Troy Athens Preview.

Written Sunday August 30th at 7:00 PM

The Red Hawks of Troy Athens have preached getting better each season but for a program have been 6-22 since 2011 and 1-22 all time against the Dragons, that's saying too much.

This appears to be a mismatch on historical accuracies but this is not your typical Troy Athens football team coming into Orion on Thursday night.

The Red Hawks come into this game at 0-1 after losing a tough 22-20 decision to Macomb L'Anse Creuse North but they do return a lot of talent and experience.

Troy Athens will be led by junior quarterback Joey Stark. Stark went 19-31 for 238 yards with two touchdown passes and one interception in the game. He will have a big offensive line to work with led by the 6.7 285 lbs Mitch Wochoski, 6.5 250 lb Matt Voytush, 6.8 285 lb Jarrod Kniffen,  6.3 205 lb Bradley Robinson, 5.11 275 lb Jarod Willis, 6.2 255 lb Jared York, and the 6.2 245 lb Jeremy Patrick.

Stark will also have some weapons to work with in wide receiver Jeremiah Lawton, whom caught a touchdown last week. Eddie Oprinkia is a solid wide receiver. Brad Vandekerkove and Zach Spinek are also solid players. Brendan Generau is expected to play tight end with what could be an interesting move for coach Josh Heppener to involve a tight end in his pistol wishbone offense. The running game will be huge as well as Jake Vincent is expected to be the starting running back, he is very shifty but is dangerous in the open field. Vincent also returns kicks.

Zachary Annote is the team's punter and kicker.

The Red Hawks big problem in the past has been it's defense where they allowed over 300 points the last three seasons. Troy Athens is led by linebackers Kevin Hazen and Curtis Hemingway. Both are very talented players and some lineman and offensive players though go two ways.

Depth is key in this matchup and it's a big game for both teams as they to stay in the thick of the league race and is coming off tough losses last week. Orion to Chippewa Valley, Troy Athens to L'Anse Creuse North. This one has the makings of being a very good game on Thursday night in the Dragons Den, we'll see what happens.