Sportsbeat

Confident Huron squad playoff bound

Playoff fever is catching in the Nautical City with the start of the second football season in the state. Players, coaches and parents from Rogers City are eagerly awaiting Friday?s upper peninsula clash between Rogers City (7-2) and Rudyard (8-1). In the meantime, students are stocking up on the gear they?re going to need to cheer the boys to victory.

Parents, who are generally more nervous than the players, want to make sure everything is in order for their trip to Rudyard. On Friday, they?ll no doubt be counting down the hours to the time they need to leave and might push off early because they can?t wait any longer.

Playoff fever has arrived in Rogers City. It is the Hurons third trip to the post season in head coach Mike Kosiara?s six-year tenure. IN ANALYZING Friday?s playoff tilt, having the game away from home is probably not a bad thing, with the 2007 playoff loss at Gilpin and league losses this year against Rudyard and St. Ignace on the home turf.

Rogers City is perfect on the road in 2009 and wants to keep that mark intact and give Kosiara his first playoff victory. Even though the Hurons lost the first time, there are many reasons to not count them out. The defense has improved, the kickoff coverage is better and the offense is playing more as a group. Another plus will be that homecoming won?t be part of the equation this time around. Homecoming is a tradition many high school football coaches dread, mainly because of the distractions. Was that the case when Rudyard visited Rogers City on a wet and cold October night? There?s a very good chance.

?There are a lot of extra activities that go into homecoming,? said Karl Grambau, the voice of Huron football on 99.9 the Wave. ?You can?t use that as an excuse, but you look at three players who stood in the rain at halftime and never got into the locker room and never got to talk to the coach. It was a miserable night.? Halftime festivities took about 20 minutes.

One of the players was quarterback Pat Quaine. His hands must have been frozen when he fumbled the first snap of the second half. GRAMBAU BELIEVES Rogers City needs to make sure the Bulldogs don?t pull off any more trick plays. ?I think our defense has really improved,? said Grambau. ?I think they are stopping the outside run better than what we did earlier in the season. It is going to be a tough match up, but I think our guys can do it.? Grambau said the offense h

as shown signs of improvement as well, as Kosiara has mixed in new plays and is getting more players involved. ?He?s (Quaine) developed more trust in his backs and receivers,? said Grambau. ?At the beginning of the year, he would keep the ball quite often. Now, he?s handing it off more, keeping it less, and getting bigger gains.? The kickoff coverage is much better, especially since the Inland Lakes game, when two kickoffs were brought back. Kosiara brought back some of the things he did as a junior varsity coach and it has paid dividends. The head coach prides himself in the special teams play of his squads.

?I really have been impressed with how this team has grown,? said Grambau. After both losses this season, ?we came back focused.? The players seem confident this week and have been working hard to prepare for the playoffs. The 2009 edition of Huron football is looking for the schools first playoff win since 2001 against Mio. The boys will have to do it without the voice of Huron football. Grambau?s driving the bus to Ellsworth for regional cross country action. His daughter Greta will be running too, so that?s a factor. Don?t worry, the game will be on the air with Karl Momrik and Andy Grambau.