Burr Oak, likely already a postseason lock with a 5-2 record, heads to Webberville (2-5) tonight with an opportunity to keep within striking distance of the top two teams in the Southern Michigan 8-Man Football League.
Bobcats coach Ryan Stephens took part in a Q&A with JoeInsider.com earlier this week:
What’s your team’s injury status?
“Hunter Dobberteen’s knee is still banged up with a sprain and we will most likely not see him until the postseason.”
What’s the scouting report on Webberville?
“Webberville is like Tekonsha in that they have a very high-scoring offense with much use of the spread formation. Travis Elowsky at QB has over 1,300 passing yards, 19 TDs and only 3 interceptions. He likes to pass to No. 80 Malik Turner, who is a threat at the wideout position if not covered. Like Michigan Lutheran’s QB Casey Ross, if we can put our best athletes on these two Webberville players, the Bobcats will prevail with our own high scoring offense.”
Now that you’re into Week 8 of the season, what has been the biggest improvement from Week 1?
“From a week to week the Bobcats have improved in their mental toughness throughout the games. Down 31-14 and 44-28 at two different times in the Tekonsha game last Friday, they remained poised at kept plugging away and doing the little things to get back into the game. The boys are learning how to handle adversity well and keep fighting, not giving up. This will come into play later in the season when needed.”
What has been the focus this week at practice?
“Monday’s practice for chalk talk and film went very well with all the Bobcats taking the time to study Webberville’s offense. Some Bobcat players who have more responsibilities even draw up some of Webberville’s plays. Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s practices were lax with again the reiteration of consistency of intensity as a reminder to what happened the week before.”