Week 7 HS Football Preview Capsules: Ridgedale, Elgin rounding into form

MARION — In a pair of up and down seasons, the Ridgedale and Elgin football teams could be rounding into form entering Week 7.

"The kids are really focused," Ridgedale head coach Corey Chatman said. "This has been our third solid week of practice where we’re not having to repeat a lot of things. It’s not saying our first couple of weeks weren’t good, but we were having some of the same mistakes. Now I feel like we’re starting to get in that happy groove of now when we repeat stuff it’s to finetune things."

The Rockets (2-4, 1-2) are coming off a decisive 36-0 victory at Crestline where personnel adjustments helped their cause.

"The change at quarterback because of injury forced our hands to do that. It was the blessing in disguise. Brayden (Townsend) has a quarterback mindset for us, nothing against Nathan (Thiel), but injury got us. (Nathan) is a football player," Chatman said, adding that Thiel asked the coach to play him anywhere else that could help the team.

Against the Bulldogs, Townsend was 11 of 19 for 169 yards passing and ran for 74 more yards. He rushed for two TDs and threw one to Landon Murphy, while Thiel made three catches for 43 yards and was his usual disruptive self on defense, too.

"I think with him and some of our other upperclassmen, the belief they had in Brayden allowed us to move people around. I think we’ve found a happy groove for our team offensively and defensively," Chatman said.

As for Elgin, which is 2-4, 1-2 like Ridgedale, it's been about getting healthy over the last few weeks.

"We really haven’t had a healthy 11 guys since the Mount Gilead week," Elgin head coach Zack Winslow said. "I’m not using that as an excuse. We still struggled for lots of different reasons, but we haven’t had our quote-unquote best 11 on the field in a couple weeks. I think we get everybody back this week and hopefully we can get some gel."

With everybody back and in familiar roles, Winslow is hopeful consistency of play follows for the Comets.

"We’ll make good plays here and there," Winslow said, referencing last week's 41-35 loss to Hardin Northern. "In the second half we put a couple drives together and made it look like we knew what we were doing, but then we couldn’t tackle anybody on defense and gave up some short drives that turned into scores and missed some key tackles in key moments. We still haven’t put it together yet, and that’s the frustrating part. Sometimes we look like we’re really good, and sometimes we look like we’re really, really bad."

Elgin's multiple options in the backfield with its wing T offense is what concerns Chatman as he looks at his opponent.

"It’s all that eye candy stuff that they do in the backfield," he said. "Early in the year our guys would look at that stuff and not their keys. "If you’re not disciplined and reading your keys, you’re going to have fits."

Here is a closer look at the area's high school football games set for Week 7 on Friday night:

Shelby at Highland

It's the biggest game in the MOAC this week as Highland (4-2, 3-0) hosts Shelby (4-2, 2-1), the three time defending league champs.

In itheir first season back in the conference after five seasons in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference, the Scots have been a pleasant surprise in stepping up to compete against bigger or like-sized schools. They are tied for first place with Clear Fork.

It will be a contrast in styles as Highland will try to ground-and-pound with the MOAC's top rusher Dane Nauman who has more than 1,200 yards rushing with 15 running touchdowns, while Shelby will try to air it out with young quarterback Brayden DeVito who has completed 89 passes for 1,652 yards, 14 TDs and six interceptions.

Pleasant at Clear Fork

The tough road continues for the Spartans (1-5, 0-3) as they travel to MOAC-leading Clear Fork (5-1, 3-0). Pleasant will try to get its offense on track as it has scored just 19 points over the last three weeks. Likewise, the Spartans need to tighten up the defense after giving up 48 points per game in conference contests.

The Colts are beating teams by an average score of 33-21 this season. The league differential by average is 43-27 through three games. Of Clear Fork's 362 yards per game, 248 come on the ground.

Danville at Cardington

The Blue Devils (5-1, 3-0) will try to remain in first place in the KMAC when they travel to Cardington (1-5, 0-3). Aptly named Max Payne leads Danville with 559 rushing yards on 90 carries with eight touchdowns, while Walker Weckesser balances out the offense with 551 yards in the air. Kaiden Colopy is their chief threat downfield with 18 receptions for 213 yards. Colopy leads the KMAC with five interceptions on defense, too.

The Pirates have two of the league's top four tacklers in Colin McAvoy and Wyatt Denney as the two have combined for 125 tackles and six for loss through the first six weeks.

Centerburg at Mount Gilead

Mount Gilead (4-2, 2-1) will play in its biggest game since Jonah Barnett was setting rushing records for the Indians in the mid-2010s. Coming to town is preseason KMAC favorite and league-leader Centerburg (5-1, 3-0). The Indians will rely on the running efforts of Garrett George and Matthew Bland as the two have combined for more than 1,500 yards and 16 touchdowns so far. Bland has also passed for 571 yards. On defense, Judah Reid has been a force with 33 tackles, 11.5 for loss and 7.5 sacks.

The Trojans have won five in a row behind the dual threat of Tyler Johnson who has 902 rushing yards and 730 passing yards. Cayden LeMaster chips in with 779 yards on the ground , and Jesse Rings has made 18 catches for 247 yards.

Northmor at East Knox

The Golden Knights (4-2, 1-2) will try to snap their two-game losing streak during a trip to East Knox (2-4, 1-2). Coinciding with the recent dip is the fact that All-Ohio running back Maxton Lower has missed the last three games with an injury and his status for return is unclear. In the wake of his absence, A.J. Bower has increased his production at quarterback, as he is now 75 of 127 passing for 1,037 yards to lead the KMAC.

East Knox has struggled to score this year, being held to a touchdown or less in four of its six games.

Benjamin Logan at North Union

North Union bounced back from its gut-punch of a loss to Jonathan Alder to start Mad River Division play in the Central Buckeye Conference with a convincing 34-14 win over Northwestern last week. This week the Wildcats get a frisky Benjamin Logan squad in what will be North Union's final home game of the season.

The Raiders (2-4, 1-0) have quarterback Kam Allen leading the league with 1,262 passing yards and a 63 percent efficiency. Four players have caught at least 14 passes as Sam Whitten tops the team with 38 receptions for 526 yards and six touchdowns. Trevor Berry paces the run attack with 308 yards and six TDs.

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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Week 7 Football Preview Capsules: Ridgedale, Elgin rounding into form