GAME PREVIEW CAPSULE
Delta (3-7, 3-2) at Hurricane (8-1, 5-1), tonight, 5 p.m.
Previous Meeting – Hurricane 38, Delta 7 (Nov. 11, 2010, 3A semifinals at U of U)
RABBITS
Classification: 3A, Region 12
Coach: Russ Henrie (eighth year, 59-34 overall)
Offense: Inverted wishbone
Last week: Lost to North Sanpete 34-18
Players to watch: Not much has changed in Delta over the years, playing that inverted wishbone and grounding it out three yards at a time. RB Ezra Sui leads the team with 752 yards on the ground, but the rabbits also turn to RBs kale Leavitt (230 yards, 7 TDs) and Morgan Bogue (214, 2). What they don’t so is pass, having completed just 15 passes all season long.
PPG: 20.0
PAPG: 23.8
Trend: Delta was 0-4 in non-region games, even losing to an awful 1-9 Park City team. The game plan for the Rabbits is always to grind it out, use clock and keep the other teams offense off the field. The problem this year is that Delta doesn’t have the horses to execute that game plan. In fact, the entire team has less than 1,800 yards of offense on the season.
TIGERS
Classification: 3A, Region 9
Coach: Chris Homer (11th year, 84-43 overall)
Offense: Wing-T
Last week: Beat Canyon View 51-12
Players to watch: FB Jared Edwards has an amazing 22 touchdowns, and he has sat in many of the games second halves as Hurricane has four blowouts this year. QB Adlai Elison will play his first meaningful game since the injury to starter Zac Prince, although this one should be a blowout as well. It’s been awhile since RB Adam Thompson had a breakout game. This could be it.
PPG: 34.8
PAPG: 20.9
Team stats: http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/high-school-sports/mens-football/hurricane-stats
Trend: With the loss to Desert Hills, a lot of people have said the Tigers dynasty is over and they are quite beatable. That is dangerous thinking. The Tigers did go 8-1 this season and tie for the region title. And they are truly battle tested at the state level. They won’t need to tap into that this week, but it will come into play in the coming weeks.
GAME OUTLOOK
Hurricane will coast against Delta, which just doesn’t have that Delta mojo of past seasons. The Rabbits have lost to some bad teams (Park City, North Sanpete) and that’s evidence enough to show that this game is a mismatch. Any chance the Tigers look past Delta to next week’s Juan Diego showdown? Even if they did, Edwards and Thompson will make sure that this game is an easy one.
STGnews PREDICTION
Andy Griffin (37-7) — Hurricane
Jeff Ames (36-8) — Hurricane
Region 9 standings: http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/high-school-sports/mens-football-standings
Region 9 leaders: http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/high-school-sports/mens-football-leaders