Mallard Creek at Hough - Defensive Standouts

The Hough Huskies put their stamp on being the best team in the Charlotte Metro Area with a strong 33-0 shutout victory over the Mallard Creek Mavericks this past Friday Night. There were several standout players from both teams from a defensive perspective, and we will take a look at their performances in this article.    As has been the case this season, offenses are staying away from attacking Samari in the passing game. This game was more about Samari showing what he can do in run support, as Mallard Creek really tried to work off-tackle and get outside of the Huskies' defense. Samari did a good job of shedding blocks of wide receivers and providing outside run support, as the Mavericks did not produce much offense all game. Samari's tests will come when the Huskies get into the playoffs and potentially face some potent passing attacks.     Morgan did an excellent job in coming up in run support from his safety position all game long. The Austin Peay commit is a very good tackler overall and showed range in the passing game, blanketing Mallard Creek receivers in both man and zone concepts when they did try and throw the ball downfield. Morgan has very good speed and is a cerebral player in a talented Huskies' defense.     Like with [player_tooltip player_id='284097' first='Samari' last='Matthews'], RJ wasn't tested much at his cornerback position. Mallard Creek did attempt to go at him a couple of times down the field, but RJ did not allow any catches - one pass was caught out of bounds, and another was a curl route that RJ was able to breakup with a physical breakup at the catch point. RJ did a very good job of shedding blocks in both the run game and when a screen pass came his way.     Among the defensive linemen, I thought Chris made the first impact in the game, shedding a block and making an impressive tackle for loss when Mallard Creek had moved the ball to midfield on their first possession from scrimmage. That play really set the tone for what the Hough defense would do throughout the game. Chris had good penetration throughout the game up the middle of the defense which forced Mallard Creek to try and work east/west instead of north/south where they usually dominate in the run game.     Coming off the edge of the defense, Cameron really played well. Mallard Creek tried to attack the edges and off-tackle in their game plan, and Cameron adjusted very well. He kept outside contain very well and allowed the rest of the defense to rally and make tackles inside of him in the running game. When Mallard Creek attempted to go outside of him, Cameron did a great job of chasing plays down with good speed and keeping backside contain - which led to a big highlight hit on a running back who tried to reverse field.     At his safety position, I thought Karmel played an excellent game. Hough's defensive coaches really let Karmel get involved in specific passing situations, sending him on blitzes which led to him picking up 2 sacks by my count. Karmel is very fast and does a great job of taking the right pursuit angles to make tackles. This was very evident when Karmel had an impressive chase-down tackle on a long run to save a touchdown that Mallard Creek would have scored.     Anthony is a physical safety prospect who has some good speed and ball skills. In this game, Anthony had two very big hits on Hough receivers that showed off his ability to react to passes thrown and his tackling ability in space. That kind of physical mentality is what has led to the Mavericks having a good season overall and a very strong defense at all three levels. With the number of college coaches who were in attendance, I think Anthony probably got on some radar screens from a recruiting perspective.     On the first play from scrimmage, Zion made his presence known, defeating a block from the offensive tackle and almost forcing a sack/fumble - the play was ruled as an incomplete pass, but looking at it live it was a very close call. Zion did a good job of showing his run-stopping ability in this game otherwise - the Huskies did more damage in the air than on the ground in this game, and Zion's efforts in keeping outside contain and shedding blocks, especially in short yardage situations, kept the Mavericks in the game as long as possible.

The Hough Huskies put their stamp on being the best team in the Charlotte Metro Area with a strong 33-0 shutout victory over the Mallard Creek Mavericks this past Friday Night. There were several standout players from both teams from a defensive perspective, and we will take a look at their performances in this article.