A season with such promise just a month ago is now going from bad to worse.
To compound an 0-3 start, Blanchester is now faced with injuries that would dampen the spirits of even the most ardent of optimists.
“No amount of planning or preparation could have overcome the injuries we sustained Friday night,” Blanchester head coach Jon Mulvihill said. “In the first two series of the game we lost our leading passer, top two rushers, leading tackler, leading sacker, leading receiver, and punter.
“After that, we went into trying to get out of the game without any more injuries. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out either as we had two more. All five of our injuries from Friday are multiple week injuries with three being possible season enders. After the barrage of injuries, we had guys playing positions they’ve never played trying to get through the game.”
Such was the extent of the injuries in last week’s 45-0 loss to Waynesville, Mulvihill said his team didn’t watch the game film.
“Normally, we watch film with players and coaches together Saturday morning,” he said. “We go over the good and the bad, hoping to fix the bad for the next week. The Waynesville film wasn’t going to help us there. We moved on.”
The Wildcats move on to Norwood this week as the Indians visit Barbour Memorial Field Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
“Norwood’s offense has some weapons that will cause us problems if we allow them space to work,” the BHS coach said. “They play a defense similar to Batavia, 5-2 slant and angle and primarily play man coverage behind it. Their QB is their punt and kickoff guy and also plays corner on defense. He’s important to them, to say the least.”
Norwood (1-2) lost its first two games this season to unbeaten Madeira (37-8) and Mariemont (30-6) then came back to blank Cincinnati College Prep 22-0 last week.
Michael Mulvihill, one of the injured players for BHS, has a team-high 335 yards and four touchdowns passing, a team-best 237 yards and three TDs rushing and a team-best 23 tackles. Sebastian Smith leads with 3 defensive sacks.
