The Commercial-News, Danville, IL

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November 7, 2009

Devils hope to continue run in playoffs at home

BY JOHN DUBOIS

BISMARCK — One of the biggest crowds in the history of Bismarck-Henning football is expected today when the Blue Devils play host to the Maroa-Forsyth Trojans in Class 2A second round playoff action.

Coming off a 21-20 opening round win over Staunton, the Blue Devils are more than just happy to still be playing.

“Our mantra last week was don’t be satisfied,” said head coach Mark Dodd. “We got a huge boost from going to Staunton and winning that game and I expect that to carry over to this week.

“We have a lot of young guys on the roster compared to the eight seniors they start on each side of the ball but it’s week 11 now and our guys have game experience. … I fully expect that we will play our best game of the season.”

The Trojans are 8-2 and are coming off a 31-7 win over Carlinville. Led by long-time coach Josh Justes, the Trojans are regular qualifiers for the postseason and they are — according to Dodd — not an overly big team but one that is extremely fast.

“Their type of success in making the playoffs most every year is a goal for our program,” said Dodd. “They run a spread offense that will focus on the run but can pass equally well and that will be a concern for our defense. It will be up to us to keep the pressure on them.

“Defensively, I suspect they will try to do what Staunton did and force us to pass. Their speed will make it difficult to what we want to do on offense but we are a running team and that will be our focus.”

The Blue Devils are 6-4 this season following back to back 4-5 years.

“Being in this game is a huge step in the overall development of our program,” said Dodd. “We have seen success at all levels (freshman, junior varsity) and with the success of the youth teams, the future looks to be bright but today we have the opportunity to see a dream come to life.

“In the three years I’ve been here I’ve always tried to describe the dream of what it would be like to host a playoff game and what that means for a team and the community that supports them. It’s no longer a dream and it’s great, especially for our seniors to have this opportunity.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on WRHK-FM 94.9

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