Week 7 Preview: Western Brown at Clinton-Massie

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With a sophomore quarterback, Western Brown gave Clinton-Massie all it could handle last season.

The Falcons eventually won the game, 86-54, but Drew Novak and his Western Brown teammates proved they could score on just about anybody.

In that game, the teams combined for 1,250 yards (559 on the ground for the Falcons and 504 through the air for the Broncos). Massie had eight touchdowns of 30 yards or longer.

Fast forward a season, and Western Brown is continuing to put points on the scoreboard in pinball fashion.

However a defense that allowed nearly 40 points a game in 2020 has improved to 27 a game in 2021. There are very few long touchdowns by opposing offenses.

The Falcons and Broncos will put a ball on a tee at 7 p.m. Friday with a massive crowd expected at Frank Irelan Field.

“Western Brown is really similar to Anderson, so hopefully the preparation against Anderson will help in this match-up,” CM head coach Dan McSurley said.

Novak is better as a passer and runner, accounting for 3,051 total yards and 37 touchdowns in six weeks.

While Dylan Novak and Logan Campbell are the primary recipients of Drew Novak’s tosses, Western Brown has six players with three or more receiving touchdowns and five players with at least 370 receiving yards.

“This will be a good prep for the team, win or lose, with so many teams now running these spread type offenses,” McSurley said.

Clinton-Massie’s only loss was to Anderson but the Falcons have reeled off four impressive wins since that season-opening defeat. But McSurley isn’t certain of how much his team has improved since Week 1.

“Honestly you can get a real false sense of reality when you play non-competitive games, so it’s really difficult to measure improvement for our team,” he said. “We played a lot of younger guys against Fenwick and a few in the Harrison game. The games go so quickly with a running clock, I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of value in those type games.”

The coach said his squad continues to tinker with its special teams, hoping to reach peak levels by the time the playoffs come around.

McSurley said Drew Novak compares to Tony Pike, the former Reading and University of Cincinnati quarterback. Massie upset Reading back in McSurley’s early years, but the coach noted Pike got hurt in that game.

“I think a good comparison (for Novak) would be Grant Sherman who led the nation in passing the year we won our first state title,” said McSurley. “He was 6-6 and played for Kenton. They ran the same style offense as Western Brown.”

Braydon Green with a hard tackle and forced fumble in a game earlier this season against Harrison.
https://www.wnewsj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2021/09/web1_FB5_cmGreen0917ec-1.jpgBraydon Green with a hard tackle and forced fumble in a game earlier this season against Harrison. Elizabeth Clark | News Journal
High-powered Broncos visit Frank Irelan Field to face Falcons

By Mark Huber

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Reach Mark Huber at 937-556-5765, via email [email protected] or on Twitter @wnjsports

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