Week 7 football preview: High-scoring Gilbert awaits reeling Ram squad
Week 7 Breakdown
Who: Greene Co. (1-5, 1-3) vs. Gilbert (1-5, 1-3)
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 in Gilbert
Last Meeting: Gilbert won, 35-18 in 2016
Keys to the game: Greene County must score early and score a lot. Gilbert averages 31 PPG and has thrown the seventh most passing yards in 3A.
By BRANDON HURLEY
Sports editor
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On paper, it’s a matchup of two underwhelming district opponents, but one that could certainly threaten triple digit scoring.
In the locker room, each team believes it can finish the stretch run of the 2017 out on a high note.
Greene County hits the road in week 7 to face yet another prolific offense in the Gilbert Tigers, a team that is averaging 31 points led by a quarterback who has thrown for the seventh most yards in 3A.
Gilbert’s lone win was a victory over Iowa Falls-Alden back on Sept. 15. The Tigers have scored more than 20 points in every game this year and the 34 spot they put up on No. 7 Boone is the most points the Toreadors have allowed this fall. Gilbert quarterback Matt Barragy has thrown for 1,126 yards and eight touchdowns, but he has also been picked off 12 times, the highest rate in all of 3A. He
Gilbert is coming off a 31-27 defeat at the hands of Perry last Friday while Greene County is reeling from a 45-point loss against Boone. Ram head coach Mitch Moore imagines both teams fighting for a confidence building win.
If you throw throw records out of this one, it has potential to be a high-scoring affair. Gilbert allows a staggering 40 points per game, allowing more than 55 on two occasions. Greene County allows 34 points per game and has a high-point total of 61 two weeks ago.
If the Rams want to come out on top, they’ll have to stop the quarterback.
“I expect two, 1-5 football teams, if there is such a thing. It should be a fun football game,” Moore said. “They have a quarterback who throws the ball real well. He’s a talented kid. We are playing at their place. I’m expecting a team, just like us, that is expecting to beat us, looking at our record.
The Tigers have produced the 14th most yards in the state and feature a running back in A J Reed who has rushed for more than 600 yards and 8 touchdowns.
They’ll certainly pass the ball and spread you out,” Moore said. “We can’t let them get confidence and get up on us right away. We’ve got to be able to stymie them right at the beginning.”
Before the Rams can come out with a victory, Moore wants his guys to make a few tweaks fundamentally.
“We have to play with great effort and great physicality if we want to win this game,” the coach said. “Our offensive line and defensive line have to get back where they were and not get blown off the ball.”
They also need to get on the board early, and often. The Rams have yet to hold a first-half lead almost seven weeks in. Moore wants to catch Gilbert off-guard and keep the pace high.
“From an offensive stand point, we have to get them off-kilter and run multiple formations. The biggest thing we have to do is play with more urgency,” the coach said. “When we are running in motion, it’s not a jog, it’s a sprint. We need to do a good job finding our coaches and our plays. We have to play fast to be effective.”
The Gilbert contest marks a final three game stretch in which no team has more than two wins. How Greene County comes out over the final month could very well determine the future of the program.
“It’s huge. I’m not going to shy away from it. It’s really big for us to win these games. Most importantly, it’s big for our kids for how hard they’ve been working,” Moore said. “This offseason might be the most important offseason I’ll ever have here as a head coach. We can go one or two ways. We could have an OK offseason or we can have a tremendous one and really turn the tide on what we want to do.”
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