Prep Football Preview: One Last Stand

To say Marion has had Harrisburg's number in the last eight years might be a gross understatement.

The Wildcats, led by head coach Kerry Martin, strut to the tune of an 7-0 record against the Bulldogs during Jason Roper's career at Harrisburg.

That all ends after Friday night.

The meeting will be the last between the two school's as Harrisburg has dropped Marion from its schedule in place of Booneville, Indiana.

As far as similarities are concerned, there aren't many, other than the fact that both teams enter Friday night's affair both 0-2.

Harrisburg has lost to Mt. Carmel and Du Quoin to start the season, while Marion dropped back-to-back ball games in Champaign, including last week's loss to Champaign Centennial.

Harrisburg will be without starting fullback and linebacker Kane Carrigan, serving a one game suspension for an unsportsmanlike penalty last week at Du Quoin.

Carrigan has 67 yards on eight carries and one of the two touchdowns for the Bulldogs this year.

Couple that with a salivating Wildcat bunch, hungry for a win at finally playing at home and Roper knows what challenges await.

We have to try and limit their possessions," Roper said. "We have to do our best job to keep the ball out of their hands, but when they do have it, we can't give up big plays and let them score quickly.

With Harrisburg's power running game style, Roper knows time of possession will be critical Friday.

"We're not a big play-type team. I hope we'll be able to run the ball as effectively as we did (last week) against Du Quoin," he said. "We just couldn't finish a drive or get in the endzone. We have to find a way to get some of our speedier guys involved and that starts with guys like Corbin and Dustin Lane. We need to find a way to get them so touches."

Roper hinted at the fact that the Bulldogs might opt for more of a play-action type offense against Marion, using Harrisburg's speed to get out in the flats.

"We got to stop letting people pack it in on us and stop our running game."

Through two games, Harrisburg is giving up an average of 26 points per game, while scoring just six.

Sean Crisenbery leads the rushing attack with 28 touches for 119 yards. As a squad, Harrisburg has 336 yards on 84 carries.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.