KPZ Pregame Week 2: Silver Lake vs. Hayden

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - If you want to see some exciting 3A action on Friday night, head on over to Hayden High School, where the Wildcats will be hosting Silver Lake.

The game will be our Kansas Prep Zone Game of the Week, sponsored by Lewis Toyota.

Both teams are coming into the matchup 1-0 on the young season, but know they’ve got plenty of room to improve.

“I think as we head into week two, we know that we gotta be a lot better than we were week one,” said Hayden coach Bill Arnold.

Hayden got the best of this meeting last season, taking down the Eagles 43-10. But they know this is a new year with new teams.

“They’ve got a lot of speed. They’re gonna spread you sideline to sideline,” said Coach Arnold about the Eagles. “We gotta do a good job of tackling in the open field, and offensively we gotta hang onto the football.”

And the Wildcats know they have to prepare for Tanner Martin under center.

“He’s very solid. He’ll find the open wide receiver always and he ain’t afraid to run the ball,” said Hayden defensive end/tight end Brady Holloway. “We just gotta make sure when we get the chance to put a hit on him, we really put a hit on him. So that way he’s not so wanting to run the ball.”

But the Eagles know Hayden will have plans for all the threats they bring to the field.

“They gotta plan to beat us. They can’t just plan to beat one player, they gotta plan to beat all 11 of us on both sides of the ball,” said Silver Lake quarterback Tanner Martin.

“Our offense at Silver Lake is usually quarterback driven, and a kid like Tanner, a senior who played a lot last year and put up some good numbers, it’s always nice to have him on our side,” said Silver Lake head coach Logan Pegram.

And Silver Lake will definitely be looking to contain Finn Dunshee on the ground.

“Stop the run, be physical. They’re a good team and they have a style of play that compliments that,” Coach Pegram added.

Both squads opened this season scoring 40+ points, and this fight to stay undefeated is looking to be a good one.

“It was exciting getting a win to start the season off, but every week our record is 0-0. We have to go 1-0 every week,” Martin said.

Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m., and you can watch the highlights on Kansas Prep Zone at 10:00 p.m.

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