“I couldn’t be prouder of our seniors,” coach J.D. Vonderheide said. “They’ve experienced the highest of highs, some tough times and losing streaks, but through it all, they’ve stayed very, very positive and worked hard and done everything we’ve asked.”
Vonderheide knows that Talawanda, which is 1-6 overall and fifth in the SWOC with a 1-2 record, will most likely have a difficult time with an Edgewood team (5-2, 3-0) that’s eyeing a regular-season finale showdown with Mount Healthy, the only team to win championships in the first four seasons of the conference’s existence.
The Cougars’ Wing-T offense is incredibly balanced. Five Edgewood players fill slots 4-8 among the SWOC rushing leaders: sophomore Julius Hayden with 418 yards, senior Devon Garrett at 402, senior Carroll Moore at 294, senior quarterback Drew Reckart at 287 and senior Thomas Lindsay at 266.
Reckart also ranks fourth with 779 passing yards, while senior wide receiver Eddie Driskell is fourth with 456 receiving yards and tied for first with nine touchdown catches. As a team, the Cougars lead the SWOC in total and rushing offense and average points per game.
“For what they do, they are as well-personelled as any team I’ve seen in my five years as head coach,” Vonderheide said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us. They’re really hard to defend. What they do in this day and age is stick to what they’ve done forever. They run it and run it and run it and have answers for everything the other teams try to do. They’ve seen all the adjustments and have nice counterattacks for them.
“In this day and age of the spread, what they do creates a different mind-set for the defense. You must be very disciplined. When you’re not, they do a good job of finding it and attacking it.”
Edgewood, which is seventh in the Division II, Region 8 Harbin computer ratings and plays Little Miami next week before hosting the Owls on Oct. 28, also leads the SWOC in rushing defense. Senior lineman Quinn Jones ranks second in the conference with five sacks, just ahead of sophomore linebacker Evan Brown at 4.5 and senior lineman Greg Dingledine, who is tied with Talanwanda senior defensive end Andrew O’Donnell with four sacks.
That defense will be a challenge for a Talawanda offense that ranks last in the conference in total and rushing offense and scoring and fifth in passing, despite the efforts senior quarterback Logan Kamphaus, who is second with 983 passing yards and 477 rushing yards.
“They do a lot of different stuff offensively,” Edgewood coach Scott Clemmons said. “They shift around and move around and your defense moves and they snap the ball, so you’ve got to be prepared for that and make sure your defense is in the right place and reading the right keys. Their quarterback is dangerous. He can hurt you running or throwing.”
Despite the obvious imbalance, Vonderheide anticipates a game that will be closer than expected by many observers, in part because of the Senior Night emotions and in part because of the proximity of the two districts. The Cougars — who are coming off a 49-21 loss at Columbus DeSales, the top-ranked team in the Associated Press Division III state poll — won last year’s game 49-28, creating a split of the last four games in the series.
“It will be a challenge, but I tell people that it’s amazing,” said the coach, whose team is coming off a 35-10 loss at Mount Healthy and is scheduled to play at Northwest next Friday. “In 2014, we were on a run and they were 2-8 and it ended up going down to the last play of the game. It’s what we consider to be a rivalry game. From the time these kids first put on a helmet at around 5 or 6 years old, they’ve grown up playing against each other.
“It’s our last home game, which always brings a certain amount of emotion. When the ball is kicked off, it will be fairly emotional.”
Clemmons knows what the Cougars are facing.
“We talked to the boys about the same thing,” he said. “If you look at the history of Edgewood, they are the longest-running rivalry for us. We’ve played Talanwanda longer than anybody.”
Friday’s game
What: Edgewood (5-2, 3-0 SWOC) at Talawanda (1-6, 1-2 SWOC), 7 p.m.
Where: Talawanda Field, 5301 University Park Blvd., Oxford
Last meeting: Edgewood won 49-28 in 2015
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