Back to basics: Lucas' rushing attack too much for Wynford to handle
HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Running is rarely an issue for Lucas. The Cubs like to pound the rock over and over against opposing teams to wear them down.
But early in the season, coach Scott Spitler didn't think it was quite up to Lucas standards in a 21-20 Week 1 loss to Clear Fork or a 14-13 Week 2 win over Hillsdale.
"The first two weeks we played against some darn good football teams," Spitler said. "We didn't get our run game cranked up how we'd like to, so we went out after it this week and focused on our base stuff to get better."
That focus paid off as the Cubs picked up a statement 42-14 win at Wynford, racking up 340 yards of offense in the process.
"I thought our guys did a great job of that at times," Spitler said. "I think we had a lull with the score they got in the first half, then them coming out in the second half we took our foot off the pedal a bit. But we regrouped, and I couldn't be more proud of our guys on a short week to come out and have this type of performance.
"Plus we're undersized and young up front, so I'm proud of the growth we've made from last week to this week."
Lucas rushed for 205 yards and added another 135 through the air as Andrew Smollen completed five of his 12 attempts, and three of those went for touchdowns — two to Andrew Fanello, one to Corbin Toms.
"That's what we have to do," Spitler said. "If they're going to load the box like that we have to make them pay in the passing game. We have a senior quarterback who has seen everything a team can throw at him. He stood in the pocket under some pressure and made them pay for pressuring the box. He had a great night along with Corbin Toms and Andrew Fanello. Our three senior captains stepped up when we needed them tonight to get it done."
None of the passing touchdowns was really contested, either.
"They were Cover 0 so we caught them without a safety in the middle of the field a couple times and hurt them with a big play," Spitler said. "That's what you have to do — if they're going to gamble to stop the run game like that, we have to make them pay for it."
Fanello rushed for 122 yards and two more touchdowns on nine carries, Logan Toms rushed five times for 36 yards, Ty Lehnhart had six carries for 19 yards, and Graysen Jackson contributed three totes for 22 yards and a score.
Thrice the Cubs forced Wynford into a four-and-out — two times ended in turnover on downs — and stymied the Royals for most of the night. Outside of a seven-play drive featuring an offsides on fourth-and-2 that resulted in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Ashton Warren to Sam Collene and a 12-play, 76-yard drive to open the second half for the second touchdown — a 2-yard keeper by Warren — the Wynford offense struggled to string together plays.
"Our defense was excellent," Spitler said. "We're so unselfish and play great team defense. It's not a group of guys trying to be stars or counting how many tackles they get. They do their one-11th and stay disciplined. We've rotated a ton of bodies in there, too, so it's more than our starting 11 — it's the depth playing really well right now."
Wynford coach Cyle Skidmore admitted the Lucas offense was difficult, if not almost impossible, to plan for.
"This offense is hard to defend," he said. "We thought we were ready to go and we thought we could defend them, but it's an offense you don't see often and it's hard to mimic in practice with the scout team.
"On film we knew they'd throw the ball a bit. They've done more of it this year which is probably a good thing for them. They execute well and threw the ball well. They do a good job."
Although Wynford's 0-3 start is the team's worst since starting the 1977 season 0-4 — in 1978 the Royals started 0-2-1 before winning in Week 4 — other than Galion no other team in Crawford County has played a nonleague schedule quite as tough. Opening with Otsego, heading down to Pleasant last weekend and then welcoming arguably the best small school program in the greater area to prepare for Northern 10 play is brutal.
But it's exactly how program's like Wynford get to where they are.
"It's not what we want, absolutely not," Skidmore said of the start. "But now the league starts and we have conference games.
"Our goal is to play teams that are competitive so when league games start we're ready to go. Hopefully that helps us and things go our way."
Warren finished 3-of-12 passing for 35 yards, one touchdown and one interception while also rushing one score in. Anthony Evans rushed 10 times for 33 yards, Kohan Keith 13 times for 58 yards and Kaiden Blair 12 times for 57 yards. Collene caught two passes for 30 yards and a touchdown, and Keith recorded the third catch for five yards.
"I don't think our guys will ever give up no matter what the score is," Skidmore said. "Our kids are tough, they love football and love each other.
"They're going to come together no matter what the score is."
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Balancing act: Lucas' high-powered offense overwhelms Wynford
