ADAM RAEDER
How’s this for predictable?
For the past seven years, every time Jefferson and Lakeside have met, even the weather has seemed preordained — rain.
“I already know it’s going to rain,” Jefferson coach Jimmy Henson said. “Lakeside, it rains every year. I’ve already got my rain suit in the locker room. I don’t think there’s been one yet that hasn’t been in the rain.”
While Henson and his players sound resigned to the same old weather, they’re hardly resigned to the same old result on the field when the two teams meet on Friday (7 p.m., WFUN) at Falcon Pride Stadium.
Because, for the past seven years, with the rain has come a Dragons win.
“It’s been what, eight, nine years? It’s our last chance, since they’re off our schedule next year. So we’ve got to win it,” quarterback John Namey said.
“Plus, it’ll help our record if we do,” Namey added as almost an afterthought.
And why shouldn’t the Falcons be a little bit confident? It’s not like they’ve been getting blown out over the years.
“(They’ve been) games that could have gone either way, and everyone of them has gone their way,” Henson said. “We’re trying to do something to change that.”
And the Dragons definitely haven’t forgotten that they’ve built their winning streak by the slimmest of margins, including last year’s 21-6 triumph.
“In my opinion, that’s always one of our toughest games,” Lakeside coach Van McWreath said. “We’re expecting another close, tough game.”
It’s a game that promises to be a contrast of styles — the fast Dragons and their pistol spread offense against the big Falcons and their 3-yards-and-a-pile-of-mud attack.
“They’re definitely bigger than us. I’ve got to give Coach Henson credit. I think one of the ways to win high school football games is to run the ball, and they’re sound at running the ball,” McWreath said. “They’ve got strong backs that fight for extra yardage.
“We’re a little concerned about that. We’ve given up a lot of yards rushing this year. So, I think they match up well with us.”
Making things more difficult for the Dragons are a slew of injuries.
Linebacker Blake Boothby is sitting out of practice this week, as is running back Derrell McCaleb.
“Our bangs and bruises went into (last week’s) game and we played our hearts out. Our center (Cody Berkowitz) is legitimately out. Two other guys (Boothby and McCaleb) are a little worse off than they were going into (last week’s) game,” McWreath said. “Then a couple other guys have bangs and bruises. We have about five people out from practice. We’ll see how that goes for us.”
McWreath said he expects McCaleb to play, though sparingly.
“It’s just a matter of how much, when, where. We’re really concerned about a permanent injury,” the coach said. “We work with our trainers really well. Right now, he says (Darrell) has to take a week off (of practice) and we’ll see Friday. He feels there’s a good chance he can play Friday, but not at a 30-carry type of mode. ... We’ve got to watch how much reps he gets, when we put him in.”
Joe Kelly has emerged as the Dragons’ No. 2 back, though the Dragons plan on using a platoon of runners to fill in when McCaleb is sidelined.
“Joe Kelly has sort of emerged as our No. 2 back right now, but that’s not to say he’s going to get 20 more carries,” McWreath said. “He might have two more than the next guy.”
With McCaleb out, and the Falcons’ size advantage across the line, the Dragons may find themselves relying more on quarterback James Christian and their passing game.
The Dragons have completed 42 percent of their passes this season, a number they’ll have to bring up if they hope to keep drives alive via the air.
“We’ve got to get the blocking up front and just run good routes,” wide receiver Glen Haines said. “Oh, yeah, we can do it.”
Although, that might be a bit more difficult if the rains come — again. And that’s exactly what the Flacons are hoping.
“We’re hoping for another mud bowl,” lineman Jeremy Onion said.
“We like playing in the mud. They’re playing on the turf all day. This is what we play in,” Onion added, gesturing at the Falcons’ practice field.
“They can’t run the ball on us,” lineman Nick Potts said. “So if they just have to run it, we should be all right.”
For the Falcons’ offense, a 188-yard passing performance last week isn’t about to change their run-first ways.
And they’re more than prepared for the Dragons to stack the box against them.
