By Mike Moore
Staff Writer
Brooklyn — After consecutive wins to the start the season, the Columbia central football team came back to Earth a bit in a Week 3 loss to Hudson.
Even so, when asked about the 26-14 setback, coach Josh Kubiak did his best to keep things in perspective.
“The Hudson game really came down to too many mental mistakes,” he said. “But we knew we’d have a tough schedule to start the year. Our focus is breaking the season down into thirds, and in each third, we want to win at least two games. We accomplished our first goal. Now, we want to do the same over the next three.”
The Golden Eagles get that chance starting tonight, in their first home game of 2016, against Ida.
The Bluestreaks come in at 3-0, having outscored their opponents by nearly 40 points per game so far.
This is also a team that went 12-1 a year ago, ending the fall in a 28-26 Division 5 semifinal loss to River Rouge.
“We have to stop the run, that’s the key thing,” Kubiak said about the Ida offense, which is scoring 52 points per game right now. “They have three running backs and two big linemen. We’re going to try something different and see how it goes.”
Kubiak stopped short of saying exactly what his defense would institute, but said a lot of it comes down to making the right reads and finishing tackles.
He’s also confident his offense, averaging more than 30 points per game right now, will be able to find the end zone.
“We have to stay on our blocks,” he said. “They, as a defense, get off blocks very well. I think watching the game last year against them, we made good initial contact, and then they’d shed us. That has to change.”
“We also have a couple weapons in our backs who don’t need much room to get through the line and make something happen,” Kubiak added. “That’s not something we’ve had a ton of in the past. But Ida is a team that will blitz and put some pressure on. We feel this could be a shootout, and if we do what we can, we feel we can score on their defense.”
Columbia hasn’t had much success all-time against Ida, going 0-12 as a program.
Kubiak feels that can all change tonight.
“From my experience playing this team, they play old-fashion, smash-mouth football,” he said. “I think the first few times we played them, we had to adjust to that, coming from the old conference where the teams weren’t designed to play like that. Ida is a team that will line up and want to be physical. If we can match that play, we’ll be able to hang with them.”
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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