From the Capital-Journal:
When C.J. Hamilton looks at Friday’s opponent, he doesn’t see a Rossville team which has lost more games this season (3) than the past three years combined (2).
Nor does the legendary Silver Lake coach necessarily see a wounded animal ready to roll over and play dead.
“They’re always capable,” Hamilton said. “They’ve got good athletes who work hard and Coach (Derick) Hammes does a good job with them. Nobody’s to be taken lightly in our league and we’d better not take them lightly I guarantee you that.”
Indeed, even though Rossville comes into Friday’s War on 24 showdown at Silver Lake with just a 1-3 mark, the Bulldawgs have Silver Lake’s full attention. The Eagles are 4-0 and ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, but Hamilton fully expects to get Rossville’s best effort, particularly with the Bulldawgs coming off their first win of the season, a 34-14 victory over Wabaunsee.
For Rossville, the victory was a much-needed pick-me-up after a rough start to the season. Coming off three straight state championships, the Bulldawgs had major holes to fill and relatively inexperienced players to do it with.
That youth showed early against a tough schedule as Rossville was blown out 52-13 in the opener and then dropped Mid-East League games with Rock Creek (42-26) and Riley County (52-7), each snapping lengthy win streaks for the Bulldawgs in those series.
“Not getting off to a good start and losing those games, there’s gonna be a little bit of frustration on the kids’ part,” Hammes said. “But quite honestly, I’ve been pretty proud of their resiliency and their willingness to keep putting effort in to make corrections on what we have going on. Losses are frustrating, no doubt. But last week was validation improvement has been made and that’s what the kids need.
“You always tell them if you work hard, good things will happen. Well, you also need proof and from that standpoint the win was good.”
In his first year as Rossville’s starting quarterback, Sheldon Hulbert has been effective. The senior has thrown for 758 yards and seven touchdowns and run for another 396 yards and two scores.
However, he’s been mostly a one-man show as injuries have hampered leading returning rusher Perry Foster, limiting him to just two carries this season. The rest of the Bulldawgs have combined for just 136 yards on the ground, though Elijah Daughty has enjoyed a nice season at receiver with 19 catches for 248 yards.
“We’re still inexperienced and trying to develop a group that can go out and compete and be effective on Fridays,” Hammes said.
Rossville may need a breakout game to counter a Silver Lake defense which has been strong and really served as a key in the Eagles’ 27-20 win over St. Marys two weeks ago. Silver Lake’s offense turned the ball over seven times in the game and St. Marys’ average starting field position was inside the Eagle 30, but St. Marys couldn’t cash in with touchdowns on most of the miscues.
The defensive stands kept Silver Lake in the game and the offense delivered with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to erase a 20-13 deficit for the victory.
“Our defense was great that night, but the offense didn’t let us sleep very well that night,” Hamilton said.
The rusty effort against St. Marys could partly be explained by the Eagles coming off a bye week after Wabaunsee forfeited the Week 2 game. Silver Lake’s starters only got a half’s worth of reps in a season-opening 81-14 rout of KC Washington.
The Eagles bounced back strong last week in a 41-14 win over Rock Creek as first-year starting quarterback Mason Griffin threw for 229 yards and four touchdowns with Trent Byers and Wyatt Heiman each catching two scoring passes and finishing with 99 and 87 yards, respectively.
Griffin has 396 yards passing in three games, while the ground game has been balanced with Christian Stoner (204 yards, four TDs) and Mason Jones (138 yards, four TDs) leading the way.
“They’re a good team and it’s always interesting to see how somebody you’re very familiar with puts together their pieces,” Hammes said of the Eagles. “They’re doing a good job of that. … They’re the experienced team and their kids have truly played in this game before and that should be to their advantage.
“This game is important for us. When we started here a few years back, we wanted to make the game competitive again and we’ve been able to do that. We want to play well and hold our end of the bargain up and keep the game meaningful so for us to go out and have a good game is very important.”
Silver Lake won last year’s meeting 36-28, ending a string of three straight Rossville wins.
