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Blue Lions host Western Brown for Homecoming

Thursday, 02 October 2008

It’s Homecoming 2008 this week for the Washington Blue Lions as they welcome the Broncos of Western Brown (Mt. Orab) to town Friday night.

Last year the Blue Lions defeated the Broncos, 21-20 in what was a key win over a team with enough wins to help propel the Blue Lions into the playoffs.

This week another tough Western Brown team rolls in, sporting a 6-0 record to take on the 1-5 Blue Lions.

Washington had a tough loss last week to their rival of more than 100 years, the Tigers of McClain.

Western Brown is a Division II school that sits at No. 9 this week in the high school football computer ratings in Region eight.

The Broncos, a member of the Southern Buckeye Conference, defeated Goshen last week, 28-7. The week before they decimated Williamsburg, 61-14.

The Blue Lions are continuing to strive to eliminate mistakes that seem to cost them nearly every week.

Last week the Blue Lions fell behind, 16-0 before rallying to tie the game, 22-22 before falling, 31-22.

“Our kids battled last week,” Washington head coach John Enochs said. “They played hard. We’ve been making some mistakes that we need to correct. But as far as the effort goes, as far as our kids battling, and being competitive, we couldn’t ask anymore out of them.”

Enochs turned his focus to this week’s opponent, Western Brown.

“They’re a good team,” Enochs said. “They have a nice program down there. They have a good running back (Shawn Davis) who has 1,000 yards already this year.”

Davis ran the ball just seven times for Western Brown against Williamsburg, and scored five touchdowns and accumulated 185 yards (a numbing 26-yards per carry).

“They have a nice quarterback (sophomore Matt Corcoran),” Enochs said. “I think their strength is their offense. This is the fourth year we’ve played them and every year they have a good team. They’re going to come up here and be ready to play. They’re a challenge every year.”

Last year against the Broncos, Zach Free was like a one-man wrecking crew for Washington with approximately 20 tackles and over 300 yards rushing.

“That was a great game last year,” Enochs said. “We got down 14-0 and came back to win that game.”

Homecoming often presents extra events during the week, such as the annual parade. Does that offer additional challenges to the Blue Lion coaching staff?

“Our kids do a good job of concentrating on the game,” Enochs said. “They know what’s important. They know Homecoming’s a lot more fun if we win the football game Friday night.”

Turnovers (or a lack of them) will play a part in who wins Friday, according to Enochs.

“We can’t make the turnovers we made last week,” Enochs said. “We had a muffed punt that (McClain) recovered deep in our territory. We had a fumble, we threw an interception. Those are the areas we have to clean up for us to have a chance to win this game.”

Enochs said sophomore running back Ben Parks is getting better, but is still day-to-day as to whether he will play Friday against Western Brown.