Tiger Gameday – Section Championship
Tiger Gameday – Section Finals
Last Game: Hutchinson 21 St Peter 0
Game Recap: Best Defensive performance of the season for Hutchinson last week. The numbers for the Defense: 130 yards total offense allowed, 2 Interceptions, 1 Fumble Recovery, and 2 Sacks. Offensively Hutch wasn’t great, but made enough plays to win. Nate Thode rushed for 112 yards and 2 TD, plus Jack Maiers rushed for 76 yards and a TD.
Current Record: 4-5
This Week’s Opponent: Marshall (8-1)
About the Opponent: Marshall has clearly been the best team in the Section this year. They have an explosive offense that averages about 37 points per game. Defensively, Marshall is just as good shutting out 4 opponents, 4 other opponents scored only one TD. The Defense averages 6.3 points allowed per game. It will take the best performance of the season to beat them.
Key Hutch Players: Hutchinson’s Offensive Line. In order to beat Marshall you’re going to have to do something only one team has done yet this year. Score more than one Touchdown against their defense. Marshall’s defense is legit good and it will be a hard task. The OL has had an up and down season, but might be coming off their two best weeks of the year. John and I talk about “Tiger Drives” a lot…those 12 play 10 minute drives Hutch has been known for. That’s exactly what Hutch will need in this game. To get those kinds of drives you need good OL play.
4 Downs/Storylines:
First Down: Turnovers. Here’s the latest example of turnovers can kill. If Willmar doesn’t turn the ball over 4 times last week vs Marshall, it’s a very real possibility Hutch is playing at home tonight vs Willmar. Willmar threw one pick 6 deep in their own end, and another turnover led to a very short Touchdown Drive. You can’t give good teams opportunities like this. Marshall did what they should’ve done and made them pay for it. Hutch will not win tonight if Hutch is a -4 in the TO Ratio.
Second Down: Stopping the Run. When you play Marshall you won’t be able to take away everything from their offense. So you have to pick something to stop. You’ll hear from Coach Andy Rostberg in our pregame interview, that Hutch will try and take away the Marshall run. But that’s not an easy task. Their best back might be their BIG Fullback who’s hard to bring down. You have to gang tackle him and commit multiple people to him. Then when you think you’ve got him, they pull it out of his hands and give it to their speed back who can score anywhere on the field. You have to try and make Marshall one dimensional. Not easy to do.
Third Down: Play like you’ve got nothing to lose. Well, because you don’t. Hutch will be a heavy underdog tonight, and quite frankly will be a heavy underdog in any additional games they could play in the rest of the year. Relax and just play football. Play your game. Being in a big game like this is not anything new for you. Hutch has played one of th etoughest schedules in the state this year. You’re battle tested and know what it takes to beat a contender.
4th Down/Quick Hit Keys: To win tonight Hutch will have to hold this to a low scoring defensive battle. I don’t think Hutch has the firepower to win a shootout…Extra Points could have a big impact in a close game. And would Hutch go for 2 points if close late in the game? I think they could…For the first time ever, the winner of tonights’ game will go through the Seeding Process. That occurs on Saturday morning. We can say the winner will play on Thursday at either Blaine or East Ridge.
