Brogan Green (8) of Fairbanks takes a handoff from quarterback A.J. Landon. The Panthers will host Madison Plains on Friday. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
The Fairbanks Panthers will face an injury-depleted Madison Plains Eagles on Friday.
FHS will take a 2-2 record into the game on its home field, while the Madison County team is 1-3.
Injuries have greatly impacted the Golden Eagles as they’ve used a pair of quarterbacks and two centers so far during the season.
Evan Coil and Peyton Smith for the most part have had to share the quarterback chores.
Coil has completed 19-of-52 passes for 191 yards.
Smith has gained 200 yards on 14-of-26 passing.
“Coil is a good athlete and throws the ball well,” said Fairbanks head coach Patrick Cotter.
“When he’s healthy, everything runs through him.”
Although the Golden Eagles line up in the spread offense with three or four receivers, they first want to establish the ground game.
Tyson Guiette is Madison Plains’ leading ball carrier.
He’s gained 128 yards on 31 attempts.
“They like to run some iso and also take the ball inside,” said Cotter.
“Their running game isn’t bad when they don’t fumble the ball,” said the Panther coach. “That’s the problem they had last week against Northeastern.”
When the Eagles go to the air, the favorite targets are Michael Bearden, who has 13 receptions for 145 yards, and Ben Stoughton (nine catches for 139).
“They’re not going to fling the ball down field a lot,” said Cotter. “They’re going to try to move it by dinking and dunking passes on you.”
Cotter said the Panther defense should be fine whatever the Golden Eagles run.
“If we stay within our defensive rules, we’ll be fine,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep them off-schedule.
“We have to make sure we get them into a lot of second-and-12 and third-and-15 situations.”
The Eagles have not developed much consistency on offense.
That, in turn, makes it difficult for the defensive unit that has had to stay on the field for long stretches at a time.
Madison Plains will employ either a 52 or 44 defensive front.
Cotter expects to see a crowded 52 as the Eagles will attempt to stop a Panther ground game that has rushed for 922 yards over the past four weeks.
Brogan Green currently stands as the No. 2 ball carrier in the Ohio Heritage Conference with 421 yards on 65 attempts.
Riordin Stauffer has picked up 249 on 48 carries.
They, however, are not FHS’ only running threats.
Ethan Kise has 90 yards on 15 attempts, while Ryker Green and Grant Rausch have respectively run for 63 and 51.
Cotter gives the offensive line a good deal of credit for the development of Fairbanks’ running game.
“Our line has improved each week,” he said. “Our running backs are tough to bring down and our offense continues to get better and better.”
Cotter said a fast start will be the key to victory as the 2021 regular season reaches the midway point.
“We’ve got to stomp on the gas from the opening kickoff and get out to as fast of a start as possible,” he said.
“If we do that, we’ll be able to do what we want to do to win the game.”