Football Preview | Three teams hope to stay perfect, three more seeking a win in Week 2
Crawford County went .500 in Week 1, with Buckeye Central, Bucyrus and Colonel Crawford all picking up wins and Wynford, Crestline and Galion suffering defeats.
But it's still very early in the season and there's plenty of time to turn things around for our 0-1 teams. Just two teams are home this week, four are on the road, and one of our away teams gets an extra day of rest for a Saturday game.
Let's dive in to the Week 2 slate.
Lakota (1-0) at Colonel Crawford (1-0)
7 p.m. at H.J. Gary Field
The Eagles have their home opener and welcome a Lakota team fresh off an impressive 21-7 win over Monroeville, a playoff team last season. It was a strong defensive effort by the Raiders, who held Monroeville scoreless until the fourth quarter. But the Eagles faced in Week 1 aren't quite the same Eagles Lakota will see in Week 2.
Colonel Crawford's offense was explosive in a big win over Riverdale, averaging 21 yards per play and scoring on 37% of the plays with seven offensive touchdowns on 19 plays. Tanner Dyer in the backfield is going to be difficult for Lakota to slow after he rushed for 109 yards and two scores on seven touches. And if the Eagles do find a way to stymie him, Matt Clinard and Micah Thomas are more than capable of breaking open big plays. Add in Trevor Vogt, who can make plays no matter what he's on the field for — last week he caught a touchdown pass, returned a kickoff for a score and recorded an interception — and a defensive line that can get in the backfield quickly, and Lakota could be in for a long night.
Bucyrus (1-0) at Danville (1-0)
7 p.m. at Municipal Stadium
Bucyrus aired it out in front of the home crowd against Mississinawa Valley in the opener as Malachi Bayless threw the ball 32 times, connecting on 22 of them, for 341 yards and five touchdowns. Now heading out on the road to face a Danville team coming off a 33-17 win at Worthington Christian, fans will hope to see the red-hot Bucyrus offense mimic its Week 1 performance.
The Blue Devils are going to be a tough test, being part of the always-strong Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference (KMAC). But this is a Bucyrus team playing with momentum and knowing that every win matters — even more so than it did two years ago. With 16 teams qualifying for the postseason, a strong start in nonleague play, along with a win or two when conference play begins, could be enough to allow some teams to sneak into the postseason.
If Bucyrus can avoid a slow start similar to the one it had in Week 1 and get the ball moving early, this could be a back-and-forth game coming down to whoever has the final possession.
Galion (0-1) at Carey (1-0)
7 p.m. at Memorial Football Field
It wasn't exactly the start Galion would've hoped for, but it might've been just the humbling experience the Tigers needed. McComb, a Northwest Ohio powerhouse, came into Unckrich Stadium and walloped Galion 54-28, holding the Tigers to just 230 yards of offense. Defending state champion in D-VI Carey, on the other hand, was neck-and-neck with D-VII state runner-up Hopewell-Loudon to start before pulling away for a statement 37-8 win.
The Blue Devils lost a ton of talent from that state championship team, but by no means are they in rebuild mode. Carey returns 30-plus players from last year's squad, notably Landon Kemerley (RB/LB), Nathan Brodman (FB/DL) and Gage Summit (FB/LB). This is a team that likes to punch it down your throat and wear you down as the game progresses, so winning the battle in the trenches is doubly important for Galion Friday night. And they're more than capable of doing that with big bodies like Holden Hunter, Alex Griffith and Landon Kurtzman on the line.
For Galion to knock off the defending state champs, quarterbacks Cooper Kent and Braxton Prosser are going to need to draw up some magic and make the most out of their possessions as Carey will try to eat up as much clock as possible during its offensive drives. A win over the Blue Devils would be just the sort of momentum-builder the Tigers need heading into the final nonleague game and a brutal Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference schedule coming up in Week 4.
Wynford (0-1) at Pleasant (0-1)
7 p.m. at Don Kay Stadium
The Royals dropped their opener 18-12 to powerhouse Otsego, a team they know all too well by now, and next travel to Marion to face an also winless Pleasant. The Spartans were throttled 42-6 by North Union, turning the ball over five times in the process.
Led by Kaiden Blair's 142 yards on 26 carries, Wynford established the run game in Week 1, which opened the passing game somewhat for Ashton Warren (124 yards, one passing touchdown, one rushing touchdown). Defensively, the front seven stifled a typically potent Otsego offense, and that alone should be a confidence booster heading into a matchup with the Spartans.
If the Royals can rely on their defense again to give the offense extra opportunities, they could right the ship and give Cyle Skidmore his first career coaching win.
North Baltimore (0-1) at Crestline (0-1)
7 p.m. at Hutson Stadium
In a battle of winless teams, Crestline suits up in front of the home crowd this week against a North Baltimore team that was blanked 48-0 by Evergreen in Week 1. The Bulldogs avoided a shutout but lost 53-8 to Buckeye Central in a county clash to open the season.
Crestline got its rushing game moving some against the Bucks, showing snippets of what its new triple option offense is capable of. Carter Jones' 80-yard scamper on which he broke two tackles was the highlight of the night, and he finished with 115 of his team's 152 rushing yards — and the Bulldogs only had 159 total yards of offense.
This will be the third time in four seasons these teams have met. When Crestline was a temporary member of the Blanchard Valley Conference in 2019, the Bulldogs won a thriller 33-28, but they fell 54-0 in 2021 in the rematch. If the ground game can get going early and this new-look offense can keep the Tigers defense confused, win No. 1 for the Bulldogs could be coming sooner than they thought.
Buckeye Central (1-0) at Fremont St. Joseph's (1-0)
Saturday, 7 p.m. at Don Paul Stadium
Rounding out the weekend of football is Buckeye Central, which travels to Fremont to face the Crimson Streaks of St. Joseph's Central Catholic. The teams are slated to clash Saturday night as Fremont Ross is home in Week 2 and gets priority for the stadium. Both are coming off impressive wins — Buckeye Central a 53-8 shellacking of Crestline and SJCC a quality 28-0 shutout of Miller — and both will be eager to avoid taking their first loss in Week 2.
Buckeye Central should've caught the eyes of some teams in the area after it scored in a multitude of ways against the Bulldogs. The Bucks returned the opening kickoff for a TD, scored through the air three times, had a pick-six, ran for a TD and returned a punt for a score. Derex Dean looked comfortable in the pocket the handful of times he was asked to throw the ball, and Manny Mullins was a confident runner out of the backfield.
On paper, this should be an evenly matched game, and generally the home team would have the advantage in games like this. But — as mentioned with Bucyrus above — Buckeye Central knows how important a win is in Week 2 and following that up with a third before league play begins. In D-VII, a 3-7 season could be enough to lock up a low playoff seed and 4-6 would almost surely clinch a postseason berth for the Bucks. That alone is incentive enough to leave it all out on the field.
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Week 2 Football Preview: Crawford Co. looks to improve on .500 start
