SPENCERVILLE-It has been tough sledding for the Spencerville Bearcats the last two weeks against Riverside and a 48-0 defeat to Columbus Grove last week. The Bearcats return home from a quick trip to Grove with two of their remaining three home games which includes a dominant 4-0 Bluffton team.
“Looking back, I think it really came down to those guys making plays and their physicality up front,” said Spencerville head coach Kyle Koenig. “I thought our guys played hard and were well prepared and unfortunately were unable to make the plays when we needed to.”
Columbus Grove scored early and quick on Spencerville as two plays resulted in 14 points as the Bulldogs took the Bearcats out of their comfort zone early.
“The message has been to stay the course and keep improving,” commented Koenig. “I told our guys after the game Friday that there is no doubt in my mind that we are a better team than what we were in Week 1 and I truly believe that. We just have to keep improving and getting healthy and hopefully results will follow.”
The opponent on Friday is coming in hot as Bluffton comes in a perfect 4-0. The Pirates would be considered the league champions the last two years if it wasn’t for their long standing rival, Columbus Grove.
“I wouldn’t say we picked up right where we left off, each season is a completely different team,” said Bluffton head coach Jeff Richards. “We lost some amazing players from last year’s team, and have moved some guys around to fit the holes that were left. I think our early success has been a big part of the culture that we have worked to develop, and having guys who learned and improved behind great players are now getting their chance to shine.”
Bluffton will look to duplicate what the Bulldogs did last week with a QB returning as well. Tayte Giesige has completed 50-67 passes for 1,096 yards to go along with 19 Touchdowns and just one interception through 4 games.
“Bluffton is a tremendous team and can certainly score some points,” said Koenig of Bluffton. “Their athleticism really shows on film, and their quarterback does a tremendous job of extending plays and continuing to look down field as he is doing so. They are a physical team as well. We are going to have to match that physicality if we want to be successful.”
“This season we have been very dynamic in the pass game, which has not been as big of a weapon for us in recent years,” said Richards. “Our ability to score very fast has put a lot of pressure on our opponents in these early games. Defensively we have forced teams to drive the field and have been getting better at limiting big plays.”
It will come down to the little things on Friday if they want to defeat the Pirates for the first time since 2021. The Pirates have won the last three meetings after losing seven in a row to Spencerville.
“When we talk about improving, we are really focusing on technique things,” said Koenig. “Making sure we are stepping properly as an offensive line and keeping our feet moving, making sure our backs and quarterback are carrying out fakes like the need to be, running the correct courses for certain plays. We also just talk about how we need to do things faster and for longer periods of time. Staying engaged with our blocks longer and doing everything with purpose.”
Bluffton has averaged 414 yards of offense this season per game and that has put pressure on their opponents this season.
“On the offensive side of the ball having our quarterback and running back, along with 3/5 of our offensive line return was huge, which is probably a big part of why we started fast offensively,” commented Richards. “We have leaned on our veterans to be leaders especially in dealing with injuries early in the season.”
Like most teams that face Spencerville, Richards talked about preparing for Spencerville.
“Spencerville is a team that does some things that are very hard to simulate in practice,” said Richards. “Their offense poses problems when we do not play responsibility based football, and their defense is quick and runs to the ball well. We will need to play a disciplined game.”
It has a been a tough start for Spencerville to begin the NWC slate opening up with Columbus Grove and Bluffton in back to back weeks.
“Obviously, this is a tough stretch to start conference play,” commented Koenig.” “Those two teams have been at the top of the league the past couple of years, and we know we have to play really well to get the job done. This has been the schedule for us in the past, our guys know the challenges it brings, and we just have to go out there Friday night and do our job.”
Both coaches talked about the keys to victory on Friday.
“We need to win the line of scrimmage,” concluded Richards. “Limit turnovers on offense and create them on defense and time of possession. We must get our defense off of the field and not allow long drives.”
“We have to keep their quarterback contained in the pocket and get some pressure on him,” concluded Koenig. “He is very dangerous when he is moving around. We need to control the clock and find ways to sustain better drives than what we were able to do last week. Finally, we need to keep them running east and west. They are going to try and get on the outside of our defense with their speed, and we need to be able to set an edge and keep things bottled up.”
It is also senior night for fall sports beginning at 6:20pm.
If you can’t make it to the game tune in to Zsports 3 as Shane Falke and myself will have all the action with the Miami Erie pregame show beginning at 6:30pm followed by kickoff at 7pm.
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