Clinton-Massie football coach Dan McSurley says the Taft Senators this year are much improved from the team the Falcons throttled, 70-14, in last year’s playoff opener.

Whether the Falcons are better now than they were a year ago remains to be seen, but one thing is certain — they are a dramatically different team on offense.

The Falcons and Senators will meet 7:30 p.m. Friday at Frank Irelan Field in a Region 16 quarterfinal game.

And the Clinton-Massie team that takes the field will be more like the Massie teams of old.

“We’re just grinders right now,” said McSurley. “Our goal is to go out and win ugly games, 21-17, 14-7, 14-13 … that’s who we are. We’re not going to hide from it.”

Last season, Clinton-Massie went against McSurley’s primary offensive MO by passing the ball. Starting quarterback Hunter Fentress attempted 126 passes during the 2015 regular season.

This season, the Falcons attempted 28 passes total, including one each by a running back and wide receiver.

“Hunter was a better passer than I was,” said 2016 starting quarterback Devon O’Bryon. “That offense suited him (Fentress) better, so he was able to reach his full potential. I prefer to run the option. Throwing it … we have it if we need it.”

Clinton-Massie ran the ball 479 times this year, or 17 rushing attempts for every one pass.

Those pass plays were effective, however. McSurley is known for lulling defenses to sleep with a myriad of “boring” running plays then springing a long pass that eats up big yardage.

This season, O’Bryon and Co. completed 15 passes for 437 yards, nearly 30 yards a completion.

“You’re going to have to be able to throw the football,” O’Bryon said. “It’s there when we need it but my coaches and I feel like I’m better running the option.”

McSurley looks back no further than a 10-3 playoff loss to Middletown Fenwick last season on a bitterly cold windswept night at Xenia’s Cox Field.

“That’s the kind of football we’re coming down to,” said McSurley. “Wind blowing sideways, 38 degrees. Sometimes when it’s like that the conditions are not conducive to throwing the football. I think we’re more geared toward a November style team, running the ball and playing good defense.”

FALCON NOTEBOOK

Whether in sports or life, a person many times can’t begin going up until they’ve reached rock bottom.

The Cincinnati Taft football team is hoping rock bottom was last season’s 70-14 playoff loss to Clinton-Massie.

Senators first-year head coach Jeff Cargile believes his team has been on the rise since that time.

“One thing I wanted to do that we haven’t done in my nine years here is have an off-season program,” Cargile said. “The kids really bought into it and it’s paid off with big dividends.”

Cargile said the Taft players were not pleased with the outcome and their post-game feeling in the aftermath of the 56-point loss in 2015.

“All the kids came back home and they knew how that felt; they didn’t want that to happen again,” Cargile said.

Taft is 8-2 this season, losing only to playoff unbeatens Wyoming and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. The Senators lost to Dayton Dunbar 42-12 in Week 9 but the game was subsequently deemed a forfeit and recorded as a Taft 2-0 victory.

“I don’t know that there’s another Div. IV team in the state of Ohio that has played the schedule we have,” Cargile said. “We’ve seen Alter, Wyoming, Indian Hill twice, CHCA, Holy Cross a playoff team in Kentucky, and Dunbar. I would really love to see another team that has played the level of competition we have seen this year. So we’re ready (for Friday night).”

Wyoming, Holy Cross, CHCA, and Dunbar were regular season games while Alter and Indian Hill were scrimmages.

Some coaches might show their team last year’s playoff game as a reminder of that lowly feeling, but not Cargile. He didn’t need a reminder of what he and his Senators are going to see from the Falcons.

“You know what you’re going to get out of a Clinton-Massie team,” Cargile said. “They just change bodies; it’s the same system. You know the kids are going to be big, they’re going to be fast, they’re going to be well-coached. Different DNA but the same machine, we like to say.”