Jeremiah McNeil (center) of Marysville finds running room against Lancaster. The Monarchs will travel to Pickerington North on Friday. (Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
The first game is in the books for the Marysville High School football team and it was a resounding success.
Head coach Brent Johnson was very pleased with the 24-0 home victory over Lancaster.
“That was a very good game for us,” said the Monarch boss. “I thought our defense especially played well.”
MHS limited what Johnson called a good 0-2 team in Lancaster to just 147 total yards.
The Marysville offense was also explosive, tallying 318 total yards.
The Monarchs go on the road for the first time during the regular season on Friday.
That’s when they will face Pickerington North, which sports a 2-0 record.
The Panthers will operate out of 2 x 1 and 3 x 1 (receivers) formations,” said Johnson. “However, they are a running team first of all with running back Dawaun Green (235 pounds) and quarterback Landon O’Connell (6-4, 192).
“Both of those guys are big and can run,” he said. “However, they can get off bubble screens and quick screens when they pass.”
Pickerington North has an additional pair of running backs in Malik Ray and Eli Compass.
They respectively go 190 and 210 pounds.
“We’re going to have to stop their running game first,” said Johnson. “That’s what they do best.
“We have to take away their ground attack and make them throw the ball.”
The Panthers will employ a 44 defensive alignment.
David Alabi (230 pounds) is an aggressive defensive end who can squeeze the outside and find the ball.
“We have to make them be especially disciplined on defense,” said Johnson.
Johnson said the key to victory will be to sustain drives on offense.
“We have to stay on schedule against their aggressive defense,” he said. “We had some very good drives against Lancaster, but we weren’t able to finish a couple.
“We have to finish those drives against a very good Pickerington North squad.”
Johnson saw growth from his young offensive line during the opening game of the 2021 season.
He cited the play of tackles Braden Gray and Jack Bloomberg, guards Nick Johnson and Evan Collins and center Morgan Kerns for opening holes that allowed the Monarchs to pick up 247 yards on the ground.
Although the Monarchs turned in a solid game against the Golden Gales, their coach knows there is still plenty room for improvement.
“The biggest improvement I want to see between Game 1 and Game 2 is in our execution,” said Johnson. “We have to eliminate mistakes once we get in the red zone.
“We only committed six penalties (for 35 yards), but they hurt some of our drives.
“We’ve got to get into Pickerington North’s second level of defense in order to stay on schedule.”