Football Notebook: Clyde defense remains strong

One of the area’s biggest questions heading into the season was how would the vaunted Clyde defense fulfill its mission statement of being the backbone of the team, despite only two starters and little else returning experience?

After Friday night’s 15-8 victory, it appears the Fliers will be just fine.

Clyde went to Tiffin Columbian and shut down an experienced Tornadoes offense. The Fliers allowed just 128 total yards, including just 23 rushing. Columbian didn’t score until just 1:18 remained in the game.

“(The defense) played extremely hard the entire game,” Clyde coach Ryan Carter said. “It’s what our defense is known for, and our defensive coaches, particularly coach (Ray) Long, do a phenomenal job of game-planning and making sure our guys are in the right spots and the best situation to be as successful as possible. Our kids executed the gameplan very well.”

Carter, however, admitted unease when his team entered halftime in a scoreless tie despite moving the ball well in the first half only to see drives stall in penalties, missed field goals and a red zone interception.

“For a young team to come in (to halftime) 0-0 when we should have had a couple scores on the board, I thought they could have panicked,” Carter said. “I thought they could have freaked out a little bit, I thought they could have said, ‘Maybe we are young and we are inexperienced.’ But they didn’t do that.”

Instead, the Fliers took the opening possession of the third quarter and struck for a 24-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Lucas Nicely to John Jackson, and the Fliers rolled from there. Frank Sewell rushed for 182 yards.

“I was proud of the way our kids responded overall,” Carter said, “and really proud of our entire program to go on the road and take on a very good team like Columbian and get out of there with a win. We’ll take it.”

Polar Bears surprise their own coach

Margaretta coach Andy Zuk admitted he got worried early on Friday night.

But worried soon turned into pleasantly surprised in the Polar Bears’ dominant 44-12 win over Willard.

After an early fumble turned the ball over, which then led to a Willard touchdown, Zuk was unsure how his team of youth and inexperience would react.

He need not have worried. Margaretta rolled on its way to scoring 44 unanswered points.

“After that, with a young group of kids, I was very concerned at that point,” Zuk said. “But we responded well and stayed the course. They didn’t panic, and we focused on things we needed to do.”

In addition to his team’s coolness in the face of adversity, Zuk said, he was most pleased by his team’s ability to make changes on the fly.

“Based on the fact we were so inexperienced, I was surprised how well we held our composure, how well we made some adjustments,” Zuk said. “That was surprising to me because that typically does not go on with a team as inexperienced as us. That typically is a team that has been playing together for a longer period of time.”

Margaretta (1-0) hosts Western Reserve (0-1) Friday. The Polar Bears defeated the Roughriders 42-20 last season.

Ross not fooled, just beat

It’d be one thing if Holland Sylvania ran a flea-flicker, a halfback pass or a statue of liberty play.

Those gadget plays are supposed to catch a team off guard and surprise them.

But Fremont Ross’ defense was not surprised Friday night.

Despite the Little Giants’ 42-21 loss to the Blue Devils Friday night, during which Springfield hit Ross with several deep plays and long touchdowns, coach Craig Yeast said everything the opposing offense did was as expected.

“Nothing they did tonight surprised us,” Yeast said. “Our kids knew exactly what was coming, our kids were very well-prepared. We knew exactly what they were doing, and we just didn’t execute and they did.”

That execution — both Springfield’s and Ross’ lack of it — is priority No. 1 for the Little Giants this week as they prepare for their first road game Friday night at Sylvania Southview.

“If we’re not prepared to get better, it’s just going to be more of the same next week because Southview is going to be a good football team too,” Yeast said. “It’s just a matter of we got to do it on the field. Coaches can put you in position and we can do everything but we have to get our kids to do it on the field and that’s what we’re going to work on this week.”

Miscues proved costly for Redmen

After Friday’s 42-16 loss to Perkins, Bellevue coach Ed Nasonti felt like his team was within reach of points.

For example, the Redmen trailed Perkins, 28-8, and held onto the ball for almost seven minutes before turning it over on downs. The Pirates scored on the next play to blow the game open.

“I thought we showed signs at times of being a good team but then shot ourselves in the foot,” Nasonti said. “We had some big gainers, and we’d get a penalty or put the ball on the ground. Then we blew a coverage, and that really hurt us.”

Bellevue responded with a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to get Bellevue within 35-16. Mistakes by Bellevue’s defense, however, once again allowed the Perkins running game, which was prevalent all night, to score another touchdown.

Nasonti said the Redmen must fix those mistakes before welcoming another Sandusky Bay Conference foe, Huron, on Friday night.

“It’s going to be a good learning experience for us,” Nasonti said of the loss to Perkins. “We know, with the schedule we have, you can’t bring your B game in. There is probably a lot of teams we could have beat (Friday), but Perkins isn’t one of them that you can make those kind of mistakes.”

—Josh Morgret