The Dayton Bulldogs look to bounce back from last week’s , as they open their home slate with a matchup against conference rival Bound Brook, at Union High School.
The Bulldogs [0-1] are coming off an embarrassing 48-13 loss to bitter rival New Providence and are looking to duplicate what they did last season when they dominated Bound Brook from start to finish.
New Prov was a new experience for not only most of Dayton’s younger players, but the veteran upperclassmen as well, as the players seemed overwhelmed by the festive atmosphere. If the Bulldogs are to rebound they must not let their own raucous crowd and the emotions of playing in its home opener become a distraction.
Find out what's happening in Springfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Junior quarterback Anthony Cioffi said guys need to block all of that out and just focus on what they can control between the lines.
“It was a big atmosphere [last week]. News 12 was there and people from our town came down. It was a big game and everyone had butterflies and it was kind of overwhelming for some guys,” acknowledged Cioffi, adding the aura this Saturday could rival that. “But we still have to produce.”
Find out what's happening in Springfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
If all things play out to form, Cioffi said his squad should bounce back because they’ve worked as hard this week as they have since training camp opened, breaking down countless Bound Brook film and keying on their tendencies.
Cioffi said lesson learned from last week’s debacle, and is confident to rectify last week’s problems because Bound Brook does some similar things as New Prov.
“They caught us off guard with their quick tempo last week. We were ready to play but after [early mistakes] we kind of went into a shell. Everyone cracked and had mental lapses,” admitted Cioffi. “But we learned from that, studied their [Bound Brook] film and had a good practice.”
While not wanting to divulge actual gameplan preparations, Cioffi admitted that Bound Brook certainly has some tendencies on film that Dayton hopes to exploit.
“We’ve been studying nickel packages [five defensive backs] all week so we can be prepared for their arsenal,” Cioffi said of Bound Brook’s explosive skill positions, particularly at wide receiver. “We’ve watched their film and there’s one formation where they’ve passed 31 out of 32 times, so we have to be ready for a fake.”
Bound Brook has some nice options at wideout, according to Cioffi, who also starts in the secondary. He added that he’s looking forward to the challenge of trying to shut down their passing attack.
“My main goal this week is to lock them down,” Cioffi said. “In some sets I’ll be at free safety, so it won’t be a lot of one-one-one. I’ll be more of a spy back there…we’re ready.”
The game is at 1 p.m. at Union High School, North Third St. in Union.
