Greyhounds improve to 4-0, major challenge in LC Lutheran looms Friday

Shorewood - Facing the top running back in the area on a short week proved to be only a minor problem for the Shorewood/Messmer football team on Sept. 13, as the Greyhounds rolled to 4-0 at the mid-point of the season with an impressive 56-6 rout of Anthony Poe and Hope Christian.

"We did have a few hiccups, the second quarter was not as clean as we would have liked, and it was a bit frustrating to see as it was happening, but he (Poe) did get a lot of yards (199 on 39 carries)," said Greyhound coach Drake Zortman. "But you have to be impressed with the kid. He could run on our team any day I tell you."

And Shorewood/Messmer wouldn't mind having Poe on Friday, when it hosts Lake Country Lutheran (4-0) in its biggest game to date at 7 p.m.

"This is the culmination of the last year-and-a-half of work," Zortman said. "We know where they stand. People are saying this is their best team ever. They've had that team in place there 10 years, while we've been working at this for 15 months.

"We'll need an 'A' game effort with 'A' game execution if we're to make this happen. They're just that good."

The Lightning have a great balance of run and pass and have a highly dangerous receiver in 6-4 Jacob Demman, who can run a 4.6 40 and has essentially scored every other time he has touched the ball in film that Zortman has looked at.

But on the plus-side, the Greyhounds may get top defensive back Donovan Freeman back from an injury that has held him out for the last few weeks.

A cleaner effort than the one Shorewood/Messmer turned in against Hope would be a good starting point against Lutheran, Zortman said.

The Greyhounds had a 21-0 lead at the first quarter break on two TD runs by Alec Grimmer (12 yards and five yards) and one by Nate Visor (nine yards). Poe scored his one TD in the second quarter, but then Grimmer returned the kickoff 81 yards to make it 28-6 at the half.

In the second half, Shorewood/Messmer got two TD runs from Mykyo Evans (38 yards and five yards), Avery Smith (20 yards) and Louis Williams (25 yards).

"We knew we had left a few points on the field in the first half," said Zortman, "so we came out in our base offense in the second half and bounced it down the field a few times in a hurry. The kids responded well."

The Greyhounds rushed for 305 yards on just 31 carries (nine-plus yards a carry) as Grimmer had 13 carries for 83 yards, Evans four for 69, Smith five for 60 and Andre Brown four for 50.

"Coming off a short week like we had was a lot harder than I thought," Zortman said. "We had only one good hard workout before the game so it was a little goofy going into this one."