Mason Ogle. Brent Lesniak. Brian Smith.

They're all connected.

All are star running backs. All play on winning football teams. All have played against NorthWood.

Dowagiac's Lesniak rushed for 324 yards against NorthWood. Goshen's Ogle rushed for 180. Jimtown's Smith rushed for 162.

Yes, NorthWood has played its fair share of teams built around one tremendous running back, and another name will be added to the list on Friday - Josh Jenkins.

Angola's Jenkins rushed for 903 yards last year and is even better this year.

Facing running backs who do everything but bend steel is nothing new for the Panthers. Still, when No. 7 NorthWood (8-2) meets No. 10 Angola (8-2), you can be sure Panthers coach Rich Dodson will underline, circle and draw arrows and stars at Jenkins' name on the chalkboard.

"I think they'll use the Jenkins kid more than anyone," he said. "I think he's their bread and butter kid in the backfield."

Last week the Panthers dealt with a Lakeland offense that tallied more than 1,500 passing yards this season. They deflated that air attack, winning 42-13 in the first round of the sectional.

This week, they'll see smash-mouth football, courtesy of Don Harter's Angola Hornets.

"Our offense, it doesn't try to fool anyone," Harter said. "We live on the ground."

NorthWood will see sweeps and runs up the middle between the tackles. Then Angola will throw in a misdirection play, just to keep the Panthers' defense honest.

"(Harter's) teams are physical and aggressive," Dodson said. "They come at you. That's his style. They'll try to fool you with some reverses. Sometimes they'll send one receiver out in a pattern off a play-action. They kind of sneak him out there. You look around, there's a guy behind you catching the football."

All told, Angola may throw seven to 10 times. Most of those will be either play-action or bootleg plays.

Dodson hopes the Hornets are playing from behind, so their number of passes goes up.

"I hope," Dodson said, "we make them throw it a lot."

NorthWood's challenge - how hard it will be, nobody knows - has at least been identified. Contain Jenkins and stop the run.

The task won't be quite as easy for Angola's defense. Like NorthWood, the Hornets have identified the challenge - dealing with NorthWood's option play. Angola faces an option team that has rushed for more than 1,800 yards and passed for more than 1,500.

Two players have done most of the damage. Halfback Aaron Huber has rushed for 965 yards and scored 22 touchdowns. Quarterback Charlie Roeder has completed 57 percent of his passes, thrown for 1,454 yards, rushed for 628 and contributed to 22 touchdowns.

Both are underclassmen. One year ago, Roeder quarterbacked the freshman team. As a sophomore, he quarterbacks the big team under the Friday night lights. Huber is a junior.

Roeder's heroics have caught Harter's eye.

"NorthWood's quarterback, for a young kid, has composure," he said. "He has a rifle for an arm and makes good decisions in running the option."

Back to Harter's dilemma with the option: How do the Hornets deal with it?

"We can't put all our eggs in one basket," he mused, "because then the kid will drop back and throw. He has a good corps of receivers to throw to."

Now that the Hornets beat the Whitko Wildcats 21-20 in the first round of the sectional, Harter is glad they played Whitko. Yes, the Wildcats rushed for 327 yards against Angola. Still, Harter thinks playing them only helps for this game.

"We've played several teams that run the option," he said. "Whitko almost ran a triple option. Playing Whitko will help us prepare for NorthWood."

But?

"Obviously our defense will have to do a better job against NorthWood this week if we want to win."

One thing going for Angola: The Hornets' defense has been solid all year, minus one game. Angola allowed 121 points in 10 games this season, a modest 12.1 points per game. Forty-six of those 121 came in a loss to Heritage to end the regular season.

One thing not going for Angola: James Brown, the Hornets' 6-foot-4, 280-pound all-state tackle, missed last week and is questionable this week. He has a slight tear in his medial collateral ligament. If he plays - and Harter didn't rule that out - he is Angola's best run-stuffer.

"He averages six tackles a game," Harter said. "Not many defensive tackles average six tackles a game. He does that, and he rushes the passer well."

NorthWood is 8-0 against teams with at least one loss. The Panthers' two losses? They came against two 10-0 teams, class 2A No. 1 Jimtown and class 4A No. 3 Goshen.

Dodson knows how to get win No. 9 - if his team carries through on his wishes.

"We can't let Angola control the football and clock," he said. "We have to give them a longer field to travel when they get the football. Our special teams will have to play big in this game. They can easily establish the field position we need if they do." [[In-content Ad]]