| BataviasBest.org
Friday, September 19, 2014
A long standing rivalry between ND and Elba has brought extra excitement to this Saturday afternoon league match up. The Fighting Irish (0-2) come into the game in search of their first win of the season, but will have to overcome a hot Elba squad (2-0). This is my Game of the Week.
Dating back to before I was in high school, the Elba-Notre Dame rivalry has been present for quite some time and continues to grow over the years. Although a new twist has been added, with Byron-Bergen joining Elba for the football season recently, the healthy animosity between the two schools remains and will certainly add to the intrigue of Saturday’s contest.
Also playing a large role in this game, will be the head-to-head matchup between each side’s stable of running backs.
Employing similar styles offensively over the course of the first two weeks of the season, Elba and Notre Dame each have a tendency to rely on their respective running game. Although they have also completed passes down the field with success, it is clear that both the Lancers and the Irish like to pound the ball and control the clock in order to give them the best chance to win.
Highlighting the Elba ground game, Mike Shanley and Steele Truax have taken turns with the rock thus far, but have each shown great ability to move the chains. In Week 1 it was Shanley who was able to dominate the Pembroke Dragons on the ground for 199 yards, but last week against Holley, Truax carried the mail and went for over 100 yards. Equipped with an obvious running back by committee situation, the Lancers will continue to play to Truax and Shanley’s strengths in order to produce the most favorable results.
As far as the ND running game is concerned, the Irish are led by Jack Sutherland who has ran extremely hard for head coach Rick Mancuso over the course of the first two weeks. Scoring the lone touchdown for Notre Dame last week, Sutherland finished the game as his team’s leading rusher and will likely get the fair share of the workload this weekend.
Defensively for both sides, linebacker play will be of the utmost importance.
As both the Irish and Lancers enjoy using the outside running lanes with regularity, each team will have to get quality, disciplined play from their respective linebacking corps. While they will be expecting a push up front from their defensive line, the second level of defense from each side will be called upon to clean up the running backs to the outside in order to prevent long gains.
As my Game of the Week, I want to know from you – who ya got?
I will post my prediction tomorrow morning on twitter under the username @BataviasBest.
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