We had him on the cover of our prep football issue. We practically anointed him the player of the year before the season began. After he was "only" 11 of 21 for 115 yards in a 1-point loss to a pretty good Brodhead-Juda team, I said in a couple of radio interviews because of the preseason hype, everyone is focusing on stopping him. (Granted, we at The Reporter created most of that hype, but ignore that for now...)
The fact remains, Mayville quarterback Matt Haass is a darn good quarterback, and he'll be making an appearance in Fond du Lac on Friday night against Springs. It'll be my first time seeing him on the football field, and I've been looking forward to this one ever since I saw the schedule. Haass, at least stats-wise, is the top quarterback in this part of the state and has been especially efficient the last two weeks in wins over Campbellsport and Kettle Moraine Lutheran.
Springs is going to have its work cut out for it. The problem with defending a quarterback like Haass is because he can beat you in a couple of ways. You can't sit back in a zone because he'll pick it apart. Even though he's not very fast, you can't put on a heavy rush because he has a couple of tall wideouts, including Tyson Apfelbeck, that will win any jump ball or can burn their man deep. Also, Mayville has several good running backs that can do some damage if they catch the ball in the flat.
If you ask me, Springs' best defense is their offense. The Ledgers had a drive against WLA last week that was something like 16 plays, 45 yards and took 8 minutes off the clock.
***Blog intermission. Most media members enjoy a quick game because it allows more time to get our work done after the game. As a result, I am very superstitious when it comes to anyone mentioning how fast a game is going (or the weather), because, of course, that will annoy the time (or weather) gods, jinx everyone that would benefit from a quick game and pretty much bring the proceedings to a halt. No one, and I mean no one (man, woman or child), should mention anything about time, weather, overtime, anything that may annoy the time and weather gods. Well, last Friday, I was in the booth with a certain radio reporter that we'll call Justin H. Wait, that's too obvious. Let's call him J. Hall. He mentioned, midway through the second quarter, that the game was moving rather quickly. I cringed. It took the weather gods about 15 minutes to put together a freak lightning storm, and the time gods just laughed as we were handed a 90-minute weather delay. So you know who to blame for that one.
ANYWAYS, if Springs keeps the clock moving, it will limit the number of possessions for Haass. Add in a couple of big plays on defense, and that's your receipe for a Ledgers victory.
If you are a football fan and live in the Fond du Lac area, I highly recommend checking this one out.
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