In the first three games of the season, Corning Union High School’s football team rushed for at least 280 yards and 3 touchdowns. Duplicating that level of success on the ground against Division I power Shasta High School will crucial for the Cardinals Friday night at Cardinal Stadium.
The Wolves (3-1) are averaging more than 34 points a game and have topped 48 points the last two weeks against Red Bluff and Eureka.
“They have a lot of good team speed,” Corning linebacker Tyler McIntyre said. “Their quarterback is really shifty and fast. If he breaks the line of scrimmage and contain, that’s what we’re really going to have to work on.”
Adjusting to the speed of Shasta will be a challenge as the Cardinals (3-0) had trouble containing the speed of Orland’s Jose Huerta on Sept. 10 and the Wolves feature a group of speedy receivers and a play maker at quarterback in Clay Cavender.
“Speed’s speed, you know, you can’t take anything away from Orland.” McIntyre said. “We had a little trouble with it at the beginning and there at the end. We’re going to have to build off it and have some confidence going into the game we just gotta know we can stop it.”
Head coach John Studer will change the defensive look a little bit this week to match up with Shasta’s spread offense by using more defensive backs and linebackers to counter Shasta’s speed.
“They’re going to go sideline to sideline with you, four wide, sometimes five wide,” Studer said. “(Cavender) is a phenomenal athlete and they’ll try to get you spread out a little bit and then try to take advantage of him. That’s their most dangerous weapon, him with the ball in his hands running.”
Cavender is also dangerous in the passing game and the Cardinals will try to keep Shasta’s receivers in front of the defense, Studer said.
“You focus too much on him and he does throw a good ball,” he said. “He’s very accurate and he’ll pick you apart on underneath routes and he can throw the deep ball well too.”
Defensively, Shasta has given up more than 250 yards on the ground twice this year and West Valley rushed for nearly 200 yards against the Wolves.
“The main thing is they’re physical. It’s kind of what we’re used to seeing,” Studer said. “They’ve got some good size up front and they’re going to try to clog everything up between the tackles. Their backers are real aggressive, they blitz a lot.”
Corning will be playing without several key players as running back Cameron Nye is out 3-4 weeks with a thumb injury, tight end Tyler Price is out at least 3-4 weeks with a shoulder injury and Devin Whitlock will miss this week with a hip injury. Defensive end Fernando Gonzalez was slated to start this week but was banged up in practice Wednesday and might not be able to play.
McIntyre, who struggled with cramps for much of the Red Bluff game last week, is healthy and should be at full strength for Cardinals against Shasta. Quarterback Ryan Holland and running back J.D. Whited are healthy and have stepped up as threats on offense this season and will be key players on defense this week matching the speed of Shasta’s players.
Injuries:
Cameron Nye (Thumb); Out 3-4 weeks
Tyler Price (Shoulder); Out 3-4 weeks
Devin Whitlock (Hip); Out 1-2 weeks
Fernando Gonzalez (Hip); Day-to-day
