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CADIZ -- Harrison Central returns home following its first loss of the season. There were still positives to take away from the 22-20 narrow loss to unbeaten Malvern.
But there was a big question mark that's a bit of a head scratcher for head coach Anthony Hayes and his coaching staff that's been brewing the last few weeks.
The run game? Solid. Mykel Quito turned in another quality performance and leads the team with six TDs and 137.3 yards per game of effectiveness.
The dense may have yielded a few points to Malvern, but the Hornets pack a potent offensive punch and Hayes was pleased with the overall effort.
"Credit to Malvern, because they did what they needed to do. The quarterback and wide receiver played an excellent game," Hayes said. "But I thought out defense played pretty well overall, and we were able to run well again."
But the unlikeliest of question marks is coming from an area the Huskies have experience in triplicate and should be a foundation of the team's offense--the passing game.
In short? It's just not clicking.
Hayden Cassidy and the passing attack started strong, throwing for 253 yards and two TDs against Claymont. The last two weeks, it's been a total of 155 yards and three picks against just one TD. No interceptions were thrown against Malvern, but the passing game made good on only four of 14 attempts for 41 yards.
"We're struggling to throw the football and we need to clean that up and get better in that aspect of the game," Hayes said. "If we can do that, we're a dangerous team. If not, we're just very average.
"I can't really pinpoint the cause, but it's something that we're working to correct and trying to expedite that process."
Prior to Friday's kickoff is a good target date for the expediting process. Coming to Cadiz is an undefeated Union Local squad coming off an impressive road win against John Marshall.
Given the prospects of a win against the Jets provided numerous second-level playoff points, and the need to get back on track as the heart of the Huskies' schedule begins, that team's focus is squarely where it should be.
"UL is a very good team and people maybe thought they wouldn't be because their running backs graduated, but they returned three guys up front that are really good and a fourth who received a lot of playing time," Hayes admitted. "Their QB reminds me of ours. He's very athletic and has a good, strong arm. He can make things happen.
"They are very confident in running Coach (Bernie) Thompson's scheme."
Jets' back Brody Perzanowski leads the ground game with 95.3 yards per game and an average of nearly 10 yards per tote. Isaiah Tomolonis checks in at 58 per game and is just under 8 yards per carry.
Tomolonis has thrown for 269 yards and five TDs while teammate Colby Carpenter has 291 yards and three TDs passing. Billy Schumacher leads UL in receiving yards at 180, with Dre Saunders owning "favorite-target" status presently with 10 receptions for 140 yards and three TDs.
The gauntlet actually began last week for Harrison. Between Week 3 and Week 9, the Huskies' opponents hold a combined 17-4 record. Only Indian Creek's deceptive 1-2 record looms during that span, with winless Buckeye Local awaiting in the regular season finale at World War II Memorial Stadium.
Hayes knows the road ahead is difficult, but that's the way he and his staff wanted it set up.
"We set it up to be a challenge," Hayes said. "We want to play good teams and every week for us is really a challenge. We're a smaller D5 school and we don't have a lot of rivals because we're not a river team and we're not a northern team.
"We're kind of out here by ourselves, so we consider everyone a rival."