Friday Night Lights Spotlight
Tonight, I will be traveling to Shakopee to take in the Sabers’ game against St. Michael-Albertville. Here is a preview and a few things I find interesting going into the game.
I won’t go into detail because Tony Liebert did a great job breaking the matchup down in his Top one-on-one matchups of week one earlier this week. Still, without a doubt, the potential of seeing Shakopee’s Deven Eastern Deven Eastern 6'5" | DL Shakopee | 2021 State MN and STMA’s Everett Sunvold Everett Sunvold OL St. Michael-Albertville | 2021 State MN line up across the line of scrimmage from each other is one that will have my eye from the first snap of the game.
Eastern – a Minnesota commit – is one of the top players in the state. Regardless of who is assigned to him on a given play, Eastern is must-see TV.
How much momentum can the Sabers carry over from their great finish to the 2019 season? They finished the regular season 3-5 (losing four of those games by a touchdown or less) and then winning two playoff games until finally falling by two points in round three.
Including Eastern, the Sabers return their quarterback and second-leading rusher David Bigaouette, but how will they replace their leading rusher in a run dominated offense.
STMA won five regular-season games, but then came up short – especially on offense – losing 17-14 in the first round to Buffalo – a team not known for its defense. The Knights’ defense was great – holding Buffalo to its third-lowest point total of the season. It will be interesting to see how they stack up against the running game of the Sabers.
The offense, which struggled in the second half of the year, has some impressive – and in one case, unproven – firepower at the skill positions. Quarterback Jack Drobinski Jack Drobinski 6'2" | 210 lbs | QB St. Michael-Albertville | 2021 State MN moves up to QB1, and athlete David Collins David Collins 5'8" | RB St. Michael-Albertville | 2021 State MN – who returns as the Knights’ leading rusher give the Knights a nice duo behind Sunvold and company. How Drobinski handles the starting job will go a long way toward forecasting in week one and the entire Knights’ season.