ROCHELLE — The Hubs varsity football team had no trouble dismantling the Corliss Trojans last season, but head coach Kevin Crandall doesn’t want his team to be too complacent when Rochelle kicks off the 2017 regular season against Corliss on Friday night.

Behind a powerful rushing attack, the Hubs cruised over the Trojans in 2016 by a score of 53-0. Rochelle scored 21 points in the first quarter before adding 26 points in the second quarter to enter the locker room with a 47-point advantage. The Hubs will be looking to continue their series dominance over the Trojans, who have played Rochelle for over a decade without earning a single win.

“It always feels good to get the first game in,” Crandall said. “The kids are tired of practicing against each other so they’ll be motivated to get out and play hard. I just hope we play crisp and stay healthy.”

Rochelle ran wild in its win over Corliss last year, totaling 372 yards and 20 first downs on ground with fullback Alex Harvey accounting for 100 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. Returning Hubs Cody Thompson, Noah Knight and Ehren Metzger combined for 92 rushing yards on 14 touches.

The Hubs may have picked up a lopsided victory over the Trojans, but Crandall said there were areas that his team wasn’t as sharp as it could’ve been. While the head coach praised the performance of his running backs and his defensive linemen, he said the team didn’t finish blocks on the offensive side of the ball, and he’ll be looking for his offensive line to be more physical this time around.

“I thought we did a good job of getting off blocks defensively,” Crandall said. “The kids up front made some nice plays and very little got into the secondary. We didn’t block particularly well offensively but I thought our backs really ran hard and well… I anticipate that we’ll execute much better on offense this year.”

Rochelle totaled 34 tackles against the Trojans last season while forcing five turnovers, all of them fumbles. Defensive lineman James Hart grabbed two loose footballs, while Harvey and Bazil Bennett each recorded one fumble recovery. Bennett and Blake Albers combined for three tackles-for-loss to lead all Hub defenders.

Not many teams can rebound from a 53-point defeat to make the postseason, but that’s what the Trojans did in 2016, winning each of their last six regular season games and compiling a 7-3 record before falling 51-8 to Wilmington in the first round of the IHSA Class 3A Playoffs. With some returning skill players on offense, Crandall said the key to containing the Corliss attack once again will be preventing its speedy receivers from getting loose.

“They got behind us a couple of times,” Crandall said. “We’ll have to deal with their speed, but I think we can keep the ball in front of us… If our backs get out in the open, they can get away so hopefully we’ll execute up front.”