Explosive Mitchell focal point of Lakewood football attack
HEBRON — Lakewood junior Isaiah Mitchell has emerged as one of Licking County’s top receivers this season.
The 5-11, 170-pound Mitchell goes into Friday’s visit from Northridge with 30 catches for 392 yards and three touchdowns on the season.
“Isaiah can be a factor in our screen game, our quick game, our vertical game and with running the ball,” Lakewood coach John Poulnott. “We’ve got to move him into the backfield more than we have. We definitely have multiple places we can put him to get him the ball. That is something we have to ensure going forward.”
Playing as a sophomore last year, Mitchell accumulated 399 receiving yards, 327 rushing yards and scored seven touchdowns. But he was held to just two catches in last Friday’s 42-6 loss at Heath.
“We’ve got to find a way to get Isaiah the ball,” Poulnott said. “We can’t go through a game the rest of this season without Isaiah having multiple touches and making sure we have our best athlete getting the ball.”
Mitchell, who also starts in the secondary for the Lancers, found a way to get himself the ball against Heath as he was able to intercept an errant pass in the red zone. Teammate Randi Adkins also picked off a Heath pass later in that game.
“Turnovers are very important,” Mitchell said. “They take the ball from them and give us some momentum. We have been working hard on that.”
Playing against a difficult schedule, points have been hard to come by for the Lancers this season. But Mitchell is hoping he can help make a difference as Lakewood approaches its remaining Licking County League-Cardinal Division games.
“I feel like I can be very active when I get the ball,” Mitchell said. “I’ve had some games where I’ve been able to get over 100 yards receiving and make that kind of an impact.”
Something will have to give on Friday as both Lakewood and Northridge will come into that game at 0-6 overall. Northridge dropped its LCL-Cardinal opener 41-10 to Johnstown last Friday.
“The big thing is the change in mind-set this year,” Poulnott said. “The guys are fighting through adversity a lot better than they have in the past. We are trying to build on that momentum. We haven’t struck a chord and got the win yet, but the kids aren’t dropping their head and taking defeat."
Lakewood's only score against Heath came on Adam Crawford's 54-yard touchdown pass to Nate Lee after Tyler Christman played most of the game at quarterback. Cody Ballard, another from the Lancers' talented junior class, made a team-high five tackles with Christman adding four and sophomore Logan Bush making a tackle for loss.
“I think there is still that positive atmosphere that if we have a night like we can have and put some things together, the Ws are going to go our way," Poulnott added.
As a team leader, Mitchell said he knows it is his job to stay positive and keep his team pointed toward pulling out its first win.
“We just have to keep our heads up,” he said. “The score might be bad sometimes, but we have done better with handling adversity and taking these losses. We just move on to the next week and fight our fight.”
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Explosive Isaiah Mitchell focal point of Lakewood football attack
