Central vs Hickory Saturday 1pm @ DuBois

[CoffinCorner]

It seems like this game has been stuck on a back burner with all the talk about Clariton and Berlin.    Any thoughts?    
Odds on Andrew Pryst laying some lumber.  

[TAHS92Alum]

It seems like this game has been stuck on a back burner with all the talk about Clariton and Berlin.    Any thoughts?    
Odds on Andrew Pryst laying some lumber.  

I'm pretty sure those odds are 1 to 1. Just a matter of who is in the sights

[Manfred]

Back in the 90's, some of us FH alums gave Hickory the new name Hick-cry! Anxious to see if they retain that distinction, or pass the title.

[QuoteTheRaven]

I think Central has some nice weapons on offense, but wasn't Hickory known for a "shut down" defense last year, and if so are they just as good? I don't know anything about this Hickory team, just wondering

[CoffinCorner]

Seeing that they have owned D6 the last two years I would think that they are the favored team, there young qb and Rb from last year are better 
Probably so seniors at Central that remember Pryst from the game two years ago.  Has several plays from that game on his highlights tape 

[TAHS92Alum]

The Hickory team was mostly juniors last year. I just see it as another year older and more of the same for D6. Chuck Carr is still just a Junior. Hard to believe

[Golfpro]

This is the best Hickory team of the past 5 d10 champions. A lot of people from d10 think this team can challenge Aliquippa next week if they can get past Central.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I think Pryts is as good of a player in the state. His highlights are very impressive.

[billmurray]

Should be a good game. This is probably one of Hickorys best, if not the best, teams...They play solid on both sides of the ball. Pryts is an animal. Central will no be able to make the little mistakes they've been making as of late like putting the ball on the ground and dumb penalties. Special teams could end up deciding this one.

[DragonsDoExist]

Here's some insight on Hickory. As mentioned above this is their 5th consecutive D10 championship and thus meeting with a D6 opponent. The Hornets are 2-2 in their 4 previous matchups with the D6 representative.

2011
Lost to Tyrone 28-40
2012
Lost to Richland 12-38
2013
Beat Central 37-27
2014
Beat Tyrone 28-0

Last years team seemed to arrive a year ahead of schedule with a freshman QB in Luke Brennan. The Hornets rely less on the arm of Brennan and more on the legs of junior workhorse Chuck Carr. Last week Carr carried 40 times for 275 yards and 3 TDs and for the season has 2454 yards on 246 carries and 38 TDs. Brennan has not topped 100 yards passing in any of his last 3 games and has a single game high of 197. On the season the soph has thrown 18 TDs to 10 INTs. When they do throw the top targets have been 5'10" senior Izzy Dejulia (38, 570, 8) and 4* PSU commit Andrew Pryts (31, 551, 8). The defense starts 7 seniors led by Pryts and like mentioned above he is a thumper.

The current Dragon seniors were sophs back in 2013 when they lost to Hickory 27-37 after leading 21-14 at the half. Pryts led Hickory back then with 5 catches for 190 and 2 long game breaking TDs.

This is a pretty confident Dragon group with an outstanding defense. Limiting Carr and forcing Hickory to throw will be the key for Central. If they can put the Hornets into passing situations it gives their athletes on the DL a chance to pin their ears back like they did to Juniata in the D6 title game. Hickory is definitely a more balanced team than Juniata and with better athletes but the keys remain the same for the Dragons. It's obviously gonna be the best team Central has played all year but I won't ever doubt these kids. Looking forward to good game Saturday afternoon.