McCook returns to panhandle for Week 3

McCook (2-0) at Sidney (1-1)
Friday, Sept. 9 Kickoff 8 p.m. CDT
At Red Raider Stadium, Sidney

McCook will rev up the buses again this Friday, as they embark for the Nebraska panhandle to take on the Sidney Red Raiders. The Bison, ranked number four in Class B, will hope to notch a second road win in as many weeks.

Last week, McCook controlled Gering in all four quarters to win 60-6, which was the most points the Bison had scored in a game since 2010. Who did McCook beat 61-0 in that 2010 game? We'll talk about that later in this article. For now, let's talk a little Bison football.

Bison head coach Jeff Gross, once again, is preparing to "control McCook" this week. Gross knows the season is a marathon, not a sprint, and he's hoping to see steady improvement with each passing week.

"We need to focus on being a better team in week three than we were in week two," Gross remarked. "From our option running game to our run defense, we want to continue to see improvements across the board."

Gross will have an unchanged lineup again this week. That consistency will aid in the development of chemistry and overall team progression.

On offense, the Bison will continue to run its option attack. Starting quarterback Easton Gillen may not jump out on the individual stat sheet - the senior has 82 yards passing, 33 yards rushing, and one touchdown through two games this season - but he has quarterbacked an effective offense that has generated 651 yards and 83 points through two games.

Getting a majority of the carries, so far, has been Dunncan Fassler and Cade Cappel. Fassler and Cappel have run for 174 and 122 yards, respectively, through two weeks. Zach Schlager has 104 yards running from his 'backup quarterback' role, while Gabe Sehnert is already at 94 yards and two scores from his game against Gering.

In all, the Bison have ran the ball 73 times and only fumbled once. That is a ratio Gross would not mind having the rest of this season.

"We want to continue to prove that we can run and take care of the football," Gross admitted.

Zach Schlager (1) and Cade Cappel (33) run through the Gering defense last week. The Bison will look to notch another win in the Nebraska panhandle. Steve Towery/McCook Gazette.

Defensively, Schlager leads the way with 21 tackles, a fumble recovery, and a defensive touchdown. Sophomore DJ Gross has 19 tackles, while Ben Bradley (14 tackles), Fassler (13) and Larson (12) also have double-digit tackle totals.

Gross has noted the imminent return of Colin Giron, after the sophomore lineman "tweaked his knee" during the week of the Aurora game.

"(Giron's) injury turned out to be a little longer than expected, but we've been able to get him healthy," Gross said. "He's been knocking the rust off and will be ready to go."

That will also mean added depth for the offensive and defensive lines, which will be key this season for the Bison.

"All of the sudden, we're set on both our lines," Gross established. "We can spell players to keep them fresh. Part of what we want to do every week is wear the other team down, and that helps a lot."

Sidney

Still remember that question I asked above? Who did the Bison defeat 61-0 in 2010? You can probably guess it by now, but the answer was Sidney.

Much has changed since that 2010 season, when the Red Raiders went 0-9. Then-Sidney head coach Todd Ekart was slowly building up the program into perennial playoff contenders, and the Red Raiders have continued that expectation into this season.

Gross said there's only one word that comes to mind when he thinks of a scouting report for Sidney: "speed."

"Lots and lots of speed. We feel like Sam Smith is gonna be the fastest guy on the field, but the next four fastest will be on Sidney's sideline," Gross acknowledged. "The biggest focus is just combating their speed."

Sidney will feature a "flexbone" offense, that aims to take advantage of that speed and misdirection. According to Gross, it will be vital for McCook to take away running lanes and make sound tackles.

"We want to take that (rushing attack) away, and force them to beat us in other ways," Gross noted.

A key player for the Red Raiders, according to Gross, is receiver/slotback Alex Linneman. The Red Raiders plan to get him the ball in a variety of ways, and Gross knows the threat he poses.

"He's their leader," Gross said about Linneman. "He started last year at the slotback position and did a little bit on defense too."

But there are others Gross brought up too. Coby Haas, Derek Robb and Cade Lewis all figure to receive carries against the Bison defense.

"Those are very good football players," Gross mentioned. "Robb is a two-time state wrestling champion, Haas has a lot of athleticism to be starting both ways, and Lewis is the new fullback this year but comes from a great bloodline."

It is easy to look at last week's 52-12 loss at Aurora as a sign that McCook has this game in the bag, but Gross knows that's not the case.

"That game (against Aurora) got out of hand so fast," he said. "A series of bad bounces made it 28-0 five minutes into the game. They just dug themselves in a hole and couldn't get out."

"We have to guard against making conclusions off of comparative scores. We can't look at our win and their loss against Aurora, and say Friday will be an easy game for us."

Final Thoughts

The Bison continue their non-district schedule this week. While this game has little impact on the automatic playoff spot that comes with winning your district, Gross knows it's still important to get better every week. Of course, winning would mean keeping an undefeated record too.

"We want to be playing our best football at the end of the season," Gross said. "Games in week two and week three hopefully prepare you for that."

One key difference between these two teams is depth. McCook has noticeably more depth than Sidney, and that should start to show as the game goes along.

"That makes a huge difference over the course of the game," Gross said about planning to play more players than Sidney this Friday. "Wearing them down will definitely be part of our game plan."

Projected Starting Lineups

McCook Bison

Offense

Defense

Special Teams

Sidney Red Raiders

Offense

Defense

Special Teams

McCook head coach Jeff Gross

Sidney scouting report

"They like to get sideways and try to outrun you to the edge. They turn the corner, and get there before you are, that's gonna result in some yards. Defensively, they like to get that speed to the point of attack and downhill. They have a lot of speed and a lot of tenacity across the field, and we gotta be ready to combat it."

"Aurora was able to move the ball on them a little bit on the ground, but Aurora was also pretty effective against them in the pass. So we have to prove that we can run and take care of the football. As always, we're gonna do that running the option. Defensively, we want to force them to beat us doing something they're not very good at. That means we have to play great run defense once again."