9/1/05
9/1/2005
10:13:00 AM
PHS-HHS
Pioneers host injury-riddled Martinsville
Josh Brown
It will be a battle of two teams
still looking for their first win of the 2005 football season Saturday
night when Palestine-Hutsonville and Martinsville knock heads in
Robinson.
Both teams are coming off lopsided
losses in the opening week. The Pioneers trailed by just three points
at halftime against Red Hill, but faltered because of the humidity in
the second half and lost 37-15, while the Blue Streaks were hammered
57-0 by Casey, currently ranked fifth in the IHSA Class 2A rankings.
One of the keys for
Palestine-Hutsonville is to make sure they stay hydrated and avoid
another episode like last Saturday, where several two-way players for
the Pioneers were felled by leg cramps and dehydration as a result of
the heat and humidity.
“We are stressing to the kids to make
sure they are keeping hydrated and putting electrolytes in their body,”
PHS-HHS head coach Scott Zane said. “We have to alleviate the cramping
problem. The cramping comes from the loss of electrolytes and fluids in
the body.”
Zane said this issue has been
emphasized in practice this week, but not much more than usual.
“We’ve addressed it, but we’ve told
the kids before about this,” Zane said. “We have had people come in and
talk to the kids, but when we are using just 13 kids, we have to make
an extra effort (to rectify the problem).”
As for the game, the main focus for
Palestine is containing the Martinsville rushing attack, and normally
that would involve senior running back Dylan Cribelar. However,
Martinsville head coach Rick Hildebrandt said Cribelar will more than
likely miss Saturday’s game after separating his shoulder against Casey
last week.
“We need to get some people healthy,”
Hildebrandt said. “We had four seniors go down in the game and our
quarterback went down on the last play of the game.”
Hildebrandt explained the injury to
his quarterback Matt Higginbotham as a fracture to the top of the
fibula at the growth plate, something the coach had never heard of
before. Other injuries include a lineman with a torn MCL, and a couple
of players with broken ribs, and one of those players also has a broken
collarbone. None of these players are expected to play on Saturday.
“When you play those bigger teams
that just physically beat you up it just wears on you,” Hildebrandt
said.
When asked who was going to step in
for his injured players, Hildebrandt joked “anybody that knows the
plays.” He added several sophomores are going to get their chance to
show what they can do, including backup quarterback Harry Downey.
“We are going to put people in and
they are going to have to grow up fast,” Hildebrandt said. “They are
going to have to learn a lot real quick.”
Hildebrandt’s main concern is slowing
down Palestine senior running back Jude Holscher, who has switched
positions to take advantage of his speed. Holscher qualified for the
IHSA State Finals in the 200-meter dash last spring.
“Thank God the field isn’t that long
because we would never be able to catch him,” Hildebrandt said. “They
(Palestine-Hutsonville) have a bunch of good athletes and are well
prepared.”
Despite all of his injuries,
Hildebrandt believes his team will give a good effort.
“We are going to try to hang in there
as long as we can and hopefully make something happen,” Hildebrandt
said. “It should still be a good ball game.”
Palestine and Martinsville have met
each other 12 times since 1992, with each team winning six times. The
Pioneers have had most of the success lately, as they have won five of
the last six contests. P-HHS won last year’s matchup 22-7, while
Martinsville edged the Pioneers 15-13 in 2003. In last year’s game,
Kody Waggoner and Ben Parish each rushed for 100 yards, while Jude
Holscher ran for two scores in the Pioneers win.
“Any time we play Martinsville it is
a good game because both teams are equal in size and both play iron-man
football,” Zane said. “I am looking forward to a good ball game.”
