The 4-0 football Braves host a better-than-their-record (0-4) sounds Moravia team Friday night – with opportunities to work on more improvement on both sides of the ball.
Montezuma’s defense clearly has made strides this season, especially the last two weeks against what had been unbeaten New London and English Valleys teams.
Here’s some statistical evidence to support that:
During last year’s 6-3 season, Montezuma averaged 62 points on offense, and gave up 48 per game.
So far this year, the Braves are scoring 55 and yielding just 26.
A little formula I’ve used over the years indicates degree of scoring dominance.
Last year, the Braves scored 57 percent of the points in their games. This year, that figure is 81 percent.
I haven’t gone so far as to figure yardage yields, etc. it would be futile, because you really can’t compare the relative strengths last year’s and this year’s schedules.
You can’t compare this year’s Braves to last year’s either (that causes arguments).
But, suffice to say, this year’s team has been pretty dominant. And the trend is Montezuma is getting even more dominant!
I said Moravia is better than an 0-4 record indicates. Reason for that: The Mohawks lost by 22 points to English Valleys, and by 19 to New London. In 8-man ball, that’s not a huge margin. They hang around.
Quarterback Gage Hanes, a 6-foot sophomore, has hit on 15-of-34 passes for 208 yards and four touchdowns.
Three different receivers have caught for more than 100 total yards.
The said can be same for rushing yards, with Tanner Cormeny, a 5-10, 170-pound junior, leading with 165 yards and two touchdowns.
On defense, Shane Helmick leads with 39.5 tackles, including 5.5 for loss.
The Braves have posted some huge numbers on offense. The state lists the top five players in Class 8 in many categories.
Montezuma has 19 mentions in the top five in those lists.
One where the Braves are one-two is receiving yards, where Trey Shearer have 446 and 437 yards, respectively.
Quarterback Eddie Burgess leads in total touchdowns with 29.
He has 1,129 passing yards and 1,757 all-purpose yards as the season is at or near the halfway mark.
Placekicker Owen Cook has his name in the top five in several areas, including points after touchdowns, where he is 24-for-25.
UP NEXT – The 4-0 Braves host 0-4 Moravia at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25.