After a great team win vs St. Joe central, the Northmen look to stretch their winning efforts tonight as they open the door to the Staley Falcons for the first time in the Oak Park Activities Complex. The Northmen are coming off a homecoming victory against St. Joe central, which was the most productive win for the Northmen in any recent years. All three phases of the ball being had very productive stat lines, and the perfect game to prep for their cross-town rival.
 Offense
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The offense out-did themselves this past Friday, where we saw every skill position contribute huge plays to the offenses success starting with '22 Ty Clemens. Putting the offense in good field position is something every quarterback is responsible for and is something we saw plenty of times out of Ty. Clemens finished the game with 254 passing yards in a shortened amount of playtime, some of those yards being contributed by '23 Marlon Gant who made a highlight - reel toss play which landed in the hands of '22 Bubba Bogart resulting in a touchdown. We witnessed 6 different athletes participate in these passing yards Friday, those being '22 Bubba Bogart, '23 Xavier Williams, '23 Marlon Gant , '22 Elliot Leavey, '22 Jordan Garner and even running back '22 KeAndre Braxton who stepped out the backfield to gather some receiving yards. While he was in the backfield, he racked up 41 yards with only 6 carries early on in the game, before he switched out with '25 Travon Pankey who contributed 85 yards to the offenses total production. With the 400 total yards of offense on Friday, the Northmen plan to repeat themselves in terms of productivity in this week's matchup vs the Falcons at home.
 Defense
The Northmen played their best defense of the year against St. Joe Central this past week recording 4 interceptions and 5 sacks, which held the shutout until the Northmen made the choice to rotate in Seniors and JV players at several positions.
"The experience for these kids and a chance to see the field on a Friday night is more important and giving up points. It's a learning opportunity, and you can never anticipate making a switch, but you do have to be prepared too if the opportunity arises. It just something we've always done." - Jake Danneman - Defensive Coordinator
This week the Northmen go against their cross-town rival Staley Falcons.  Staley is a powerhouse name in the Northland, but the Falcons are having a rough season, missing a a week 4 game vs Liberty North due to COVID, Staley is on a 4 game losing streak and looking for a win on the road. The Northmen defense is starting to hit it stride returning several key contributors from injury, this new look defense impressed in the last few weeks. '22 Jett Sutton, '22 Bryce Warner, '23 Karl Knaak amassed 4 ints vs the Indians, which had to do with '22 Jermaine Harris, '22 Julijano Sokoli '23 Sharo Mahdi applying pressure with 5 sacks on the evening.Â
This week the defense will need to be ready to contain a flighty quarterback with an arm for the deep ball.  There have been some major gains made by this defense since the beginning of the season, and with healthy and combined effort, defense could be the key to victory on Friday night.
Oak Park High School Northmen vs Staley High School Falcons
Oak Park High School Activities Complex
Kickoff 7:00pm
Broadcast provided by N2Sports:
GoNorthmen.org/watch
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