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Course correction: From the air to the land
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@acnpapers.com
In just one week’s time, the Plano Senior football team’s defense will undergo as stark a paradigm shift as there is in Metroplex football.
After enduring the snap-heavy, marathon-like air assault of Flower Mound last Friday, the Wildcats will go from facing the area’s most prolific passing offense to arguably the area’s most prolific rushing offense in Flower Mound Marcus; a road matchup set for 7:30 p.m. Friday.
It will mean putting the stain of last week’s 61-52 shootout loss to Flower Mound to rest, as Plano was lured out of its comfort zone on a number of fronts against the high-powered Jaguars.
But for any shellshock that may stem from the Jaguars’ 61-point, 530-yard output, Plano head coach Jaydon McCullough remains confident in the unit’s ability to bounce back after allowing just 13.8 points per game prior.
“It hurts and it stings,” he said, “but at the same time, I feel like our kids are so mature and so knowledgeable that you can tell that they realize that we need to get going and moving forward.”
That’ll require upending a once-beaten Marcus squad that, for as exemplary as the Jaguars’ system is in the pass, is the run-based incarnation of that well-oiled machine.
“We’ve got to match their physicality and match their energy,” McCullough said. “I just really anticipate a good football game.”
Shortly after Plano’s loss, the second of the season for the 4-2 squad, McCullough lauded Flower Mound rusher Hunter Lee’s ability to break tackles. Lee’s activity gave the Plano front seven plenty of work last Friday; a workload that will be upped tenfold against the Marcus tandem of Rufus Mason and Dagan Newsome.
Two rushers who have accounted for more two-thirds of the Marauders’ total offense, Mason and Newsome represent the typical thunder-lightning running back tandem.
“Those two backs are outstanding,” McCullough said. “[Mason] is a much more physical runner, while [Newsome] is a bit more shifty. They remind me a lot of the tandem at Alabama (Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson).”
To keep defenses honest, Marcus has shown a tendency to work as many as nine running backs into the game; a valued asset for the area’s second-ranked rushing offense at 386.5 yards per game. For the woes endured handling Lee out of the backfield last week, the ability of the regularly-proficient tackling of Plano’s defense will likely prove as Friday’s deciding factor.
A Wing-T unit flourishing amongst a plethora of spread offenses in District 8-5A, the wrinkle of the well-executed play-action pass is as prevalent as ever during the rare instances that Marcus puts the ball in the air.
That’ll come courtesy of quarterback Deion Sanders Jr., who, while only having logged 34 passes this year, has converted on touchdown passes of 33, 34, 49 and 18 yards.
“With any system you run, it’s the players who make it work,” McCullough said. “This is Marcus’ identity and what they do. They’re going to stand on top of this mountain and if you come up here, we’re going to knock you right down it.”
The anticipated physicality between the two run-oriented offenses speaks for itself, with junior Kevin Merrill and senior Murat Kuzu out to rebound against a defensive front that is neck-and-neck with the Wildcats as one of the area’s stingiest run-stuffing outfits.
That facet is anchored up front by Marcus nose tackle Jason Neill, a player McCullough has been challenging senior Clayton Bennett about matching up against all week. While Neill is one of three returners on defense for the Marauders, the unit has allowed an average of just 117 yards on the ground thus far.
As senior Connor Michelsen comes off his strongest passing performance of the season against Flower Mound, the signal caller can take pause in the Marauders’ lone defeat coming at the expense of the pass-heavy Jaguars.
Either way, McCullough is using Friday as a showcase for the Wildcats getting back to their roots. Now 1-2 in District 8-5A, the margin for error is growing slimmer by the week and in its attempt to regain its footing in playoff talk, ousting the Marauders will go a ways towards controlling Plano’s destiny down the road.
“We’ve got to have a winner-take-all mentality,” McCullough said. “The kids have to understand that mentality that no matter what happens, they won’t quit and they won’t stop.”
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