NICOLLET — Two Nine-Man South District, West Subdistrict opponents will clash on Friday night as the Nicollet Raiders host the Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars in a Week 2 prep football matchup.

The two teams started off their seasons on opposite notes, with the Jaguars falling 7-6 to Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda last week while the Raiders defeated Madelia 36-0. However, in last season’s matchup between Nicollet and GHEC/T, it was the Jaguars that came away with a decisive 44-16 win.

“Size-wise, they’re certainly bigger than us,” Nicollet head coach Cory Jans said. “Across the board in general. They play a really physical brand of football. They like to run the ball quite a bit, they have some athletes that are very good on the perimeter. They get in open space and can create some issues for us that way. We need to be really physical up front. We’re expecting a strong running game from them.”

Jans added that GHEC/T showed a lot of blitz in its first game of the season and that the team needed to be ready for pressure and blitz counters.

“Defensively, against Heron Lake, they showed a lot of pressure,” he said. “They showed some looks from more exotic fronts. Lot of work on blitz pickups and picking up guys from different areas can be tough. Expecting a lot of pressure on defense and a strong running game on offense.”

To counter the aggressive defense, Jans and the Raiders will look to spread the ball around to get behind the pressure.

“I think, overall, just how we like to play offensively and defensively, we spread the ball around to a whole bunch of people,” Jans said. “Last week we had six different guys score on offense. That’s a big thing for us is to try to take pressure off of any one guy. Just making sure you have to cover everyone on the field in all areas of the field.”

Key to slowing down the Jaguars will be limiting the effectiveness of senior running back Ashton Spear.

“Their tailback, No. 4, he’s very fast,” Jans said. “He’s very good at hitting open holes and getting into chase mode, making people chase him. Limiting how much he gets to the perimeter and forcing him inside, getting to our run gap responsibilities is going to be big for us. He’s a very fast guy so we have to make sure we’re just tackling him once and not three times.”

Also a threat for GHEC/T is senior quarterback Jackson Madsen.

“Guy’s been a staple for them in the past and he’s still an athletic guy,” Jans said. “They also have some guys at wide receiver that have speed that might cause some matchup issues for us. We’ll just have to play tough and play the ball and see how she goes.”

Nicollet’s strong win over Madelia last week gave the team a blueprint for success, and Jans has some notes on how to repeat that success.

“I think a lot of us, we try to make it where our offense is the same each week,” Jans said. “We have a lot of the same core concepts. I like the way a lot of our reads looked. Henry Oscarson had his first varsity start and did a phenomenal job. Just trying to instill confidence in him and make sure he trusts the offense, trusts his reads and trusts his guys. For us, it’s going to be a lot of take what’s given to us and not try to force the ball. So far, after one game, we’ve done a really good job of that.”

Jans mentioned two things that would be the biggest items to determine the win.

“The two biggest things for us are going to be offensive and defensive line play, and then whoever wins the turnover battle,” he said. “We’re coming off of a week where we didn’t turn the ball over at all. That’s a first for us since I’ve coached here. It’s going to be a big thing this game.

“They like to run the ball, they like to play a little keep away in that regard. We’re going to have to try to keep the ball ourselves, and offensive and defensive line are going to have to play tough. Fit the run gaps so we have an opportunity to hold down on defense.”