By JOSH VARDAMAN
Page at Fairview, 7 p.m. Friday
The second installment of the newly dubbed “Battle of 840” rivalry will look a little different on the field than it did a season ago.
Both the Page Patriots and Fairview Yellowjackets have several new names in key positions on offense this year that will take the field Friday at Fairview.
Last year, the Patriots beat the Yellowjackets at home 38-7 behind 304 yards of offense in just 39 plays.
That high-powered offense this season will be without three big weapons from 2015, though, with quarterback Michael Magochy (Murray State University), running back Michael Roberts (over 1,700 yards of total offense last season) and wide receiver Connor Morss all graduated.
Junior Jacob Van Landingham will get the nod as the starting quarterback after battling senior Aidan Condo for the job throughout the offseason.
Van Landingham and his experienced receiving corps will go against a Fairview secondary that struggled against Page last year, giving up 186 passing yards and two scores to Magochy and company.
Fairview’s defense this year returns nine starters, though their scheme will be different. New defensive coordinator Ron King is implementing a 3-4 defense, a change from the 4-3 the Yellowjackets played a season ago.
While Page lost a lot of starters on offense, Fairview’s offense enters this week in good shape.
While the Yellowjackets lost starting quarterback Hunter Zimmerman, they return two talented senior running backs in Jake Beathard and Hunter Caldwell.
The Patriots will counter with a defense loaded with returning talent, including senior linebackers Daniel Callicoat, Rafe Erisman and Josh Cramer,.
Page and Fairview have split their last eight meetings, with Fairview outscoring the Patriots by two touchdowns (174-160) over that span.
If history repeats itself, this game with all of its new faces on both sides may be a close one between the two rivals.
Father Ryan at Hillwood, 7 p.m. Friday
In their first game under new head coach Brian Rector, the Father Ryan Fightin’ Irish will look to do much of the same as they did last year in a first-week blowout of Hillwood.
The Irish cruised past the Hilltoppers 35-12 behind quarterback Zach Pfeifer and running back Bryce Vickers, who are now playing at UT-Chattanooga and Georgia Tech, respectively.
While another big win Friday at Hillwood will be on the minds of the Irish, they will have to do so with a crop of new talent, including senior quarterback Jay Shoop.
Rector said even though Shoop and the rest of the quarterbacks on the team are learning a new offense, they have done a good job of leading by example and grasping the playbook.
“Year One of not just a new coach but a totally different offense, that’s not without its struggles,” Rector said. “But these guys have done a great job of taking the good with the bad and I’m really excited to see how they lead the program and the offense in the weeks to come.”
The new-look Father Ryan offense behind Shoop and running back Elton Nkwembe will have to contend with a Hillwood defense not many teams play anymore. But, Rector has experience with it.
“They run a 3-3 attacking defense,” he said. “It’s a defense that I used to run back in the day at Ravenwood, so I’m familiar with it. It presents a lot of problems, and it always has. They’ve got speed and quickness on the field, and that can be disturbing to an offense.”
While the Irish are replacing a lot of skill position players on offense, their defense has the luxury of bringing back its top two tacklers from a season ago – George Hooker and Patrick Beacom.
Those two may be the leaders on the defensive side of the ball for Father Ryan, but Rector said in order for them to be successful against Hillwood’s offensive attack, they have to get contributions from everyone.
“It’s kind of a defense-by-committee thing – we don’t have any superstars anywhere but that’s OK, as long as we play our individual role very, very well,” he said. “They have a young quarterback who can throw the football, there’s no doubt about that. They have size and they have speed; we’ve got to be super disciplined in our gaps to take that where it needs to go and to do our best to hopefully create some negative plays against them.”
Even though there are quite a bit of younger guys in his program who are being asked to step up and get better quickly, Rector said overall the transition from Centennial High School to Father Ryan has been smooth so far for him and the coaching staff he brought with him.
“There’s been really a smooth transition for the coaching staff, and that part of it has been really good,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of implementing the way we do things and our style and our format of things. They haven’t come without some bumps here and there, but at the same time we’ve continued to show great excitement.”
The Irish will hope that smooth transition will lead to a win come Friday to get the Rector era started off on the right note.