“We expect it. It doesn’t even phase us,” Henson said. “We wouldn’t know what to do if someone lined up with (only) seven or eight guys in the box.”
The key will be keeping their hands on the ball. Jefferson turned the ball over three times last week against Brookfield, two interceptions and one fumble.
“We’ve improved every game, but we still had three turnovers last week,” Henson said. “We’ve got to get that number down, get our number of penalties down.”
And maybe that will lead to a new outcome against Lakeside.
“This is our last year. We’ve got to do it,” Namey said. “We’ve got to win.”
n RIVERSIDE at GENEVA (7)
After the Beavers’ first two possessions last week against Harvey, coach Ryan Wolf had a simple thought: Oh, no.
Two possessions, two three-and-outs.
Oh, no.
But an offense in needed of a confidence boost found its rhythm, running up 354 total yards.
After scoring just six points in the first two games, the Beavers are looking to take that offensive success and run with it.
“We need to run the ball. That was part of our problem in Week 1 and 2,” Wolf said. “... (But) we’re still going to attack down field. We’re still going to throw the ball around. Our goal is to be as close to 50/50 as possible.”
In fact, it was the running game that sparked Riverside’s offensive renaissance.
After struggling in the early going, in part due to an injury to tight end Jim Teknipp that threw the game plan into disarray, the Beavers hunkered down and ran.
And ran.
And ran.
“As the game went on, the whole coaching staff figured out what we needed to do. We kind of went to the power game,” Wolf said. “We pounded the ball and that kind of opened up some stuff in the passing game.”
Josh Denner led the ground game, amassing 161 yards.
And Wolf promised his staff wasn’t going to forget about the running game this week against Geneva.
“It wasn’t a one-time thing. We definitely like some things we can do with that (big) tight end (set),” he said. “We’ve got a pretty good fullback with Jake Stinson. But he’s our middle linebacker, so we don’t want to have him in too much.”
While Harvey had speed, Geneva has size. And how well the Beavers’ running game holds up remains to be seen.
“We’re going to try to do what we do and spread people out,” Wolf said. Harvey, it was tough to spread them out because they were so fast. Geneva, it’s the opposite, because they’re so big.”
Geneva coach Tony Hassett isn’t exactly buying the notion that his team is big — at least compared to the Beavers.
“I don’t know what he’s looking at. I don’t see us having a size advantage,” Hassett said. “If you look at his size, he’s got two tight ends, one 6-4, one 6-6. He’s got ... a little more than we have up front.”
To combat Riverside’s spread, the Eagles will be going away from their traditional zone defense, at least a little bit.
“We just have to be able to, at times, man up,” Hassett said. “Put pressure at the quarterback, naturally, and read our keys.”
While the Beavers have Teknipp back in the fold, backup tight end Kevin Bernay will miss considerable time.
“He was a real versatile player for us. He was a backup tight end, a backup safety, and was on every special team,” Wolf said. “He played a lot. Losing him was a big blow.”
Though the Beavers have had considerable success against Geneva in the past, they’re preparing for a tougher test this time around.
“I’ll tell you what, this is my fourth time playing Geneva, and this is the best Geneva team that we’ve faced. They’re much better than they have been,” Wolf said. “Coach has done a good job developing a program, and you’re starting to see that.”
Wolf said that the area that’s impressed him the most has been Geneva’s offensive development.
“Offensively, they’ve struggled in the past. This year, they’ve been able to do some good things. They can power you or they can spread you out,” he said. “Their quarterback (Tyler Erb), he throws some shorts passes really well.”
But Geneva’s looking to breath life this week into an offense that tallied 184 total yards in last week’s loss to Lakeview, though it’s still fighting injuries along the offensive line.
“We just went back to more fundamentals this week,” Hassett said. “We’ll do what we do, same as the first game. We’re not going to drastically try to change everything, that won’t solve anything.”
Hassett’s biggest goal is to get running back James Murray more touches.
