Section 6AAAA Pregame Report: Big Lake at Princeton
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Tonight I will head up to Princeton to watch a 4/5 matchup between 5 seed Big Lake Hornets (2-6) against the 4 seed Princeton Tigers (4-4). The regular season is over now everyone is 0-0, I will go in-depth on offense, defense, and the outcome of this game and I'll pick a winner.
<em><strong>The Offenses</strong></em>
<strong>Princeton Tigers</strong>
The Tigers have a very run-heavy offense and will rely heavily on <strong>RB Cole Carlson (Sr, 2020) </strong>who was a 1000 yard rusher for the Tigers in the regular season. Princeton was a 3-2 team this year when he rushed for at least 100 yards. The Tigers have seen good work in the last 2 games out of <strong>QB Ben Arseneau (Jr. 2021) </strong>who has completed over 57% of his passes in his starts over the last 2 games and is averaging about 133 yards passing per game. The Tigers receiving threat is in the NFN power rankings and that is <strong>WR Colton Malecha (Sr. 2020) </strong>who has accounted for more than half of the Tigers receiving touchdowns this year and is averaging a spectacular 22 yards per catch this season. Aside from Malecha, Arseneau will also go to <strong>Adam Tarvestad (Sr. 2020) </strong>who is second to Malecha in touchdowns and receiving yards this season
<strong>Big Lake Hornets</strong>
A name you should know from the Hornets is <strong>RB DeAndre Hill (Sr. 2020)</strong>. We've covered him quite a bit thru NFN, but this will be the first live-action we will get of him tonight against the Tigers. He is an explosive runner out the gates and I expect him to lead the charge for the Hornets tonight on offense. He has already recorded one 300-yard rushing game this season. The receiving core runs 3 deep for the Hornets with <strong>Jack Iverson (Jr. 2021)</strong> and with brothers<strong> Hayden Thielke (So. 2022) </strong>and <strong>Colter Thielke (Sr. 2020). </strong>
<em><strong>The Defenses</strong></em>
<strong>Princeton Hornets</strong>
Key defenders to watch for Princeton tonight are <strong>Devin Dahlheimer (Sr. 2020), Haydn Stay (2022, So.) and Manny Flicek (Jr. 2021) </strong>as they have been the leading tacklers for a loss and tackling leaders for the Tigers this season.
<strong>Big Lake Hornets</strong>
I see three players I will be watching tonight for Big Lake on defense. The leading sack leader for the Hornets <strong>Matthew Wolfe (Sr. 2020)</strong> as well as<strong> Hunter Holum (Sr. 2020) </strong><strong>and </strong><strong>Carson Steen (Sr. 2020). </strong>They will need to be a key factor tonight against the Tigers, as the Hornets defense has allowed 54 points per game in their last three games despite 2 of the 3 teams being in the state power rankings (Bemidji and Hutchinson).
<strong>The Outcome</strong>
What I love about section playoffs is that every game matters. If you lose, your out and every team are now 0-0 regardless of your seed. This is a game of two of the biggest 2020 running backs you will see in this neck of the woods in DeAndre Hill of Big Lake and Cole Carlson of Princeton. I do think Princeton has a significantly stronger defense seems to be playing better overall football than the Hornets are. Granted, Big Lake played Hutchinson (best-ranked team in 4A) and Bemidji (9th ranked team in 5A) in the last two of the last three weeks which neither gave them a fair shake but I expected those to be games they would compete in, in which they did were held scoreless by both teams. With that being said, I have the Princeton Tigers moving on to play 1 seed Becker in the section semifinals on Saturday 10/26 at 7 PM in Becker.
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