Indian Lake and Riverside are both searching for answers after staring the 2022 season with a pair of losses.
For one of the two teams, the first win will come Friday night as Riverside will play host to the Lakers in a football matchup between a pair of Logan County schools.
“It definitely would be a big confidence and morale boost to get a win Friday,” said Riverside head coach Bryce Hodge, who saw his squad lose to Northeastern 38-0 last week. “Being 0-2 isn’t fun, both Indian Lake and us are 0-2 and we’ve played quality opponents.
“My kids are working hard, we just need to put it all together on a Friday night. I am excited for them to have another opportunity to do that this week.”
Indian Lake rolled to a 48-19 win over Riverside last year on its way to a 7-4 campaign.
However, the start to the 2022 season has more of a struggle as the Lakers have been tasked with breaking in a lot of new varsity players.
The Lakers fell to Anna 34-19 in the season opener and lost to Fairbanks 28-7 last Friday.
“We’re all hunting and searching for that first win,” said head coach Jonn Rapp. “Both coaches and players. But our focus can’t be solely on that. We have to hunt and search for ways to do the little things and then the wins will follow.
Both coaches believe the key to getting on track is developing consistency and better execution.
“We need to continue working toward playing to the whistle and fInishing plays,” said Rapp. “We need to continue getting game reps and applying the lessons we learn from those reps. We’ve done a nice job starting games fast. We need to continue that trend and build off of that. We’ve also continued to have better and better practices as the weeks have gone on. Our defense has made some big stops at various times. That will be big when our offense starts to capitalize off of it.”
Said Hodge, “We aren’t executing at any level whatsoever. We aren’t blocking well on offense, we aren’t taking care of the football, and we aren’t putting points on the board. On defense we’re not playing assignment football, and our aggression has been questionable up to this point. Our defense played better against Northeastern, but when you don’t score any points on offense, it’s going to break loose at some point because the defense is continuously on the field.”
While Indian Lake graduated most of its skill players from last year, Hodge is concerned about containing a Laker offense that has some experienced receivers in Caiden Nicol, Chase Baldwin and Isaac Morrison.
“They have some athletes they try and get the ball to, and we will have our hands full trying to slow them down,” said Hodge.
Indian Lake’s defense will be tasked with containing a Riverside offense led by three-year starting quarterback Myles Platfoot and senior running back Warren Shockey.
“On film Riverside looks to have really good size up front and runs a balanced attack of run and pass,” said Rapp. “Their skilled kids look to have good speed and work well in open spaces.”
Elsewhere around the area Friday:
Kenton Ridge at Ben Logan
Following a tough one-point loss to West Liberty-Salem a week ago, Benjamin Logan will attempt to bounce back Friday with a home game against Kenton Ridge.
Both teams enter with 1-1 records.
The Cougars lost to Mechanicsburg 14-3 in the season opener before beating Bethel 28-14 last week.
Kenton Ridge operates out of run heavy attack. The Cougars threw the ball just six times against Bethel while running for 243 yards on 50 attempts.
Senior Gavin Higgins (5-9, 165) is the Cougars’ top running threat. He went for 113 yards on 25 carries against Mechanicsburg and followed with 169 yards on 29 rushes vs. Bethel.
Junior Heath Jones (6-0, 175) has added 20 carries for 96 yards and one touchdown.
The team’s quarterback is senior Brady King (6-1, 190). Through two games, he is 7-of-14 passing for 155 yards and one touchdown with one interception.
Ben Logan will look to keep its offensive momentum going after putting up 520 total yards against the Tigers last week.
Senior quarterback Kam Allen had a huge game, throwing for 278 yards and three touchdowns while also running for 131 yards and one TD.
The Raiders will look to tighten up a run defense that gave up 342 rushing yards to the Tigers.
WL-Salem at SCC
The Tigers are riding high after a thrilling one-point win over Benjamin Logan a week ago. They will look to make it two wins in a row Friday when they travel to Springfield Catholic Central.
SCC is off to a 2-0 start. The Irish beat Hilltop 48-0 in Week 1 and defeated Troy Christian 37-14 last Friday.
The SCC offense has been fueled by freshman running back Daniel Kamara. He has rushed for 332 yards and four touchdowns on 23 carries.
The quarterback for the Irish is also a freshman. Cole Ray is 10-of-22 passing for 176 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
Cedarville at Triad
Triad’s football team is hunting for its first win as it hosts Cedarville on Friday.
The Cardinals lost to Ben Logan 21-6 in Week 1 and fell to North Union 35-0 last week.
Cedarville enters with a 2-0 record. The Indians defeated Middletown Christian 28-12 and won over East Clinton 54-6 a week ago.
The Indians have a balanced offense. They have passed for 341 yards and rushed for 313 yards.
Junior quarterback Jackson Pyles is 26-of-32 passing for 324 yards and five touchdowns with one interception.
The team’s top running back is sophomore Colt Coffey. He has rushed for 168 yards and three touchdowns on 27 attempts.
Cedarville has seven players that have made at least two catches. Jackson Howdyshell leads the way with seven catches for 102 yards and two TDs.
Buckeye Central at Ridgemont
Ridgemont is out to bounce back after a 39-0 loss to Southeastern last week. The Gophers will host Buckeye Central for a non-league game Friday night.
Buckeye Central is off to a 2-0 start to the 2022 campaign. The Bucks rolled past Crestline 53-8 in the season opener and they clipped Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic 24-21 a week ago.
The two teams also met last year, with Buckeye Central getting a 20-14 win over the Gophers in Week 3.