By Staff
It's time for the home opener and I hope the stands will be filled Friday night at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field as Dowagiac hosts Coldwater in a Big 16 non-divisional contest.
Don't let last Friday night's 40-11 loss to Portage Northern scare you.
I can promise you this, on Friday night it will be like night and day when the Chieftains face the Cardinals.
First of all, Dowagiac is playing at home and it has a game under its belt.
Things went wrong quickly for Dowagiac last week in Portage.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train.
I saw flashes of brilliance on offense and defense.
Yes, there were breakdowns and Dowagiac needs to find consistency on both sides of the ball if it wants to compete for a playoff berth this season.
Don't give up on the Chieftains just yet.
Coldwater is no Portage Northern I can assure you of that.
The Huskies were 8-2 last year and have a lot of talent returning.
I fully expect Portage Northern to repeat as Central Division champions and qualify for the playoffs again this year.
The Huskies had a size and a speed advantage on the Chieftains, not to mention a numbers advantage.
Coldwater is not fleet afoot and should pose no deep-threat challenge to the Chieftains like Portage Northern did.
There will be no Matt Comer, a state sprint champion, for the Chieftain secondary to cover.
Dowagiac did show us that it can be tough against the run.
Portage Northern had planned to use a more balanced attack against the Chieftains, but was unable to run the football effectively.
The Chieftains also did not run the ball as effectively as it anticipated doing.
Dowagiac has four running backs, however, Brian McCuddy injured his shoulder during the first half and was limited as far as effectiveness goes.
Dowagiac also thought it would be able to throw the football better this season and according to coach Mike Stanger, that is still the case.
He knows that senior quarterback Jesse Cox did not have a good game when it came to passing the football, but that will change.
He did point out that Cox played well in other aspects of the game, including running the offense and taking command.
Hillary Bisnett was another bright spot for the Chieftains and she connected on her second career field goal.
Bisnett is now 2-for-2 in that department after hitting a 25-yarder Friday night.
Bisnett wanted to get more opportunities this season as far as field goals go, and it looks like she might get here wish.
The 2004 season still has a long way to go and Dowagiac coaches, players and fans all know that it takes six victories to qualify for the playoffs.
Stanger told me on Saturday that Dowagiac is ahead of the learning curve compared to last season.
He sees good things out of his squad in practice and he hopes they will translate onto the field quickly.
Dowagiac went 0-4 last year to start the season before winding up 5-4.
No one wants to see the Chieftains lose a bunch of games at the beginning of the year because it takes too much effort to win them at the end of the season.
So on Friday night Dowagiac hopes to put the memories of 2003 behind them and square its record at 1-1 with a victory over Coldwater.
Let's get those stands filled with Chieftain faithfull. Make some noise and cheer the Chieftains on to victory.