Opposing offensive identities collide between Spartans, Muskets

DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Senior tight end Jakob Cordell comes around the edge and gets a block from freshman Korbin Koch during North-West Nodaway’s 54-8 win against Mound City.

It’s no secret what the South Holt/Nodaway-Holt football team can expect from the North-West Nodaway offense Friday night. The Muskets enter with the No. 1 passing attack in 8-man football with more 3,000 yards on the season.

The offense leans heavily on the arm of senior quarterback Koby Reynolds, who’s thrown for 47 touchdowns this year and has accumulated more than 10,000 yards passing yards for his high school career.

“Our pass coverage has to be pretty good,” South Holt/Nodaway-Holt head coach Josh Petersen said. “We know North-West Nodaway is going to throw and we have to be ready for everything they and Reynolds are going to throw at us. We have to be fundamentally sound. They run some good routes and some zone-reads, but we have to make sure we’re paying attention to all aspects on defense.”

South Holt/Nodaway-Holt (4-4) heads into Week 9 riding a two-game winning streak with wins coming against Rock Port and Mound City, respectively.

But before the winning streak started, Petersen went back to drawing board before facing Rock Port, after suffering a 66-18 loss to the hands of Worth County the week before.

“When we played Worth County, they kind of just handled us,” Petersen said. “I knew going into these last three games, we had a 50/50 chance of winning these games. With the way we had been playing, I wasn’t for sure if we were a finesse, spread it out, and throw it team. I lined them up and just went back to smashmouth football. I just wanted to get back to fundamentals and focus on blocking first.”

Petersen went to an offensive system that he’s extremely familiar with— an offense he ran in high school.

“It’s the style of offense that Midway-Denton in Kansas ran in the 1980s, when former St. Joseph Christian coach Mark Juhl was over there,” Petersen said. “My dad took that offense with him to Mound City when he coached over there.”

The Spartans have scored 104 points the last two weeks, 54 and 50 respectively, which is the highest two point totals of the season for the squad, making the offensive overhaul a major success.

“I think Brody (Day) has had about 350 yards rushing during that time. Alan (Ottman) has been making good reads, but we’re no longer a spread offense,” Petersen said. “We’re just going to line you up and we’re going to try and ground and pound you.”

North-West Nodaway (3-5) has won two of its last three, but lost last week to Albany, 62-60. Muskets head coach Andrew Webster knows making South Holt/Nodaway-Holt one-dimensional is crucial for his defense to have success.

“They’re really athletic,” Webster said. “We’re going to have to try to match up with them. We have to stop their ground game first, and they’re really good at it, so it’ll be important to shut it down.”

Through the first eight weeks of the season, North-West Nodaway allowed an average of 53.3 points per game, which is in the bottom half of the league, but Webster saw huge improvements against Albany last week.

“Our defense is on the field a majority of the game,” Webster said. “Most of the time, we’re on defense and it’s improved each week. Since Worth County, we’ve went back and made some changes. Our tackling has improved a bunch. In the second half against Albany last week, we had six or seven stops and that’s big for us. I think this week we can improve on that and put together four quarters.”

The North-West Nodaway defense spends most of its time on the field because the offense scores quickly and often. The last three weeks against Greenfield, Mound City, and Albany, the offense has put up 78, 54, and 60 points respectively.

Facing a South Holt/Nodaway-Holt squad that has a defensive front capable of creating problems in the backfield, the North-West Nodaway offensive line will have to give Reynolds time in the pocket.

“We need to keep Koby upright,” Webster said. “He does a good job moving around in the pocket, but we need to protect him. We need to run good routes, secure the ball, and get up field. Pass blocking is going to be extremely important.

“We’re going to have to account for (Zach) Walker in the middle of that defense. We’re going to have to watch out for their secondary and see how they line up. Scott (Reeves) has a game plan ready based on what they do and what they’ve done historically against us.”

On the opposite sideline, Petersen knows his defensive front needs to get to Reynolds, but said disrupting Reynolds’ rhythm will help the secondary out as well.

“Our front three and with Zach (Walker) at linebacker are pretty good off the ball,” Petersen said. “If we can’t get to Reynolds, we can at least get our hands up and try to disrupt the passing game.”

Friday night features two teams on polar-opposites of the spectrum. One wants an up-beat tempo and the other wants to control the clock.

“It’s important to get a couple of quick scores on these guys,” Webster said. “I wouldn’t say we have to do that to win, but it definitely helps to get the momentum on our side. I’d rather jump out to an early lead instead of fighting out of a hole like we did last week.”

Meanwhile, for the Spartans, Petersen’s focus is on securing the ball and keeping it out of Reynolds’ hot hand.

“I think the longer our offense can control the ball, the better odds the game will be in our advantage,” Petersen said. “It doesn’t leave our defense out there and North-West Nodaway is a quick scoring offense, so the longer we have the ball, the better off we’ll be. But, we can’t turn the ball over against these guys.”

North-West Nodaway takes on South Holt/Nodaway-Holt at 7 p.m. Friday night in a 275 Conference matchup in Graham.

CHRIS ROUSH/DAILY
South Holt/Nodaway-Holt running back Brody Day tries to get the edge against Worth County defenders senior Brevyn Ross and senior Tristan Miller.