Coalfield vs Harriman Game Preview
By Greg Addington
Friday night, Coalfield will make their first foray into region play with the short trip down Highway 27 to face Harriman on Wallace-Black Field. The region opener is important for both teams as Harriman wants to avoid an 0-3 start and the Yellow Jackets want to jump back into the win column and begin region play with a victory.
Coach Travis Tapp’s Blue Devils will have their home opener on Friday, and will be happy to be back home as they have struggled coming out of the gate, dropping their first two games against county rival Kingston (21-12) and last week at Wartburg (40-9). Senior Kylann Love has been the quarterback so far and is quick and athletic. Michael Green Jr., Dylan Kocka, and Bryson Goodman anchor Harriman’s ground game out of their customary Wing-T offense. In their lone scoring drive against Wartburg, Harriman had success with a spread look and with a good mix of runs and a nice completion to Landon Frost for a fourth down conversion. Defensively Harriman is led by Dylan Kocka at linebacker with Kylann Love back at safety.
Coalfield traveled to Stone Memorial last week and also struggled getting rhythm on offense and fell to Stone Memorial 26-12. Peyton McKinney was 16 of 38 passing for 235 yards, threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Dawson Nitzschke, and ran for a second touchdown in the third quarter. Stone had success on the ground with Bryant Carter and Cedric Little both scoring on the ground. Both Panthers ran well and kept the Yellow Jacket defense on their heels. Daniel Schaar, Seth Lowe, Isaac Vanwitzenburg. and Hayden Hicks all had very good nights defensively, all registering double digits in tackles.
Coalfield and Harriman kick off on Friday at Harriman’s Wallace-Black Field at 7:30pm.