Ben Whitehead
VELMA — When Velma-Alma head coach Greg Gothard left the field Friday night, he had a big smile on his face. And why not?
The Comets put a hurting on Hollis, blowing out the Tigers 48-0.
Velma-Alma had 359 yards of total offense, 269 of those coming on the ground.
“We have to keep working hard,” said Gothard. “We just kept grinding it out on the ground tonight. There was nothing flashy about it.”
Gothard hopes the momentum from this win will carry over into a big week of practice. The Comets are preparing for a road game at Cashion in the second round of the Class A playoffs.
It was “three yards and a cloud of dust” for the Comets on Friday night.
“I told the team that if we could just get three yards on every play and keep doing that, we’d be in good shape,” Gothard said.
Outside of one interception late in the first half, the Comets played sound, fundamental football. Velma-Alma controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
“We threw the one interception, but I told the team at halftime to go out and score and regain control,” said Gothard.
They did just that.
The Comets scored on their first three possessions of the second half (all in the third quarter) to take a 35-0 lead going into the fourth.
Then, on the first play of the fourth quarter, running back Trenten Files put the game away with a 70-yard touchdown run.
The Comet defense played about as well as you can in the playoffs. Cashion is likely to throw the ball a lot more than Hollis and be more effective through the air, but the Comets were able to keep the Tiger passing game in check.
Hollis was held to 78 yards of offense with just 22 yards coming through the air on 4-16 passing, including an interception by Peyton Presgrove.
“We were flying around to the ball and played Comet football,” said linebacker Zach Morse. “We just played smashmouth football which is what we do best.”
The good news for the Comets is that they did not have to show much on film to Cashion. The gameplan was basic, but effective.
As Velma-Alma prepares for the Wildcats, the main goals are to get healthy and not put too much pressure on themselves this week.
“We don’t need to do anything different, just go out and prepare like we did last week,” said Gothard.
Morse agreed with his coach saying it will be a normal week of preparation even though the game is on the road. If the Comets play solid defense and run the ball effectively like they did Friday night, they may be on their way to the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
