HARTLAND — Coach Brian Savage says that, aside from the obvious, he likes the direction his football team is headed going into the season’s midpoint.
“We’re getting better,” he said Thursday. “Our goal was to have a few more wins, but we can’t change that. They continue to get better. They continue to show up at practice and keep working hard. That’s all we can ask right now.”
The Eagles (2-2 overall, 1-2 KLAA West) will look to stay on a winning track tonight when they play host to Plymouth (1-3, 1-2) at Hartland High School. The game will be broadcast on The Livingston Post starting at 6:50- p.m. Click here for the link.
Hartland is coming off a decisive 35-10 win over winless Salem last week, a chance for the Eagles to rebound both from a tough loss to Brighton the week before and the loss of team leader Sam Gray to a season-ending injury against the Bulldogs.
They take on a Plymouth team that suffered a 9-0 loss at Howell last week.
“They’ve got a lot of big kids,” quarterback James Butzier said of the Wildcats. “It’s going to be a very physical game. We have to go out there and take control if the game and run away with it.”
Butzier, a junior, threw for 107 yards and a touchdown last week, and the Eagles will need help from their passing attack to take some of the attention off Joey Mattord, who rushed for 270 yards and three touchdowns last week.
“We lost that 1-2 punch in rushing when Sam went out,” Savage said. “But a sophomore, Matt Flynn, had a couple of big runs for us. He’s understanding our offense better now that he’s gotten some reps.”
Friday’s game marks the midpoint of the season, and while a West Division title may be out of reach, certainly a playoff spot is attainable.
“Our goal is to win out the rest of the season, and it starts tomorrow,” senior Vincent Cox said Thursday. “Plymouth is a very physical team, so we’ll have to be more physical than them. We have to pound the ball against them.”
Plymouth’s win came in a 16-0 decision over Canton, with losses to Northville and Churchill along with Howell.
Should the Eagles win out, they would qualify for the postseason, but Savage wasn’t entertaining any talk beyond Friday’s game.
“It’s still the one week at a time mentality,” he said. “We have to beat Plymouth before we worry about anyone else. We have to come out with a win tomorrow night.”
