Battle of Bagdad: In-Depth Look at Defenses for Both Teams
The offenses have already been looked at for both Cedar Park and Leander for the Battle of Bagdad at 7 p.m. on Friday at A.C. Bible Junior Memorial Stadium but it is time to look at the defenses for both…
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Continue ReadingThe offenses have already been looked at for both Cedar Park and Leander for the Battle of Bagdad at 7 p.m. on Friday at A.C. Bible Junior Memorial Stadium but it is time to look at the defenses for both teams which is an area Cedar Park is known for.
Known as the “Black Rain”, the Timberwolves defense is impressive to say the least holding teams to an average 14.6 points per game. The highest amount of points allowed in a game was 28 points against Hendrickson but the Timberwolves ended up winning that game 66-28. Although the Cedar Park offense is impressive, it is arguable that the defense is even more impressive. One of the leaders of the Black Rain is senior linebacker Shelby Battles who leads the team with 57 total tackles on the season with 39 of those being solo tackles. Battles also has two sacks and four quarterback hurries.
However, there are two leaders on Cedar Park in the sack stat category, and that is senior defensive lineman Hunter Hewitt and junior defensive lineman Ian Ferguson, who both have five sacks. Although, Hewitt has more quarterback hurries with 11. In total, the Cedar Park defense has 18.5 sacks and will be a nightmare to try and block for Leander. Hewitt had two sacks a game in the contests against Cedar Ridge and Georgetown. For Ferguson, he had two sacks a game against both Vandegrift and Georgetown as well. An important statistic as well is the quarterback hurries, which the Timberwolves have a total of 47 this season so far. The defense of the Timberwolves could be the most problematic for Leander with these statistics as it shows the Black Rain is disruptive for quarterbacks and could make Leander senior quarterback Garrett Landry look over his shoulder throughout the game.
The Cedar Park secondary is led by senior defensive back Casyn Wiesenhutter who has two interceptions and 12 pass deflections on the year. Close behind him are junior defensive back Cody Marshall, junior Jake McAnally and junior Murray Robinson who all have one interception each for a total of five for the team. It is important to also note that Cedar Park as a whole has 69 pass deflections with Marshall and senior defensive back Blake Burton leading that charge with 16 each. Not only is the Black Rain disruptive in the trenches but in the secondary as well which could pose a problem for the Leander offense.
On the other side for Leander, junior linebacker Andre Burt is the leader for total tackles with 47. Burt also has one interception on the season. Interceptions is actually a stat category that Leander leads over Cedar Park with six interceptions overall. Junior defensive back Chancellor Moody and senior Dyron Dixon lead those stats with two interceptions each. In regards to this matchup, Cedar Park senior quarterback Ryder Hernandez Ryder Hernandez 6'0" | 190 lbs | QB Cedar Park | 2021 TX has not thrown an interception this season. So, although Leander has more interceptions this season it will come down to Friday night to see how effective the Leander secondary is against a quarterback who has made all the right decisions throwing the ball so far this season.
Where Leander significantly is behind Cedar Park is in sacks and quarterback hurries. Leander has a total of eight sacks this season with junior linebacker Alexander Franklin III leading with two sacks. In quarterback hurries, it is senior defensive lineman Mason Ramos. When analyzing this, it could be predicted that Ramos could be disruptive but the Leander defense has an uphill battle to try and disrupt Hernandez, who already makes good decisions when throwing. If Leander has any hope of an upset, this struggle defensively will have to improve against the Timberwolves.
Take a look at the in-depth analysis of both offenses by clicking this link.