FREDERICKTOWN – The Fredericktown football team had some familiarity with Marion Elgin as it prepared for its matchup in the first round of the Division VI, Region 23 playoffs on Saturday night in Marion.
As luck has it, the 21st-seeded Freddies and the 12th-seeded Comets just so happened to meet in the only scrimmage before the start of the season for both teams.
“We’re pretty familiar with each other,” Fredericktown football coach Will Hartley said. “We have that scrimmage film plus we exchanged three game films. Being as low of a seed as we are, I think it’s a pretty good matchup for us.”
“I think if we just keep to fundamentals and work together as a team … just power through the night and put four quarters together, they’re a very beatable team,” senior Steven Tumbleson said.
Fredericktown was also dealt a piece of bad luck with the injury of senior Jeremiah McKinley, who separated a shoulder early in Fredericktown’s 48-9 loss at Centerburg on Oct. 2.
McKinley was second on the team in rushing with 238 yards and two touchdowns on 60 carries and second on the team with 44.5 tackles on defense.
Tumbleson, who leads the Freddies (1-5) in both categories – 291 yards and two touchdowns on 74 carries on offense and 51 tackles on defense – hopes Fredericktown will be able to carry the load without McKinley.
“Me and (McKinley) are kind of a tag team on defense,” Tumbleson said. “We work together a lot. It’s a blow to our offense and defense that he’s not in there because he’s our starting tackle and running back.”
Elgin (4-2) enters the game on a three-game winning streak and has scored more than 30 points in each of their last five games.
“I think we match up with them in team speed-wise; size-wise,” Hartley said. “The things that they’ve run, we’ve seen. They run primarily Wing-T stuff and we haven’t seen much of (that). But with their spread game, they’re running their quarterback quite with a permitter run … that’s a lot of the stuff we’ve seen throughout the year.”
The Comets have a three-headed monster in the backfield of Jordan McCormack (48 carries, 379 yards, six touchdowns), Kevin Kline (31 carries, 383 yards, three touchdowns) and Cy Starcher (25 carries, 335 yards, five touchdowns).
McCormack has also thrown for 792 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions on 32 of 60 passing.
“Physically, they’re a pretty big team,” Hartley said. “They’ve got some some nice athletes and a good quarterback. He’s a running threat and a passing threat.”
Starcher also has 262 yards and five touchdowns on 11 catches. Ryan Coolbaugh has 401 yards and five touchdowns on 11 catches for Elgin.
“They have some guys that they get the ball to in space with their perimeter run game and jet-sweeps,” Hartley said.
Carter Andrick has 38.5 tackles and four interceptions and Nickolas Rivers has 12 sacks to lead Elgin on defense.
“They’re pretty big up front,” Hartley said. “They’ve got a big, physical offensive and defensive line.”
The winner will travel to fifth-seeded Barnesville next Saturday at 7 p.m.
For game coverage, visit mountvernonnews.com.
