SPENCERVILLE-After a tough heartbreaking loss to Fort Loramie 37-14 homecoming loss last week the Spencerville Bearcats will hit the road to Harrod to take on the Allen East Mustangs. The Mustangs dropped to Columbus Grove last week 44-7.
“Overall, as a team, we have made strides this year,” said Allen East head coach Joel Billings. “There have been ups and downs, but the overall trend is positive. We have not been able to translate this into wins, but we have some great opportunities in the back half of the season.”
The Bearcats kept it tight throughout last week as they had possessed the ball for 27 of the first 36 minutes and were within 21-14 early in the 4th quarter but the Redskins late surged put the game away.
“I thought our guys battled the entire night,” said Spencerville head coach Kyle Koenig. “We put together some great drives offensively and got some stops on defense, but unfortunately Fort Loramie and Hoyng just broke us down at the end. He is a big and physical player and as we got tired towards the end our pad level on tackles just was not where it needed to be.”
As the Bearcats get ready for Allen East the Mustangs have relied on senior QB Deacon Jones. Jones is 39-66 passing for 366 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT this season.
The big story for Allen East come Friday is will their leading rusher Miles McDorman play. McDorman has 43 carries for 349 yards and 6 Touchdowns on the season.
He rolled his ankle early against Columbus Grove and did not return. Allen East head coach Joel Billings is optimistic that McDorman could play this week.
“Time of possession is always key for us,” commented Koenig. “If we are able to put together some drives on offense and finish those drives with scores, we feel like we can compete with anyone. We did a really good job of controlling the ball last week. I thought Zach and Grady did a tremendous job with getting big first downs for us when we needed them.”
Getting healthy will be big for the Bearcats this week as sophomore running back/linebacker Kolton Grigsby has cleared concussion protocol and expected to be in the lineup on Friday. His running mate Zach Looser has carried the load the last two weeks by carrying it 27 times last week for 98 yards.
“Zach does a great job at the fullback position,” said Koenig. “He runs hard and is a guy that can get you those tough, physical yards when you need them. He gets beat up quite a bit at that fullback position and is fighting through it. He does a great job.”
Like previously stated it’s a three week road trip for Spencerville as they will travel to Lima Stadium for Thursday night football next week against LCC before going to Convoy the week after to take on rival Crestview.
“Spencerville is a physical team. They play fundamental football and block and tackle well,” commented Billings. The key to Friday for us is winning time of possession by winning on first and second down. We need to be able to slow their run game down, create negative plays, and keep our offense on the field.”
Koenig talked about winning games on the road.
“Going on the road here is tough because it does put your team out of their comfort zone a bit, but it is just part of the game,” commented Koenig. “We just keep focusing on improving in the things we need to improve on and staying focused at the task at hand.”
Billings talked about the keys to victory on Friday against Spencerville.
“The key to Friday for us is winning time of possession by winning on first and second down. We need to be able to slow their run game down, create negative plays, and keep our offense on the field.” Concluded Billings.
Koenig talked about the keys to victory if they want to beat the Mustangs for the second year in a row after the Mustangs won 4 in a row. The Bearcats do lead the all-time series 12-10. The Bearcats defeated Allen East for homecoming last season 23-20.
“Time of possession is always key for us,” concluded Koenig. “Putting together long drives and finishing those drives will be huge. We have to be solid in coverage this week. Last week we played a little too far off Fort Loramie’s receivers and it made their jobs really easy. We need to tighten down and stay on the hip of their receivers and make plays when the ball is in the air. Lastly, we need to force turnovers. If we can force some turnovers and give our offense more chances with the football, that will be very helpful in our time of possession that we want as well.”
If you can’t make it to the game tune into Zsports 3 as Nate Stidham and Shane Falke will have all the action with the Miami Erie propane pregame show at 6:30pm followed by kickoff at 7pm.
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