Kinnelon football playoff preview

Head Coach Kevin White took a few minutes away from looking at film to discuss his team's playoff game with Mountain Lakes. It is the school's first post season football game since 1998 and while the task is daunting, you'll read that he is optimistic that his team will be ready and if they are, anything can happen. TF
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When Kinnelon clinched their playoff spot with Friday night’s win versus Boonton, everyone came off the field thinking that they would be playing Glen Rock in the first round of the playoffs. With the quirkiness of the power point system, Glen Rock was able to hold onto the top seed which meant that Kinnelon, at seven, would face the second seed and for them is was a team with which they are all to familiar, Mountain Lakes.
“Emerson was going to jump up and be the seventh seed if they won and we were going to be the eighth and play Glen Rock, but they lost, so pick your poison. We knew whatever draw we were going to get it would be a great team”, said Head Coach Kevin White. “At this time of year you expect to play outstanding football teams and Mountain Lakes truly epitomizes that word. I think we’re excited about it, we recognize the unique challenge that it presents, and we realize we’re going to have to make it our kind of game and not theirs. We can’t let it be a track meet. We have to make it a nice sloppy grind it out physical kind of game and hope that we can prevail in that kind of matter”.
If there is one team in the bracket, which Kinnelon knows, it’s Mountain Lakes. White knows what they will try to do and it is the responsibility of his coaching staff and his players to go out there and stop what is perhaps the best team in the area, despite being Group 1.
“Going in we know Mountain Lakes, we know they will run the wing-t. We know the things that they like to do, but there is another side to that. Mountain Lakes knows us, they know what we like to do and how we do it. Ultimately it’s going to come down to which side wills their way to play the style of game that they want”, said White.
Kinnelon does not make trips to the playoffs that often, in fact, this is just their second time, but they are not just satisfied with making it. They want to win and while they face a tough task in the first round, they look at it as a challenge. White knows what his team has to do. Whether or not they can will be the difference in the game.
“Can we go on methodical thirteen, fourteen play drives? We’ll have some stuff in there to create big plays to take some pressure off us but ultimately, we have to control the clock, limit their snaps on offense, and punch it in when we get down there. If you leave points out there against them, you will live to regret it”, said White.
This has been a great year for Kinnelon football and White has gotten this program to where he wanted it to be in three years. The future looks bright as well; the fortunes of this program do not reside solely on the efforts of the senior class. Still, with quarterback Brian DeVeau having an amazing season running the ball behind a senior laden offensive line, this is as good a chance the Colts may have in knocking off their rivals.
“You go out and do the best job you can. You do the best preparing that you can. We just want to make sure we want to do everything right through Friday to get us ready to compete and then on Saturday, I have to coach smart and we have to play hard”, said White. “Let’s play our best game and if our best isn’t good enough so be it, but if we play our best, you have to feel good about your chances”.
Should they lose this game they will get to play Mountain Lakes again on Thanksgiving and if they can win that game, it will give them a share of the league title along with Mountain Lakes and Verona.