WARRIORS HAVE POINT TO PROVE IN STATES

PHILADELPHIA — As the New York State high school football playoffs begin, Indian River will face its most difficult task of the season when it faces Section 2 champion Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake on Friday at Watertown High School.

Both teams employ a similar offensive strategy and have used it to outscore their opponents by wide margins. Indian River blasted its opponents by a 383-point differential and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake has bested its opponents by 403. The deciding factor in this Class A quarterfinal game will likely be the option, and who can best stop it.

The Warriors tandem of Zane Fish and Corey Brown have been preparing their defense for Spartans quarterback Paul Layton all season as Indian River scrimmaged against itself. Now it is time to prove that Indian River not only runs the option offense better, but is also better prepared to stop it.

"Our quarterbacks are very good at the option," Indian River lineman Justin Swinton said. "We work hard at the option day-in and day-out. Them, they run the option, too, but I think we have more of an edge. We're used to seeing the option and know how to key on the option."

Swinton and fellow defensive end Tyler Slate's duties will be to provide consistent disruption of the Spartans' pocket, hoping to force Layton out of his comfort zone and into the approaching blitz of the Warriors' linebacking corps.

"They've got huge responsibilities," Indian River head coach Cory Marsell said of his line. "They've got to keep that quarterback inside the pocket or on the move to where we have pressure coming from."

Another player who will have to emerge in a big way for Indian River is middle linebacker Craig Norsworthy. Norsworthy is usually tasked with reading and reacting to tailbacks. But against the Spartans offense, his responsibilities increase exponentially.

"Norsworthy's got to be responsible when (Layton)'s outside the pocket," Marsell said. "One of our goals is to keep him inside the pocket. It's not something that's very easy to do."

The teams have a sense of familiarity with each other having played under identical circumstances two years ago — a game Indian River won 30-7. The Warriors don't expect such a wide margin this time around.

"They're 100 percent the most talented team we've faced," Marsell said. "When you get into the state tournament you're going to see the most talented teams on offense and on defense, and you've just got to rise up to the occasion."

The Warriors plan on doing just that. Members of the Indian River defense Wednesday praised their scout teams' contributions, described themselves as having an air of quiet confidence, and added that this years' team is the most talented they've been on during practice.

That isn't to say they don't feel a sense of urgency, though, or even that they do not recognize the adversity of playing such a talented team after waltzing through their regular season and sectionals.

"I would say there's a little bit of added pressure due to the magnitude of this game," Swinton said. "But knowing our defense, our line this year is one of the best we've had in many years, our linebackers are doing great, our secondary has backed us up. We're going to do just fine."