The Hanover Wildcats and the Thunder Ridge Longhorns may play in the state’s smallest classification, but they will be competing in Kansas’ biggest game of the week on Friday.
Readers of Kpreps.com voted the 8-Man Division II battle between second-ranked Hanover and fourth-ranked Thunder Ridge as the state’s Game of the Week for week two.
Thunder Ridge coach Jerry Voorhees said he hopes his team can live up to that billing after losing to Hanover the past three seasons.
“I’ll tell you that the last couple of years it hasn’t been the game of the week,” Voorhees said. “Because Hanover got after us pretty well. We’re not going to approach it any different because it’s the Game of the Week. We’re just going to play the best we can.
“I’m sure we’ll have a big crowd. The community is excited about our team this year. Kensington supports the kids very well. We have great fans. I’m sure it will be pretty packed.”
Thunder Ridge will trying to avenge three lopsided losses to Hanover in recent years. The Longhorns fell 50-18 in 2010, 54-8 in 2009 and 62-32 in 2008.
“I haven’t heard a lot of talk about it,” Voorhees said. “It’s hard to have a rivalry with someone when one team is winning all the time. But the seniors know this is their last go-around. There’s not a lot of talk about it, but I know it’s important to them. I’m sure it’s a game they’ve had circled for a while and want to play in.”
Thunder Ridge brings a strong senior class, including senior running back Joel Struckoff. The four-year starter has rushed for 4,813 yards and 77 TDs in his career, including a 208-yard and four TD performance last week against Hill City.
However, Struckoff isn’t the only piece to the Thunder Ridge puzzle. The Longhorns return quarterback Blane Hrabe and a strong offensive line.
“Struckoff is a great football player,” Hanover coach Matt Heuer said. “He makes plays and he’s in the spotlight, but he’s got a lot of tremendous players around him. He has a great line, a great quarterback and other great skill position players that takes some attention from him.”
While the Thunder Ridge offensive philosophy is set, Hanover’s remains in a bit of limbo.
The Wildcats are still searching to find their starting quarterback. Last week, they switched off between junior Cody Nieman and senior Brent Bruna.
“We’re going to feel it out for a couple of weeks until someone wins the position,” Heuer said. “Brent is a converted tailback, so he is probably the better runner, but Cody also does a tremendous job running the football. Both are doing a good job of managing the football.”
When Nieman is in at quarterback, Bruna will play tailback. Nieman will play wide receiver in spread situations when Bruna is under center.
“From what I’ve seen on film, fullback and center were the only two positions they didn’t rotate,” Vorhees said. “That makes it kind of hard to prepare on who is going to be in there.
“Bruna is a kid who is a very special and talented athlete. He’s a good weapon at quarterback and a good weapon at running back.”
Bruna passed for two TDs and rushed for one more in Hanover’s 48-0 win against Pike Valley last week.
Heuer said the opening win was promising, but that there’s a lot of work to do.
“Most of the time, Week 1 isn’t as pretty as you would like it to be,” Heuer said. “It was sloppy at times, but there also were things to build on.”
Heuer said he would like to see the Wildcats makes progress this Friday but also said that this game will not make or break Hanover’s season.
“This is just another game,” he said. “This has nothing to do with our goals for the season. Of course we want to win, but either way we’re going to walk out knowing what we need to do to reach or goals for district play.”
Use your Facebook account to add a comment or start a discussion. Posts are subject to Facebook's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your Facebook name, photo & other personal information you make public on Facebook will appear with your comment.
