The Pioneer football squad competed Friday in a preseason jamboree game with Fairbanks.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
The Jonathan Alder Pioneers will take to the road for a rather long trip to begin the 2019 high school football regular season.
Alder will travel to play Philo High School, which is near Zanesville, on Friday.
The Electrics employ multiple offensive formations.
“At times, they will use a spread offense,” said JA head coach Brett Glass. “At other times, we will see two running backs and a tight end.
“They’ll pass when they’re in the spread and run behind the tight end,” he said. “That’s pretty typical of someone who uses multiple formations.”
Philo is led by running back Casey Munyan, a senior who has been in the starting lineup the past three seasons.
Quarterback Hunter Adolph, another senior, is described as more of a running threat, but can throw the ball when the situation arises.
“Their offensive line has decent size,” said Glass. “They can move people.”
Among the veteran offensive linemen are Logan Wickham, a senior; Steve Ervin, a junior; and Hunter Stiles, the team’s senior center — all more than 230 lbs.
“Our defense must be able to stop their running game,” said Glass. “We are going to have to force them to throw the ball.”
The Pioneer offense, which features running back Garrett Proxmire and quarterback J.T. Keith, will face a 3-4 defensive alignment.
“They’ve got good size with their three interior linemen and control the line of scrimmage pretty well,” said Glass. “They do a good job of stopping the run.
“They like to drop off the linebackers in coverage and their defensive backs run to the ball well.”
“We didn’t see much in the way of slants or stunts during their scrimmages,” said Glass. “However, I imagine they will do that against us.”
The Alder coach said he has no special plans for his squad’s offense.
“We’re just going to do our own stuff,” said Glass. “We want to establish our running game in order to open up the pass.
“That’s our MO.”
Glass said the keys to victory will be to stop Philo’s ground attack and win the turnover battle.
“The kicking game will also be important,” he said. “We will have to make plays on special teams.”