Leavitt’s Dasean Calder brings down Wells’ Payton MacKay during the Hornets’ 22-8 win in Turner in 2019. The two teams face off again Friday in Wells. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file photo
Leavitt is finally playing a football game on Friday, and it’s a rematch of the 2019 contest in which the Hornets broke Wells’ 33-game winning streak.
This time around, the Hornets will have to go on the road and play their first regular-season game of the year, in Week 3, against a team that returned only one varsity player from 2019. Leavitt will also have a new quarterback in Hunter Hayes, who will replace 2019 Class C state champion quarterback Wyatt Hathaway.
The connections from 2019 are few and far between, other than Wells’ signature Wing-T offense.
“They’re a Wing-T team and that’s not as common anymore,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “It used to be that the spread teams weren’t the common ones and now it’s the other way around, so that is definitely to their advantage. We spent a lot of time in the last few weeks to try and prepare ourselves for the schemes we like against that, and they’re an even-front team, always have been, and so we are trying to get ready for that, too.”
Wells (1-1) coach Tim Roche is heading into Friday’s showdown with not a lot of film to look at of Hathaway’s team, outside of two preseason games.
“Last time we played, (Hathaway) had his kid at QB and had an unreal team,” Roche said. “I don’t know a lot, I’ve just watched two films. I’ve only seen them play Cony and Portland, and in the Cony game there were no numbers and then in the Portland game there were numbers but I didn’t know who was playing what. He’s always good, he’s got a great staff, it’s just one of those years.”
Lack of familiarity will be common this season. Wells knew even less about its opponent in the season opener, Belfast, than it does Leavitt.
“It’s been the same every week,” Roche said. “Belfast, I had no clue. We hadn’t played them since the early 2000s. I love film but I like to get a feel for teams. Everyone’s in the same boat and we don’t have a good feel for anyone.”
Wells fell to Westbrook in Week 2, 20-7, and knows it has to improve.
“The mistakes we made last week we wouldn’t normally have made, we just need more time with them,” Roche said. “I am telling them that everyone’s going to make the playoffs so we want to just peak at playoff time and go from there.”
On the other side, the Hornets are preparing for Wells by using what they have learned about the Warriors over the years. With no regular-season games to this point, the Hornets will have to adjust on the go.
“You could probably go back to our 2013 and 2014 games, and it probably doesn’t look much different,” Hathaway said. “I think you can take a little bit from the 2019 game; obviously the personnel is different, but I think every time you play somebody, the things you try against each other, we remember that. It might be (about) coming up with a counter to it. It will be a lot of coaching on Friday, I’m sure.”
Brady Fox is under center for Wells and running backs Brayden Fazzina and Connor Whitten have impressed Roche so far this season.
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