Blanchester head coach Brandon Sammons looks at the numbers from Friday night’s 42-26 loss to Washington and its not the triple-digit yardage totals that catch his eye.
It’s little ol’ number 5.
“We had too many fumbles lost which led to bad situations for our defense,” Sammons said.
The Wildcats gained 429 yards of offense but fumble five times and lost all of them.
“The defense wasn’t bad,” the coach said. “Contain got broken a few times by their quarterback, who is a great athlete, very shifty runner like Tristan Greene last year. They had some amazing catches by one of their receivers that were back-breaking. We moved the ball, but couldn’t finish a few drives. We were pleased with the effort, but not the execution in some situations.”
This week, the Wildcats hold their home opener against visiting Mariemont. The Warriors lost a 42-41 shootout to Oakwood.
“Mariemont is an athletic team, a disciplined team, and a fast team.” Sammons said in his scouting report of the Cincinnati Hills League team. “They are a good football team, probably one of the playoff teams from this region. We have our hands full defensively and their defense is attacking and sound. We have to be much more protective of the ball and cannot give up big plays this week. That has to happen for us to be in this game at the end. They are coming off of a heart-breaking loss, so they will be hungry.”
Mariemont passed for 409 yards against Oakwood. Wally Renie, the MHS quarterback, was 25-38 for 409 yards and five touchdowns. Three of those TDs went to Charlie Cowart. Though a standout on the football field, Cowart has committed to the Air Force Academy to play lacrosse.
The Wildcats were balanced on offense last week, rushing for 245 and passing for 184.
Freshman signal-caller Brayden Sipple was 17-32. He did not throw an interception. Brent Hopkins (96 yards, TD) and Jacob Burden (88 yards, TD) were the top rushers for BHS. Burden also caught seven passes for 77 yards.
Numbers aside, Sammons said Cody Henson, the starting left guard, was one of the unsung heroes from last week. Henson started for the Wildcats at running back in the last two scrimmages but was moved to left guard just last week.
“(He) learned the position in one week and gave amazing effort and hustle, recovered one fumble of ours and has never complained about the position switch,” Sammons said. “(This) could go down as the most important move we made all preseason.”
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