BC, Hampshire set for battle

There will be playmakers all over the field when Burlington Central invades Hampshire for the 38th renewal of this northern Kane County rivalry tonight.

The Whip-Purs (4-3, 1-2 Big Northern East) have lost two straight to Harvard and Richmond-Burton, but Hampshire was competitive in each of those games, thanks to its trio of playmakers: quarterback Trace Teboda, tight end T.J. Burzak and junior fullback Joe Moore.

Teboda has thrown for 971 yards and 5 scores on 57-of-130 passing (44 percent) and has rushed for 481 yards and 5 touchdowns on 58 carries.

Teboda's main target, despite constant double-teaming, remains Burzak (6-4, 205). The senior has caught 24 passes for for 492 yards and 7 touchdowns

Moore is seventh in area rushing yards with 628 on 113 carries. The junior has found the end zone 13 times already.

"It's to their advantage that they have the ball in the hands of their weapons," Central coach Aaron Wichman said. "(Teboda) is going to have the ball in his hands all the time, and he has an accomplished fullback to hand it off to, which makes them decent on their play-action passes. They're good at finding spots for Burzak to line up and try to isolate him in a one-on-one matchup."

Of course, Hampshire, which closes the season against Marengo at home next week, has to be just as wary of Central's top scoring threats: quarterback Dan Hagberg and fullback Greg Dickson.

Last week Hagberg enjoyed a career day against North Boone in a 46-6 victory. The senior rushed for 264 yards and 5 touchdowns and scored on a 55-yard punt return to tie teammate Dan Wagner's school record of 6 touchdowns in a game, set last year.

Technically a quarterback, Hagberg is rarely asked to throw the ball. He has just 16 passing attempts in the option offense. In Burlington's scheme Hagberg, like quarterback Justin Lee a year ago, is asked to be the team's primary ball carrier. As a result Hagberg has the most rushing yards of any local quarterback and is the area's fifth-leading rusher overall with 628 yards and 10 touchdowns on 72 carries.

Dickson is dangerous, too. The senior fullback has rushed for 426 yards and 7 touchdowns in 82 attempts.

"It's explosive," Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh said of the BC offense. "Last year they had Lee running the offense and you always had to account for him. Now you've got Hagberg. It's pretty much the same thing.

"They find a lot of different ways to get Hagberg to run the ball. And as impressive as they are offensively, defensively they're all over the place. They have a swarming defense and they're very good defensively."

The Rockets (5-2, 3-0) will take the field without senior running back Jason Wagner, who ran for 397 yards and 7 touchdowns through the first six weeks of the season. He won't play for the second week in a row due to an ankle injury sustained in the first half of the Richmond game.

Wagner is expected to return next week against Harvard, a game that sets up as a showdown between undefeated teams for the Big Northern East title if the Rockets can pass tonight's test against the Whips. BC is the defending BN-East champion.

"We always want to be greedy and put ourselves in position to win it outright," Wichman said of the conference crown.

For Burlington Central success this season has hinged on whether or not the Rockets have been able to run the ball. They couldn't establish the run against Oregon or Kaneland, their only two losses.

"That's going to be a key to the game," Cavanaugh said of stopping the Central running attack. "We've done a decent job and we took some steps last week."