Eureka gets another shot at Florence
Jennifer DeMonte/Daily Inter Lake<br>Cricket Johnston, shown here at the net during Wednesday's Flathead volleyball practice, has 57 kills, 12 aces, eight blocks and 47 digs this season against Western AA opponents.
Today's Class B first round playoff game between District 8-B champion Eureka and Florence, the second seed out of 7-B, is a rematch of week two of the season.
Final score: Florence 41, Eureka 12.
The Lions went on to lose the following week to start the season 0-3. They finished 5-3 after re-evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. It is fair to say this is not the same Eureka team.
"In no way, shape or form," Lions coach Ed Newell said. "Same kids, obviously, but we've changed things personnel-wise, philosophy-wise, and the kids have responded tremendously."
Now Eureka gets a real shot at redemption against the Falcons.
"They're doing a lot of the similar things" they did in week two, Newell said. "They're a big, physical team. They're going to pound it right at you."
Florence's size is one of the things that prompted the Lions to reorganize. At the start of the season, Eureka was running a wing-T formation, predicated on misdirection on fake handoffs. That requires linemen to hold blocks to allow the play to develop.
The Falcons' line outweighs Eureka's on average by 40 pounds. The Lions just couldn't hang on for the duration of the game, and a close game at the half was a blowout by the end of the third quarter.
"One thing that really got us last time, we had some linemen going both ways," Newell said. "They're huge, and by the middle of the third quarter they had us worn down."
This time around, the Lions have several linemen only playing one way. That will help them both offensively and defensively, where they will try and shut down Florence's running game.
"They're going to run first and pass second," Newell said. "Our game is going to be to try and make the pass beat us."
The Lions now run a more traditional two-back set, with quick tosses to try and take advantage of their speed.
"They like to slant their linemen," Newell said of the Falcons defense. "They do a whole lot of twisting. And their linemen are big, 230 on defense.
"We need to try and neutralize that with our quickness."
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
"It's a chance for us to prove that we're a good football team," Newell said. "We're excited to see if we've improved against them."