The Indians cruised to a perfect 9-0 regular season but were given a playoff draw that most observers feel was unfair from a competitive standpoint. The Indians must travel to Muskegon Catholic Central (13 On Your Sidelines' game of the week) this Friday night and would likely face Mendon in round two should they advance. The district therefore has three of the top teams in the state in division eight. "I was excited (when the pairings were announced)," says senior wide receiver Alex Toben. "I want to play the best right off the bat, get them out of the way. Beat them. Show everybody that we're actually a good team."
To beat Muskegon Catholic Central, the Indians will call upon junior backup Logan Bush to lead them in senior Brad Speet's absence. Speet must serve a one-game suspension for an ejection in the Indians' regular season finale. Bush got valuable playoff experience a year ago filling in and his coach is confident he will be ready Friday night. "Logan did a great job last year when Brad got hurt," says Bill Dunn. "Logan stepped in in the playoff run and was a big part of us getting to the state finals last year. Logan's seen quite a bit of time throughout the year actually. Maybe not in the role he'll be in this week against Muskegon Catholic. That's going to be new for him but there again, he did the same thing last year in the playoffs against Climax and stepped in against North Adams Jerome and did a great job for us then and we anticipate that he's going to do the same thing again this year."
"Filling in for Brad is not easy," says Bush. "He's an amazing runner and I probably can't fill those shoes. But I just have to try to do my fakes well just to keep the defense on their toes."
Join Tom Clyde, Dan Harland and Brent Ashcroft for highlights and reaction of Saugatuck vs Muskegon Catholic Central and many more first round playoff games Friday night on "13 On Your Sidelines" at 11:15.
By Tom Clyde
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