Braves, Mustangs have common opponents
by Ben Murphy

TAWAS CITY - The Tawas Area Braves varsity football team opens up Division 5 post-season play against the Sanford-Meridian Mustangs at 7 p.m. Friday.

While they haven’t played each other in the regular season since Meridian’s 27-14 win over the Braves in 1982, they know each other quite well as the teams have scrimmaged each other in the pre-season for the past several seasons.
“We have an idea of what offense they run from that,” Tawas Head Coach Tim Webb said. “They haven’t changed much from then.”

Last season, Meridian finished the regular season 6-3 en route to a playoff berth. Once in the post-season, they topped Ithaca and Clare to win a district championship. In the regional finals, they nearly knocked off eventual Division 6 state champion Saginaw Nouvel in a 34-21 loss.

This is the first season as head coach for Meridian’s Keith Schulte, who implemented the spread offense when he took over. Although Meridian has scored over 40 points five times this year, he believes that seeing a similar offense to the one Whittemore-Prescott ran last week should help his team.

“We know what adjustments we have to make,” he said.

The two teams have three similar opponents, as both played Beaverton, Harrison, and Pinconning this season. Meridian topped Beaverton 58-8 in week eight and defeated Harrison 45-0 last week. Similarly, the Braves defeated Beaverton 62-0 in week two and Harrison 27-9 in week one. The lone difference in common opponents is Meridian’s week two 13-12 loss to Pinconning, where Tawas was able to beat the Spartans, 27-21 in week three.

“You can’t put much into stock into common opponents,” Webb said. “Every game is different.”

Both teams appear to be peaking at the right time. Since Tawas’s near comeback win against John Glenn in week six, the Braves have won their last three games to finish the regular season at 6-3. Meridian has won its last six games since a week three’s 22-8 loss against Clare to finish the year 7-2.

According to Schulte, a lot of that has to do with their offensive line becoming solidified after the team’s game against Clare. It was after this point that he was able to add more plays into their offense.

The winner of the game will likely play at Standish-Sterling next week. The Panthers, who are 9-0 on the season, are heavily favored over Reed City (6-3). The Braves may have caught a break in the district pairings, as before Reed City was added to the district, they appeared headed for a first-round date with the Panthers.

“It didn’t matter one bit,” Webb said about who they play in the first round. “We were just happy to find out who we had to prepare for and play against.”

Both teams appear to be peaking at the right time. Since Tawas’s near comeback win against John Glenn in week six, the Braves have won their last three games to finish the regular season at 6-3. Meridian has won its last six games since a week three’s 22-8 loss against Clare to finish the year 7-2.

According to Schulte, a lot of that has to do with their offensive line becoming solidified after the team’s game against Clare. It was after this point that he was able to add more plays into their offense.

The winner of the game will likely play at Standish-Sterling next week. The Panthers, who are 9-0 on the season, are heavily favored over Reed City (6-3). The Braves may have caught a break in the district pairings, as before Reed City was added to the district, they appeared headed for a first-round date with the Panthers.

“It didn’t matter one bit,” Webb said about who they play in the first round. “We were just happy to find out who we had to prepare for and play against.”

Meridian is led by quarterback Alan Van Nortwick and running back Matt Bowen. Nortwick was 9-of-11 passing for 202 yards and had three touchdown passes last week against Harrison, where Bowen ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries.

Tawas will be led by a trio of running backs in Jeff Janis, Bill Schmidt and Matt Compau, all of whom have rushed for over 100 yards in at least one game this season.

Webb knows that post-season play is far different than the regular season.

“The atmosphere is always good,” he said. “The intensity is up another notch. Both sides are going to have pretty good players.”