By Brian Kalish
What: SPASH vs. Neenah. When: 7:00pm Friday, September 28. Where: Neenah. Records: SPASH 4-0 VFA-South, 5-0 overall; Neenah 0-4 VFA-South, 0-5 overall.
Three Things To Watch
SPASH’s offense vs. Neenah’s defense: On paper, this is a heck of a match up for SPASH’s offense. The Panthers have scored 134 points in VFA-South play this year—good for most in the conference. Meanwhile, Neenah’s defense has allowed the second most points in the VFA (120). Only Oshkosh North has given up more points at 126. SPASH’s offense, particularly the running game, put up massive numbers against the Oshkosh North Spartans last week. One would expect that trend to continue this week as SPASH faces a winless opponent. However, SPASH’s offense has shown a tendency to sputter at times. Last week, North’s defense jumped out to a great start, stifling the Panthers’ first two offensive series before SPASH kicked it into gear and turned the game into a 45-25 blow out.
Neenah’s receiving corps: One bright spot for a Neenah offense that has only scored 56 total points in conference play so far has been its receiving corps. Neenah has three receivers who are among the most productive in the VFA-South. Leading Neenah in receiving is Taulvish McCray, who has 16 catches for 247 yards and two touchdowns. McCray is followed by fellow receivers Tyler Smith and Nathan Vandermause. Smith and Vandermause each have ten catches this year. SPASH’s secondary will have its hands full keeping Neenah’s receivers in check. However, SPASH’s opportunistic cornerbacks and safeties have been equal to the task so far this year, creating turnovers in many crucial situations. This should be a fun match up to watch.
SPASH’s Pozorski: Zach Pozorski is the VFA-South’s leading rusher with 531 yards and nine touchdowns. When Pozorski is on, it seems that there is little any defense can do to stop him. Such was the case last week when Pozorski torched the Spartans for 181 rushing yards and three touchdowns. What’s even more impressive is that Pozorski was limited to playing only two and a half quarters as the SPASH coaching staff opted to keep the senior running back on the sideline for most of the first half. Pozorski’s size allows him to break tackles and, while he doesn’t necessarily have tremendous break-away speed, once he gets a head of steam, he is hard to catch. Is Pozorski in for another banner performance against Neenah?
By The Numbers
172 Total points given up by Neenah so far this year. That includes conference and non conference games. It is the most points given up by a VFA-South team this year.
15.4 Average receiving yardage for Taulvish McCray.
6 Interceptions by SPASH’s Jon Barnes this season in conference play, good for best in the VFA.
4 Points Neenah lost by last week against Fon du Lac. The final score of that game: Neenah 16, Fondy 20.
