Friday night, the Cavaliers (1-3) make their first trip to St. Francis DeSales (1-3).
The Stallions are a perennial playoff team, making the post season 21 times and their 2011 appearance was the program’s 18th consecutive trip which ended with a 24-21 loss to Elida in the second round.
Coach Ryan Wiggins has been a part of that tradition. The 1997 DeSales graduate has picked up where his predecessor Bob Jacoby left off five seasons ago.
“I played here, I’ve been assistant coach quite a while… it’s all about continuing the tradition here. Having been an assistant for Bob Jacoby for nine years, it was an easy transition… it’s the only thing I knew was the DeSales way.”
That way is to play tough defense, take care of the football and perform well on special teams. However, Wiggins says this season has been quite the contrary.
“We’re struggling a little bit right now, but hopefully we can get it together.”
Wiggins says his team has been averaging four turnovers a game through their first four weeks.
“We’ve had so many turnovers… last week for instance (a 21-0 loss to Ryle Union, Kentucky), in the first half we had 125 yards rushing, we had 37 offensive plays to our opponents 15 and we had five trips to the red zone and only had three points to show for it.”
Wiggins adds the Stallions haven’t been able to finish drives, “We’ve put the ball on the ground, when we’ve had opportunities we weren’t able to take advantage of them. Our game last week, we were winning 10-7 midway through the 4th quarter and we fumbled the ball, the other team scoops and scores on it.”
The 2011 football class was a senior laden group. The Stallions opened this season with 18 new faces in the lineup. So, needless to say, there’s been a learning curve.
Among the three returning starters for DeSales, quarterback Alex Perrine and running back J.T. Blubaugh.
Wiggins had high praises for his fullback. “He really runs hard and makes good cuts, he’s a tough runner to bring down.” Blubaugh remains a question mark for this week’s game due to suffering an injury last week.
As for his signal caller, Wiggins says “He started 11 games for us a year ago, a very competitive player and he runs hard. Sometimes he’s competitive to a fault though, sometimes he tries a bit too much.”
Defensively, it’s a completely new lineup which has led to some inconsistent play. “Consistency’s been a huge issue with us overall.”
Offensively, DeSales and Chillicothe look very similar. “We’re an option team and we understand our philosophy behind running the option. We believe you can really keep the defense on their heels and sort of put them in a bind, make them play their responsibility.”
Wiggins adds the key for his team against the Cavaliers is really on themselves. “Last week we executed well, but we didn’t finish the drives… we didn’t put points on the board. I’m sure Chillicothe’s in the same boat we’re in and Coach Hinton’s preaching the same thing we’re preaching."
Coverage of the game begins with “Game Night with the Cavs” on 1490 WBEX. The game can also be found live on wbex.com and the WBEX spot on iheartradio.
