When Great Bend football coach Erin Beck sent out his weekly HUDL tape, Wichita Northwest’s high-powered offense looks like a video game.
The Grizzlies’ defense has endured a similar nightmare scenario, practically guaranteeing an offensive shootout when Great Bend (2-0) visits Class 6A Wichita Northwest (1-1) Friday night.
The Grizzlies survived a 61-49 dandy against perennial City League champion Wichita Carroll in week one. Wichita Heights delivered a second week blow while rushing for 531 yards in a 53-33 victory over the Grizzlies.
“Here’s our chance to prove we belong with the big boys,” Beck said. “We’re going to learn a lot about our football team Friday. Our kids think they can play with anybody.”
Grizzly QB Austin Anderson has thrown for 650 yards and 10 touchdowns. WR Martese Mullins has 13 catches for 340 yards and six scores. RB Jahyl Rounds has rushed for 165 yards and four touchdowns.
Panther LB Payton Mauler, with 24 tackles, knows Great Bend’s defense will see the most athletic talent they’ve seen in three games.
“This will definitely be the biggest challenge we’ve seen. Their running back is really good and he’ll run you over if you don’t tackle him,” Mauler said. “Their offense is really good and they have a really good offensive line. We’d like to see the quarterback pass more than they are used to.”
Braulio Vargas converted one takeaway into a touchdown and the Panthers missed a second defensive score by a yard last week.
“We go through a takeaway circuit every day and work on taking the football away and scooping and scoring,” Mauler said. “That gets our defense going and energizes the offense.”
Beck said film study indicates that the Grizzlies’ zone-blocking runnning game is their offensive base. The scheme attempts to create running lanes that Rounds exploits.
“Your primary goal is to take away what they do best,” Beck said. “They are very good at their zone blocking scheme. They block in a direction and their tailback tries to find a seam.”
The Panthers’ other dilemma is trying to cover receiver Martese Mullins.
“They’ve got speed on the edge and their quarterback can spin it,” Beck said. ‘You’d love to eliminate their big plays and see our defense gets stops.”
Beck believes Great Bend’s offense, averaging 444 yards, is the key to beating the Grizzlies. QB jacob Murray has thrown for 391 yards. Murray has 208 yards rushing and RB Cal Marshall has 207 yards. WR Bryce Lytle has 15 catches for 166 yards.
“Our goal is to sustain offensive drives and put plays together,” Beck said. “The first few offensive drives will be critical for us.”