The Miami Trace Panthers are striving in practice this week as they prepare to host a familiar old rival, the Circleville Tigers, in the season-opener Friday night on what forecasters are calling for a hot afternoon, reminicsent of last year’s conditions.

Miami Trace led in the ball game last year, 14-7 at the half.

The Tigers had the upper hand in the second half last year, outscoring the Panthers 27-13 to post the final margin, 34-27.

Circleville head coach Keith Downing commented after last year’s game that a key to the win was the play of the Tigers’ offense line. Circleville rushed for 178 yards on 35 carries while the Panthers were held to 97 yards on the ground on an equal number of attempts.

Senior quarterback Herbie Carson threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns while Kory Hartinger passed for 203 yards and one touchdown. Both quarterbacks rushed for one score.

This year, long-time assistant coach Mike Bernard takes over as the head coach from Jeff Conroy who ran the program for 18 seasons.

“We were pretty pleased with both of our scrimmages,” Bernard said earlier this week. “First of all, we came out fairly healthy; a couple of nicks and bruises, but I don’t think there was anything of a serious nature.”

The Panthers scrimmaged at Westfall and at Graham High Schools, respectively.

“We showed improvement from one scrimmage to the next,” Bernard said. “We’ve been very pleased with how hard the kids have been working.

“I thought offensively, in both scrimmages, that our offensive line played real well,” Bernard said. “Our running backs ran the ball hard, which is what we’re looking for. We want them to run straight ahead, not dance and run to the sideline.

“I thought we threw the ball effectively at times and our recievers made some nice catches,” Bernard said. “Defensively, we made a couple of mental mistakes. Overall we were pretty pleased with the way the kids got to the football. In the second scrimmage we caused, I believe it was, three turnovers. That got our offense in some short field situations, which we took advantage of.

“I thought our kicking game was pretty solid,” Bernard said. “In the first scrimmage, you really don’t do much kicking. In the second scrimmage, you kick extra points and you can attempt field goals and you punt and everything.

“Brett Garland had two field goals for us,” Bernard said. “Mark Girton and Brett had some extra point kicks. Cody Beatty is our punter and we thought he had some nice punts. Overall we were pretty pleased with both scrimmages.

“Now, we have a lot of work to do,” Bernard said. “We’ve been trying to correct our mistakes this week in practice. But overall, we were pretty pleased with the scrimmages.”

Miami Trace’s coaching staff was able to attend Circleville’s first scrimmage.

“That was on the Friday evening before our first scrimmage when they scrimmaged Logan,” Bernard said. “Just looking at what we saw in that scrimmage and what we’ve seen on film, they are a big, physical football team.

“They’re a little bit like us in that they are having to replace a lot of experienced players,” Bernard said. “One thing they are is big. They certainly appear big, strong and physical. I think they’re going to look to run the ball first and mix in some play-action passes and some of the quick passing stuff.

“I don’t look for either team to be throwing the ball 50 times,” Bernard said. “I think it’s going to be a slug-it-out-in-the-trenches kind of game. We’ve been talking with our kids all week in practice, trying to get the mindset of, the team that’s the most physical on Friday night should have a pretty good chance of winning the football game.”

The successor to Herbie Carson at quarterback will be senior Caleb Redding, according to Bernard.

“Caleb started in both of our scrimmages,” Bernard said. “He’ll be starting Friday night. We’re really pleased with the leadership he’s been providing, whether it’s been in the practices, or the running in the summer, or the lifting in the weightroom. Overall, we’ve been extremly pleased with our senior class as a whole, stepping up and assumiing that leadership role.

“In most cases, you’re going to be as good as your seniors,” Bernard said. “If your seniors are willing to step up and be positive leaders, and positive role models for the younger kids, that goes a long way toward your team having a successful season.”

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