Greenwave football aims to stay on a winning streak

Having tipped the scales against Wooster Sept. 11 with a 55-7 victory, the Greenwave football team will attempt to stay on the winning side of a 2-1 record when they face off against South Tahoe.

“Well you know we played well,” Hill said when asked about the Wave victory against the heavily anticipated Wooster. “When you prepare properly you make a pretty good football team. We made a couple mistakes and had a few defensive laps, but other than that we played pretty clean and offensively we were really efficient.”

Despite the Vikings’ current record of 0-3, Hill was adamant that the Wave would be taking South Tahoe seriously in tonight’s game, acknowledging even with their 0-3 record that each of South Tahoe’s losses was to undefeated teams and that they would be a tremendous challenge compared to the breakaway victory the Wave had against Wooster.

Among the performances that made the difference for such a victory, Cade Vercellotti stood out with four touchdowns including an 80-yard return on the first kickoff of the game against Wooster and had nothing but praise for the Wave’s attention to line defense.

“It all starts with the linemen,” said Vercellotti. “Passing, running, you have to have a good line to keep the defenders off the QB so he can throw a good ball.”

Despite his own essential performance as a wide receiver, Vercellotti attributed much of the success to fellow receivers Connor Nelson and Connor Meyers, as well as to Brock Uptain, who suffered a shoulder injury during the game.

“Nelson is always a good receiver, always out there making plays,” he said, “and Meyers catches almost anything that touches his hands.”

Hill cites the Vikings as an improved team that he hopes the Wave will stay strong against as evidenced by their practices this week.

“We just do what we always do,” said Hill when asked what he’s doing to prepare for the Vikings. “We come out every week, and we’re pretty consistent in how we do it. The one thing about us, we’re very consistent. Our kids know what we do from week to week and that’s very important in a football program. If we can build consistency then our athletes play more confidently, and hopefully that carries over on Friday night.”

Also in the Wave’s favor is Brock Uptain’s return to practice after a steady recovery, according to Hill, who acknowledged Uptain’s strong role in the victory against Wooster just as Vercellotti did.

“Yesterday was his first day back, and he looks pretty good,” Hill said. “We’re obviously going to watch him closely and monitor him well, but yesterday he was good, and I don’t think we’ll have any problems.”