Delta will look to unleash its ground-and-pound Wing-T attack on the Pilots. Austin Kohlhoffer, Evan Perry, Rollin Robinson and Zane Shindorf bring veteran leadership to the Panthers’ offensive front.

Josh Tresnan-Reighard, Jerremiah Wolford and Bryar Knapp are back to haul the pigskin. Tresnan-Reighard led the team with 607 yards rushing last year and five scores on 141 attempts. 

“Big, physical and they want to run the ball,” said Dales. “They want to give to their good running backs and are not throwing much. Obviously if we can make them throw the ball, that’s really, really good on our part. We have to get them into third down and five or six or better. If we can do that, I think we can hurt them. But that’s the key.” 

The Pilots, like on the offensive line, are young in the defensive pits. 

“Basically, it’s the same thing defensively,” said Dales. “All of our skill guys are back and we’re juniors and seniors on the back end. Our linebacking corps are doing a nice job. Up front, we’re kind of young and we’re making improvements.”

Delta held foes to 16.1 ppg last year. 

“We’re either going to see a 5-2 or a 4-3,” said Dales of the Delta defense. “Their backend does not change no matter what front they’re in. Hopefully we can take advantage of some things they’re doing on the back end to move the ball.”