Avery lost 35-14 at MacDonald Stadium in Newland in the last meeting between the schools a season ago.
Scouting the Cougars
The most inspirational story of the 2009 Western Highlands Conference football season was the success of the Mountain Heritage Cougars. Normally perennial doormats in the conference that battle with Madison to stay out of the conference cellar, everything clicked for the Cougars one season ago.
Heritage, who won only 15 games from the year 2000 through 2007, had the second of back-to-back season of 11 wins or more and earned a conference championship. The team showed it could compete with any team in the state, with a playoff run that took the Burnsville team all the way to the 2A state championship game in Chapel Hill, where the team’s Cinderella run ended with a 28-3 loss to state champion Tarboro. The success earned Heritage head coach Joey Robinson state 2A Coach of the Year honors in 2009.
Catching passes from Tomberlin is the team’s leading receiver Drew Letterman (19 receptions, 436 yards, 7 TD), tight end Dalton Woody who caught a touchdown in last week’s win over Mitchell, and Trenton Burleson. Also catching footballs out of the backfield is Kardulis (11 receptions, 208 yards, 2 TD).
Rice (61 tackles) is the leader of a Mountain Heritage 4-3 defense that returned only four starters from last year’s Western Regional championship club. Xander Silvers (65 tackles) and Ray (30.5 tackles) also pace the active Cougar defense.
The Low Down
This week’s foe is among the strongest opponents Avery has faced this season. Mountain Heritage, like Avery, defeated Hendersonville at home earlier in the conference schedule. The Cougars have done something Avery could not, however: defeat conference co-leader Owen in Swannanoa. Avery dropped a three-point decision to the Warhorses, while the Cougars defeated Owen 21-14 three weeks ago.
With the exception of the Polk loss, the Avery defense has been stern for most every game in 2010. The defense imposed its will on Madison in last week’s win, but faces a slightly more difficult assignment in containing, Tomberlin, Kardulis, and the Heritage offense.
In a continuation of similarities between the two opponents, the Cougars, like Avery, have the luxury of a quarterback who can run when necessary but throws the football effectively.
Like Avery, the identity of the Mountain Heritage offense is forged around its ability to run the football. As Viking fans have seen with its own club throughout 2010, when the Cougars can dominate the line of scrimmage and run the football with success, the team is difficult to contain.
Similarly, the Avery running game is at its most lethal when it has the two-headed backfield monster of Taylor Potter and Colton Blackburn running at full strength. Potter has missed the past two games with a groin injury and is questionable for this week’s game. His presence will provide a definite lift to the Viking offense.
Meanwhile Blackburn is coming off one of his strongest performances in an Avery uniform, and will need to again be strong for Avery to control the football and its chances for a win.
Avery’s hope for a conference championship likely disappeared with Owen’s win over Hendersonville last week. However, the Vikings are still playing for a high seed and home games in the upcoming 1A state playoffs, which begin two weeks from Friday.
The Vikings welcomed quarterback Alex Villanueva back last week from a broken collarbone suffered just four weeks ago. The junior signal-caller knocked the rust off last Friday night, and will need to be sharp to give the Vikings its best chance to defeat the Cougars.
By the Numbers
0 – points allowed in Avery’s shutout win over Madison last week
2- turnovers forced by the Cougar defense, which translated into 14 points in last week’s 28-7 win over Mitchell
54 – yards in total offense surrendered by the Avery defense last week in its win over Madison (Heritage surrendered only 133 total yards against Mitchell)
90 – yards rushing by Matthew Kardulis in last year’s 35-14 win over Avery. Also the number of penalty yards assessed to Heritage in its win over Mitchell
174 – all-purpose yards gained by Colton Blackburn, including four touchdowns, in Avery’s 42-0 win over Madison last week
320- rushing yards amassed by Mountain Heritage on 56 carries in last week’s win
1,131 – passing yards gained this season by Avery quarterback Alex Villanueva, including 188 yards in last week’s victorious return to the field against Madison
Read next week’s edition of The Avery Journal-Times for a full recap of this week’s game against Mountain Heritage, as well as a preview of next week’s Senior Night regular season finale against the Mitchell Mountaineers. For the latest in Avery athletics, visit the AJ-T Sports Blog by clicking: http://www.ajtsports.blogspot.com/
