The Dowagiac football team is coming off a big road win at Otsego last Friday night.

But the Chieftains (2-1) do not have time to look back and relish the victory.

That is because rival Three Rivers is coming to Chris Taylor-Alumni Field looking for the upset.

The Wildcats enter the game with a 1-2 record, but they are fresh off a 38-12 victory over Berrien Springs last week.

Dowagiac coach Mike Stanger is not concerned with his team’s focus because he and the rest of the Chieftains know there is little room left for failure with a loss already on the record.

“We have to be focused,” Stanger said. “Every win counts toward the playoffs. We want to continue building on our past two games.”

He also said he knows that because it is Three Rivers, “we will get their best effort.”

The Chieftains will count heavily on their defense again this week.

Dowagiac has been working on eliminating the big plays and will need to be even better this week at controlling the line of scrimmage.

“On defense we need to limit their big plays and get off the field on third down,” Stanger said. “We must control the line of scrimmage and protect the football. Field position is always important.”

Dowagiac shored up its special teams last week with the addition of Jorge Ruiz from the soccer team.

Ruiz kicked a 23-yard field goal, which helped the Chieftains come away with the 24-20 win over Otsego.

“I feel our punting game is fine,” Stanger said. “Jorge has brought consistently to our kicking game. His kickoffs were inside the 10-yard line, which helped our coverage and the option for a field goal takes some pressure off of our offense. We are very pleased with Jorge.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

 

Tough schedule

Coming into the 2014 season, Stanger and his staff knew that it was going to face a tough schedule.

Six of Dowagiac’s nine opponents qualified for the postseason last year.

Currently, Paw Paw is ranked No. 5 in Division 4.

The Chieftains and Redskins square off Oct. 17 in a Wolverine Conference non-divisional game.

 

Former Chieftain

Mike Nate, who played center for Dowagiac and coached the offense for the Chieftains under head coach Bernard Thomas, is enjoying success at Brandywine.

Nate and the Bobcats are 3-0 heading into one of their biggest games in over a decade Friday night.

Brandywine will host perennial state power Mendon in a key BCS Athletic Conference West Division showdown.

The Bobcats are averaging 56.0 points per game and 444 yards in total offense.

Friday night against the Hornets, it will be a battle of wills as Mendon is allowing just 12.7 points per game.