Southmont football was looking solid in the first half a week ago against Danville. Leading at halftime, the Mounties looked like they might pick up a second straight win over the Warriors. However turnovers quickly turned the tide and Danville pulled away for a 42-21 win.
This week the Mounties (4-2, 2-2 SAC) will welcome the Western Boone Stars (4-2, 2-2 SAC) . Not only do these teams enter the game with identical records, but their overall philosophy and styles are very similar as well. WeBo is coming off a 49-0 thrashing of Frankfort a week ago.
Both the Mounties and the Stars featuring the two best fullbacks and linebackers in the Sagamore Conference. South with senior fullback Wyatt Woodall who has ran for 721 yards and 16 TD’s on the season while recording 69 tackles. The Stars counter with fellow senior Cannon Brunes who has 515 yards on 77 carries with eight touchdowns. Defensively is where Brunes makes his living. His 81 tackles are good enough for 13th in the state. Nearly a quarter of his tackles are for loss as he always finds a way into the backfield with 20 TFL’s.
“Both he (Brunes) and Wyatt will be the best players on the field on Friday,” Southmont coach Desson Hannum said of the comparison between the two star players. “There’s a lot of similarities between us and WeBo. You know that you’re going to have to plan to take him away, just like they’re planning to stop Wyatt. We have to know where he’s lining up defensively too and are going to have to put extra focus his way.”
Along with both Woodall and Brunes leading the way for their respective teams, the Mounties are also led offensively by senior signal caller Nolan Boyer. Boyer has shown his athleticism and versatility this season throwing for 502 yards while running for another 416. Kyler McCandless has 14 catches on the season for 202 yards.
WeBo is led by junior Brandon Potter who is 38-76 (50%) for 468 yards on the year. Marcus Fortner is the Stars top receiving threat with 11 catches for 123 yards.
“WeBo is very efficient at what they do,” Hannum said when prepping for the Stars. “We should still have a very good idea of what we’re going to see on Friday and it’s going to be about executing and whichever teams does that the best should come out on top. We need to do a better job this week of eliminating those mistakes that we had against Danville. When you go into a game especially against the teams we’re going to see these final few weeks, you also try to not lose it by committing those penalties, having mental mistakes and turning the football over. Those things are key to winning every game we play.”
Friday the Mounties will look to snap what’s been a 13-game losing streak against the Stars. The last time the Mounties came out on top was back in 2011. You can catch a live broadcast of the game on 106.3 WCDQ beginning at 6:30 as Riley Woodall and Codey Emerson will have the call.
