Sports
N-Y Must Overcome Inconsistency In Battle With Marauders
By: Michael Drapcho
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After a thrilling second-half victory over the then undefeated River Valley Raiders, the Meigs Marauders now turn their focus to the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes.
Friday night will see two teams trending in opposite directions take the field in Pomeroy. Meigs (4-1, 2-0) is riding high and are tied atop the TVC-Ohio standings with Alexander. Nelsonville-York (1-4, 0-1), however, enters Friday’s game scuffling and as losers of four straight.
The interesting thing about this matchup is that most expected N-Y to be in Meigs’ place this time of year, as the Buckeyes were considered by many to be the favorites to the win the conference this season. Part of the reason for this could be the team’s offense. N-Y switched to a spread offense this season, and it has yielded mixed results.
The Buckeyes have scored at least 20 points three times this season, but they have also only scored 12 points on two separate occasions in 2015. Even with the inconsistency, N-Y’s offense will be no pushovers against the improved Marauders’ defense. Hunter Edwards is still a dynamic playmaker at quarterback, and Noah Andrews and Alex Mount are still dangerous coming out of the backfield.
Coming into the season, it was clear what Meigs needed to improve to become a TVC-Ohio contender, its defense. So far that focus defensively paid off, as the Marauders are giving up only 17.4 points per game and have yet to give up 30 points in a single game, something they did six times last season.
Offensively, Meigs will look to get back to its passing attack after it struggled in the rain against River Valley last week. Per usual, look for a heavy dosage of Kaleb Sheets from the Marauders. The Gridiron Glory Player of the Year candidate is coming off a game in which he racked up over 200 total yards and scored three touchdowns.
The Buckeyes’ defense has not exactly been stellar this season, allowing 28.8 points per game, and slowing down the Marauders will be no easy task given the fact that it is difficult to slow down both Sheets and Cody Bartrum.
Meigs and N-Y will face off Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Pomeroy.