Tonight, the Leo Lions stand one win away from a trip to the 2023 Class 4A State Finals at Lucas Oil Stadium, which has never happened in the program’s history. Coming into this matchup, you have two teams with tremendous talent across the lineup.
Coach Jason Doerffler said this game will feature a very good NorthWood team that will not be an easy opponent for any coach to prepare for.
“NorthWood presents a huge challenge for us,” said Doerffler. “I think we are playing confident football, but we understand how dangerous NorthWood is as a football team. They are big and have great speed. They play with good physicality.”
For more information on this game, check out my preview on Outside the Huddle
Leo leads the all-time series at 4-0
3 Keys to Winning
1. The Roeder Stops Here
In other words as I’ve mentioned over the past 5 days, Leo will need to find a way to apply defensive pressure up front and get to NorthWood quarterback Owen Roeder. In a matchup that features high octane talent up front and in the skills’ positions, the job for Leo is to figure out a game plan that allows Brock Schott and the rest of that interior front to do what they do best while also containing the lethal passing game, even though NorthWood traditionally runs the ball. This is no ordinary Northwood team.
Owen Roeder has thrown for over 6,100 yards in his career with 76 TD’s. This season alone, he has thrown for nearly 3,100 yards and 36 TD’s. Over the last 2 seasons, Northwood is 8-1 when he’s throwing for 250 or more yards. One other thing I’ve noticed with this team is that they don’t fumble the ball, it’s only happened once this season and that came against Plymouth.
But with Roeder’s 9 INT’s, he can be susceptible to the turnover bug at times, but aside from the 3 INT’s in their regular season loss to Northridge, he rarely makes that many mistakes. With the Black Crunch, Leo’s challenge with this Panther frontline is their size and physicality adds another layer of challenge to Coach Nate Andrews’ lethal arsenal attack.
I think this can applied to the same for Northwood as they’ll have to find a way to slow down this Leo offense. Good luck trying to contain Brock Schott and Kaden Hurst. So I do think NorthWood will need to break through that purple wall and try to frustrate Kylar Decker. Decker who has only thrown 5 INT’s has not committed one pick since the regular season finale at DeKalb. However, NorthWood has forced 16 turnovers this season led by the Michigan commit JoJo Edmond with 4.
2. No Big Plays
When you have two teams that are equally balanced, it’s so important to not allow those big plays to become the difference in that game.
With this matchup, you have to factor in the passing game not just for NorthWood but also for Leo. In the sense for Northwood, the anticipation is double team the Georgia commit Nitro Tuggle (82 catches for 1,245 yards and 16 TD’s). But sort of like New Haven when they had Mylan Graham, you have to factor the other players that can make those deep ball routes as well. You can’t let the other guys beat you in that matter; that’s the nightmare that these defensive coordinators are having right now.
JoJo Edmond and Landon Perry have that ability to beat you at any given moment as well. Against New Prairie, the Panthers threw for 365 yards, 208 of them went to Nitro Tuggle. Another guy is Seth Russell who had 5 catches for 60 yards and a score against the Cougars. So, yes, you got to stop Nitro, but that secondary led by corner Landin Hoeppner and safety Kamden Zeisloft has to play well.
Special teams will be a factor in this game. Dominic DeFreitas is an excellent kicker averaging 48.7 yards per kickoff, 51-52 on PAT’s, and 6-7 on field goals. Nitro will also be a factor in the kick returns.
For Leo, Riley Stewart, while not quite as consistent as Dominic, has had big moments as a kicker on top of his role at playing center. The Ohio commit Kaden Hurst is Leo’s most dangerous returner because of his ability to stretch the field with his bursting speed and athletic durability. And let’s not rule out Dearious Carter who returned a 94-yard kick for a TD at Mississinewa a week ago.
3. Play to Your Strengths and Take Care of the Football
When you get to this point of the season, you’re here because you’ve been taking care of the football. Right? So, mistakes at this level are a Mike Tyson punch waiting to happen. The interesting question I keep getting is: How do you manage the offense against either of these two teams?
NorthWood, interestingly enough, has had some issues against teams like Warsaw, Mishawaka, and Northridge that run a certain style of offense on the field like a Bart Curtis wishbone or a Wing-T. But I’ve also made this argument that you can’t completely change your identity just because you’re playing a certain team. You’re here because what your gameplan is on every Friday night has worked for 4 weeks of postseason football.
