Spoofhounds face first road test against St. Pius X

JON DYKSTRA/DAILY FORUM
Maryville senior Jacob Reuter carries the Spoofhound flag as he leads his team onto the field Week One against Lawson in the Hound Pound.

The Spoofhounds certainly defended their state No. 2 ranking last Friday when they fully dismantled the Lawson Cardinals 43-0 in front of a raucous opening night crowd at the Hound Pound.

“We never get too full of ourselves,” Maryville coach Matt Webb said. “Last Friday night, our message to the team right after the game was to be proud of what you accomplished that night. You can never value each win enough, be blessed and celebrate each win, but at the same time, good teams make improvement throughout the season and these guys know that.”

Week Two brings a different set of challenges however and Maryville will be making its first road trip of the regular season as it travels to Kansas City to take on St. Pius X.

“That first home game is always an exciting one,” St. Pius X coach Rick Byers said.

St. Pius X is coming off of a last second gut-punch last week when Odessa scored in the closing moments to steal a 22-17 victory.

“It was a tough one,” Byers said. “The kids were playing hard and we had gained control. We had a missed tackle right on the sideline and their kid just scampered into the end zone. It is just one of those things.

“They didn’t hang their heads long, because we didn’t have much time to worry about it. We had to get back to work.”

Webb says the Week One loss at Odessa is no reason to overlook Byer’s team.

“St. Pius lost a very close game to a very good Odessa team,” Webb said. “I was impressed with both teams on film. … That is a good team that they lost to and they played them extremely well.”

The Warriors have had many battles with the Spoofhounds over the years and even if the games don’t go in Byers’ favor all the time, he says he enjoys measuring his squads against Maryville.

“We know Maryville. If you are going to win anything on this side of the state, you have to go through them,” Byers said. “Coach Webb does an awesome job of getting his kids ready to play. They are well prepared and don’t make mistakes. We enjoy playing them. We’ve come out on the short end in the past, but we enjoy the competition every year.”

On the field, the Warriors will play much differently from the style Maryville prefers. They will be led by Tommy Hoambecker (No. 8), their much-ballyhooed senior quarterback, who Byers has complete faith in.

“He is a heck of a player,” Byers said. “He leads the way offensively and does a heck of a job. He is running the ball a little more this year. He has always had a really good arm and he is getting some looks from D-I so we are really excited about him.”

Hoambrecker runs the show for St. Pius X after being the team’s top returning passer and rusher going into the season.

Hoambrecker finished the season with 1,327 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and only four interceptions on 93-of-187 passing as a junior. He ran 276 yards on 78 carries with five touchdowns.

Last season’s 36-0 loss to the Spoofhounds was one of the worst games of Hoambrecker’s career, however.

He finished just 7-for-19 with 45 yards while carrying it six times for zero yards.

Things did not improve much in the playoffs when the Hounds ended St. Pius X’s season with a 45-7 loss.

Hoambrecker will see the return of one of his top weapons from last year with senior tight end Andrew Hipp (No. 82).

“Our tight end is 6’6”, 220 and he tore his ACL last year at a summer camp,” Byers said. “He is back and is full-go so we are excited about him.”

This Spoofhound team won’t have a lot of the same faces who rolled up those lop-sided wins against the Warriors last season, but Byers knows that just because the pieces have been reshuffled doesn’t mean Webb’s team will be any easier to face when 7 p.m., rolls around.

“We have learned over the years with Maryville that those kids have got it going now,” Byers said. “None of those guys want to be the guys to let (the program) slip. They prepare like they are veterans. That is how we approach it. These guys are new, but they aren’t going to be the ones who let their foot off the gas pedal.”

Last week, the Hounds had three backs combine for nearly 300 yards rushing with Jacob Reuter, Mark Zahnd and Tyler Houchin. Priority One for the Warrior defense will be finding a way to slow down the Hound rushing attack.

Byers will be counting on senior linebacker John Lillig (No. 57) to lead that effort.

“He was an all-conference guy last year, so we are looking forward to him stepping up and leading us a little bit,” Byers said.

Webb will be looking to strike more balance out of his offense as the season moves along. The coach is going to take advantage of the run when it is working like it was in Week One, but he realizes that his team may soon need more from the passing game.

“Maryville football has been built around line of scrimmage play and that is something we are really proud of from an offensive line standpoint and a defensive line standpoint,” Webb said. “Being able to run the ball when everybody in the stands knows you are going to run it is something that is our program philosophy. … But we need to be multiple and sometimes we are going to need to loosen some people up just to be able to run the ball.”

Webb is counting on his Spoofhounds to handle their trip to St. Pius X as a business trip and stay focused on the task of making the drive back north with their unblemished record still in tact, but he acknowledges that it will be a tough environment for his relatively inexperienced team to have their first taste of the road.

“It is a fun place to play,” Webb said. “These kids have all played there whether that is on freshman and junior varsity games or on varsity a couple years ago. We are familiar with the surrounds and know what it will be like. They have a very good stadium and its one where the fans are really close to the sidelines so that makes for an interesting atmosphere.”

“When you go on the road, you have to lock your arms a little tighter and accomplish one goal, which is to win the football game, be one point better than they are, then come home.”