A pair of Frederick County unbeaten’s collide this Friday night in a forceful clash between state ranked opponents separated by seven miles apart that may have 3A West ramifications in the foreseeable future.
No. 8 Linganore hasn’t lost a regular season game in over 700 days and will put that on the line as they face their stiffest opponent in recent years during the regular season on Friday. Although the Lancers stand at 5-0, they’ve not had an easy track to the undefeated label – grinding out wins to Tuscarora (22-13), South Hagerstown (38-20) and Walkersville (7-6). Senior quarterback Nathaniel Musselman will lead his high-powered offense into Oakdale Friday night and go head-to-head against a defense that’s allowed 6.4 points per game to opponents.
On the other side of things, the Oakdale football organization is surging with confidence as they are off to their best start in school history. In their first five games, the Bears have outscored their opponents 227-32 and are just tapping into the toughest part of their schedule, starting with a pivotal game on Friday night. Last year, they gave Linganore fits in the early going – harassing their ball carriers to only be down 7-6 at the half. Linganore then scored 28 unanswered points and rolled to a 35-13 victory. The Bears possess a fast and physical defense complimented by a well-rounded offense and are laser-focused to knock down the county foe from down the road.
Some questions linger over both organizations. Are the Bears ready to play in the “big game”? Will the first half offensive sputters nab the Lancers? We will find out come Friday night.
We should anticipate a high-intensified atmosphere filled with jarring hits and big plays . If you’re a fan of barnburner football games, go grab a ticket to this one. Here is what you can expect on Friday night.
Date: Friday, October 9
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Oakdale High School
Line: Linganore -1, according to USA Today High School Score Predictor
Predictions
Linganore 22, Oakdale 21 – USA Today High School Score Predictor
Linganore 23, Oakdale 20 – Kyle McFadden, Maryland Sports Access
Linganore 28, Oakdale 20 – Evan Engelhard, Maryland Sports Access
Oakdale 24, Linganore 21 – Greg Swatek, Frederick News-Post
Linganore Keys to Victory
Come out of the gates firing
Let’s face it, the Lancers haven’t done a good job starting out a ball game so far in 2015. If you discard Week 2 against Delaware’s Indian River in which they were up 42-0, Linganore has only outscored opponents 33-27 in the first half. And when you stack up their 75 total first half points to Oakdale’s, they don’t even come close to the Bears’ whopping 167 mark. If the Lancer offense happens to sputter once again in the first half on Friday night, they may very well be put in a hole that they can’t climb out of. However, if they engineer instant offense and get out on top early, I like their chances.
Win the trenches
An offensive weakness that the Lancers portray is the inconsistency of their offensive line. Often times missed blocking assignments results in shortened drives and negative yardages. Last week against Walkersville, granted the weather conditions, they ran the ball 46 times for 118 yards – 2.57 yards per carry – 20 of those runs were for no gain or negative yards. The Lancer O-line better clean up the miscues as they go up against the fast and physical Oakdale front-7 on Friday night. The more room the Butler brothers have to run, the better. Defensively, if sack-machine Ben Iwanski and Tyler Fleagle overpower the Bears front and harass Oakdale’s offensive weapons, it just makes it that much harder for the Bears to move the ball down the field.
Strong showing from QB Nathaniel Musselman
Last year, Nathaniel Musselman posted a 116.0 QBR (quarterback rating) in his 12 games as the Lancer starting quarterback and had a superb touchdown-interception ratio of 6.3. This year, his QBR has dipped to 89.9 and the touchdown-interception ratio has dropped to 2.0. Both are respectable numbers, but seemingly don’t be up to Musselman’s capability. The talented senior quarterback has put in too much work over the offseason to have statistical drop offs. Most importantly, he’s a winner as the Lancers have a 16-1 record with Musselman at the helm. I only suspect him to turn things around on Friday night.
Offensive focus: Convert on short yardage situations to extend drives and feed the Butler brothers of Dante and Davon.
Defensive focus: Front–7 get to the backfield and harass Oakdale’s offensive weapons.
