Rams turn their focus to beating Pirates

Today’s game

Who: Ross (2-1) vs. West Carrollton (0-3)

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: All Sports Stadium, 5833 Student St., West Carrollton

Series: First meeting

ROSS TWP. — Ross High School’s football team is focused on a return to winning tonight, Sept. 17.

The Rams suffered their first loss of the year last weekend, a 31-13 thumping from Badin, but they’ll be heavy favorites when they visit winless West Carrollton.

“I think the kids are a little more focused after the loss,” Ross coach Brian Butts said. “I think they’re a little embarrassed by their performance last week. We need to roll some people.”

He said the lesson from the Badin defeat was this: The Rams need to do a better job of handling the pressure that comes with big games.

“Maybe we’ve learned to deal with stress a little better,” Butts said.

West Carrollton, like Ross, was a Division II playoff team last year. But the Pirates only returned a couple of starters and have struggled mightily, losing to Dayton Stebbins (21-9), Springfield Shawnee (48-7) and Miamisburg (48-0).

“Our kids are fighting,” West Carrollton coach Rob Berger said. “I think we’re getting better. We just go through spurts. We’ve got several guys going both ways, and we wear down a little bit.”

Berger said his Pirates are young and don’t possess a lot of speed or size.

“They’ve struggled stopping people,” Butts said. “They’re just a very young football team that doesn’t play with much consistency.”

West Carrollton uses a 4-3 defense and likes to keep the ball on the ground offensively. The Pirates have thrown for 42 yards this season, completing 4 of 34 passes.

West Carrollton’s most highly regarded player, junior Randy Stites, just returned from a broken collarbone last week. Berger said he’s an H-back on offense, but the coach is keeping Stites out of his usual free safety spot on defense while his collarbone continues to mend.

Butts said Ross will likely play tonight without two of its starting linemen, Josh Williamson and Cody Dotson. Both were injured during the Badin game.