Flyers look to slow Sparks, Plymouth
Sep. 22—NORWALK — Speed will be the name of the game Friday night.
When St. Paul (3-2, 2-0) travels to Plymouth (3-2, 0-2) for a key Firelands Conference and Region 25 game, there will be plenty of it on both sides.
But St. Paul head coach John Livengood and the Flyers certainly won't have to look very hard to know where it will all start for the Big Red for the 7 p.m. game at Alumni Field. The Flyers enter the game ranked No. 6 in the Division VII Region 25 rankings, while Plymouth is 20th.
All-Ohio standout Shae Sparks is on his way to another all-state caliber season for Plymouth. Coming off a 178-yard, 2-touchdown performance in a loss at Western Reserve, Sparks has totaled 829 yards and 13 TDs on 85 attempts (9.7 yards per attempt).
"He's an explosive running back," Livengood said of Sparks. "The way they load it up with their blocking scheme, there is a lot of misdirection and a lot of movement going on in the backfield. Defensively, we have to be disciplined.
"But the bottom line is they like to get the ball to Sparks, and (Trace) McVey is running the ball well at quarterback, too. They like (Caiden) Allen as far as the deep ball. He is an excellent receiver with great speed. There are a lot of challenging things there defensively."
Livengood said it's not just the speed that makes Sparks such a tough player to contain.
"He has some strength to his lower body," he said. "He's a strong kid who runs that way. He breaks some tackles, and is someone you have to get a good fit on him to bring him down. If you're just getting an arm on him, he's going to run through it.
"He's got good strength, balance and speed — but he's also got an offensive line that is blocking and opening holes for him to give him a chance. When he gets through there clean, he's got a chance to go the distance every time."
Plymouth is coming off a 49-29 loss at Western Reserve that was back-and-forth until midway through the third quarter. Sparks ran 23 times for 178 yards and 2 TDs while also catching two more TDs in the loss.
Defensively, the Big Red are led by Colton Sparks with seven sacks. Likewise to the single and double-win offense with a ton of movement, the Big Red will move in and out of five-man fronts.
"A kid that stands out on defense is Gavin McClary," Livengood said of the senior outside linebacker. "They move him around to try and get him to the point of attack and disrupt things. Early in the season, it seemed like (Shae) Sparks played a lot looser at safety, then last week at Western he was a lot tighter and more involved defending the run ... he's a very good player on both sides of the ball."
After starting the season 0-2 with losses at Div. V Huron (4-1) and Div. III Ontario (3-2), the Flyers have routed Tiffin Calvert (3-2), South Central (2-3) and Mapleton (3-2) by a combined score of 141-56.
That's an average score of 47-19 during the win streak.
"Offensively, we continue to improve," Livengood said. "Our line has been better. We had some younger guys to start the season ... we had good depth there, but not a ton of experience.
"Some new faces in the lineup are really evolving as an offensive line with their technique, fundamentals, and also their communication," he added. "When we change up schemes a little bit, they are able to do that on the field a lot. That's the thing I've seen that has evolved the most over the last two weeks."
The Flyers will counter with some speed of their own in the form of junior running back Ben Burger. At 710 yards and 10 TDs on just 62 attempts, Burger averages 11.5 yards per carry.
He joins senior Quincey Crabbs (108 attempts, 843 yards, 8 TDs) in a loaded backfield. In a 54-30 win vs. Mapleton on Sept. 17, Crabbs and Burger combined for 475 yards and 8 TDs on just 39 attempts (12.2 yards per rush).
"The blocking of (fullback) Josh Pocos is huge," Livengood said. "And the Meyer twins (Andy and AJ) now playing at receiver, their blocking along with Josh ... Quincey and Ben don't get those yards without those nine other kids getting it done for them.
"I thought we made good progress with our passing game as well, and I thought that showed up in the game."
Drew Kuhnle was 6-of-9 passing for 74 yards in the win, and is now 21-of-44 for 285 yards with a TD on the season. AJ Meyer has 10 catches for 124 yards.
Andy Meyer paces the defense with 53 tackles (eight for loss) and a fumble recovery. Crabbs adds 45 tackles, and AJ Meyer has 33 tackles and five pass break-ups. Brady Daley (23 tackles) has four pass break-ups and an interception.
"We're making some progress in special teams play, especially our kickoff coverage," Livengood said. "Defensively, we have to continue to work. You have to play with discipline and stay on your reads, and we didn't always do that last week. When we didn't, it cost us against Mapleton.
That's something we have to work real hard on this week — because we need to," he added. "We need that eye discipline this week against the single-wing, cross-action shifting all kinds of crazy stuff going on back there that Plymouth does well."
