×

Wildcats aiming for better start vs. Petoskey at home

ALPENA — With just 32 points over its first four games, offense has been hard for the Alpena High football team to come by.

But slow starts have also been a thorn in the Wildcats’ side. Alpena (1-3) has scored just seven points in the first quarter this season and, too often, it has had to watch its opponent do just the opposite — build an early lead that’s hard to rally back from.

Alpena hopes to reverse course tonight as it returns home from a two-game road stint to host Petoskey in a Big North Conference contest.

The game starts at 7 p.m. at Park Family Field at Wildcat Stadium.

“This week more than ever we know it’s important,” Alpena coach Eric Mitchell said of getting off to a good start. “It’s going to take blocking every play, a concentrated power of will to make sure that we do our job. Last week I think we understood what it was and failed the task, this week is much different. Everybody that’s playing is comfortable with what their assignment is and their ability.”

Petoskey (1-3) comes into the game with a losing record, but the Northmen are perhaps better than their record suggests. Petoskey has lost two games by a combined 11 points and has history on its side too, defeating Alpena in 14 of the last 15 head-to-head matchups.

“For us, we still believe that our season comes down to how we play in our conference. Obviously, we didn’t play well last week, but we have two more conference games at home we have to win,” Mitchell said.

Petoskey is looking for a BNC bounce back after a 27-12 loss to Gaylord last week and has plenty of offensive talent to keep Alpena’s defense on its toes.

Petoskey’s passing game, led by Joe McCarthy, has shown flashes of talent this season and the Northmen have plenty of reliable targets in receivers Brian Pike, Seth Marek and Trevor Swiss. Coach Jim Webb’s squad is also dealing with the loss of do-to-all running back CJ Hibbler, who was injured last week.

“That’s one thing we’re paying attention to this week is their ability to throw the ball. He’s definitely got a couple favorite targets, there’s no ifs-ands-or-buts about that,” Mitchell said. “Last year was kind of the opposite.”

Alpena’s goal of getting off to a good start tonight hinges on executing its game plan from the get-go. The Wildcats struggled out of the gate last week after Cadillac shut down Alpena’s run game and pressured quarterback Jake Zann.

Sticking to that game plan is important, Mitchell said, even in tough spots.

“It’s not easy at all. Nick Saban says this all the time, you’ve got to burn your boat, which essentially means you created the plan, stick to the dang plan,” Mitchell said. “Last week we were down 20 points at the end of the first quarter knowing we had to catch up.

It’s not necessarily scoring the first series, although that’s a major goal, it’s setting up everything that we’re trying to run the rest of the game.”

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today