SPENCERVILLE- The first half of the 2026 football season is in the books and the second half begins on Friday for the Spencerville Bearcats visit the Bluffton Pirates.
“Obviously last week was tough for us,” said Spencerville head coach Kyle Koenig. “We were dealing with some injuries and dealing with a team that has tremendous team speed and physicality up front, and we struggled. I do think that our guys continue to get better each week. I think our secondary has done a pretty decent job in coverage this year which was a big focus for us because we were replacing a lot of guys on the back end this year. I think our Defensive line has gotten better this year. They are getting better hands on with tackles to help free up linebackers; they are taking blocks the correct way. We weren’t doing those things at the beginning of the year. We are now getting guys in the right spots to make the plays; we just need to start finishing those plays with good tackles.”
It has a been a tale of two different seasons for both teams on Friday night. The Bearcats have ended the first half of the season 0-5 after a 56-0 loss to Columbus Grove. As for Bluffton they come in a perfect 5-0 after dismantling Jefferson 49-7.
“Our focus all season has been to be better each day than we were the previous day,” said Bluffton head coach Jeff Richards. “I feel that we are consistently doing that, which has resulted in a pretty good start.”
The Bluffton Pirates lead the NWC in points per game at 44.8 per game and total yards per game 426. The anchor is senior Quarterback Tayte Giesige who has thrown for 1025 yards with 10 touchdowns and 1 interception. Giesige has also rushed 35 times for 282 yards and 5 touchdowns.
“As a leader on the field Tayte is second to none,” commented Richards. “He is a great communicator, and has poise during tough times. Each of our team captains plays a huge role in leading our team, and they do a great job at that.”
The game will also feature the NWC leading rusher Parker Lovell. Lovell has rushed 71 times for 718 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season. The Pirate defense has allowed 13.4 points per game and has 266 total yards per game with 165 yards coming on the ground.
“Our focus is to improve upon what we do and do it at a higher level each week,” said Richards. “We do not get hung up on stats from previous games outside of tendencies that we see on film.”
Spencerville changed things up last Friday as they made the switch to more of a pro style offense. Koenig talked about the move of the offense last week.
“The offense last week was out of necessity really,” commented Koenig. “We were running low on running backs and decided to go with more of that two back look and add another receiver. I think having it in our pocket the rest of the way will be a benefit to maybe get another guy out of the box a little bit and hopefully getting Grant on the move a bit can provide a spark when we need it.”
The Bearcats know it will be a tough task going on the road to Bluffton on Friday but the Bearcats continue to fight.
“Bluffton is a solid team,” said Koenig. “They have one of the best backfields in the conference with their Quarterback and Running back. They both do a lot of good things in both the passing game and run game. They are solid up front on both sides of the ball. They present a lot of challenges and are capable of making big plays. We need to be disciplined in our gaps defensively to prevent those big plays. Offensively we need to be better up front. We have not gotten the movement we need offensively, if we can get some drives going and keep it out of their Quarterbacks hands as much as possible would be a positive for us.”
Both coaches talked about the keys to victory on Friday night.
“Keys to victory for us will be to control the line of scrimmage, take care of the football/create some turnovers, and win in the kicking game.” Concluded Richards.
“We need to keep their Quarterback in the pocket,” concluded Koenig. “We need to finish plays with gang tackles. We need to control the time of possession.”
If you can’t make it to the game tune in to Zsports 3 as Nate Stidham and Brock Blythe will have all the action with the Beantown barbers pregame show at 6:30pm followed by kickoff at 7pm.
Series notes: Spencerville holds a 11-10 lead on the Pirates. However you will have to go back to 2021 for the Spencerville victory which was a 35-14 win over Bluffton. The Pirates have won the last four meetings.
