Patriots look to stay perfect as regular season closes

Prior to the start of the shortened 2020 season, the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots football team had accumulated an 18-4 record over the last two seasons.
All four of those losses have come against Mountain Lake Area. The two teams have met in the section tournament back-to-back years with MLA winning both matchups.
H-BC and MLA will clash again in Hills on Thursday, Nov. 12. The Patriots enter the contest with a 5-0 record and rank as the top team in nine-man football. MLA currently sits at 3-2 overall.
The stakes are not nearly as high as the last time the two teams took the field, but it’s a chance for the Patriots to snap a five-game losing streak with MLA, an opponent that has ended their season in the section tournament three years in a row.
“They’ve had our number the last couple of years,” H-BC head coach Rex Metzger said. “They’ve beaten us in the section championship two years in a row. I know our guys are hungry and looking forward to playing them.”
MLA defeated the Patriots last season in the section championship 28-6 to reach the state tournament.
Metzger said that his team has been looking forward to this matchup since walking off the field after that game last season.
“I think after last year when we got beat, this is the game that they’ve been looking forward to,” Metzger said. “It’s another chance to play them. It was a tight ball game in the section championship last year. It was 7-0 at halftime and could have very easily been tied at halftime. We felt like we were in that ballgame until the middle of the fourth quarter. Then they broke a couple of plays.”
The Patriots enter Thursday night’s showdown averaging 46.4 points per game. It’s an explosive offense led by seniors Tyson Bork and Gavin Wysong.
While Bork and Wysong get the headlines, Metzger said it’s the guys up front that steer the ship.
“Having the threat of Gavin and Tyson is huge. At any point, they can score. The line has been key,” he said. “We have some experienced guys up front. They’re smart football players. They are able to create a lot of space for Gavin and Tyson.”
In the last five meetings against MLA, the Patriots have been shut out twice and have scored just 32 points. Metzger said MLA plays a unique style of defense that the Patriots typically don’t face.
“Defensively they come at you a little differently,” Metzger said.
“It’s not a defense that you see a lot in nine-man football. They play a two-high safety. They rely on the strength of their linebackers. They have two safeties that come down in run support. They give you a look that you don’t see and they execute it very well.”
The Wolverines are averaging 17 points per game. Metzger said MLA’s offense is one that’s predicated on speed.
“They’re a solid team,” Metzger said. “They’ve got a lot of experience. They’re a physical team. They’re able to do a lot of things with their speed.”
For how well the H-BC offense has been thus far this season, their defense has been even better. It’s a unit that’s only given up 14 points in five games.
“We have a group of guys that are physical,” Metzger said. “They have a ton of experience. They’ve been on the field for a few years now. We have some good speed and some toughness.”
In the last meeting, the difference in the game was MLA making more big plays. Metzger said if the Patriots are going to snap a five-game losing streak against the Wolverines they’ll have to limit the big-time plays. 
“It’s going to come down to us making some big plays,” Metzger said. “They have some skilled guys and we are going to have to take them away and not let them have the big plays.”