The Miami Trace Panthers have Homecoming this week as they prepare to take on the McClain Tigers.

Miami Trace (3-4 overall, 1-2 SCOL) is coming off a 29-19 loss to the London Red Raiders.

McClain (2-5 overall, 1-3 SCOL) suffered a 54-16 pounding by the Clinton-Massie Falcons last week.

The Tigers trailed by only four points at the half, but wore down against Massie as the Falcons outscored McClain 40-6 in the second half.

“Our seniors fought hard, but Clinton-Massie is a good team,” McClain head coach Randy Closson said. “In the second half we missed out on some good opportunities. We ran the ball well, but we just couldn’t get into the end zone.”

Last week at London, Miami Trace took a 7-0 lead into halftime. The second half went to London, especially the fourth quarter. The two teams traded scores in the third quarter, but London outscored Miami Trace in the fourth quarter, 22-6.

“London just beat us on the field,” Miami Trace head coach Mike Bernard said. “We made mistakes in the game, but so did London. We had trouble stopping them in the second half. They had two consecutive drives that went for touchdowns. We were able to answer one of them.

“It was a hard-fought football game in which we came out on the wrong side,” Bernard said. “We’re just going to work harder and get prepared for Greenfield.”

McClain runs a spread offense, which will be a different look for the Panthers, according to Bernard.

“Offensively, they’re a very unusual high school offense,” Bernard said. “Not only are they running the spread, which a lot of high school teams are running now, although we haven’t seen it much this year. In fact, we haven’t really seen it in this form since (the scrimmage with) Westfall.

“(McClain) is throwing the ball more out (of the spread) than most high school teams,” Bernard said. “We have them charted in the films and things that we have as really throwing the ball around a little bit.

“Their quarterback (Brian Pitzer) is an impressive athlete,” Bernard said. “He throws the ball extremely well, but also runs the ball very well. It’s not a situation where we can just pin our ears back and go after him, because, if you miss him, then he’ll escape and get out of the pocket and make things happen with his feet.

“Offensively, they’re a hard team to defend with the spread offense,” Bernard said. “Defensively, they’re a sound football team with some good athletes on that side of the ball.”

The Panthers had 95 yards in penalites last week and many of those were ill-timed and costly to the team, according to Bernard. Miami Trace had four turnovers to two for London.

“Overall, we contained (running back Marcus) Redmond pretty well defensively,” Bernard said. “Their quarterback (Justin Wolverton) hurt us running the ball.”

Last week, Trey Anderson led the Panthers with 14 total tackles. Tyler Fraley had 13 total tackles; Ryan Garland had 10 tackles and one sack; Grant Jones and Alex Marting each had one interception.

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