Tigers just keep on winning

IRON—When Al Davis was the owner of the Oakland Raiders he had one mantra, “Just win baby.”

The Cherry High School football team is taking those words to heart as the Tigers are 5-0 on the season.

Cherry will try to make it six wins in a row today when they travel to Cook to take on North Woods, beginning at 7 p.m.

The Tigers have outscored their five opponents 184-8, which hasn’t surprised Cherry coach Nick Stevenson.

“It’s all about the expectations the players have,” Stevenson said. “They don’t like to lose. It’s an easy team to coach.”

That’s because Cherry seems to score at will, whether it be on the ground or through the air.

“In the past, we used to air it out early and get up big so fast,” Stevenson said. “We’re trying to control the tempo early on in the game. We can score fast and often, but we want to work on a ball-control-type-of game.

“That’s something we haven’t been used to in the past. We want to control the pace of the game.”

To make matters worse for teams, the Tigers have more than one weapon on offense.

“That’s a great issue to have,” Stevenson said. “We have so many athletes. When we’re taking in the headsets, we try to make it an emphasis to get this kid the ball this whole series.

“We try to share the ball with a bunch of kids. We have a bunch of kids who are fast, physical, good football players. We make sure the ball is spread out to everybody.”

As for the Grizzlies, Stevenson has prepared his team for two different North Woods’ offenses.

“They like to mix it up a little bit,” Stevenson said. “They’re even on the run-pass stuff, but they do have different set ups offensively. It’s unique. You don’t see it very often. They will throw the ball. They have good athletes on the team.

“They’ve had success the past couple of weeks. In watching the film, they’ve found what’s working for them, and they’re running it more and more. They spread out the field. We’re excited to go up there and play. We’ll get a challenge. It will be a good test for us.”

Cherry’s offense won’t do anything different than it has done in the past.

“Most teams use their speed against them,” Stevenson said. “I don’t see North Woods as a super-fast team. They’re a physical team, with good bodies on the line. We’ll use our speed against them.

“We want to get to the edges and pass, but we also want to establish a running game. We’ll use our speed at opportune moments. We’ll let our kids get out there and run.”

The one thing the Tigers can’t do is look ahead.

Mountain Iron-Buhl is up next Friday.

“With our guys, that’s not an issue,” Stevenson said. “Both teams have a similar mindset. At this point of the season, we know what’s coming. We have to play hard and fast this week.

“They know we’re getting to the time now because we have the most exciting game of the season coming up.”