Murray ran for 91 yards on 28 carries last game and did not catch a pass.
n PERRY at AURORA (7)
Matt Rosati might not be a man of many words, but he’s not one to mince them, either.
So, when before the season he was asked about his team’s chances this season, he didn’t put too fine a point on it — the conference title would come down to how they played at Aurora.
Three weeks into the season, nothing’s happened to change his mind.
Not even Aurora’s 1-2 start.
“Not much needs to be said for this one,” Rosati said. “These guys know. Aurora is definitely one of the toughest teams we play on our schedule.
“They’re big and they’re strong. They’re very experienced. They have an offensive lineman going to Ohio State (Adam Bellamy). They like to run the ball. They’ve got some good skill guys. We’re going tot try to compete with them. Hopefully, it will be a good football game.”
The game promises to pit strength against strength has Perry’s run defense has allowed 91 yards per game, though that might be tempered a bit by opposing teams having to pass to overcome the big holes they find themselves in against the Pirates.
Aurora, meanwhile, looks at running as its first, second, and third option.
“What they consider a strength for them, we consider a strength for us,” Rosati said. “We’ll see how we match up.
“We’re just going to do the things we do. Hopefully we’ll tackle well. It’s football. You’ve got to show up and play well.”
Aurora’s attack is built around a two-back system (senior running back Steven Yung and powerful fullback Chris Jenkins), though it found little success last week in a 27-6 loss to Twinsburg. Half of Aurora’s plays went for a loss or gained no yards in that contest. Aurora’s other loss came in their opener, a 27-24 felling at the hands of Avon.
“They have two really good running backs, one real quick guy and one real big kid. They’re an inside and outside threat,” Rosati said.
Brendan Gallagher handles the duties of a passing attack, which relies heavily on screens.
Defensively, Bellamy, who also plays defensive lines, leads an aggressive attack.
“They’re very physical, they’re very fast. It will definitely be a task for us offensively,” Rosati said.
But not a task the Pirates are unfamiliar with. Perry’s senior-heavy team has seen it all before, and will be ready to see it again.
After all, 10-0 is the goal, and this is the biggest obstacle in the way.
“We have some guys that have been through this before,” Rosati said. “We played a pretty competitive game last year and we’ve got a lot of the same guys back from both teams.
“This is one we’ve talked about a long time.”
n MADISON at HARVEY (7:30)
Harvey is coming off a heartbreaking loss to Riverside.
Madison is rebounding from a lopsided defeat at the hands of Perry.
Only one will get a chance to return to its winning ways this week.
“We’re just trying to correct (our) mistakes and get better,” Madison coach Tim Willis said. “Perry outflanked us a couple times, our alignment wasn’t very good. So it’s just working on the little things to get better. Try to minimize mistakes.”
The Blue Streaks’ margin for error got a little slimmer this week as injuries have left them thin along the defensive line.
Defensive end Frank Wrobleski is out with a strained thumb. Nose guard Ty Law is sidelined with a separated shoulder.
“So, we’re a little banged up, but we had a good week of practice,” Willis said. “Guys were filling in. We’ll be ready to play on Friday.”
And ready to slow down the high-powered Harvey attack — or so he hopes.
Behind quarterback Richard Barnes and receiver Chris Fields, the Red Raiders have torched the air for 704 yards. More impressive is the efficiency of the Red Raiders’ passing game.
Harvey has five receivers averaging at least 13 yards pre reception, Barnes has completed 67 percent of his passes (48-of-72) and has thrown five touchdowns and just one interception.
“Very fast. They’ve got about five or six kids, anytime they touch the ball they can go the distance,” Willis said. “Obviously, they’ve got two high-powered ones with Fields and (tailback Jamil) Javey.”
As such, the buzzword in Madison’s defensive practice this week has been “contain.”
“You try to contain what they do by knowing where they’re at and playing good, solid, fundamental football,” Willis said. “Don’t try to kill them or anything like that, just contain them. Limit the number of touches the get.”
“The best thing to do,” Willis added, “is have good ball control on offense, and don’t let them on offense too many times.”
