The Sturgis football team’s hope of making the postseason is still alive after Jack Caywood connected on a 20-yard game-winning field goal on the road last week against Battle Creek Central. The Trojans are 4-3 overall and 3-2 in Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference East Division play heading into Friday’s game at Loy Norrix.
The winless Knights have lost their last two games to Coldwater and Harper Creek by a combined score of 86-21.
Quarterback Traver Parlato completed 57 percent of his passing attempts for 140 yards, two touchdowns and an interception versus the Beavers. He has thrown for 938 yards (134 per game), six touchdowns and has tossed eight interceptions.
Running back Nick May is a grind-it-out guy who has eclipsed 100 yards in a game only once this year. He’s averaging 62.71 yards per game.
Jacob Haas
(Photo by Michael Caywood)
Injury report
Lineman Brevin Jandreau is out with an ankle sprain, but the Trojans got 270-pound senior Taylor Mayo (ankle) back this week after a four-week absence. Junior Juan Espinoza, who has played primarily as a reserve defensive lineman this year, got a look at right tackle this week and the undersized player impressed the Sturgis coaching staff.
“I told Coach [Chris] Pulver, ‘I think we can roll with him,’” Sturgis head coach Jimmy Lamb said. “Chance [Stewart] had a chance to be out there throwing the ball and be protected by him, and there wasn’t anything really major. Hey, let’s get a rotation in there. Juan is a junior and coming back for next year. If he can get some game experience … I’d like to see him stick this football thing out next year and be a contributor.”
Senior Michael Manga (tight end) went down with a concussion Tuesday, Lamb said. However, there was no net loss at that position after junior Jacob Haas, who has missed the last six games with a concussion, was cleared to practice Monday, though he might sit this week and make an appearance in Week 9. Haas, who also plays linebacker, got in some light contact Wednesday.
Scouting Loy Norrix
This is a game Sturgis should win handily and must win to make the Week 9 home showdown with SMAC power Lakeview mean anything more than the finale of a longstanding rivalry before the Trojans join the Wolverine Conference next year.
Still, like Battle Creek Central, the Knights possess enough athletic ability to make this closer than it needs to be if Sturgis isn’t careful.
“They’ve got some athletes,” Lamb said. “They’ve got a defensive lineman that seems to be a pretty good ballplayer. He gets off the ball well, he’s physical, strong, and he’s got a lot of tackles on film. They’ve got a strong safety that’s got some speed, but he gets beat quite a bit; he takes some bad angles. With them being as athletic as they are they can make some plays.
“They can make plays if they need to. Their running back gets hit a lot in the backfield and he still carries kids three or four yards. His yards after contact are pretty good. He’s kind of it. He looks like he’s a monster. He’s probably [five-foot-11, 220 pounds]. He’s one of those kids that can put a big stick on somebody if they’re trying to tackle him high.”
Loy Norrix has had big-time issues protecting Parlato this year, and Sturgis hopes to get some pressure on the Knights’ QB from the outset.
“Both teams we’ve seen on film contain them and score on them and keep scoring on them,” Lamb said. “They’re going to turn the ball over; they’re going to make some mistakes. Coldwater and Harper Creek both capitalized on that.
“They stay pretty much in a two-by-two look and run some routes that are very similar to ours. [Parlato] gets sacked quite a bit. He’s not as great at scrambling as Chance [Stewart] is. They have a lot of [2nd-and-longs]. Most teams have played him in a 4-2 look and capitalized on his mistakes. Just like any high school kid, if he gets time he can make plays.”
Practice report
Lamb admitted he is running into some minor issues in his first full year as a head football coach. An emphasis on having fun has also meant reining in some players that are having a bit too much of it at practice.
“Everybody was focused [Monday]. You’re at a point in time in the season now where it’s the same old thing,” Lamb said of the monotony of a long year. “What are you going to do to make practice fun? We had some competitions and things we did one-on-ones and blocking, too. We did put some new stuff in, but I might use it for Lakeview instead. Practice has been good. Wednesday wasn’t great just because of the weather. People were cold. A coach turned to me and said, ‘This is football weather.’ I’m thinking, yeah, but watch how these guys complain. There was some of that.
“It was kind of shaky. We’re at a point now where we’re screwing around just a little too much. Let’s not lose sight of what we’re trying to do here. If we can have some fun, let’s have some fun, but let’s also stay focused. I try to create a loose atmosphere, but I also hope kids don’t take advantage of it. That’s kind of the conversation we had after practice on Wednesday.”
Lamb wasn’t all that pleased with tackling technique against Battle Creek Central, so squaring up and powering through has been a teaching point this week.
“We were doing a lot of arm tackles, a lot of reaching, instead of running through a guy,” he said. “You might get lucky and get some breaks on some of those.”