It could not have been a much better opening to the 2008 season as the Miami Trace Panthers, under the direction of first-year head coach Mike Bernard, scored a 37-0 win over Circleville on Aug. 22.

The Tigers were stymied almost from the start. After dropping the last couple of decisions to the Tigers, the Panthers held Circleville to just 25 yards of rushing and a total of 39 yards of offense for the game. The Tigers netted less than one yard per carry (25 yards on a total of 30 carries).

Meanwhile, the Panthers rushed for 238 yards on 44 carries, easily winning the time-of-possession battle.

“We felt we were pretty physical on the point of attack,” Bernard said Monday afternoon prior to practice. “On the offensive and defensive lines all night long.

“We ran the ball hard,” Bernard said. Senior Tom Armstrong rushed 15 times for 111 yards and three touchdowns. Junior Grant Jones lugged the pigskin 14 times for 70 yards.

“I thought our recievers, at times, blocked very well,” Bernard said. “That allowed some big runs to happen.” The Panthers averaged 5.4 yards per carry while the Tigers gained just .8 yards per carry.

“A lot of times when you have a big run, it’s because a receiver threw a nice block downfield,” Bernard said.

“Offensively, we were pretty pleased,” Bernard said. “Defensively, we made a couple of mistakes, but overall, I thought our kids really hustled. We got to the football well; we gang-tackled well.

“The nice thing was, we didn’t let them get in any offensive rhythm,” Bernard said. “I don’t think they ever figured out exactly how they wanted to attack us, because we were holding them to a lot of three and outs. We never allowed them to have a sustained drive against us.”

One correction has already been printed, but we wanted folks to know that it was senior Matt Moore (not senior Cody Beatty) who recovered a Circleville fumble and took it eight yards for a touchdown with 3:08 to play in the first half. That score and senior Brett Garland’s extra-point kick made it 24-0 at that juncture of the game.

Senior Ryan Garland led the Panthers with 10 total tackles. Beatty and fellow senior Jordan Baird each recorded one sack.

This week, Miami Trace travels to Wilmington College to take on the Wilmington Hurricane.

Wilmington began its season with a 21-7 win over West Carrollton last week.

The ”Cane took the opening drive 70 yards for a touchdown. A seven-play scoring drive was capped when quarterback Brandon Arehart connected with Nyles Williams for the touchdown.

Wilmington’s Quinten Rollins returned a punt 35 yards for a touchdown to give the ‘Cane a 14-0 first quarter lead.

Wilmington concluded scoring for the game in the second quarter when Jeff Cowin intercepted a pass and returned it 34-yards for the score. ‘Cane kicker David Duquette went three for three on PAT kicks to make it 21-0.

Wilmington intercepted three passes in the game, which pleased head coach Robin Vida.

“Those three picks were great and the big thing was that we created the turnovers,” Vida said. “It seemed like everytime they (West Carrollton) were trying to drive and get some points, we answered with the big play.”

Vida commented on this Friday’s game, the first to be played at the new field at Wilmington College.

“It’s gonna be big (for) several reasons,” Vida said. “It’s the first game at our new home field (Williams Stadium at Wilmington College). It will be the first night game played there by a high school team and (Miami Trace) (is) certainly one of our traditional rivals. It should be a great atmosphere for high school football.”

“We feel that Wilmington has a very explosive ballclub, offensively,” Bernard said. “I think they might be a little inexperienced along the offensive and defensive lines. But they have some skill position players that can really put the fear into you. They have some weapons offensively that allow them, when they break contain, when they get outside, or in the open, we’re going to have trouble catching them.

“Our job is going to be containing them,” Bernard said. “We want to make them run inside and not let them get to the outside and get upfield on us.”

Directions to Wilmington College: Take US Route 22 west into Wilmington. Turn left onto College Street or Quaker Way.

A map of the Wilmington College campus can be found at www.wilmington.edu.

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