The pressure could be on Marysville High School’s defensive secondary Friday evening.
The Monarchs will open the 2020 campaign at home against Hilliard Bradley.
“They are a spread team that has a run package,” said Monarch head coach Brent Johnson. “However, it seems they want to throw the ball.”
The biggest offensive weapon appears to be receiver Jack Pugh, who is a 6-5, 235-pound tight end.
Other key receivers are Noah Perkins and Joseph Conklin.
The Jaguars will throw the ball approximately 60% of the time.
“That means our defensive backs are going to have to be disciplined with their eyes,” said Johnson.
“They have a quick passing game, so we’re going to have to tackle their receivers as soon as they catch the ball,” he said. “They’ve got a quarterback (Max Cooper) who is very quick with his feet when he passes.
“We have to take away his feet and make Bradley as one-dimensional as possible,” said Johnson.
The Monarch coach said his big and physical defensive front should match up well with Bradley’s offensive line.
“I also feel our linebackers will be able to blitz and jam their receivers when they put the ball in the air.” he said.
The Jaguars will employ a three-stack defensive alignment.
“They run to the ball very well,” said Johnson. “They also used a cover 3 in the secondary on the only film we have during their scrimmage against DeSales.”
The Monarch boss said his offensive unit is going to have to stay on schedule and move the chains.
“We’re going to have to be able to throw the ball against them and put together drives,” said Johnson.
“Both of us are good football teams,” he said. “The team that makes the fewest mistakes (turnovers and penalties) should win. This should be a great high school football game.”
The Monarchs scrimmaged at Olentangy Orange on Friday.
Johnson said he liked his squad’s physical play that night.
“We didn’t start out the fastest,” he said. “However, the longer we played, the better we got.
“I’m also happy with the depth we have on both lines, at linebacker and running back.”
There will also be one big difference from games in the past in that the number of spectators permitted to attend the contest will be limited, due to the coronavirus.
“Football teams feed off fan noise,” said Johnson. “It’s going to be pretty quiet in our stadium on Friday.
“Which team is going to be able to get excited without a lot of fans?”