SPENCERVILLE-Statement week in the NWC call it what you want but Friday night’s game between the Spencerville Bearcats and the Columbus Grove Bulldogs will have some interesting story lines to open NWC play. Columbus Grove is looking to shake off a 1-2 after falling 40-28 to Patrick Henry last week while Spencerville dropped their first of the season to Riverside last week 45-10.
Spencerville head coach Kyle Koenig some signs of a young team after Friday night’s game last week.
“What really stuck out to me is that it was the first time this year we had really saw some adversity and with a young team we did not respond in the way that we needed to win the game.” Said Koenig.
Columbus Grove is non conference included a tough loss to begin the year against rival Pandora Gilboa, a win against Liberty Benton and a tough loss to Patrick Henry. However long time head coach Andy Schafer believes the schedule prepares them for the NWC slate.
“It took us awhile to get going against Pandora but we came alive in the second half but lost on a last second throw in the corner of the endzone,” said Schafer. “It was good to see us bounce back against Liberty Benton but honestly last week we did play Patrick Henry very tough in the first half and it was some of the worst Bulldog football that I’ve seen in a while but our kids had a better attitude in the second half and made it respectable.”
Both offenses come into Fridays game similarly with the Bulldogs edging it out 24.7 with the Bearcats coming in at 24.3 per game. Spencerville has given up an average of 21.3 per game while the Bulldogs average 26.3 per game. Defensively the Bearcats lead the conference in total yards allowed giving up an average of 210.3 per game while the Bulldogs have given up the most in the league with an average of 360.3 per game. Columbus Grove has given up just an average of 77.3 rushing yards per game while the Bearcats have given up just 103 passing yards per contest so far this season.
Both defenses will be tested on Friday as the Bearcats have the fourth best running offense in the league with 207.7 rushing yards per game while the Bulldogs have the second best pass offense in the league with Bluffton ahead of them as they average 128.3 through the air on the season.
“Our run defense will be tested this week then it has all season,” said Schafer. “Our linebackers have to step up big this week and our defensive backs need to focus on our play action reads and not getting too nosy in the run game.”
“We have to run the ball better than we did last week,” said Koenig. “Defensively we need to be aware of where their athletes are at all times and we have to stop the run and contain their quarterback and running backs as much as possible.”
Both of these teams understand just how much a victory can help their quests for a conference title.
“Spencerville has more wins than we do and we’ve talked about it a lot this week and we want to make sure we start conference play with a win.” Concluded Schafer.
“Grove is a solid team this year and a solid program with a lot of winning experience,” concluded Koenig. “Their record does not show how good they actually are.”
According to Drew Pasteur a win by the Bearcats increases their playoff chances in div region 18 rankings from 35 percent to 86 percent while a loss would drop them to 34 percent. Columbus Grove is setting up higher in division 6 region 22 with a 71 percent chance of making the postseason.
If you can’t make it to the game tune into Zsports 3 as Nate Stidham and Micah Flack will have all the action with the pregame show at 6:30 followed by kickoff at 7pm. Bulldog fans tune into WZOQ as Abe Escamila and Dale Otto will have all the action with the pregame show around 6:30 followed by kickoff at 7pm
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