 "Photo: Seth Cook")
The Maryville Spoofhounds head to Lafayette this week with a 1-0 record and momentum after taking down a class four playoff team.
The 'Hounds defeated Hickman Mills 34-25 last Friday behind the running of seniors John Farmer and Adam Mattson. Maryville shut down Hickman Mills' offensive attack in the second half after battling to earn a 20-19 halftime advantage.
Maryville did lose junior nose tackle Jason Davis in the first quarter with a MCL strain. He is expected to miss a couple weeks.
They played conservatively on defense last week since Farmer, filling in for injured starter Derek Johns, practiced on defense for the first time in two years.
"We ran a pretty basic cover package last week," coach Chris Holt said. "The defensive coaches can probably expand the cover packages this week now that he has an extra week in there."
Farmer had several big runs and made a big hit on a Hickman Mills wide receiver late in the fourth quarter that caused an incomplete pass.
"After I started to learn it (playing cornerback), I remembered a lot of it, and it all kind of started to come back to me," Farmer said. "The extra week will help a lot. I know a lot of the stuff, but I'm still learning a bunch."
The 'Hounds held the Cougars' offense mostly in check, but several big plays by Hickman Mills kept them in the game up until Maryville recovered an onside kick by the Cougars with just more than two minutes remaining. A 48 yard Hickman Mills screen pass led to the onside kick, and was one spark for an otherwise stagnant Cougar offense produced.
"We've got to do a better job of defending the deep ball," Holt said. "We didn't do a very good job defending the deep ball Friday night. We need to get a little more pressure on the quarterback, and maybe get a little more creative with our blitz schemes. We can't have mental breakdowns in the secondary. For the most part we did pretty good, but we let some things get by."
This week, the 'Hounds play St. Joseph Lafayette. Lafayette's spread offense outscored Central (Kansas City) High School 28-12 in the second half but still managed to lose 45-35.
Offensively, the 'Hounds do not anticipate changing their game plan much for Lafayette.
"We're just going to do what we do," Holt said. "We're going to come out and run the football and establish the line of scrimmage. If they give us something in the passing game, we will take it, but we're content to keep it on the ground."
The 'Hounds kickoff against Lafayette at 7 p.m. Friday in St Joseph.
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