Marengo Academy ready for first playoff test
LINDEN — Marengo Academy (10-0) has not trailed in a game all season and has had its narrowest margin of victory stand at 22 points. And while the Longhorn faithful have enjoyed the ride, absolutely none of it matters at this point as MA heads into the playoffs Thursday night.
“You’ve got two seasons. You’ve got your regular season and you try to win that. You want to win your region so you can play at home. Then you come out and you have a new season really. You have a three-game season and, if you lose, you go home,” Marengo Academy coach Robby James said. “The pressure is on. It means a whole lot more every game. We’re trying our best to make sure the kids understand that and we think they do. We’ve had a good season, but all that is behind us now. We’re starting all over on a new year.”
The Longhorns will open the proverbial second season with the LaFayette-based Rebels of Chambers Academy (5-5).
“They execute. They run the Wing-T and they run it really well. They run a lot of things out of it, a lot of shifting,” James said of a Rebel attack that has accumulated 241 points on the year. They’re fullback is a real tough kid, 230, 6-1. They present some problems. They don’t make mistakes. I haven’t seen them fumble in all the film that we’ve got. They hold onto the football. They are a very aggressive team.”
Chambers took fourth in Class A, Region 1 largely on the strength of a mixed attack that is as much deceptive as it is overpowering.
“They’ve got a couple of tailbacks that run well and have a little speed. They throw the ball. They don’t throw a lot of deep balls, but they do a lot of flooding the zone and stuff like that,” James said.
Chambers will look to counter Marengo’s version of the Wing-T with a 4-2-5 defensive look that will occasionally flex into a 4-3.
“Defensively, they’re a real aggressive team. Their middle linebacker is their fullback and he makes a lot of the plays. They’ve got a defensive end that’s a really strong kid,” James said. “They line up in a four front, a 4-2 we call it with a five secondary. They’re real aggressive after the ball and they tackle well.”
Given the 185 miles that separates the schools, there has been little overlap of scheduling or common opponents between the two. The one shared foe for each team is Sparta Academy. Marengo downed the Warriors 55-7 while Chambers won its clash with the team from Evergreen by a margin of 21-12.
“What we worry about mainly with our guys is that we don’t make mistakes,” James said of his team’s focus heading into the first round clash. “You can’t turn the ball over against a team like this because they drive the ball and try to use the clock too. Those kind of games, you’ve got to play mistake free.”
Marengo Academy and Chambers are set to kick off at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Linden Athletic Field. Should both Linden High and Marengo Academy advance to the second round, the Longhorns would play Friday of next week while the Patriots teed it up on Thursday night.