New Richmond, by New Richmond standards, is not having a great season.
But the Lions, after starts of 0-3 and 1-4, and several weeks of not knowing an opponent until just days before the game, have won three of the last four games.
The Lions’ losses are to Western Brown, Purcell-Marian, unbeaten McNicholas and Northwest in a season-opening shootout.
The Lions will visit Frank Irelan Field Friday night for an SBAAC American Division contest. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
The Falcons are fresh off a 73-0 win over Batavia. The CM starters began trickling out early and were completely gone early in the second quarter.
“It was really fun for the younger guys getting to play pretty much the entire game,” CM coach Dan McSurley. “I think that really helped in the JV game Saturday morning in defeating Troy 49 to 14.”
Regardless of who was on the field for the Massie defense, the Bulldogs couldn’t move the ball … forward anyway. Batavia had negative 94 yards.
“Playing all of these spread teams this year has prepared us on the defensive side of the ball,” McSurley said. “That had a lot to do with the negative 94 yards.”
And a note for future Falcon foes, the Falcons are getting close to 100 percent.
”Health-wise we’re getting a couple guys back on defense so hopefully we can stay injury free for the next few weeks,” McSurley said.
Last year, Clinton-Massie defeated New Richmond in an offensive shootout 49-41. The Falcons defeated Batavia on Monday then turned around and went to New Richmond that Friday, so the normal pattern of game-prep was thrown off-kilter.
“I think last year’s game was the worst game of our season with a short week of preparation and it showed,” McSurley said. “There’s a lot of motivation in this game.”
