This week 740 The Fan’s Friday Night Lights showcase will feature a North Dakota 11B Southeast region battle, as the 4-1 Central Cass Squirrels welcome the visiting 4-1 Lisbon Broncos. Both teams are jostling for playoff positioning in the tightly contested Southeast region standings.
Central Cass is coming off a humbling 37-0 loss to Kindred last Friday. It was CC’s first loss of the season and dropped them out of the latest top 5 poll. The Squirrels suffered some early turnovers that created short fields for the Vikings. Kindred capitalized on the miscues and converted those prime opportunities into touchdowns, as the Squirrels faced themselves an insurmountable deficit before they could even get settled into the game. Coach Tommy Butler says matching the physicality of Lisbon at the line of scrimmage will be crucial. They will look to funnel the ball to running back Owen Wiersma outside the hash marks in space and force the Broncos’ help defense to the boundaries and to make open field tackles. Quarterback Brendan Maasjo will need to protect the ball better and consistently connect with his receivers on short-to-intermediate routes to neutralize the impact of Lisbon’s fierce pass rush.
Lisbon trounced Oak Grove 52-7 last week. They have reeled off four straight wins after losing their opener, but they’ve feasted on lowly competition. Their four victories have come against teams with a combined record of 2-18; three of those squads are currently winless. The Broncos were the Class 11B state runner-ups last year though, so they should not be taken lightly and have valuable experience playing in high-stakes games. Lisbon’s offense revolves around Wing T rushing concepts usually with presnap motion. They average 380 yards on the ground per game and 9.8 yards per carry as a team. Junior quarterback Boeden Greenley is the team’s leading rusher with 74 attempts for 732 yards and 10 touchdowns. He rarely throws as he’s attempted just 21 passes through five games for 150 yards and one touchdown. Central Cass will look to disrupt the Broncos’ rushing rhythm and make them one-dimensional.
The Broncos won last year’s matchup 32-6. This will be the 40th meeting between the two schools since 1975; Lisbon leads the series 20-19 over that span.
Tune in to the pregame show at 6:45 pm with kickoff at 7 pm on AM 740 or listen live at this link: http://player.listenlive.co/28991.
