Prep Football: Going For Gold
It's been a steady course that Al Way has steered the Harrisburg football ship on this year.
The longtime Bulldog coach, who this year, came back after a 10-year hiatus has done such a good job of navigating, Harrisburg is on a direct route to a Southern Illinois River-to-River Ohio Division title, should the Bulldogs knock off Herrin Friday night.
Fresh off a thrilling 31-22 upset win over state-ranked Murphysboro last Friday, the Bulldogs (4-0, 6-1) haven't lost since Week 1 at Mt. Carmel.
In that span, the Bulldogs have had some close calls, but here they are when some prognosticators had Harrisburg picked sixth in the conference in the preseason.
"It's fun to be 6-1, but at the same time, we're going to Herrin and Herrin knows what is at stake," Way said. "Their kids are going to be sky high, because they know if they win, they have a conference championship also and you're scared to death of a possible letdown when you build yourself up for a game like Murphy and have that great atmosphere and play so well, it's just always so scary that the next week, you might not be as prepared and have that letdown.
"There were some people picking us sixth in the conference before the season started," Way added. "I just think it's just a great accomplishment for the kids. They have bought into what we are doing, they've came to practice, dedicated, worked hard and its paid off for them. I keep coming back to 'it's their accomplishment.' No matter what we do as coaches, it's the kids that have to go out and perform and they performed so well Friday night."
Way is hoping for a repeat performance Friday against a Tiger ball team that has just one loss as well, that coming to Murphysboro Week 5.
The two teams come into the game almost mirroring each other as Herrin holds a slight edge on offense, scoring 237 total this season, while Harrisburg has scored 230. The Tigers have given up just 111 total on defense, while the Bulldogs have surrendered 178.
But, in their win against Murphysboro, Way scrapped the Bulldogs' defense and implemented more of an aggressive, relentless, in-your-face, style that he obviously credits to the win.
"I was happy with our defensive effort. The defense that coach (Greg) Langley, coach (Gabe) Angelly and coach (Josh) Allen put in was designed to get our quicker kids on the field, be more aggressive and it really paid off."
Way said there are also some similarities between Herrin and Murphysboro.
"You'd have to say Herrin is more of a power team than Murphysboro is, although they can spread the field and their quarterback has been throwing the ball real well, but the (Gavin) Gosha kid is the real deal. He's a really good back and the scary thing about him is he breaks tackles. You can have people there and he can still break tackles and turn off a 50-yard run.
"They are bigger up front than what Murphysboro was. Murphysboro was more of a wide open team with the play action and throwing the football. Herrin will throw it, but they have the ability to run right at you also."
The decision to utilize the same defense is something that Way said is dictated game-by-game.
"I think it's a game-by-game thing depending on who we are playing and what they are doing. It definitely worked well for us Friday night.
"We eventually have to get to the point where we stop turning the ball over. We've been so lucky that we have been able to avoid losses because of our turnovers. Our passing game has to get better because eventually people are going to start putting 10 in the box and start daring us to throw the football, so that's the two big things. We have to quit turning the football over and we have to be able to throw the ball enough to keep people honest. I'm really happy with our offensive line, they have done such a great job of getting off the football and giving our backs an opportunity. It just comes down to what we talk about all the time, don't beat yourself."
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.