Week 6 Football Preview: Tigers return home to host Blue Lions
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — There is no place like home, so with recent road struggles where the McClain Tigers were held to seven points in the past two weeks, home could be where the heart is. McClain will host neighboring county and South Central Ohio League rival Washington this Friday night in the sixth week of football play.
The Tigers and Blue Lions have become heated rivals over the past few seasons as their battles on the gridiron and basketball courts have produced quality games for their fans, and this week's game at McClain Field should prove to be no different.
McClain enters the game with one win in five games, defeating the Unioto Shermans 21-6 in the second week, but since then the Tigers (who also lost to Adena in the first week) have losses to East Clinton, London and last week a 14-7 loss to the Madison-Plains Golden Eagles.
In their loss to MP, the Tigers were led in rushing by Dillon East with 15 carries for 65 yards. Clayton Burgess had eight carries for 28 yards. MHS totaled 214 yards of offense last week.
"It is always good to be playing at home in front of our home fans," McClain coach Randy Closson said. "This has become a good rivalry, and it's a big rivalry for us."
The Blue Lions are entering the game coming off a win against the Hillsboro Indians where they led 15-12 at halftime, but outscored HHS 28-0 in the second half. This season, Washington has outscored their opponents 143-104, including wins against Circleville, Madison-Plains and HHS for their 2-0 SCOL mark and 3-2 overall record with losses coming to Logan Elm and the Adena Warriors.
In the aforementioned win last week against HHS, Washington senior Jerome Pettiford rushed for 162 yards, and the previous week he totaled 166 yards against MP. In five games this season, the former offensive lineman has gained 691 yards of rushing.
The Blue Lions also have offensive threats in seniors Reily Shaw (running back) and quarterback Caleb Huffman.
"Washington has two bruising ball carriers at running back," Closson said. "They are big and fast and always do a good job in a variety of ways. It is the same old Washington teams with their buck sweep, boot trap and they just like getting the ball to their two running backs.
"I think people overlook their quarterback, but he does a good job, and he's fast."
The struggles of the Tiger offense continued last week, scoring just seven points against a now 2-3 MP squad that had allowed 122 points before facing the Tigers in Week 5. McClain (0-2 in the SCOL) has been shutout twice this season, and besides their 21-point effort against UHS have been held to six points against East Clinton and the aforementioned seven points at MP last week.
Though one big setback for MHS is losing senior quarterback Camron Cooper for the past two games, and using a two-quarterback system with junior Jordan Goble and sophomore Thomas Schrader. Closson said last week his teams decided to go more towards using Schrader as the full-time quarterback.
In last week's game, Schrader was 11-of-24 for 107 yards of passing with no interceptions and no touchdowns. The lone MHS touchdown last week for MHS was a hook-and-ladder play where Schrader passed to Coleston Walters, who pitched it to Goble for a 5-yard score.
"Last week, we switched to the spread offense, and we just handed the offense to Thomas a bit," Closson said. "He's maturing fast and had a lot of quick reads. We are using Jordan more on the field running routes at receiver, and we are just focusing on having one guy at quarterback right now."
For Schrader to keep improving and the Tigers to score points, the Tigers will need continued improvement from the play in the trenches.
"Our pass protection has improved a bit, but I still see a variety of things we need to improve on. We're still missing assignments and some schemes," Closson said. "There were some positives, but we just have to keep building on what we've learned.
"We show them when they do things right and when they do things wrong. They know when they do things right, they will get the results we need and vice-versa."
The past eight meetings between the Blue Lions and Tigers have been split with each team winning four times. Last season the Blue Lions defeated MHS, 40-20, and two years ago MHS won 34-26. The '08 game saw MHS win 29-22.[[In-content Ad]]
The Tigers and Blue Lions have become heated rivals over the past few seasons as their battles on the gridiron and basketball courts have produced quality games for their fans, and this week's game at McClain Field should prove to be no different.
McClain enters the game with one win in five games, defeating the Unioto Shermans 21-6 in the second week, but since then the Tigers (who also lost to Adena in the first week) have losses to East Clinton, London and last week a 14-7 loss to the Madison-Plains Golden Eagles.
In their loss to MP, the Tigers were led in rushing by Dillon East with 15 carries for 65 yards. Clayton Burgess had eight carries for 28 yards. MHS totaled 214 yards of offense last week.
"It is always good to be playing at home in front of our home fans," McClain coach Randy Closson said. "This has become a good rivalry, and it's a big rivalry for us."
The Blue Lions are entering the game coming off a win against the Hillsboro Indians where they led 15-12 at halftime, but outscored HHS 28-0 in the second half. This season, Washington has outscored their opponents 143-104, including wins against Circleville, Madison-Plains and HHS for their 2-0 SCOL mark and 3-2 overall record with losses coming to Logan Elm and the Adena Warriors.
In the aforementioned win last week against HHS, Washington senior Jerome Pettiford rushed for 162 yards, and the previous week he totaled 166 yards against MP. In five games this season, the former offensive lineman has gained 691 yards of rushing.
The Blue Lions also have offensive threats in seniors Reily Shaw (running back) and quarterback Caleb Huffman.
"Washington has two bruising ball carriers at running back," Closson said. "They are big and fast and always do a good job in a variety of ways. It is the same old Washington teams with their buck sweep, boot trap and they just like getting the ball to their two running backs.
"I think people overlook their quarterback, but he does a good job, and he's fast."
The struggles of the Tiger offense continued last week, scoring just seven points against a now 2-3 MP squad that had allowed 122 points before facing the Tigers in Week 5. McClain (0-2 in the SCOL) has been shutout twice this season, and besides their 21-point effort against UHS have been held to six points against East Clinton and the aforementioned seven points at MP last week.
Though one big setback for MHS is losing senior quarterback Camron Cooper for the past two games, and using a two-quarterback system with junior Jordan Goble and sophomore Thomas Schrader. Closson said last week his teams decided to go more towards using Schrader as the full-time quarterback.
In last week's game, Schrader was 11-of-24 for 107 yards of passing with no interceptions and no touchdowns. The lone MHS touchdown last week for MHS was a hook-and-ladder play where Schrader passed to Coleston Walters, who pitched it to Goble for a 5-yard score.
"Last week, we switched to the spread offense, and we just handed the offense to Thomas a bit," Closson said. "He's maturing fast and had a lot of quick reads. We are using Jordan more on the field running routes at receiver, and we are just focusing on having one guy at quarterback right now."
For Schrader to keep improving and the Tigers to score points, the Tigers will need continued improvement from the play in the trenches.
"Our pass protection has improved a bit, but I still see a variety of things we need to improve on. We're still missing assignments and some schemes," Closson said. "There were some positives, but we just have to keep building on what we've learned.
"We show them when they do things right and when they do things wrong. They know when they do things right, they will get the results we need and vice-versa."
The past eight meetings between the Blue Lions and Tigers have been split with each team winning four times. Last season the Blue Lions defeated MHS, 40-20, and two years ago MHS won 34-26. The '08 game saw MHS win 29-22.[[In-content Ad]]