Oakdale Keys to Victory
Shutdown the Butler brothers
The Bears front-7 has done a marvelous job of shutting down opposing ball carriers – only allowing a mere 1.84 yards per carry on the ground and have yet to allow a running back go for 100+ yards. Thus has allowed them to dominate in the first half of the season, only giving up 6.4 points per game to opponents. On Friday night, Oakdale will get their biggest test of the season as they go up against the talented Butler brother duo in senior Dante Butler and freshman Davon Butler who have accounted for 51% of the Lancers total offensive yardage this season. When Linganore played Walkersville last week, the Butlers only generated 91 yards rushing on 34 carries – the Lancers squeaked out a one-point victory in overtime. If the Oakdale front-7 can get in the backfield and cause havoc, they’ll have the upper-hand the entire night on Friday.
Exploit offensive weapons
The Oakdale offense has plentiful of weapons for the ball to be distributed. Senior quarterback Sean McGaughey has had an efficient year, completing 66% of his passes with a 113.9 QBR. He also hasn’t expressed favoritism in targeting his receivers as Ben Simonica, Cory Schlee and Matt Beveridge have seen a good amount passes come their way. The run game is probably the strong suit of the Bears offense behind talented ball carriers Malik Boyd and Percy Agyei-Obese. Boyd offers a downhill physical presence as opposed to Agyei-Obese who is blazing quick and runs 4.3 40-yard dash. Offensively, they’ve had 11 different guys score a touchdown and if they can continue to distribute the ball effectively on Friday night, they will hang with the Lancer offense going down to the wire.
Come ready to play on the big stage
The Bears have enough offensive fire power and physicality on defense to overcome the powerhouse Lancers. It’s just can they finally put it all together and perform on the big stage? Last year in the games they faced opponents with a better or same record, they went 0-2 – a one point loss to Urbana and a second half slipup to well, Linganore. In the 2A West playoffs last year they surged to the no. 1 seed only to get upset on their home turf to no. 4 South Carroll, 35-12. That’s an 0-3 record in “big games” over the past year. Friday night will no doubt be the biggest game of their football careers and we’ll see if they are ready to rock and roll come 7:00 p.m.
Offensive focus: Get every playmaker involved in the offense.
Defensive focus: Shut down the Butler brothers.
Statistical leaders
Linganore
Passing
#7 Nathaniel Musselman, 89.9 QBR, 38 completions/71 attempts, 53.5 completion %, 617 passing yards, 4 passing touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 22 carries, 131 rushing yards, 6.0 yards per carry, 2 rushing touchdowns
Rushing
#23 Dante Butler, 103 carries, 740 rushing yards, 7.2 yards per carry, 11 rushing touchdowns, 1 receptions, 36 receiving yards, 36.0 yards per reception
#2 Davon Butler, 29 carries, 188 rushing yards, 6.5 yards per carry, 1 rushing touchdown
#45 Dominic Zanoni, 31 carries, 185 rushing yards, 6.0 yards per carry, 1 rushing touchdown
Receiving
#5 Jack Staub, 26 receptions, 338 receiving yards, 13.0 yards per reception, 4 receiving touchdowns
#2 Davon Butler, 5 receptions, 71 receiving yards, 14.2 yards per reception
Tackles
#3 Wade Stieren, 59 total tackles
#24 Ben Iwanski, 46 total tackles
#8 Matthew Albano, 42 total tackles
Sacks
#24 Ben Iwanski, 9 sacks
#71 Justin Knotts, 2 sacks
#44 Jared Hane, 1 sack
Interceptions
#3 Wade Stieren, 1 interception
#6 Kyle Fahey, 1 interception
#31 Michael Arneson, 1 interception
Oakdale
Passing
#7 Sean McGaughey, 113.9 QBR, 37 completions/56 attempts, 66.1 completion %, 631 passing yards, 10 passing touchdowns, 4 interceptions, 15 carries, 20 rushing yards, 1.3 yards per carry, 1 rushing touchdown
Rushing
#20 Malik Boyd, 39 carries, 338 rushing yards, 8.7 yards per carry, 7 rushing touchdowns, 1 reception, 74 yards, 74.0 yards per reception, 1 receiving touchdown
#31 Percy Agyei-Obese, 39 carries, 307 rushing yards, 7.9 yards per carry, 7 rushing touchdowns, 1 reception, 2 yards, 2.0 yards per reception
#32 Logan McKoy, 17 carries, 75 rushing yards, 4.4 yards per carry
Receiving
#13 Matt Beveridge, 14 receptions, 239 receiving yards, 17.1 yards per reception, 2 receiving touchdowns
#26 Ben Simonica, 11 receptions, 252 receiving yards, 22.9 yards per reception, 6 receiving touchdowns
#18 Cory Schlee, 4 receptions, 74 receiving yards, 18.5 yards per reception, 1 receiving touchdown
Tackles
#3 Ritchie Case, 36 total tackles
#23 Brendan Carlson, 27 total tackles
#8 Zach Turner, 26 total tackles
Sacks
#31 Percy Agyei-Obese, 5.5 sacks
#8 Zach Turner, 4.5 sacks
#11 James Hoffman, 1 sack
Interceptions
#2 Will Kent, 3 interceptions
#18 Cory Schlee, 2 interceptions
#26 Ben Simonica, 1 interception
The final scoop
Oakdale knows this is a game they have to win and Linganore knows this is a game they just cannot lose. All week long, coaches have stayed up for countless hours at night watching film and breaking down each other’s formidable units.
