Blanchester football coach Brandon Sammons knows his team’s weakness on defense plays right into the hands of Wilmington’s strength on offense.
“Our pass defense is still a work in progress,” said Sammons. “Our defensive front is showing a pretty good ability to stop the run.”
The Hurricane has struggled to run the football but Brady Evans and Co. has been solid in the passing game.
Wilmington (1-2) will make its first visit to Blanchester (0-3) in a number of years for a varsity football game Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Barbour Memorial Field.
The Wildcats held Waynesville to 97 rushing yards last week on 39 carries. However, Spartans quarterback Anthony Carmichael was 24-for-30 for 275 yards.
“Our defensive front is showing a pretty good ability to stop the run,” said Sammons. “We’ve gotten better up front over the last few weeks on reducing big runs.”
Sammons said the Hurricane is bigger and faster than his Wildcat squad but that doesn’t mean he expects his team to be 0-4 at the end of the night.
“We can be successful if our guys their job and sustain effort to the whistle,” he said. “We have opportunities to exploit but we have to do what we are capable of and not waste those opportunities.”
Sammons said after three weeks the coaches have decided to make changes in the lineup.
“Guys that give effort all the time and show that desire will be playing,” the BHS coach said. “Consistency will come with a sense of urgency as we move forward and guys realize they will lose a job if they don’t give their all.”
Of the 0-3 start, Sammons said it’s a matter of mental approach and not that the team is over-matched physically.
“It’s completely mental,” said Sammons. “Physically we are very similar to everyone we play outside of a random player. As we’ve told our guys, they just need to go out and play and do what they are coached to do, not what they are thinking, hearing outside of the locker room, not what they’re concerned about, but just be a player and play. We’ve had a better week of practice and I hope we’ll start to see some results from that.”
