Carlson finished tied for 4th in the Downriver League this season with a 5-3 record. In week 9 the Marauders fell to Wyandotte Roosevelt 29-28 in an instant classic. Riverview finished in 3rd place in the Huron League with a 5-2 record. Last week the Pirates defeated a very good Thurston team by a score of 43-25 in Redford. These two teams last met in the 2017 playoffs as the Pirates won that game 38-14. Riverview leads the all-time series 11-3.
Carlson 6-3 Overall (5-3 Downriver League)
Record vs. Playoff Teams 2-3
Carlson is led by Michigan State commit Ian Stewart. The 6-3 QB has thrown for 322 yards and 6 TD’s in the run happy T offense. He has also ran for another 368 yards and 8 TD’s and is averaging nearly 10 yards per carry. The Maruders rely on running back by committee. Julian Poole, Antony Greear and Jaishwan Williams have combined for over 1,650 yards and have scored 21 TD’s on the ground. The defense is led by Dylan Rakoczy, Anthony Estrada, Cody Britt and Taurus Wilson.
Riverview 7-2 (5-2 Huron League)
Record vs. Playoff Teams 2-2
Riverview is led by QB Brandon Maher. The Pirates are led by a stable of RB’s as they have rushed for a combined 2,500 yards and 25 TD’s. Jimari Moultrie leads the way with 678 yards and 8 TD’s. Other backs who carry the ball are Ben Johnson, Kenny Hightower and Jacob Puma. On the defensive side of the ball Christian Lopez, Noah Grunwald, Cal Lockhart, Preston Thompson and Tommie Gardner lead the way..
FNV Thoughts: This is a match up between two of the best programs in the Downriver area. Both Carlson and Riverview run the Straight T and rely on a rugged running game. This is a battle of veteran coaches and will most likely be a closely contested game that will most likely come down to the end.
How many schools in the area run the T? It seems like almost everyone does from the articles I have read on this blog. Here in Denver, I can only think of 1 school who does (Columbine). They are however, one most consistently good teams. Schools in the bigger classifications here tend to run spread option while the smaller schools tend to do more things like double and single wing. It’s interesting what is popular based on geography. Big school coaches here are afraid to run anything other than spread option because “college coaches won’t recruit your kids if they don’t know how to run a college offense.” However, Columbine consistently sends more kids D-1 and to D-2 scholarship than anyone else. Small schools tend to just copy what winning programs do. They put their best athlete at QB and run everything through him.
I call it the Giarmo affect. There is a disproportionate amount that do in SE Michigan. Hudson was one of the first.
When I was playing in the 90’s I remember a lot of Veer teams, Wing-T was a big deal and Pro-I. Since certain styles are popular in certain areas, I always wonder what would happen if you take a team from one state and play them in another. I know there are teams that play national schedules but they seem to be a different bread all together. There are a lot of big schools here in Colorado that go and play in Florida because they don’t think they will get enough good games here, but they seem to find some not-so-good Florida schools. You can see the differences in philosophy when you go to coaching clinics in different cities. I’ve been to clinics in Detroit, Kansas City and Denver and at all three you will find quite a bit of difference.
GO BUCS. !!!!!!!