Crescent-News.com - Defiance at Wapakoneta preview: Bulldogs hitting the road

By BRUCE HEFFLINGER

hefflinger@crescent-news.com

Labor Day weekend was a bit more pleasant this year for Defiance head football coach Jerry Buti.

"It was nice not moping around for three days," Buti said.

The reason? His Bulldogs are 2-0, something that hasn't happened at DHS for seven years.

"It's been a fun group to coach," Buti said of this year's squad, which edged Napoleon 21-20 and O-G 7-3 to open the season. "So far the kids have prepared well."

The preparation becomes a bit more difficult this week when Western Buckeye League play continues with a road game at Wapakoneta on Friday night. The Redskins have been two different teams to start the season.

In the opener, Wapak threw the ball 80 percent of the time in a 20-14 loss to Bellefontaine. However, things changed in week two when the Redskins threw just three passes in a 21-6 victory over Celina.

"They ran the same offense, they just used the run game instead of the pass game," explained Buti. "I don't know which one they will emphasize against us."

That could depend on who lines up behind center. In the opener Jake Lambert (6-2, 185, senior) was the quarterback but last week it was Patrick Huffman (6-3, 170, senior) calling signals.

Sophomore Logan Erb (5-10, 210) ran for a pair of scores in the win over Celina and shares time with Matt Lawrence (6-1, 195, senior) in the Wapak one-back offense. Speedster Jason Bartlett will line up anywhere for the Redskins and is another big weapon DHS must deal with on Friday.

Helping the cause for the Bulldogs is the return of Alex Perez, who sat out the first two DHS contests.

"He's our best football player and will play a lot of different positions for us," Buti said, pointing to inside linebacker, end and rover. "He can play any position in the front eight."

Without Perez, the Bulldogs have still been dominate on defense, permitting only 100 total yards rushing and an average of 234 yards per game of total offense.

"Our front five is stronger and much more physical than last year," Buti said of ends Serge Mayeku and Jacob Moser, tackles Mark Sebring and Jake Suman and nose guards Zack Dempsey and Jerry Holmes. "We're more disciplined up front technique-wise, the way we're supposed to be."

However, after rolling up 378 yards of offense, including 331 on the ground, in the opener against Napoleon the Bulldogs could muster just 195 yards of total offense against O-G. Defiance threw just four passes, completing one, in beating the Titans, something that Buti admitted must improve.

"One of our goals we set this year was to get back to running the football and stopping the run," Buti said. "We've put emphasis on it, the kids have bought into it and we've been able to do that.

"But we have to be able to throw and not just to balance out our offense. If we're not confident in it we're not going to do it. We'll play it close to the vest if we feel confident in that."

The lack of timing has been one reason for the slow start in the passing game.

"Sean Murray has not been able to put in the time (due to an injury) all summer and Jordan (Gonzales) has not played it the last couple years," Buti said of his two quarterbacks. "Once Sean works up to his level I'm confident we'll throw it more.

"We've got to get better at it, but we're not going to step away from our running game just to excite people."

The DHS offensive emphasis has been the ground game, Travis Spitnale in particular. The senior halfback has carried the ball 76 times in two games for 344 yards and three touchdowns.

"He's stronger and more aggressive this year and he follows his blocks well," Buti noted. "He brings a lot of energy to the game."

Perez is also expected to aid the ground attack at running back until the return of Aaron Swanson, who is expected back for game four against St. Marys.