Marysville’s Gabe Powers picks up yardage against Hilliard Darby. The unbeaten Monarchs will play at Dublin Jerome on Friday. (Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
It has been the best and worst of weeks for the Marysville High School football team.
The Monarchs upped their record to 5-0 last Friday with a thrilling 21-14 overtime victory over previously-unbeaten Hilliard Darby.
The game was Homecoming and also a time when Monarch students and staff members paid tribute to Colin Tanner, an MHS graduate who recently died from cancer.
The feel-good of the evening, however, was darkly shadowed when the mother of a Monarch assistant coach collapsed shortly after the game.
The Marysville medical and training staffs did yeoman’s work in reviving her.
However, she passed away a while later in the evening.
Needless to say, it’s been a difficult week as the Monarchs prepare to visit Dublin Jerome (5-1) on Friday.
Marysville is currently ranked first in Region 2 of Division I.
Jerome is fourth in the same region.
Marysville head coach Brent Johnson said the team has to have a balance between preparing to play a very good Celtic team and also being there as emotional support for the assistant coach.
The Monarchs will encounter a Jerome team that likes to run the ball out of the spread offense.
The Celtics’ top ball carrier is senior Preston Everhart.
However, Jerome’s top receiver, David Adolph, also has three, 100-yard reception games.
Through six games, he’s latched on to 23 passes for 470 yards and seven TDs.
Quarterback Zakk Tschirhart has completed 76-of-108 passes for 941 yards and 12 touchdowns.
With that said, the Monarchs will have to be ready for a balanced Jerome attack.
“Their offensive line is good size,” said Johnson. “They are very sound up front.
“I think we match up pretty well with Jerome along the line of scrimmage,” he said. “However, we will have to match up well with their playmakers in space.
“We will especially have to keep our guys on Adolph.”
The Celtics will employ a 44 defensive alignment with cover 3 in the secondary.
“It’s very similar to what we saw against Darby,” said Johnson.
“They’ve got a couple of defensive ends who penetrate well against an opponent’s offensive line,” said the Monarch boss. “They do a pretty good job of squeezing you.
“We will have to be pretty good up front,” said Johnson. “Our offensive linemen will need to do a good job of trapping and kicking out on their blocks.”
Defensive leaders for the Celtics, as far as tackles, are defensive back Brady Sestilli (41) and linemen Brady White (34) and Caden Lockwood (31).
In an overall view of the game, Johnson said the Monarchs must do all they can to keep Eversole bottled up, yet knowing Jerome will move the ball.
“Dublin Jerome is going to get its first downs,” he said. “However, we need to concentrate on ending their possessions as quickly as we possibly can and get our defense off the field on third down.
“On the other hand, we need to keep moving the sticks and make Jerome’s defense stay on the field for extended periods of time.”
Coming off an emotional victory over Darby and having to contend with off-field issues, Johnson was asked about his team’s frame of mind going into Friday’s game.
“That’s a good question,” he said. “It was an emotional night, what with the win and then other situations.
“The No. 1 thing we have to do on Friday against Jerome is to play with a lot of energy,” he said. “We went from a high emotion to a low one almost immediately after the game.”
Still, Johnson feels the Monarchs will be ready to play from Friday’s opening whistle.
“We’ve had to handle this week, but I think the guys will be dialed in for Dublin Jerome on Friday.”
Johnson said the victory against Darby was important in another way.
“In the past five years, we had never won a close game against a good opponent,” he said. “We made some errors during the second half against Darby, but the guys didn’t panic or lose their poise.
“The responded very well.”
After the game was another challenge for the team.
“The guys were faced with a grown-up experience for which they had no warning,” said Johnson. “We’ve talked to the guys a lot about what happened after the game and the importance of rallying behind family in tough times.”