Dawgs to face Hutto Hippos on the road

By SEAN HANEY

Cove Leader-Press

Tonight, the Copperas Cove Bulldawgs travel to Hutto to take on the Hippos.

Hutto is coming off a close loss last week 31-27 against the Temple Wildcats making their record 3-4 (0-3 in district). They have some key players to watch for during this game. Those players are QB William Hammond, RB #20 Jalon Banks, TE/LB/DL Brody Bujnoch, WR Alex Green, WR Gary Choice, LB Jaylen Parkinson, LB/DB Kenny Settles, WR/DB Carson LaPlante, LB/DB/TE Cashton LePlante, WR/TE Carson Forrest, LB/TE Zaidon Pleasant, DL Greyson Armstrong, LB Josh Bass, LB Jacob Bass, DL Felix Torres, OL Preston Huneycutt and DL Kaden Patrick.

Hutto seems to favor the passing game as their QB Hammond is 123-207 for 1795-yards with 21 touchdowns and only a single interception. Their running game seems to be fairly represented as well, as they have had nine different players run the ball for a total of 215 carries for 1171-yards and eight touchdowns.

The top running back for them is their QB Hammond who has run the ball 76 times for 451 yards and five of those touchdowns. After Hammond, the next running back up is Banks who has run the ball for 87 times and 393 yards and two touchdowns.

For receivers, the Hippos like to distribute the ball evenly, but their top receiver is Green who has 26 receptions for 504 yards and six touchdowns. After Green it goes Choice who has 22 receptions for 328 yards and 2 touchdowns, LaPlante has 14 receptions for 266 yards and three touchdowns, McMarion has nine receptions for 234 yards and one touchdown, Forrest has 23 receptions for 222 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Leading their defensive charge is Bujnoch with 104 total tackles on the year. The Hippos have 9.5 sacks, and six interceptions on the year.

Copperas Cove comes off their hardest fought game of the season after falling to Midway 24-21 making their record 2-5 (0-3) in district which is tied for last with Hutto.

They are looking to get their first district win this week. On the season so far, the Dawgs have switched between three quarterbacks, but it seems like the Dawgs have confidence in starting Micah Cassone this week again.

Cassone is 28-66 for 328 yards, four touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and no interceptions.

In his two starts, Cassone is getting more and more comfortable in the pocket, and it is starting to show.

Craig Brown last week was more relied on when it came to the rushing attack, and he seemed to be getting back into the form he had at the beginning of the season. On the year so far, Brown has 114 carries for 647 yards and five touchdowns with 119 yards receiving and one touchdown.

Catching the ball isn’t always easy on receivers when so many things can go wrong, but for Demetrius Pearce, Trishstin Glass and Daniel Izquierdo they are making it look easy.

Pearce is the Dawgs’ leading receiver with 26 receptions for 452 yards and four touchdowns, while Glass has 22 receptions for 295 yards and four touchdowns, and Izquierdo has 12 receptions for 129 yards and one touchdown.

Kevin Pontious, Xavier Taclibon and Ja’Coby Frazier have been holding down the Dawgs’ defense with 61.5 tackles from Pontious, 24.5 from Taclibon and 24 from Frazier. Taclibon can do more than tackle the person with the ball. He can also intercept the quarterback, such as last week’s one-handed interception while jumping backwards.

The Dawgs have a total of six interceptions on the year.