On Friday October 18th, the Little Hawks will take on the Liberty Lightning for the 7th time in history. This year the Little Hawks are looking to upset the #6 ranked Lightning on their home field. Linebackers Marshall Sheldon ‘28 and Blaine Heick ‘26 will be two crucial parts of the Little Hawks’ success Friday night. Sheldon is currently 4th in 5A for total tackles with 59.5, while Heick follows closely behind with 57. The last time the Little Hawks defeated the Lightning was in 2019, during Mitch Moore’s first year as head coach. 

Sheldon is looking forward to the rivalry game, as it is a goal of his to beat Liberty during his high school career. Sheldon says this Friday he has to “just do his job” to get the win. 

“There’s just a lot of keys that I have and people I need to make sure to do the right thing and I need to make the right play. So it’s really dependent on me and Blaine to make those plays and not let any big ones live,” Sheldon said. 

Heick has a similar view on what he and Sheldon need to do to prepare for the Bolts. 

“We just have to clean up the little details in practice and watch a lot of film for Friday. Then I just gotta make sure my body’s ready to go,” Heick said. 

Both defensive stars for the Little Hawks are not only stat leaders, but leaders for their teammates as well. 

“Blaine is more talkative, he makes sure everyone is doing stuff right. Marshall is the same way but a bit quieter, but if you don’t know how to do something Marshall will know. They both lead by example,” junior wide receiver for the Little Hawks Chayse Newton said. 

“Marshall and I just try to set the tone in practice by being physical and bringing up the energy; the reason we play so well together is that we have full trust in each other to do our jobs,” Heick said. 

Whilst the linebackers primary focus is on the well-being of the team as a whole, they each have individual goals for the remainder of their seasons.

“One of the more important things for me is breaking my tackles from last year. I had 69 last year. I’m trying to break that as simply a goal for me,” Sheldon said. 

“A goal I had coming into the season was to make an impact on both sides of the ball. My sophomore and most of my junior season I only played defense. Going into this year I knew I would need to have an impact on the offense,” Heick said. 

Though the two stars are focused on their own personal growth, the majority of their attention falls to this Friday. The Little Hawk’s need to have a solid defensive performance on Friday night as they will attempt to stop quarterback Reece Rettig ‘26. Rettig leads 5A in passing completions with 125, and is second in total touchdowns with 22. Other offensive impact players to look out for include Leo Rozz, Jordan Schroeder, and Pryor Reiners. 

“This game means a lot to me. As seniors we are 0-3 against Liberty so I really want to get that win not just for me, but all of the seniors. We want to bring Zeus home,” Heick said. 

Together, Sheldon and Heick plan to do just that, as they play the penultimate game of their joint careers.