There were plenty of things going against Clinton-Massie last week as it opened its season against Cincinnati Anderson.
One, the Falcons had just one scrimmage and that was three weeks prior to Anderson.
Two, Massie didn’t have a game Week 1.
Three, after traveling Friday night only to have the game postponed to Saturday morning, caused for a quick turnaround and another long bus ride.
In the end, the Falcons went toe to toe with the Division II Raptors before falling 29-22 in an exciting game.
“This was a very difficult challenge for our team … not having any game preparation,” CM coach Dan McSurley said. He called the short time turnaround “mentally rough.”
But plenty good came out of it.
“We played a fairly clean game and help up conditioning wise,” he said. “I felt there were just a couple of plays that made the difference in the outcome and neither went our way. Those type of games build toughness and unity. The mistakes we made can all be corrected and that’s a positive.”
Clinton-Massie has to put all that in the rear view mirror as a strong Fenwick teams comes to Frank Irelan Field Friday night.
“Fenwick will have a totally different look than Anderson,” McSurley said. “They are very similar to us on offense, a fullback-base style. Defensively they will run a base 3-4. They are a GCL team so they’re use to playing in big games against quality opponents.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at FIF. Massie has won the last two meetings with Fenwick.
Fenwick is 2-0, having defeated Frnaklin 14-2 and Monroe 27-0. FHS will run the ball plenty. Anderson had 38 passes and 29 rushing attempts in the Massie game.
Clinton-Massie will rely on its ground attack, with Carson Vanhoose leading the way. Vanhoose, the SBAAC American Division player of the year last season, ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns against Anderson.
As always, though, Massie has several other backs — Colton Trampler, Carter Frank and event QB Kody Zantene — who can run the ball.
On defense, Trampler had a big game with seven solo tackles. Leyton Bell had six while Zantene and Braden Rolfe had five each.
The loss to Anderson was the first in a season opener for McSurley and Co. since a 2004 defeat at the hands of Reading. Massie hasn’t lost two straight regular season games since the 2011 season.
If you take last season’s playoff loss and last week’s regular season defeat, the Falcons are on a two-game losing skid. The last time the Falcons lost three consecutive games of any kind? Weeks 6-8 during the 2001 season.
“The expectations for this group are extremely high and improving every week will be the key in reaching our goal,” said McSurley.
