By Mike Moore
Staff Writer
Napoleon – Two consecutive seasons with four wins at the finish line.
Ten consecutive seasons with a ticket to the postseason denied.
The Napoleon football team can change one of those facts, and take a massive step in altering the other tonight when they hit the road for what’s shaping up to be a must-see battle at Manchester.
“I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere,” Pirates coach Scott Ashe said Thursday. “It’s going to be a great place to be on a Friday night. Our kids are fired up, and I’m sure they are too.”
After starting the year with consecutive losses, the Pirates have run off four wins in four weeks, and only one of those was close.
“We played two of the toughest teams around early,” Ashe said of losses to Columbia Central and Grass Lake to start the year. “Right now we’re coming together. The kids are playing well.”
And confidence?
“Lots of confidence,” he added. “They’ve figured out how to adapt and overcome things going wrong. We’ve been able to work through mistakes. That’s been huge.”
The win streak has put the Pirates in prime position to make 2016 a special, and unique, season.
Since last making the playoffs in 2005 with a 6-3 record, Napoleon has had one winning season, going 5-4 in 2006, and lost seven or more games on six different occasions.
The past two years have seen teams inch forward, finishing 4-5 both times.
But now the Pirates have a chance to tie that win total from 2006, and pull themselves within one win of the state playoffs.
It certainly won’t be easy.
Not against Manchester.
Not in Manchester.
The Flying Dutchmen dropped their season opener to Clinton, but have gone 4-1 since, winning with a defense that allowed eight points and six points in two wins, and an offense that produced 42 and 47 in the two other wins.
“We know we have to play consistent, good, hard-nosed football,” Ashe said. “They are going to run a lot of formations. We have to be disciplined.”
The Pirates’ defense has been the biggest reason for the turnaround.
After giving up 70 points in the first two weeks, the group has allowed 48 total.
“We switched some things around, going from a four-man front to a five-man front,” Ashe said. “The defense has been the biggest factor in all of this.”
And it will be challenged facing a Manchester team that’s won 10 games in a row in this head-to-head series.
They’ve been more talented. It’s that simple,” Ashe said. Napoleon’s last win was a 35-34 decision in 2005. “I don’t think that’s the case anymore. We’re at a point now where we have some good kids who can compete with anyone.”
There’s no looking past this opportunity for the Pirates.
A chance to assure a winning regular season.
A chance to be one win from an automatic playoff berth.
“It would mean everything in the world to us, to get a win,” Ashe said. “That’s why we’ve worked so hard to be in this position. To have the chance we do means everything to us right now.”
Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports. You can reach him at mjm12@albion.edu. He’s also the author of ‘Love, Defined; A Dedication to the Love, Sacrifice, and Magic of Motherhood.’
Love, Defined is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tate Publishing or by contacting Mike directly.
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