Pirates Set To Host Greyhounds Saturday
September 21, 2018
INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - After a rough start to the season, the Independence Pirates gear (1-2) up again for competition again hosting the Fort Scott Greyhounds (0-3) to try and build some momentum going forward.
"To win this week, we've got to be a lot quicker," head coach Jason Brown said. "We've got to get a pass rush on their quarterback and disrupt their run game forcing them to throw the ball."
"I think that our secondary is better than them and we need to put a lot of pressure on them and get to their quarterback as much as possible." Doing that will allow us to play coverage behind the rush of the front four making it an ideal night for us."
Independence last week dropped a hard-fought battle to Garden City by a score of 28-21 after an outstanding start by quarterback Malik Henry who threw a 69-yard pass for a touchdown to Markiese King on the first play from scrimmage in his first game since November 4, 2017. Henry finished the game 5 for 14 passing for 118 yards and 1 touchdown. The Pirates also reached the end zone twice on seven carries for 108 yards by Otumos Payemanu.
"The run game was phenomenal for the most part and Otumos really proved himself well. At the quarterback position, we're still playing musical chairs and trying to find our guy."
"Malik got back here late, whereas all the other quarterbacks had been here since the summer, so we were trying to give everyone that we thought deserved it a fair shot at playing."
"We stuck with our morals of fairness and lost with integrity and class, but I think that we will bounce back and have a good performance heading into the bye week to keep the ball rolling for a successful remainder of the season."
The Pirates' defense held their own for most of the night looking unstoppable, until they unit grew tired. Despite a great night defensively by Juan Harris who recorded seven tackles, along with top performances from several other defenders the Pirates gave up 383 yards of total offense.
"Garden City ran the ball 60 times and when you do that you will test a team's will to attack the ball carrier and I don't think our guys shied away from anything. We're a much better team than we showed that night and so we have to get back to playing 60 minutes of football with 100 percent effort from all aspects of the team."
The special teams unit, despite giving up a touchdown on the second half opening kickoff improved as kicker Ryan Redman went 3-for-3 with extra point attempts and punter Adam Barry averaged 42.3 yards on four attempts.
"We were very pleased with special teams and how they performed after we put in some new things to our scheme with them."
"Kickoff looked really well despite the return, which was just a mental mistake that can be easily fixed. Punting and kick return were very much improved, and we had some great performances from those players which I believe will make us a very scary team to compete against."
On the season, Independence has gained a total of 971 points averaging 28.7 points per game while the defense has allowed a total of 353 yards and 28.3 points per game. Fort Scott fell to Hutchinson last week by a score of 61-21, their lowest performance of the year scoring on touchdown passes from quarterbacks, Gunner Sea and Justin Agner, while also getting an interception return from cornerback Charles Peeler.
On the season the Greyhounds have gained a total of 1186 points averaging 32 points per game while the defense has allowed a total of 519 yards and 46.7 points per game. In the last meeting between the teams, the Pirates defeated the Greyhounds 30-16 behind Henry who went 13 for 21 passing for 129 yards and one touchdown, while also reaching the end zone once on the ground.
Kickoff for Saturday night's game is at 7 pm. General admission for is $8.00 for adults and $5.00 for grades K-12. Children ages 5 and under get in free along with students who present their ICC ID. Fans can also stream the game at http://www.949kind.com/icc-sports/