PREVIEW: Westside heads to Grand Island to face the 4-0 Islanders
Senior Mitch Schenkelberg carries the ball for a touchdown in the first half of Westside’s 55-14 victory over Lincoln Northeast Friday, Sept. 19. Schenkelberg will start at running back in place of junior Logan Duryee, who fractured his jaw in two places last week. Photo by Clair Selby
Depending on the route you take, about 140 miles separate Westside and Grand Island High School. But tonight, these district opponents will be separated by only 53 and 1/3 yards as they square off in Grand Island.
No. 10-ranked Westside, coming in off of two straight district wins, will look to improve to 3-2 while No. 3-ranked Grand Island will look to stay a perfect 5-0.
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For Westside, victory will start with stopping the high-powered Grand Island offense, which is led by Pierce Almond, one of the best quarterbacks in the state, who is averaging 196.5 yards per game on 59-92 passing for 12 touchdowns with only three interceptions while also averaging 4.1 yards per carry on 46 carries.
“He’s very heady and he makes very good decisions in the passing game, and that’s what his strength is,” Westside head coach Brett Froendt said. “He just delivers the ball in the right place with touch, and that’s why they’ve had a lot of success. When he needs to use his feet, he runs pretty decent, but I’m not near as worried about that as the passing game.”
The Grand Island offense has found incredible balance, averaging 378 total yards per game with just over half of that coming from passing. Westside has, in the past, had success stopping the Grand Island offense (including in last year’s 45-13 home victory of the Islanders).
“The reason we’ve had so much success with them in the past is we’ve been able to identify their formations and their personnel and we know what they’re going to do,” Froendt said. “This year it’s a challenge with our new, inexperienced guys to get that done. But they still show the same tendencies, so if we recognize and get lined up right, I think we’ll play pretty well.”
Offensively, the Warriors are facing a Grand Island defense that is improved from past seasons. The Islander defense is allowing only 15 points a game, which is the second lowest points allowed per game of the teams in the Class A top 10. Westside will look to mimic its offense from its season-high 55-point scoring barrage against Lincoln Northeast last week.
“We’re just going to do our thing,” Froendt said. “That’s what we try to do on offense: not try to trick it up too much… We think there’s a couple holes in their defense, or weaknesses in their defense, and we’ll attack those the best we can. But, again, a mix of power running game and quick game has to be the key.
Loading ...The Westside quick game will take a hit as starting running back junior Logan Duryee fractured his jaw, according to Froendt, in two places last week against Lincoln Northeast. Froendt said Duryee will be out “quite a while.”
Stepping in for Duryee will be senior Mitch Schenkelberg, who carried the ball for over 200 yards last week against Lincoln Northeast.
Westside will also be without cornerback and wide receiver senior Drew Combs and kicker junior AJ Nolin. Combs did not suit up last week because of an undisclosed injury while Nolin suffered a concussion against Lincoln Northeast.
Regardless of the injuries, the game will be an important and exciting one, as Grand Island is Westside’s toughest district opponent, and one of the three best teams it will face all season. Still, though, many Westside fans will not be attending because of the long drive, which Google Maps has pegged at 2 hours and 17 minutes via Interstate 80.
“We just go out and play regardless of whether there’s two people in the stands or 2,000,” Froendt said. “We’d love for people to come out, but we understand the drive too.”
Westside Wired will be at the game to bring you live updates @westsidewired on Twitter. We will have a full recap with video, photos, a story and a CRAZE Magazine statistical report on Monday, so make sure to check back on the action you missed.
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