For what seems like the eighth time this season, the East Clinton football team will face a run-oriented opponent Friday night.
The Astros will host Clermont Northeastern Friday in a SBAAC National Division matchup. East Clinton is 0-7, 0-3. Clermont Northeastern is 5-3, 2-1. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at ECHS.
“Their bread and butter is the power run game,” East Clinton coach Mark Scovanner said. “They will line up in their heavy formations and run right at us.”
The Rockets are coming off a 20-0 defeat at the hands of Blanchester.
“Their QB has a decent arm and can sling it,” Scovanner said. “Defensively they run a 4-2-5 with man coverage over top. They generally play their secondary back which will allow us to utilize our short passing game. CNE’s kicker is solid on film. He is very consistent and has the ability to kick deep and short without issue. The will run a bunch of onside kicks as well as squib onside kicks so we have been preparing for both.”
East Clinton dropped a 61-6 decision to Bethel-Tate. The Astros season was thrown for a loop last week when prior to the team leaving for the game head coach Jeremy Yankey resigned for personal reasons.
“I was thoroughly impressed by how our staff handled the situation,” Scovanner said. “We made quick and decisive coaching decisions that seemed to fill the void. I believe I threw too much at (the players defensively) for one week of play. The goal was to frustrate and confuse the opposing offense by a constant change in coverage but, in the end, it confused and frustrated us more.”
The coaching change didn’t alter much for the Astros.
“Offensively it was the same story as the previous seven games,” Scovanner said. “We can move the ball in short spurts but ultimately we were never able to sustain drives. We should improve (this week) as our kids will see a similar defense to that of Bethel-Tate. Overall, the focus this week has been ‘winning your battle.’ If each of our players focuses on their individual job, it gives us the best chance to win.”
