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Sheridan Wants To Play Spoiler Against Maysville
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What was thought to be impossible became the truth last Friday in Thornville as the Sheridan Generals lost their third consecutive game. Friday night in Maysville, the Generals will look to turn their luck around and bring home a win as they take on the Maysville Panthers.
This will be no easy task for Sheridan. Maysville is currently 6-1 (4-1 MVL) with their only loss of the season coming at the hands of the Tri-Valley Scotties in Week 2. Scoring an average of 30 points per game since that loss, the Panthers are a well-balanced team that will be tough for the Generals to stop.
“They spread the wealth around quite a bit on offense with the fullback, both wingbacks, quarterback, and receivers,” Sheridan head coach Paul Culver Jr said. “It’s not one person that you focus on; it’s a lot of misdirection, a lot of sweeps and play-action passes that cause problems for defenses.”
Maysville’s mindset is that their offensive production comes form their defensive success.
“Offensively we have to take what the defense gives us,” Maysville head coach Craig Clarke said. “We’ve had the ability this year to be able to run inside and outside and throw the ball when we need to.”
But the Panthers don’t want to rely on their defense to win them games, as they want their offense to be clicking on all cylinders.
“We want to attack in all areas,” said Clarke. “We have three or four guys that can run the ball and make big plays for us and that has been one of the keys for us: to try and stay diversified.”
Across the field, Sheridan’s offense has struggled the past two weeks, being shutout by both John Glenn and Philo. Granted, they have been facing tough defenses, but the Generals have made mistakes that have helped out their competition.
“We’ve made a tremendous amount of mistakes that have hurt us offensively,” Culver said. “Bad snaps, fumbles and all that stuff that will kill an offense. We’ve had more than our fair share of that.”
Another problem for the Generals’ offense is their lack of ability to throw the football. In the past two weeks, Sheridan’s quarterbacks have combined to complete 7-of-27 passes for 90 yards.
“A couple times I thought we had an opportunity to catch the ball if we just lay out a little bit or focus a little bit more,” Culver said. “Those kids (the wide receivers) are young and they’re still a work in progress.”
It’s not all about the X’s and O’s for the Generals. As every fan in Sheridan knows, it’s all about having the Right Mental Attitude.
“We need to show up with a little bit of a fire and dignity and a little bit of excitement because that is something that this team lacks,” Culver said. “We just kind of go through the motions and the level of intensity is not what it needs to be.”