Cougars vs. Panthers: Defensive standouts

While some long, time-consuming drives had something to do with it, defense ruled the night during the battle for Lakeville Friday night. Only twelve points were scored, and I kept my streak of the losing teams’ offense not scoring going at three. Here are some of the many defensive standouts from<a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/09/cougars-vs-panthers-offensive-standouts/"> Lakeville South’s 12-0 victory</a>. [player_tooltip player_id="116197" first="Zach" last="Juckel"] <strong>Lakeville South DE</strong> Juckel was the most dominant player on the field Friday night. Early on, he made a tackle in space. Later, he didn’t fall for the inside fake, kept his leverage, and made an open-field tackle. Soon after, he didn’t bite on a misdirection screen and made another open-field tackle for a short gain.  He used his quickness to track down a run to the outside and made the tackle.  Late in the game, he had a three-play sequence to wreck a drive single-handedly. First, he strung out a quarterback run and made the tackle near the sideline for a short gain. He drew a holding penalty on the next play, and finally, he got in on another tackle to force a punt. <strong>Delainey Suraju</strong> <strong>Lakeville South DL</strong> Suraju kept his linebackers clean and made running inside a chore for North. Despite mainly doing the dirty work that goes largely unnoticed, Suraju got on the stat sheet with some nice plays. He ran down the quarterback from behind for a short gain. Then, he combined with <strong>Zach Steinhagen</strong> on the inside to make a tackle for a short gain. <strong>Hayden Oster</strong> <strong>Lakeville North LB</strong> Oster showed up big in the first half – especially near the goal line. He stuffed a pair of runs early in the game and then came up big on a first and goal – making a tackle for loss – leading to North’s early goal-line stand. <strong>Angelo Baideme</strong> <strong>Lakeville North DL</strong> Baideme was one of the reasons the Cougars didn’t rack up video game rushing yards – as they have against so many other teams since they transitioned to the three-back offense. Baideme did what he could to slow down the inside trap game and didn’t just do the stuff that goes unnoticed. He stuffed an inside run for no gain, and then later, he shed his blocker and stopped an inside run to stop a two-point conversion try. <strong>Quick hits</strong> <strong>Mikai Stewart</strong> <strong>Lakeville South LB</strong> - pressured the quarterback into a bad throw. <strong>Caleb Goodman</strong> <strong>Lakeville South DB</strong> -  made a nice open-field tackle against a bubble screen. [player_tooltip player_id="49831" first="Tommy" last="Niggeling"] <strong>Lakeville North LB</strong> – filled the hole and made a nice tackle for loss. <strong>Craig Maddox</strong> <strong>Lakeville North DB</strong> - kept his leverage on the outside and stopped a sweep for a short gain. [player_tooltip player_id="18432" first="Chase" last="Androff"] <strong>Lakeville South DL</strong> - ran down a short throw to the outside and prevented a long gain and a first down. <strong>Joey Ulmen</strong> <strong>Lakeville South DB</strong> – made a late interception ending one of the Panthers’ best chances to score. <strong>Trey Johnson</strong> <strong>Lakeville North LB</strong> - he made two solid tackles on the inside late in the game. <strong>Payton Schultz</strong> <strong>Lakeville South LB</strong> – he stuffed a 4th down run to basically end the game.