Leo’s success on offense and defense has come from a collective team mentality, a simple but effective approach to attacking their weaknesses, and being aggressive when the ball is in your hands, while TAKING CARE OF THE FOOTBALL. In other words, whenever there is an opportunity to strike, you strike while the iron is hot.
We talk a lot about Schott and Hurst, but Dearious Carter in the backfield has been one of the main reasons why Leo has found success in moving the football. His ability to use his speed and elusiveness makes life so, so much harder for defenses to slow him down as a Uriah Buchanan like talent in that backfield. And that’s considering the fact his role increased because of a couple injuries.
I feel like that’s an added layer to that offense that most people don’t know about this super unique Hybrid Spread offense that Leo runs. When you have two teams that play football at an elite level like this at the same time, eventually their athletic abilities will help to find any gaps of opportunity that the defense gives them.
So, for Leo, yes you want to play the field to your strengths but you can’t be afraid to trust in your playmakers to make plays when these chances are presented to them. I think the same can be said for NorthWood except I do think their challenge is a little harder only because of 6’4 Brock Schott is coming at you at full speed…and there’s a reason almost every Power 5 program you can think of loves the Brock Gronk. He might be the most explosive and complete defensive end I’ve ever seen and covered.
Players to Watch
NorthWood
Nitro Tuggle Senior Wide Receiver (Georgia Commit)
It seems easy to just say Nitro, but when you’re playing a deep Leo team that not has the big D1 weapons but also has these really nice and powerful complimentary talents that work well to the coaching staff’s system, you need these game changers. And trust me, when you’re going to be playing college football at the greatest football program in the nation right now under Kirby Smart, you’re doing something right. Playing in the SEC is nothing to sneeze at here.
The Nitrogen Tank is loaded with pure energy and explosive abilities, and for the first time since Leo’s Week 4 game against New Haven, they’ll have to figure out how to contain the beast within the beast. Tuggle has only been held off the TD column 3 times all season long and hasn’t failed to record at least 50 yards receiving since the crazy Mishawaka game back on September 29 (43-42 NorthWood OT win).
Leo
Seniors Landin Hoeppner (Cornerback) and Kamden Zeisloft (Safety)
In a game that features a lethal Black Crunch offense, you need to find a way to contain the passing game, and there’s no question that it’s going to take a strong collective effort from the other guys that don’t get that D1 love. This might be the best corner-safety duo in the 260 and arguably one of the best in the state. If you take a look at how good this Leo secondary has been since the 42-41 OT loss to New Haven, they have shut down a LOT of good aerial passing units.
For example, they held East Noble led by Zander Brazel and containing his talents despite the fact he threw for over 300 yards in the sectional semifinals, which to this point has been the only time the Leo defense was truly pushed to the limit in this postseason. In the playoffs, they held Dwenger to 182 yards passing and 2 INT’s. And against Ole Miss who had two studs in quarterback Nolan Quaderer and wide receiver Deakon Dilts, they held that passing unit to just 117 yards, 86 from Dilts.
For Leo to win this game, you need these other guys to get these stops that go beyond the Big Hurst and the Brock Gronk. I look at Jared Jasper with his 7 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries and a block punt as a guy that is having a great postseason. Jaxon Keller, on both ends of the field, is having a monster postseason with 67 tackles. Aidan Furnish and Lucas Sheron have also been really good in getting to the quarterback and laying down the hammer.
Aidan Monds, we talk about what he can do at times running the football, we should appreciate his ability to anchor the frontline and being a warrior despite the fact he hasn’t been 100% healthy in this postseason. And I think Charlie Schilb is having a nice postseason and the last two games against Dwenger and Ole Miss, it seems like he’s only getting stronger. If Leo can have this strong of a performance all around, you know they’ll have a chance to do something special in a once in a lifetime playoff football game at Lions’ Field.
Conclusion
All I have to say is the winner of this game will feel very worthy to play for a state championship (maybe against East Central but who knows) and play for a game every player and coach dreams to be apart of. Let’s have an amazing Semistate football game.
Stream (PPV):
Around the NorthEast Corner 