March 29, 2024

Anticipated rematch

Familiar foes take to Panther Field Friday

A week one 28-7 win against the Boone Toreadors was less dominant than nearly every other game on the Creston/Orient-Macksburg regular season schedule proved to be.

In hindsight, that result had less to do with the Panther offense having an off night so much as Boone proving to be a better team than its record of the past two years indicated. The Toreadors won just three total games over the course of 2014 and 2015.

Boone coach Mark Camenisch as an assistant for the Panthers from 1985 to 1990.

Coming into Friday’s 7 p.m. matchup with the Panthers in Creston, Boone sits at 7-2. After the loss to Creston, the Toreadors ripped off seven consecutive wins to head into Webster City with a chance to win the Class 3A District 2 title outright, but instead came away with a shared title. The Toreadors fell in a close affair, 21-14.

“We’re the only number two seed that is playing at home, which is big time important,” Creston/O-M head coach Brian Morrison said. “It really is. The first playoff game is to get the nerves out and to be at home and do it in front of your home crowd. We’re going to have a huge crowd against a team we know well.”

Now the winner of Friday night’s matchup will take on the winner of Webster City vs. Norwalk.

“They’re a different team, we’re a different team,” senior captain Colton Bolinger said. “We’re going to do different things. They’re going to come out hot, so we’ve got to stop them and score a lot.”

Lineup juggling

This week will feature the biggest shakeup in terms of the starting lineup that Creston/O-M has had this season. Due to lingering injuries to Chase Shiltz’s leg and a concussion to Zach Carlson, several key reserves will be thrust into starting roles, and some juggling is being done with the starting lineup.

“I don’t foresee them (Carlson and Shiltz) playing,” Morrison said. “That being said, tomorrow (Thursday) is a different day.”

Mitchel Swank will start in the backfield for Shiltz. He has 406 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Cody Crawford and Cole Higgins will see more reps at wide receiver in place of Carlson.

Junior linebacker Dustin Merritt will get his first varsity start on defense in place of Swank at outside linebacker. Evan Jacobson will move back to safety duty, Cody Crawford will see time at safety, and Higgins will take starting snaps at cornerback.

“Our coaches have prepared not to have them (Shiltz and Carlson) on the field Friday night and our kids responded and believed in each other,” Morrison said. “Next man in. We have capable guys who can play running back. We have capable guys who can play in the secondary.”

Last time

Creston/O-M’s week one victory over Boone had an odd feel to it. Delayed due to weather, the Panthers slugged it out in slow fashion with the Toreadors. A steady rain fell over Panther Field for nearly the entirety of the game, as the Panther offense scored on its first drive, but didn’t put together a consistent string of drives otherwise. One score even came from the defense, as Kadon Hulett fell on a fumble with Boone backed up to its own end zone.

The Toreadors nearly matched Creston/O-M’s yardage output (382-352), but did not turn it into points. Both squads lost two fumbles, and Cody Crawford picked off a pass.

Boone offense

Boone’s senior quarterback, Tanner Schminke, was the main offensive threat for the Toreadors on opening night, and that has continued throughout the season. He is completing 51.7 percent of his passes for 1,419 yards, 16 touchdowns and just five interceptions. Schminke remains the team’s top rushing threat with 926 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground.

The team hits opponents with the run and goes over the top on long pass plays from time to time according to Boone News Republican sports editor Matt DeWitt.

Schminke ran for 132 yards and was the only true rushing threat for the Toreadors when these two teams played the first time.

With the aforementioned defensive changes, stopping big plays has been a big focus in practice this week.

“We’ve been making plays all year and against Carroll we had zero turnovers and we had kids in position,” Morrison said. “And that’s the difference, give explosive plays to them and not create turnovers, you get beat by a lot of points typically against good teams.”

Mason Hulse, Jon Herrick and Kade Morain are the three top receiving threats for the Toreadors. Each has at least 27 catches, 347 yards and four touchdowns through the air.

Hulse was the primary target week one, with six catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.

Defense

Creston will have to gameplan for a Boone defense that has played it once, and has only gotten stronger as the year as gone along. The 28 points that Boone allowed in weeks one and two were the two highest totals surrendered by the team this season. The Toreadors are surrendering just 14.8 points per game this season.

“We know what they’re going to do, four d-linemen, four backers,” Bolinger said.

Leading the charge are defensive end Eli Johnson, linebacker Colby Wadsworth, Kade Morain and Schminke. Johnson led district two with 10 sacks and clobbered his way to 12 tackles for loss. In a 21-14 win two weeks ago against Dallas Center-Grimes, Johnson was unleashed against the Mustangs. He recorded four sacks and 11 tackles in the win. Moran also had 12 tackles for loss and posted four sacks. Wadsworth leads the team with 71.5 tackles. Both Hulse and Schminke have intercepted three passes in the secondary.

“They’re playing with the same guys they did week one, that means they’ve stayed healthy,” Morrison said. “They’re a good football team. We knew it coming in to week one. They’re a better football team because it’s week 10 and it’s the first round of the playoffs.”

The Toreadors stopped Creston/O-M from making too many big plays the first time around. The Panthers have planned to counteract the strength of the defensive line and linebackers with a particular focus.

“We’ve got to pick up linebackers,” Morrison said. “They’re probably the best linebacking group we‘ve seen all year. They run downhill. They run through. They cut the offensive linemen in half and run through them and don’t get washed.”

Final notes

Friday night’s contest represents the Panthers’ sixth straight appearance in the playoffs. The game will start at 7 p.m. as opposed to 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be $6 at the gate and can be purchased at the high school for the same price anytime from 8 a.m.- to- 3:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday.