Linton (1-0) at North Vermillion (1-0)

[Miner_Pride]

Greetings all!  

Better late then never!   

Miners starting season with 2 road trips to WVC... last week winning easily over a rebuilding Parke Heritage 56-6... 50-0 at half.  North Vermillion with a 27-16 win at home over North Central (Farmersburg).

Linton was very physical featuring an offensive line of Hank Gennicks (soph 6'2 240), Wrigley Franklin (Sr 6'3 225), Nathan Watson (Sr 6'0 255) Aiden Giles (Se 6'3 200) and Jacob Breedlove (Jr 6'7 300).  Franklin, Watson and Giles started all of 2021, while Gennicks started first two games as freshmen then missed most the season with a knee injury.  Breedlove broke his leg just a week before the season last year and missed the year.  I have them with 28 pancake blocked last week in a game they played 2 quarters.  Linton lost some big elements to their success in '21 but certainly having QB Hunter Gennicks (Sr 6'0 195) back along with Sr RB Hunter Johns (5'8 180) in the backfield.  Anyone viewing last weeks game will attest to their physical style of running the ball.  The new kids stepping up last week were both sophomores who had little to no varsity time other than blow-outs.  We suspected Soph Jesse Voigtschild (5'8 150) would be one of those hard nosed kids you love seeing on the field, but Soph Eli Scott (5'9 150) has emerged at the other wingback.  Both are smaller, as sophomores, but between them they added 49 yards on 6 carries and ran the ball hard.  Gennicks was the 2021 leading rusher from QB with 1,195 yards 14 TDs, and only had 4 carries last week, but 85 yards and a 40 yard scramble TD.  Johns led everyone with 116 on 9 carries, a whopping 4 1st half TD runs including a 60 yarder on the 2nd play from Scrimmage.   Linton scored on 2 of their first 4 plays.   

 

Passing is an area Linton can be a threat with Gennicks throwing for 1,436 yards and 20 TDs last year against just 2 picks.  He was 5 of 10 in his 1st half showing for 80 yards including a TD toss. Eli Poe has graduated, but Logan Webb at 6'4 205 proved himself last year, and caught 3 passes for 45 yards last week with a score.  Freshman Paul Oliver at 6'3 205 made his presence known on both sides of the ball, with a catch for 12 yards and a 2 point conversion. This week Jr Braden Walters (6'5 190) becomes eligible and adds another weapon in the passing game.  

 

Defense was the area many folks wondered about with the loss of 3 of 4 LB's, and 3 of 4 starting DBs and 2 DTs.   Add to that the shifting of personnel to new positions coming into 2022.  The lone LB return, Johns, moves to Safety where only Hunter Gennicks returns for the DB unit.  Giles has moved for the line to ILB, which he did in last year's sectional game with Mater Dei.  Franklin had a great year at DE in '21 but moves to an OLB position with the freshman Oliver opposite. The other ILB last week was Sr Bradyn Cox (5'10 185).  Cox is a kid who has played behind Eslinger for a couple years and gets his shot in '22.  He led Linton last week with 10 tackles including a TFL.  Another in the mix at ILB is JR Ashton White 6;0 195 who saw quite a bit of time spelling Giles.  He had 5 tackles and caused a fumble on a kickoff.  Franklin had 6 stops and a TFL.  Oliver in his maiden voyage as a high schooler had 4 tackles, 3 for loss and a sack.  He also blocked 2 Wolve punts.   Up front Linton has Hank Gennicks and Jr Ty Boyd (6'1 210) at DTs with jr Christian Shonk lining up at NT at only 5;10 180). Shonk and Boyd each got in on 3 tackles, and both had 1.5 TFL.  Certainly will see others in that mix as well.  THis was not a game where fear of Parke Heritage passing would play a big role.  But, PH QB was never given any time to even think about who might be open when they did pass.  2 of his 4 completions (of 12 total) were in the last minutes against the scrubs and for 36 of their 50 passing yards.   Voigtschild had a pick from CB along with 3 tackles.. Logan Webb on the other side at CB, with Johns and Gennicks at safety.  Gennicks had 4 tackles and a TFL.  Scott, Soph Hayden Feltner (6'1 165) figure in the mix at OLB and CB... and perhaps Walters in his first game contributes.  #79 Blane Kirkman (Jr 5'10 225) at NT. 

with the starting unit on the field for 1/2 of the game we saw the entire Linton squad get playing time.  Freshman figure highly in the special teams and #6 Russell Goodman handled all kick off chores, while Oliver handled punting and PAT.  

With The Falcons their offense rides on the shoulders of returning starting QB Jerome White (Jr 6'1 170).  he was 9-13 for 124 yards last week and 2 TDs 0 Int.  Main target last week was Soph Daniel Woody 5'6 140 with 6 catches for 106 and both TDs.  With the spread formation White has multiple receivers to look for.  #21 Wyatt Walters Jr 57 125; #44 Soph Matthew Dawson (6'1 200); #23 Rylan Thomas (So 6'4  185) and #1 Elijah Peaslee (Jr 6'0 265). Dawson had a catch for 18 yards.  The RB is jr Cody Tryon (#10 5'10 170) who had 2 catches as well.  Tryon had 109 yard rushing and a score on 19 carries, and White added 93, a score on 17 carries.  So it was pretty balanced, but White as a running QB adds that extra element of defense that is not unlike Gennicks for Linton.  

Up front it looked like 6'2' 185 jr Aiden Hinchee #65 T; 6'1 185 Sr Tony Tucker #64 G; Sr Evan Galloway at Center #56 5'6 165, then 6'5 270 lb Jr Rowan Thompson #70 at G and 6'2 290 sr Atticus Blank #72 at T...  3 of those returning starters from 2021.  

Galloway led the defense last week with 15 tackles from ILB, where he is joined by Jr #67 Gavin Bean (5'8 170). Sr Owen Burns #80 6'1 170 is at an OLB with Tryon.  Both had 7 stops against NC.  Inside Blank and Hinchee at DT and DE, Blank with 8 tackles.  Dawson added 2 from DE, So Andrew Botner #81 5'7 150 with 2 stops. Tucker looked to be at a DT as well as Sr Jeremiah Ziebart 5'11 215.   But.... NV played a 5 man front very run defense orientated against run heavy North CEntral in week 1.  Linton will throw the ball alot given 9 in the box.  So I don't expect the alignment to be the same for them.  In their scrimmage against West Vigo they were 4-4-3... more what I expect tonight. 

It has been many years since this game has been a competitive battle like the days of 2014 and 2015 altho 2019 was a 38-20 Miner win it was the closest score since 21-7 in 2015 tilt.  Linton has eclipsed 50+ points in each of last 2 meetings 56-6 and 52-7.  and has won the last 8 contests with the only loss to NV in the infamous 31-8 shellacking at NV in 2014's post season 31-8.  Coach Crabtree has always had his Falcons ready to play, and has had 9+ win seasons in 7 of his 10 years, and was 5-5 last year.  

Linton is currently ranked #4 in both state polls.  Coming off a 10-1 season that ended with a tough tough 28-27 loss to Mater Dei.

Best of Luck tonight to my Miners... but also that both teams finish the night without injury, as well with all the fans of both teams getting home safely at the end of the night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[globemstr3]

THANK YOU! GO MINERS!