Sports
John Glenn Heads to West Muskingum
By: Morgan Overbey
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After two weeks of play, West Muskingum already has two conference games under its belt, but for John Glenn, this week’s matchup against the Tornadoes will be its first clash in the conference.
The Little Muskies dominated in their first two games of the season against non-conference foes Cambridge and Barnesville. Head coach John Kelley said he is impressed with the team’s play thus far, but there are a few areas where it can improve.
“I was very happy with our offense, but I think we still need to work on a lot of the fundamentals,” Kelley said. “Throughout the course of the season the little things like snaps, catching, etc. can hurt a team.”
In last year’s week four encounter, the Little Muskies had their way with the Tornadoes by a score of 61-7. As in past seasons, West Muskingum doesn’t have the numbers to put a lot of fresh players in the game. Coach Jeremy Katchem said fans would see a lot of the same faces on offense, defense, and special teams because of their lack of depth.
“We’ve struggled a little bit this season because we just don’t have the depth like other teams do,” Katchem said. “I always preach we need to get better and better every day and I think we are.”
The Tornadoes lost to Sheridan and Philo by a combined 82 points in their first two games. Based on that alone, it looks like their match-up against John Glenn could be one of that sort.
John Glenn returns powerhouse tailback Blake Atkins, and he has proved one of the top running backs in the MVL thus far. Atkins struggled with injuries late in the season last year, but has recovered without any trouble. In the Barnesville game, he finished with 206 rushing yards, 69 receiving yards, one interception and four touchdowns in just three quarters.
“We know we have to shut down Atkins if we want to win this game,” Katchem said.
For Kelley, Friday night’s game is just like any other.
“Just like every other team, we respect West Muskingum,” Kelley said. “But we go into every week with the same mindset, and that is to fight like dogs out there for a win.”
Friday night the Little Muskies will take a trip across I-70 to West Muskingum for another 7:30 kickoff.