SPENCERVILLE-It was a tough loss for the Spencerville Bearcats on a short week on Thursday against LCC 41-7. The Bearcats will finish up their away portion of the schedule on Friday when they take on the Crestview Knights, who have dropped two straight games.
“What stood out to me was just that LCC was exactly who we thought they were,” said Spencerville head coach Kyle Koenig. “They were a good football team that had multiple ways to beat you with multiple guys. They played a tremendous game. I thought defensively we did an okay job with their running attack. Our guys on the outside set a decent edge and we rallied to the football which was good to see.”
The Crestview Knights will look to get back to business after losing to Bluffton 49-34 and Columbus Grove last week 38-0.
“The last two games for us have been a night and day difference,” said Crestview head coach Cole Harting. “We played a very good game against Bluffton and one of our worst games against Columbus Grove. We need to play with more consistency in all three phases of the game.”
I think to many members of the NWC they know it’s the last hurrah for Crestview senior running back Braxton Leeth. Leeth is the league leader in rushing yards with 1151 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Harting describes what Leeth is so different from any other running back he has coached against.
“He’s fast, physical and has great balance and vision,” said Harting. “He has put in the work, and I’m glad to see it pay off this season.”
For Spencerville the task is simple: slow down #2.
“Leeth has definitely been an issue for many teams this year and he has had our number the past few years to go with that,” commented Koenig. “He is a tremendous player and has a high motor which is why they utilize him so much. I think what we need to do is have a relentless pursuit to the football. We cannot put ourselves in situations where we are asking our guys to make a solo tackle on him, we need to get multiple guys to him and make sure we are gang tackling.”
The Knights will look to go to the air still with the spread offense brought by head coach Cole Harting. Huxley Grose has fired 62 of 101 passes for 494 yards to go along with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
“Braxton has had an amazing season so far,” commented Harting. “Historically, I like to have a balanced attack, but we have had success running the football, I’ve had to change the way I call games.”
Spencerville took one on the chin against the number two team in the state against LCC. However Koenig still liked the competitiveness his team showed on Thursday.
“Guys have been working hard and staying positive the entire season,” said Koenig. “Unfortunately, things have not gone the way we wanted them to go, but we were a young group going into the season and we knew that would present some challenges for us, especially with our good the conference is all around. What has been encouraging the most to me is the positivity the older guys have brought every day and the growth that our younger guys have shown throughout. Guys like Landon Kahle, Keaton Jacobs, Drew Baumgartner and Conner Hiestan have only gotten better and have worked extremely hard all year and I think it really has been showing on the field.”
The Bearcats will look to use their physicality with their 3-prong attack at the running back position. Zach Looser is the team leader in rushing yards with 434 yards on 123 attempts and a touchdown. Austin McMichael got his first touchdown of the season last week and added to his yard total on the season to 204. Sophomore Kolton Grigsby has been healthy the last two weeks and has gotten his total yards up to 232 yards on 59 attempts.
“Spencerville is a well coached team,” said Harting. “Coach Koenig does a great job preparing his guys each and every week. They play physical and try to wear you down throughout the game.”
Despite the record of 1-7, Koenig talks about what his team brings each and every day to practice as well as games.
“We just talk about competing no matter the circumstance and even though the scoreboard was not in our favor last week, I saw our guys never quit battling and kept playing hard which is always encouraging to see as a coach.” Added Koenig.
Spencerville and Crestview has been forming a new age rivalry and it’s something that both coaches have seen not just in football but in other sports as well.
“The games between us are usually very good and I expect this year to be no different,” added Harting.
“I think that the two schools have just always brought out the best in each other athletically, no matter the sport,” said Koenig of the new age rivalry. “I am lucky enough to be a part of both the football and basketball programs here at Spencerville and there have been some really fun matchups in the short five year span I have been at the school. I think my first year here it came down to a goal line stop on a 2-point play for us to pull out the win. It usually has some sort of implications involved, the past few years it’s been playoff positioning for both of us, basketball has been a big matchup for conference champion implications, and so on. So, I think the games just start to mean a little more each year based on how things went in previous seasons, and it is just fun to go out and compete with good programs and make the most of the opportunity that is in front of you.”
It’s homecoming week for the Knights but Harting says it’s still business as usual come Friday.
“Homecoming is always a fun week, but we are business as usual when it comes to our preparation,” commented Harting.
Spencerville has the all time series lead against the Academy 12-11 but the Knights have won three straight years including last season’s 42-13 win over the Bearcats.
Both coaches talked about the keys to victory on Friday.
“Offensively, we will have to take care of the football and finish drives with points,” concluded Harting. “Defensively, we need to be great on 1st and 2nd downs in order to force them into passing downs. We cannot let them have long sustained drives.”
“Keys for us will be time of possession,” concluded Koenig. “The longer we can keep the ball out of Leeth’s hands the better. We need to have a relentless pursuit to the football on defense and make tackles. Finally, we need to clean up our special teams. The past two weeks have been rough for us in this area. We need to stay disciplined and make some plays in the special teams game.”
If you can’t make it to the game tune in to 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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