Game against Southern could be a playoff preview
Ryen Beam played a big role in B-A’s win last week over Mount Union.
October 21, 2016
B-A has won seven straight contests and will look to continue their dominance against the Southern Huntington Rockets Friday night.
A win this week will clinch the ICC North championship for the Blue Devils.
It will also tighten B-A’s grip on the two seed in the District 6-AA playoffs, and a win would also make it look more and more likely that the Blue Devils will face with the Rockets (4-4) in the first round of the playoffs.
It’s really cool to be approaching the record. I think it really shows how much of a team we are.
— Jarrett Taneyhill
On top of that, senior quarterback Jarrett Taneyhill is on the brink of breaking another school passing record.
Jarrett is nearing the record for most passing yards in a season. So far he has completed 84 of 149 passes for 1,436 yards and a record 19 touchdowns, but he may be more likely to be broken next week as Taneyhill is still over 250 yards away from breaking the record and has only gone over 250 yards once this season, in Week 4 vs Everrett.
Jarrett is pleased with the opportunity but knows he would be nowhere without his teammates.
“ It’s really cool to be approaching the record. I think it really shows how much of a team we are. You don’t have this much success passing without good blocking, good receiving, and a strong running game to back it up. We just need to keep focusing on winning games right now and worry about records later.”
Earlier in the season there was great worry about the run game, and it was disappointing to see such a dominant passing game paired with a weak run game as teams started to key solely on the pass.
With B-A’s run game now consistently producing week after week, it has really taken the pressure off of Taneyhill and the pass game, and with that balance there is really no formula to stop this team on offense. The Devils are now rushing for more than 200 yards per game behind leading runner Duke Brunner, who has 674 yards on 121 carries.
If the Blue Devils can continuously run the ball effectively this team will be a very tough out in the district playoffs.
On the defensive side of the ball they have been solid all season long, giving up less than 10 points per contest.
Their defensive unit has been led by defensive tackle Austin Desch who is averaging 7.4 tackles a game, has six tackles for a loss this year, and also has three sacks.
