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The Sentinel Title Services Division III Championship Preview

By Dave Haley, 11/22/13, 10:30PM EST

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Matt Ehrenberg leads Bow into the finals

We talked to the people that know these two teams better than anyone in putting together our championship game preview; two head coaches who faced these teams during the season.
 

Division III
Stevens Cardinals at Bow Falcons

We talked to the people that know these two teams better than anyone in putting together our championship game preview; two head coaches who faced these teams during the season.

 First we asked the coaches to break down the top seeded Bow Falcons:

“They are very well coached (by head coach Paul Cohen and his staff) and the word that stays in my head when I’m describing them is the same every time; disciplined. They are so disciplined on both sides of the ball, they are not going to beat themselves and they are going to work very hard to make you earn everything you get.” A fellow Division III coach raved about Bow’s all-state running back Matt Ehrenberg, “ Ehrenberg just decimated us, he is deceptively quick for a guy his size. You see that he is a big physical back and you don’t anticipate that he will be able to get in and out of running lanes that quickly but he does. He can make you miss and when he does he becomes a home run threat because if he gets a step he may go all the way. Their quarterback (Derek Polish) is also sneaky athletic, they don’t call upon him to do too much running but when he does he can make plays.”

 Next we asked coaches to analyze the Bow defense. “In our conference we all knew each other’s plays so it comes down to execution and I don’t think there were many teams better. They are not going to give up the big play, they’ll keep everything in front of them, and all the way to the redzone they’ll make you earn it every ten yards.” Another Division III coach talked about the make-up of the Bow defense, “ They really rely on their linebackers to make a lot of plays for them. They aren’t very big up front but they have good athletes and they tackle well. They do a nice job wrapping up the ball carrier.”

 We then asked the coaches to break down Paul Silva’s Stevens Cardinals. “ They were the single toughest team for my staff to prepare for because they give you so many different looks offensively and some times in the same possession. They can come out in a double tight end formation and then on the next play come out in a spread. A lot of times they use the spread to get more running lanes for their big back (Donald Pellerin) but as the season went along I think they got a lot better in the passing game and their wide receiver (Nathan White) really seemed to come on for them.”

 And the Stevens defense? “ They were tough to run against. I think the line is their strength, the linebackers and secondary were a bit inexperienced early on but they have moved Pellerin around to give them more playmaking ability defending the pass. The secondary can have trouble tackling but they don’t over run plays and they do a nice job of keeping plays in front of them. Their ability to contain Ehrenberg Saturday is going to be really important.”

 Both coaches agreed that Saturday’s final should be very close. “ I think you’ll see a 21-17 type of score. Neither team is going to allow the other to put them in a hole and I think that this game, like a lot of high school football games, will be won in the trenches.”
 

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