Meeting in the middle
Co-op teams come together in 2A
AMBOY — Saturday’s playoff contest between co-op programs Amboy/LaMoille and Annawan/Wethersfield features two 9-1 squads with a new home in class 2A.
The Titans of Annawan/Wethersfield, in their second year of co-oping, move up to the 2A ranks this season after qualifying for the playoffs in 1A last year. Amboy/LaMoille heads down the other direction, playing in 2A for the first time since co-oping with LaMoille in 2003. The Clippers are in their eighth-straight playoff appearance.
Regardless of what class it’s in, Saturday’s match-up should be a tough test of each program.
“You’re in the playoffs right now, records don’t matter, none of that stuff really seems to matter,” said Clippers’ coach Gary Jones. “They’re a good football team, solid all around, I don’t think that (moving up to 2A) has anything to do with it.”
“I really think it’s going to be an even matchup,” Titan’s coach Brandon Johnston said. “The two teams are very similar, a lot of speed, each team has decent size and are pretty well balanced I think.
Last week in Kewanee the Titans hung to an early advantage to clip Clifton Central 23-21, punching their ticket to the second round of the playoffs.
Amboy/LaMoille (9-1) dominated Alwood/ ROWA 41-0 at The Harbor in Amboy in their opening round contest. Quarterback Steven Apple threw for three touchdowns and 143 yards as the Clipper co-op coasted to the win.
The Clippers offense, which averages 27.8 points a contest, centers around senior running back Cody Richardson, who has amassed 1,282 yards on the ground and 11 rushing touchdowns at a rate of 6.6 yards per carry. Fullback Brian Appleman has been a workhorse with the ball for the co-op as well, gaining 606 yards on 81 carries with 11 touchdowns.
“Richardson’s a tremendous back. Their fullback, Appleman, is very good, their quarterback is a threat with his feet and his arm, a little bit, as well,” said Johnston, whose Titans have allowed only 9.5 points per game. “With that many weapons you just want to eliminate the big play, and take away what they do best.”
The Titans rely on senior quarterback Sean Walker, their leading rusher with 743 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground, as their main offensive threat.
“We use him at quarterback, at running back and a little bit at wide receiver as well,” Johnston said. “He’s just a very good athlete. We try to get the ball to his hands as much as possible.”
“I think Walker is the key to their offense,” said Jones, whose Clippers have limited opponents to only 9.6 points per game. “We won’t be able to take him out totally, but we’ve got to limit his big plays. He gets a lot of big plays.”
When the Titans throw the ball, their leading target is senior Matt DeDecker, who has hauled in 26 grabs for 427 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season.
Along with using Walker to run, The Titans, who claimed the Prairie Trail Northwest conference title, use a running back by committee scheme, with three backs ... Shayne Neubert, Nathan Long and Jared Spivey each having over 40 carries on the season.
“We think we’re pretty diversified in the run game. One of our advantages all year has been if a team takes one of our weapons away, we can switch gears and go back to one of the other ones.”
Both coaches agree that there will be little margin for error when the two teams tussle Saturday.
“We’ve got to play mistake free. We had some penalties that could of cost us last Saturday,” Johnston said. “We want to eliminate the penalties, continue to be diverse on offense and continue to be aggressive defensively.”
“We’ve got to establish and run the football, week in and week out, that’s what we have to do,” Jones said. “Defensively, we have to play gap control and play assignment football.”
Notes: The Clippers debuted a new formation last Saturday, running Richardson out of the Wildcat, flanked by linemen Levi Kaleel and running back C.J. Shields. Richardson, who had a 22-yard gain in his one run behind center, also managed to throw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Appleman while taking the shotgun snaps. “We’ve never been in the shotgun ever, since the existence of time,” Jones chuckled about his new formation. ... Both of the team’s lone losses have comes at the hands of stiff competition, with A/L losing to AP top ranked Morrison 35-6 in week six, and A/W losing 33-0 to Mercer County in week two. ... A/L has four shutouts on the season, including the past two weeks. A/W has kept three opponents off the scoreboard this season. ... A/W is the second smallest program to qualify for the 2A playoffs with an official enrollment of 320, A/L (433) is the fourth largest. ... Johnston is in his first year coaching the A/W co-op. He previously was the defensive coordinator at Charleston High School.
