Pay no attention to that man on TV extolling the virtures of watching college football this Saturday!
Montezuma and Winfield-Mt. Union are playing each other in a Saturday matinee game and you really ought to go and watch it!
The game kicks off at at 3 p.m. at Badger-Gabriel Field. So maybe you can catch most of the early games on the tube. . .and all of the night games.
Braves vs. Wolves figures to be a Class 8 battle. It has good news and bad news implications. The good news is it’s a non-district game. That’s also the bad news.
But it should get both teams amped up and ready for the rest of their schedules.
Winfield-Mt. Union (3-0) has beaten two top-10 ranked teams – Central City and WACO, which was number two at the time.
The Braves (3-1) have a win over what at the time was a fifth-rated Southeast Warren team, and a two-point, high-scoring loss to a good Moravia team that hasn’t gotten much attention from the state’s pollsters.
Montezuma Coach John Beck says Winfield-Mt. Union “has two very good athletes and some good support staff.”
The two are 6-3, 230-pound running back and receiver Cam Buffington, and 6-4, 165-pound quarterback Jake Edwards.
Buffington is also a linebacker, and the Braves are going to have to put pads on him.
Edwards has completed 24 of 43 passes for 502 yards and 7 touchdowns.
Buffington has run 38 times for 394 yards and 5 touchdowns. As a receiver, he has reeled in 8 balls for 265 yards and 6 touchdowns.
As a linebacker, Buffington has 37 tackles, including 5 for lost yardage.
The Wolves hold a 34-8 win over WACO (when WACO was rated #2), 44-36 over Central City, currently fifth in The Gazette’s poll, and 78-16 over New London.
“They are a veteran, detail-oriented team,” Beck said. “They know their schemes well on both sides of the ball.”
Winfield-Mt. Union has outscored three opponents by an average of 52-32.
Montezuma had outscored opponents 59-22 over four games.
Quarterback Brady Boulton has completed 51 of 78 pass attempts for 727 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Garrett Watts has 18 receptions for 327 yards and 9 touchdowns. Cruz De Jong has 11 catches for 144 yards and 3 scores. But Boulton has more targets and as Beck pointed out, three to five guys who can go get the ball make Montezuma’s a hard offense to shut down.
Boulton has rushed for 290 yards and 5 touchdowns. Broox Stockman has 180 yards and 2 scores. Fullback Brett Plant has 124 yards, but in just two games. He averages more than 15 yards per carry.
Stockman has 19.5 tackles, and Watts has 19.
Montezuma would like to use some of its size against the Wolves’ precision. “We need to be locked in for a very physical game,” Beck said.
BRAVES NOTES – Montezuma has recovered 7 enemy fumbles and intercepted 5 passes . . .The Braves have won seven games in a row over the Wolves going back a ways – but it has been an on-again, off-again series because of re-districting by the state.