Week 9 is headed your way tonight and as always, we talk about five players that you should keep an eye on. Maybe they did well last week? Maybe they have a favorable or intriguing matchup?
Here are the players to keep on watch:
JAMESON COVERSTONE, Carroll vs. Wayne
Carroll is still in the SAC title race but it needs to focus on a win Friday and not so much what happens in the other game that decides this conference. Wayne’s passing defense has struggled throughout the year so there is no reason to think that the Chargers don’t go aerial to beat Wayne and to see if Jeff Becker can push his way into second place all-time in SAC passing yards. To do so, you have to look at Coverstone. The senior speedster has caught 37 passes for 795 yards, already surpassing what he did with more games and more receptions a year ago. With 12 touchdowns and averaging over 21 yards per catch, he is a weapon that Carroll will continue to look to a lot to close out the regular season.
LANDEN LIVINGSTON, Leo at DeKalb
The future West Virginia lineman doesn’t get a lot of credit in-season because he’s not often at a position where he can pile up stats, although he did register a sack last week. Livingston does have 22 tackles and a pair of sacks on the year, but his value doesn’t come in those numbers. Where his value does come is opening up the holes on the offensive line that has helped Leo run for 2,938 yards as a team. What else is valuable about Livingston tonight at DeKalb is the type of personality that you are going to get as the Lions try to close out an outright NE8 title. You aren’t going to see many get as pumped up for this game as Livingston and when one of your best players comes with that energy, it is hard to not feed off it.
ALEX CURRIE, Adams Central vs. Woodlan
The Flying Jets also can wrap up an outright title tonight if they beat a Woodlan team that is kind of hard to figure out with their Jekyll and Hyde performances. But that aside, Currie has been a speedy force all over the field for Adams Central this season and a quick start from one of the ACAC’s quickest players could have this game in the bag early. Currie is great for AC because he can burn opponents in a multitude of ways. He can get you on the kickoff return, on a rush, on a catch…you name it and Currie does it. He could be the one that puts Woodlan and the ACAC title race to rest early on Friday night.
HUNTER BIANSKI, Churubusco at Fairfield
With the NECC wrapped up, this game is as much about proving that the NECC small division schools could be better at the top than the big division. ‘Busco, as the runner up in the small division, will look to make that statement against the big division champions. And if anyone is going to plug up the run game of Fairfield, it is Bianski. In Fort Wayne-exclusive circles, people may not have any idea just how good Bianski is. He is a heavyweight on the defensive end and has registered 74 tackles, including four games in double digits with tackles. Coming off the line at defensive tackle for the Eagles, Bianski is a monster who also has four sacks, two forced fumbles and a pair of punt blocks this season.
LAMARION NELSON, Wayne at Carroll
One of the best players in the city that hasn’t gotten enough attention due to his team’s struggles is Nelson. Week 1, few were looking at him to be the Generals best player but he quickly became that. More to his credit, once Nelson established himself as a running force and teams had to adjust to handle him, they still could not most of the time. Nelson has carried the ball 207 times for 1,315 yards and week by week he just runs over whoever Wayne plays. Only Snider has held him under 100 yards and only three total times has he been held under 150 yards, going for 200 and 267 in Wayne’s two wins.
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