Tech ready for the ‘Showdown at Sherman’
HOUGHTON – The Michigan Tech Huskies (No. 13, 6-0) are undefeated up to this point of the season. The Huskies face another big test tomorrow afternoon at home against No. 6 Ferris State (7-0).
It’s the first matchup of this caliber at Sherman Field featuring two undefeated teams in ten years.The key matchup for the Huskies will be on defense, where they will have to slow down the Bulldogs 6’4″, 240 lb., dual threat quarterback, Jason Vander Laan.
“I don’t know if you can stop him,” said MTU head coach Tom Kearly. “You can try and slow him down. He’s a great football player. He’s a tailback all at once. If you try to play the pass, he runs the football. If you try to play the run he completes 70% of his passes, 20 touchdowns and one interception. He’s just a great football player.”
“No one has come within two touchdowns of these people,” said Kearly about the Bulldogs. “Statistically on offense, they’re almost 100 yards a game better than anyone else in the league.”
“We definitely have to look at it the same we do every other game; you can’t make it too big,” said Huskies defensive back Jeremy Mims. “It’s definitely going to be an assignment based game. We have to make sure we believe in each other, fly around, and stay true to our assignments.”
“We’ve been focused; we’ve got to be focused,” said MTU quarterback Tyler Scarlett about Saturday’s game. “We know how good of a team that’s coming in here to play. We have to make sure our attention to detail is great.”
“We have to keep negative plays to a minimum,” Scarlett added. “First down rushes can have negative two’s (–2) and zeros. We need to keep getting positive plays, putting together first downs, keep the defense on the field, keep their offense off the field, and put together good drives.”
“I think the big thing will be execution,” said Kearly. “Both offensively and defensively, I think that the team that executes, which means makes the fewest mistakes, will probably have a real good chance to win.”
Kickoff from Sherman Field is at 1pm.
Meanwhile, Northern Michigan is in Ohio for a date in Ashland with the Eagles. The Wildcats are coming off of a 33, 30 win over Wayne State last week, in which sophomore quarterback Shaye Brown threw for a career high 346 yards.
“He’s going to hopefully have a bunch more of those games,” said NMU head coach Chris Ostrowsky about Brown. “As a young man who’s only had eight starts, he’s shown a lot of poise and a lot of promise in the program. He’s worked really hard and did what he was supposed to do.”
“I saw a lot of confidence in him,” said Wildcats wide receiver Austin Young about Brown. “I saw his game raise up. He could of taken a step back, but he’s taken three steps forward.”
The Wildcats and Eagles will do battle at 1pm.