It’s the strategy Riverside used to perfect against Harvey last week, when the Red Raiders defense yielded 206 yards on the ground.
“We’re going to try to do that. We’ve got to try to, again, have an effective running game,” Willis said. “We’ve got to be able to control the ball, get 3-, 4-, 5-yard carries at a time. We’re not looking for a home run. We’re just trying to control the ball.”
n YOUNGSTOWN CHRISTIAN at SS. JOHN AND PAUL (7)
When SJP assistant coach John Buskirk looks at the tape of Youngstown Christian one thing stuck out.
Well, the lack of one thing, really — mistakes.
“They’re very precise in what they do, offense, defense and special teams,” Buskirk said.
So the Heralds will have to be just as precise — if not more so.
“We feel like we match up pretty well size-wise, and skill-wise we’re in the ballpark with them,” Buskirk said. “We feel it’s all going to boil down to who has a better game Friday night and makes the least mistakes.”
The Heralds threw two interceptions and lost one fumble last week in their 18-15 defeat at the hands of Fairport.
“We can’t afford to make many mistakes against this opponent,” Buskirk added, driving the point home.
It’s one of the few complaints about a loss that, well, quite frankly is as close to being a moral victory as the Heralds will allow themselves in a season in which they’ve sworn off any victory but the real thing.
“The team really came together. We think we’ve played our best game as a team for the season last week,” Buskirk said. “Things ended up not working out on the scoreboard. We made just one too many mistakes to win that ball game. Fairport played hard and they made more plays than we did.
“Overall, we got a real positive outlook. We think our last game was our best game and we have something to build on.”
They’ll look to build against an Eagles squad that throws plenty of different looks at their opponent. They’ve passed more than they’ve run this season, but that might not say much as the Eagles have been forced to play catch-up.
“Line in double-tight, triple-I and pound you, or they’ll line up in empty, four receivers in the gun and throw all over you,” Buskirk said. “They’re probably about a 50/50 team. They have a bunch of different formations. They have a good quarterback, a couple good receivers and a skilled tailback.”
But Buskirk said his defense won’t look to do much different against the multi-look Eagles.
“Basically, the major preparation for everything is just to have the right alignment, do your assignment and receiver your keys. It’s the basic fundamentals of football,” he said. “... The key is to stay home, make the plays and not make mistakes.”
n TRINITY COLLEGE at EDGEWOOD (7)
Nothing. That’s how much Edgewood coach Joe Kearney knows about Trinity College, at least football-wise.
He does know it’s a private school from Ontario, near Toronto. He knows it has an international student body, that it’s bringing 50 players to Edgewood and that it’s getting into town Thursday evening.
But none of that really helps with game planning.
“I really don’t know much about them from an Xs and Os standpoint,” Kearney said. “ We have no film on them. I’ve never seen them play.”
That means the Warriors have spent the week concentrating on what they’re trying to do — and planing for just about anything.
“What we’re going to have to do is put together a comprehensive package that will defend any eventuality,” Kearney said. “It will be interesting.”
Offensively, the Warriors are looking to continue the success they had against Orange, where their new-look attack amassed 295 yards in their 34-26 loss.
“I felt our offense improved substantially,” Kearney said. “Offensively, we’re going to work on our basic stuff, and hopefully, that will be enough.”
And while the Warriors are still searching for their first win, Kearney said the players are still working hard in practice.
“I know our kids work hard. They get better every week,” the coach said. “They’re young, but they get better. That’s all you can ask. They’re giving us everything they have.
“We’re just trying to get a win. That’s the big thing. We’re trying to do the things we do and do them well — well enough to win the game.”
n PYMATUNING VALLEY at SOUTHINGTON (7)
The Lakers have already seen how they respond to a loss.
Now, they get their first glimpse of how they react after some success.
After claiming their first win of the season last week, the Lakers will take on a Southington squad that’s looking to rebound from its first loss, falling to Western Reserve.
