2008 Woodie Awards
Huskies seek to tame Wildcats
Matt Rydberg
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
Central Washington University (CWU) (2-1, 1-1 NCC) come into St. Cloud to play the Huskies (3-1, 0-1 NCC) Saturday night in SCSU's conference home opener.
The Huskies are recovering from a disappointing road trip to Vermillion last week, where the University of South Dakota soundly put away SCSU 31-0.
"We need to have short memory. In athletics you can't dwell on things very long. We put that one behind us on Sunday night," head coach Randy Hedberg said.
While dwelling on things may not do much good, rubbing some salt in an old wound may be a call to arms.
Last year the Wildcats defeated SCSU in Washington 24-14 by controlling the clock and holding the Huskies to under 170 yards of offense. This time, coach Hedberg would like to return the favor.
"We need to have more offensive consistency; we need to run the ball better than we did a year ago," Hedberg said.
It will be no easy task, as CWU comes in ranked as one of the best defenses in the NCC, boasting the best pass defense, as well as the best red zone defense, allowing only four touchdowns on the season once opponents are inside the red zone.
To compete against the conferences best defense, Hedberg has announced a changing of the guard with the Huskies play caller.
Replacing senior quarterback Mike Hammerseng will be red-shirted freshman Jake Kranz. Last week, Hedberg made the same switch mid-way through the game.
"We're gonna keep trying to get better and better, but I think he's capable of moving the football for us," Hedberg said. "Any game we play in the NCC is going to be a very tough physical football game for us."
SCSU will have an uphill battle facing not only CWU's stingy defense, but competing also against the leg of NCC's special teams player of the week Garrett Rolma. Rolma's punts and long distance field goal range had been a sore in the side of all CWU's opponents this year.
Hedberg said not many significant changes have been made to the team's offensive or defensive schemes.
Possibly the biggest threat coming from CWU is Johnny Spevak, an all-conference wide receiver who is second in the conference this season in catches per game.
Spevak is a multi-sport athlete for CWU who plays basketball when he isn't hauling in catches.
"He's a very talented individual, a lot of athleticism," Hedberg said.
With Kranz under center, the Huskies hope to even the score with the Wildcats this Saturday.
The Huskies are recovering from a disappointing road trip to Vermillion last week, where the University of South Dakota soundly put away SCSU 31-0.
"We need to have short memory. In athletics you can't dwell on things very long. We put that one behind us on Sunday night," head coach Randy Hedberg said.
While dwelling on things may not do much good, rubbing some salt in an old wound may be a call to arms.
Last year the Wildcats defeated SCSU in Washington 24-14 by controlling the clock and holding the Huskies to under 170 yards of offense. This time, coach Hedberg would like to return the favor.
"We need to have more offensive consistency; we need to run the ball better than we did a year ago," Hedberg said.
It will be no easy task, as CWU comes in ranked as one of the best defenses in the NCC, boasting the best pass defense, as well as the best red zone defense, allowing only four touchdowns on the season once opponents are inside the red zone.
To compete against the conferences best defense, Hedberg has announced a changing of the guard with the Huskies play caller.
Replacing senior quarterback Mike Hammerseng will be red-shirted freshman Jake Kranz. Last week, Hedberg made the same switch mid-way through the game.
"We're gonna keep trying to get better and better, but I think he's capable of moving the football for us," Hedberg said. "Any game we play in the NCC is going to be a very tough physical football game for us."
SCSU will have an uphill battle facing not only CWU's stingy defense, but competing also against the leg of NCC's special teams player of the week Garrett Rolma. Rolma's punts and long distance field goal range had been a sore in the side of all CWU's opponents this year.
Hedberg said not many significant changes have been made to the team's offensive or defensive schemes.
Possibly the biggest threat coming from CWU is Johnny Spevak, an all-conference wide receiver who is second in the conference this season in catches per game.
Spevak is a multi-sport athlete for CWU who plays basketball when he isn't hauling in catches.
"He's a very talented individual, a lot of athleticism," Hedberg said.
With Kranz under center, the Huskies hope to even the score with the Wildcats this Saturday.