Clawson Football Coach Previews First Round Playoff Game

Players on the varsity football team had this weekend circled on their calendars.

The Trojans (6-3) lost in the first round of the playoffs last year 44-29 to Madison Heights. The moment the game ended, the boys were hungry to get back into the postseason.

Clawson’s wish came true when it clinched an automatic playoff bid in week seven with a 27-14 win over Mount Clemens. The Trojans visit Almont (8-1) on Friday night in the opening round for a game at 7 p.m. 

The opposing team will provide a much different challenge than Madison Heights did last season.

“Our focus (in 2010) was really how are we going to limit Madison's Valdez Showers,” Sparks said.

Showers was a beast of a running back who committed to play college football for Florida. The Raiders are very good up front, but don’t have that kind of dominant player like Showers was.

Clawson Patch had a chance to talk with Trojans head coach Jim Sparks the day before the big game to get his thoughts on the game:

Clawson Patch: Did you know much about the Almont team you'll be facing on Friday night?

Jim Sparks: Little bit, we have got to know the Marine City guys up there, they gave us a little insight.

We have some relatives in Yale, so they filled us in. Other than that, you do your run of the mill film exchange and we broke down all the possible film we could find. That’s what we have to go on. 

CP: I know you don’t want to give away any strategy, but what kind of team did you see on the film?

JS: I saw a typical team that you’d expect to be 8-1. The strength of their team appears to be their offensive line, very aggressive and pretty athletic up there. They run the Wing-T. They are going to hike the ball, trap every play and come right at us.

CP: Are you more concerned with what Almont does on offense or defense? 

JS: I’ve been coaching long enough where we just try to worry about us, to be honest.

We face so many different offense and defenses throughout the season, nothing is going to surprise us. It's just going to come down to how we are going to execute and how much effort our kids generate. 

JS: Anything different about this year’s Trojans team versus the squad that made the playoffs last season? 

Every single team is different; they all have their own personality. I’ll say this though – it’s nice having the back-to-back (playoff appearances) because every senior on my team has experienced this before and knows what to expect.

In the past, it could be a situation where they are happy to be there. This year, we have so many kids that have been through it once and lost a really close game, that we felt we had a chance to win last year against Madison. They aren’t so much caught up in being here, as winning the game.

CP: Good luck this weekend coach, thanks for taking the time.

JS: You bet.