With the kickoff of the 2008 Hillsboro football season just hours away, the Indians look to get off to a positive start as they hit the road to face the Western Brown Broncos.
Last season, the Broncos beat Hillsboro 33-27 when they intercepted an Indian pass in the endzone with 38 seconds left in the game.
Thus season, however, the Indians have a different look. They have a new offense, a new defense and new players whose time has come to play under the lights of Friday night.
The new Indians' will have to stop a Bronco offense that Hillsboro coach Duane Earley describes as athletic with a preference to run the ball in a variety of ways.
Western Brown quarterback Travis Taylor, a 5-10, 165-pound senior, is athletic and likes to carry the ball as much as put it in the air.
Western Brown will operate out of the Wing-T with a mixture of shotgun in their system to spread out the opposing defense. But, the Broncos prefer to flat out power run the ball behind their offensive line. Last season, the Broncos rushed for 306 yards on 44 carries against Hillsboro.
Though they lost some of their running game from last season, Western Brown does return senior running back Shawn Davis (No. 33), who stands 5-9 and weighs 200 pounds. Last season at Richards Memorial Field, Davis rushed for 115 yards on 17 carries with three touchdowns.
"They will get him (Davis) the ball in different places and he runs hard when he gets it," Earley said.
In previous seasons, the Broncos have used a 5-2 defensive look and don't blitz much.
"We haven't seen much blitzing from them on film," Earley said. "They are aggressive and have nice-sized players on their defense."
The Indians will be outmatched sizewise on the lines.
"We are going to put more emphasis on our quickness to offset their size advantage," Earley said. "We like what quickness we have and they will have to catch up to our smaller guys."
While using their speed to offset the Broncos' defense, Hillsboro will bring players from different places with different looks in their new 3-3-5 defensive formation.
"I think they are excited for the start of the season and we told them that all the games count now," Earley said. "We have the first week of school and the kids are going to have to adjust to changes to their routine."
Comments (11)
