It was an unwelcome evening for the Blue Devils in week five and an even rougher Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division opener as the visiting Napoleon Wildcats uncharacteristically attacked through the air en route to a 426 victory, followed by a 53-0 drubbing at the hands of the Findlay Trojans in week six.
Known throughout their N.L.L. tenure for a power run game, the Wildcats utilized their underrated group of pass catchers to account for four of the teams six touchdowns on the evening to secure their first win of the season.
“We knew they had good receivers,” said Head Coach LaCharles Smith. “The tight ends really hurt us. Just going into halftime, I was telling our guys to make sure to read their keys. I think a lot of our defensive backs were just not reading their keys and getting their eyes sucked to the backfield which led to that big passing game for Napoleon.”
A week prior, Smith had expressed the need for his Blue Devils to up the ante in terms of physicality, something that played a key role in Bowling Green running roughshod of their defense. Knowing how the Wildcats typically attack defenses, he expected the physical battle in the trenches to play a key role in this game as well.
Unfortunately, that too was a battle in which the Blue Devils came up short, much to Smith’s chagrin. “I think that, and I hate to say this as a head coach, but I think they were just a lot stronger than us up front with everything,” he said. “I thought we did a decent job in the first half of stopping the run. But then obviously we couldn’t stop the pass at all and that led to our d-linemen just getting tired and worn out. A lot of guys not doing their jobs, trying to do other people’s jobs.”
Getting off the field has been a struggle and has had a snowball effect on the defense. What makes that worse is when the offense, despite featuring one of the area’s more explosive runners in sophomore tailback Eli Beal, can not sustain drives to allow the defense a chance to rest and recover.
“It was just a doublewhammy,” Smith said. “We did a pretty good job in the first half of getting them to third down, but obviously we couldn’t stop the pass at all. They just killed the time of possession with us. Our offense going three-and-out and giving them the ball right back, it was a double-whammy for our team.”
Normally with an opponent like Napoleon, a high-scoring game would have traditionally favored the Blue Devils, but that was not the case.
“I think the most improvement needed is our offense sustaining some drives and scoring some points,” said Smith. “I would have been happy if we got into a shootout with Napoleon, but obviously we didn’t.”
If the struggles on both sides of the ball continue, it could lead to further lopsided results in a daunting Buckeye Division. There is no shortage of talent and depth, particularly with Anthony Wayne, Perrysburg and Whitmer who comprise the season’s final three games, respectively.
Smith noted that, tough as the road ahead may be, he and the team have no choice but to keep their heads up and run toward the challenge.
“It’s just staying together, the coaching staff and the team,” he said. “We have that mentality of next man up as we’re battling some injuries right now. We just got to stay together and focus on our jobs.”
“I still like how our seniors are trying to be leaders, and we have some juniors that are stepping up as leaders as well. We had about four guys after that loss that went out and supported our JV team, helping out with water and that stuff. That’s not something I asked them to do, they just did it on their own. So, I really liked that.”
Springfield will look to turn things around tonight at Northview when they take on the Wildcats. Kick off is 7 p.m.
