Week 14 preview: While Pioneer’s offense preps for another heavy workload, defense preps for S. Adams’ passing attack

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Pioneer (12-1) at South Adams (10-3), 7:30 p.m.

(Winner plays South Putnam-Milan winner in Class 1A state championship game)

Pioneer had 71 offensive snaps last week in their 34-14 win over LaVille. All of them were runs. Fullback Noah VanMeter had 30 carries for 139 yards, left wingback Phillip McFatridge had 21 for 140, and right wingback Shiloh Rine had 20 for 182.

The carry totals were season highs for all three and career highs for McFatridge and Rine. While quarterback Micah Rans did not have a carry or throw a pass, VanMeter, McFatridge and Rine took up the brunt of the offense.

Pioneer coach Adam Berry, who won his 100th game and fifth regional title in his 10-year coaching career against LaVille, said he typically shortens practice in November to ensure players will be fresh.

While college teams commonly get two bye weeks over the course of a 12-game season and pro teams get one bye week in a 17-game season, Pioneer and South Adams will be playing for the 14th consecutive week when they meet in the Class 1A north semistate.

“It was a workload for our offense in general,” Berry said. “We came in Saturday. Of course, you’re going to be sore when you’re playing for a championship and playing three phases of the game, but you know, they are healthy. We’ve been lifting in-season to help with that. I think it’s helped some. They’ve been running well, and they’ve also been holding up with that workload.”

Pioneer’s offensive line consists of left tackle Brady Price, left guard J.J. Solano, center Blair Burns, right guard Mikaden Tolosa and right tackle Liam Rouch. Tight end Eli Guffey is also an important blocker.

Burns, a junior, started out as a tackle, but coaches eventually moved him to center.

“We looked at him at center at our non-contact offensive camp, our wing-T camp,” Berry said. “It’s non-contact, so you’re just looking at how he snapped it and how he moves. It’s one of those where he showed he’s at least snapping it where it needs to be. It sounds simple, but that can be a key part. You need that consistent snap. And so we wanted to look at it at our summer practices and summer scrimmages, and he showed that he could be pretty good there. So we rolled with it, and that opened up some other things within our offensive line, and he’s been doing a great job for us at that center spot, and the center spot is extremely important in our type of offense. He has to make some calls on his own, and he has to read what the defense is in and things like that.

“But our offensive line from the end of the regular season through the playoff run has been playing extremely well. Anytime you can get three guys over 100 yards rushing in back-to-back weeks, you know the offensive line has to be doing something well. The good thing is it’s still not perfect. There’s still room for improvement, and you just want to keep building on what you’re doing each and every week, and that’s what they’ve been doing, and it’s going to have to be even better this week.”

Pioneer had a 461-64 advantage in rushing yards against LaVille. LaVille had averaged 225 yards rushing per game in three sectional games.

“It’s what we’ve stressed all year,” Berry said. “That’s something that we’ve struggled with a little bit the last couple years, that defensive discipline. And I think it’s been there for the most part this season and recognizing what the other team’s in, getting lined up correctly and playing fast. When you go up against a team against LaVille, those things are important. I felt like our defensive game plan was solid. We had a good sense of what they were going to try to do in each formation, and our guys did a great job of studying that and recognizing the potential plays and reacting and making plays.”

Pioneer did allow two touchdown passes in the third quarter to LaVille, and now they will play a South Adams team that passes it even more avidly. Quarterback Tytus Lehman has thrown for 3,165 yards and 36 touchdown passes, 17 of which have come in four postseason games.

He has two prolific receivers in Derek McKean and Wesley Summersett. McKean has 1,177 yards receiving, which ranks him ninth in the state but only second on his own team behind Summersett, who is second in the state with 1,440 yards.

Jax Wanner chips in with 44 receptions for 505 yards, and junior running back Will Patterson has 31 receptions for 307 yards while also leading the team in rushing yards with 665.

Lehman is fourth in the state in passing yards.

“He puts the ball where it needs to be,” Berry said of Lehman. “There are a lot of times where you’re watching the ball in the air, and you’re like, ‘That’s great coverage,’ and you’re like, ‘No, their guys came down with it again.’ He is not afraid to throw it. He’s going to continue to throw it, and he puts the ball where it needs to be for their athletes, for their receivers to go get it.”

Berry said that Summersett is more of a “deep threat” but added that they both can run deep, intermediate and short routes.

“We are going to have to cover the entire field Friday night,” Berry said.

Berry said that South Adams has a “type of offense that we don’t see consistently throughout the year.”

Defensively, South Adams allowed 332 ground yards to North Miami last week. Middle linebacker Nathan Plattner had 16 tackles while no other Starfire even had half as many tackles.

(“I don’t know this for a fact, but I bet he’s a wrestler,” Berry said of Plattner. “Because he knows how to use leverage and stays low. He disrupts. He tackles low. We’re going to have to watch what he does.”

In fact, Plattner was a semistate qualifier at 165 pounds in wrestling last winter.)

Berry said that South Adams will vary their defensive looks from play to play. That will put an emphasis on preparation from Pioneer’s offensive line.

“It’s a style that we don’t necessarily see as well on the defensive side,” Berry said. “With the lining up between the even and odd fronts … we have seen that. We have seen a majority of the fronts. We’re playing in our 14th week this week. So that is the good thing. We’ve practiced against a lot of different looks over the course of the year. We have a veteran line, and they’re just going to have to have better communication.”

As for Rans, it is believed he is playing while nursing a minor injury.

“Getting better,” Berry said when asked about Rans. “Looking for him to be active. Everyone’s going to be on that field.”

While Pioneer’s only loss was to Class 3A regional champion Knox, South Adams is also undefeated against Class 1A competition. Their losses are to Ohio powerhouse Marion Local; Bluffton, a top 10 team in Class 2A; and Class 2A regional champion and defending state champion Adams Central.

South Adams coach Grant Moser will look to add his second semistate title to the six sectionals and three regionals he has already captured. He has had winning records in 10 of his 11 seasons and double-digit wins in four of them.

This is the second postseason meeting between the Panthers and Starfires. Pioneer beat South Adams 62-7 at The Panther Pit in the 2014 semistate as brothers Justin and Austin Mersch combined for six touchdown runs.