“We must avoid the proverbial letdown after a big game,” PV coach Jason Root said.
That means keeping the strong offensive line play that helped the Lakers churn out 191 rushing yards last week.
To do so, they must overcome a much-improved Southington (2-1) squad.
The Wildcats have built their winning mark on the strength of their ground game. Led by 5-foot-7, 165-pound sophomore running back Jim Rasey, the Wildcats average 310 rushing yards per game.
“They have a blazing fast running back (Rasey) and a lot of good young athletes,” Root said. “(They’re) not real big but use their quickness on both sides of the ball.”
While Southington’s run defense has been stout, their secondary has shown a tendency to give up the big play.
Opposing teams are averaging 17.75 yards a completion against the Wildcats.
But one week after claiming their first win, the Lakers know they’ll have to be sharp if they hope to claim their first road victory.
“Their coach (Jim Wolke Jr.) has them believing in themselves. This is not the Southington team of the last few years,” Root said. “They are legit.”
n CONNEAUT at MATHEWS (7)
If there’s one thing the Spartans need this week, it was rest.
A five-overtime game kind of made that a necessity.
But coach Ken Parise thinks his team is rearing and ready to go against Mathews.
“After a five-overtime game, which I think was the longest game in the history of Ashtabula County, we’re recovered,” Parise said. “We practiced hard yesterday and Monday. Tomorrow’s the final prep.”
Prep for a team Parise expects to be angry. After going undefeated in the regular season last year, Mathews enters this one 0-3, though all their losses have come to strong teams.
Mathews lost, 28-27, to Western Reserve, 34-14, to Cleveland Central Catholic and, 28-17, to Leetonia. All three teams sport 3-0 records.
“They’re 0-3 right now, but they’ve lost to three good teams,” Parise said. “I’m sure an 0-3 team at home after a 10-0 year isn’t going to sit back and just allow you to come into their place.”
Mathews offense Parise describes as a “Jet and wing-T offense” with “a little bit of spread.”
“They have real good skill and pretty good linemen, but their skill is their key, especially their tailback,” Parise said. “... We definitely have to have some people watch that young man.”
Parise likened him to Southington’s Jim Rasey, who rushed for 241 yards against the Spartans.
“He’s a smaller one, a lot like the Southington running back. Maybe a little bit bigger. He’s maybe 5-8, 175,” Parise said. “They put him all over the field.”
Just how the Spartans, who will be without defensive tackle Dakota Brown, plan on defending him, though, Parise isn’t saying.
Though the coach did add: “We’re raring to go and looking forward to getting a win this week.”
n FAIRPORT at GRAND VALLEY (7)
The Mustangs are looking to get back to on the winning track this weekend against Fairport.
With the return to health of Tommy Jusko — and improved play along the line — Grand Valley saw a revival of its running game against Pymatuning Valley last week, rushing for 203 yards as a team.
Grand Valley’s biggest worry is preventing the big play — something they couldn’t do against PV. The Lakers’ offense had three touchdowns of more than 20 yards.
“It’s a whole team situation. You can’t just put it on one group,” coach Tom Henson said. “One of the situations I looked at, when they hit that big play on us (Thomas Erwin’s 64-yard touchdown reception), I should have been in the Cover 2 and tried to give us some more help. So, that’s on me.
“It’s a whole team effort. We’ve got to improve on all sides of the ball defensively.”
Fairport enters the game 1-2, coming off an 18-15 triumph over SS. John and Paul, and boasts a strong passing attack led by quarterback Danny Ward.
“We have to contain Danny Ward and (wideout) Aramis Greenwood in order to be successful,” Henson said. “We’ve got to get pressure on the quarterback, so he can’t sit back there and throw the ball.”
If last week’s game against the Heralds is any indication, Fairport could be susceptible to the pass on defense. SJP threw for 154 yards against the Skippers.
“I’m sure Coach (John) Lipps is going to be seeing the same thing and saying, ‘Hey were going to make some improvements and be ready for the next ball game,’” Henson said.
