game its gonna be all Leopards.  I expect Jones, Poyser, & Neff to all have big nights.  The only thing that could possibly stop these two offensives is Mother Nature.  If the 40% chance rain starts to fall, expect there to be somewhat less scoring.  Otherwise, Ravenna better have a few extra packs of light bulbs ready for their scoreboard Friday Night because these two offensives might just break it.  To win the Battle of Route 44, you might need about that many points: LOUISVILLE 44, RAVENNA 34

ALL-TIME SERIES:

Number of Shutouts: Louisville-4, Ravenna-2

Leopards Highest Margin of Victory: 2001 they won 39-0

Ravenna’s Highest Margin of Victory: 1929 they won 20-0

Total Points Scored: Louisville-355 Ravenna-170

Average Score: Louisville-24, Ravenna-11

Game Year W-L-T Louisville Ravenna
1 1927 T 6 6
2 1928 W 19 13
3 1929 L 0 20
4 1930 T 0 0
5 1990 W 22 10
6 1991 W 19 13
7 1992 W 35 12
8 1993 W 27 6
9 1994 W 35 0
10 2001 W 39 0
11 2002 W 34 23
12 2007 W 35 28
13 2008 W 29 15
14 2009 W 28 0
15 2010 W 27 24

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