Week 3 of the high school football seasons brings a full slate of action across the tri-state that sees many teams get their final tune ups in before district play. Woodward does just that and makes a trip to the metro area where the Newcastle Racers await them. Let’s take a further look into the Boomers opponent:

 

Record & Rank: 2-0, ranked #10 by the AP, not ranked by the Oklahoman. Last season Newcastle was 5-6 and lost to Tuttle 34-3 in the first round of the 4A playoffs.

 

Meet The Coach: Jeff Brickman is entering his 6th season at Newcastle and has compiled a 24-29 record. Newcastle has made the playoffs two straight seasons losing to Tuttle in both appearances. Previously Brickman spent time at Southmoore high school as an offensive coordinator and served as head coach in a short stint. Brickman also spent one season on the Oklahoma Baptist University in-between his time at Southmoore. Brickman is credited with the development of Former Texas and current Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson’s during his time at Southmoore and Newcastle.

 

Team Preview (Offense) : The Racers offense begins in the backfield with junior running back Carson Bolser. Bolser brings good size and tough downhill running which Newcastle will look to establish early. Junior quarterback Jackson Bergt is under center for the Racers and is comfortable dropping back to pass with the ability to move the pocket if needed. Senior wide reciever Alex Logan will be a prime target for Bergt and brings good speed, size, and leadership to the offense. Tight ends Brady Rice and Randy Nix will see chances underneath and are hard to bring down in the open field. Up front Newcastle is young but talented with good size especially between their guards Clayton Riggs and Charles Gentry as well as center Taj Smith. Overall Newcastle will look to run early and often until you can prove you can stop it. Newcastle is very efficient in their passing game and they know the perfect time to dial up a deep shot over the top of the defense.

 

Team Preview (Defense): The Newcastle defense starts in the middle with senior linebacker Michael Jarko who has a great nose for the ball and the ability to range from sideline to sideline. In the secondary Alex Logan is the lockdown corner Newcastle will use to match up with the best the opposing offense has to offer. In the trenches Randy Nix anchors a three man front that brings physicality and excels at closing open gaps in the running game. Overall this Newcastle defense is disciplined with senior leadership at key positions.

 

With that in depth look at Newcastle let’s take a look at last week’s game for the Boomers and review the gameplan going into this week’s game:

 

Game Summary vs Bethany:   The Bethany offense established the tone early in the ball game by scoring on their opening drive in large part due to the tough running from the Gilliland brothers. Jaden Gilliland would punch in the first score of the game with just under seven minutes to go in the quarter and Bethany didn’t look back from that point. Two first quarter interceptions by Rylun Sanders and another Jaeden Gilliland touchdown see Bethany take a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter Bethany would crank up the pressure as Woods Harrell would score from 29 yards out on a play action pass from Taylor Heim. A Cale Wetwiska scramble, and another Jaeden Gilliland plunge would make it 35-0 at the break. On Bethany’s first drive in the third quarter Cale Wetwiska would find Heim on an end-zone fade route to push the lead to 42-0. Woodward would win the fourth quarter as freshman Ace Long started to find his rhythm and found pay dirt for his first varsity touchdown of his career. Sam Cheap would punch in a one yard dive to bring the final score to 42-14. Ace Long was the bright spot for the Boomers as he finished the game with 135 yards on 23 carries.

 

Game Takeaways: Early turnovers and Bethany winning in the trenches really put Woodward behind from the jump. Coach Luetjen and his staff know the offense will need to get off to a cleaner start against Newcastle who so far this season have shown good discipline and an ability to capitalize off of their opponents mistakes.

 

Keys To The Game: Woodward has to set the tone defensively right away and the Boomer offense needs to carry that momentum they gained in the 4th quarter against Bethany to put together drives to start this one. Coach Luetjen would like to see the physicality he saw against Guthrie return against a disciplined Newcastle squad.

 

Don’t forget to join us on Z92 for the radio broadcast with pre-game coverage at 6:30. Dakota Waggoner, Eric Scott, and myself will be on the call for all the action. You can also find the video stream of the game on BoomerTV via boomertv.net or going to z92online.com and finding the link to the channel there.