At practices, they have deployed different tactics to simulate in-game situations when the heat of the moment arrives on Friday night.
“We’ve been waiting for this,” Oakdale running back Malik Boyd said. “It’s going to be a great game.”
On Wednesday, Oakdale Bears head coach Kurt Stein huddled up his guys after practice before they departed and delivered meaningful words to his unit.
“This is the best team I’ve ever coached,” he told his Bears squad. “You have been waiting for this game your entire lives. Friday night at 7:00 p.m., you better be ready to rock and roll. Do what you need to do from now until Friday to be ready to rock and freaking roll.”
What will a win on Friday night do to the Bears? A lot of things. It will surge them towards the top of the brutal 3A West playoff standings and add to the stepping stones of the organization.
“We’re just going to play Oakdale football,” Oakdale quarterback Sean McGaughey said. “If some things don’t work during the game, we’ll adjust. We’re ready for anything.”
But is this where the rubber meets the road for the Bears who have yet to show how to play in a marquee game?
“We’re trying to be more aggressive in practice,” Oakdale defensive lineman Zach Turner said. “We want to disrupt their offense, get to (Nathaniel) Musselman and shut them down.”
“The key for us on Friday night is to just play Oakdale football,” Stein said. “That’s taking care of the football, playing hard-nosed defense and picking up first downs on offense. If we do those things, we will be right there.”
As for Linganore, head coach Rick Conner had a different message for his team – to exceed expectations.
“There’s a lot of talented football players that I’m staring at right now,” he said. “If something is easy for you, that shouldn’t be an excuse to not go out and give it your all. If it’s easy, than you should be great at it. Put your mind on it and just be great.”
Yes, Oakdale is coming in with new heights of confidence, but Linganore has already experienced down-to-the-wire games.
“Come Friday, we’re going to be focused on Linganore High School,” Conner said. “We’re too good to be giving all of our attention to them (Oakdale). We’ll play situational football and adjust.”
All week long Conner has been striving to bolster the confidence within his offensive line.
“We’re trying to get them to communicate better,” he said. “They had a great practice today. They’re getting there.”
And despite the first half offensive sputters, Linganore quarterback Nathaniel Musselman is confident his team is where they need to be heading into Friday.
“Oakdale is a great football team, but I firmly believe we have the better athletes,” he said. “I’ve been watching hours and hours of film, breaking them down. Myself and this football team will be prepared.”
Musselman also stated that a cause of their first half woes is a lack of understanding for their opposition.
“The last five weeks we’ve been coming out underestimating our opposition,” he said. “We’ve clamped down. It’s not happening anymore.”
As cliché as it sounds, the game on Friday night between these two rivals separated by seven miles apart will come down to execution – playing a clean game, minimalizing on mistakes and capitalizing on opportunities.
“We should expect a terrific game,” Stein said. “To all the fans, you better get here early.”
“It’s going to be a good one,” Conner said.
At the end of the day, one team has to win and one team has to lose. Oakdale has a lot going for them and it will be their homecoming. You can expect an energized atmosphere out of both fan bases.
Linganore knows how to win when being put under the gun and though this is Oakdale’s game to win, I just don’t see the Lancers finding a way to lose with Maryland High School football Hall of Fame head coach Rick Conner and senior leaders Dante Butler, Nathaniel Musselman and Tyler Fleagle at the helm.
Linganore prevails in a barnburner, 23-20 over Oakdale.
You can follow me on Twitter at @k_fadd and Maryland Sports Access at @MDSportsAccess for coverage of the Linganore vs. Oakdale game on Friday.
