Versailles is coming off of just its second win under third-year head coach Broc Silvers, but the Tigers will have a steep hill to climb if they hope to bring that win total to three.
It took a small miracle to pull off a comeback victory against Knob Noster in their season opener, and it will likely take a bigger one to pull off a victory tonight against Fulton.
The Hornets are traveling to Versailles after a Week 1 victory as well, as they took down the School of the Osage 33-21. A combination of big plays on offense and sound second-half defense has led them to a 1-0 record.
For Fulton, the offense revolves around running back Travis Dean. Dean rushed for 227 yards and two scores against Osage and will likely find similar success against Versailles. The Tigers simply do not have the size to match up with the big bodies for Fulton up front. If the Tigers will find any success against this running attack it will be based on speed and their linebackers making plays.
"We're going to have to use a little bit of speed and we're going to have to be quicker off the ball to have success, because they are so much bigger than us on the edge," Silvers said.
Even if they are able to bottle up Fulton's rushing attack to an extent, they will have to deal with Radarion Glover catching the football. Glover caught four balls for 74 yards and two scores against Osage, so Versailles will have their hands full in the secondary as well. Silvers plans to base his secondary around stopping Glover, particularly on short catches. Glover is a receiver capable of taking a short completion and turning it into a big play, so tackling him will be important.
Offensively, the Tigers mirror that size disadvantage. They also have a line that, because of injuries, will not feature their top linemen. At several positions they are down to the second or third guy, which puts them in a tough spot. They'll need a good series of practices this week to form a cohesive unit with a group of guys that haven't practiced together very much.
"When you're combination blocking and double-teaming with somebody, you want that familiarity with each other so that way I know when I'm coming off my double-team," Silvers said. "And when you're working with someone new, that's tough. It's kind of like double-play guys in baseball, you wanna have that same guy. That way you're used to him."
If the Tigers are going to have success, it will likely be on the backs of Duane Danner and Dalton Schmidt. Danner's athleticism helped him get out of some rough situations in the pocket last week and he will likely be running around in the backfield a lot again this week. Schmidt is going to have to take whatever Fulton gives him out of the backfield to have a positive night on the ground. He didn't have many openings last week against Knob Noster and that trend will likely continue, so patience will be key.
Maybe the Tigers have another big effort in store.
Versailles hosts Fulton - Updates on Twitter: @FultonSunSports. Listen live online: lakeradio.com
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