It appears the King of the Road football game Friday between Blanchester and Goshen is a mismatch.
After all, the Warriors are 5-1 and atop the Southern Buckeye Conference American Conference standings.
Blanchester is 1-5 and at the bottom of the SBC National Division standings.
Goshen has scored nearly twice as many points as Blanchester this season, 208 to 117.
“Goshen is led by quarterback Isaac Hart,” said Blanchester head coach Jack O’Rourke. “He is a great open-field runner and a very good passer. We must be able to slow him down to win the game.”
Hart has thrown for 359 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 796 yards and 10 touchdowns through six weeks.
The Warriors also feature Johnny Kube and Jimmy Strunk at running back. They have combined for nearly 500 yards rushing and nine touchdowns.
On defense, Brody Brewer has three interceptions.
“They have a solid 4-3 defense with two excellent senior linebackers,” said O’Rourke. “They are very good on special teams. They returned a kickoff for a touchdowns against Willamsburg.”
But Blanchester has dominated the series in recent years. The last Goshen win came in 2010, 37-8. The Wildcats have posted wins of 35-13 in 2011, 27-20 in 2012, 44-30 in 2013 and 30-7 last year.
Blanchester, though, is coming off a heart-wrenching loss to Williamsburg last week, 27-20. Sparked by a Homecoming crowd, BHS roared to a 20-7 advantage only to give up the final 20 points.
“I didn’t like the fact that we got stagnate on offense and let down our guard again when we had a two touchdown lead,” O’Rourke said.
The Blanchester special teams have been good this year. Jared Monhollen and Quenton Miller have led the specialties, O’Rourke said.