Maumee looks to take steps forward with trip to Lake

Maumee's defense will get another big test this week at Lake. / Jeremy Schneider

By JEREMY SCHNEIDER

IMA SPORTS

A week after Eastwood torched Maumee for 288 passing yards and two scores, the Panthers will face another pass-happy team when they visit Lake in Week 6.

The Flyers boast a pair of returning All-Northern Buckeye Conference players who make their offense go in quarterback Carter Behlmer and wideout Jay Blazevich.

Behlmer completed a school-record 198 passes last year for 2,347 yards and 21 touchdowns. This year, he’s completed 63 percent of his 130 attempts for 1,053 yards and seven scores.

Blazevich and Grant Kohlhofer have combined to catch more than 30 passes for 500 yards.

Last year, Maumee hung a 56-21 win on the Flyers. Cody Wulf rushed for 280 yards and four TDs as the Panthers totaled 400 yards on the ground.

“Lake’s gotten better from last year, their coach is doing a good job,” Karchner said. “We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to bring our A game. We’ve got to run the football on them; that’s how we beat them last year.”

This year, the Flyers are 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference. They’ve lost three straight games by an average of 32 points, including a 42-0 loss to Eastwood in Week 4.

Lake fell to Genoa, 55-28, last week.

“Some of the new stuff I put in this week was for Lake,” Karchner said. “Hopefully, we’re ready to roll and it works.

“I bet they have us circled, and they want to win, just like we want to win.”

The Panthers (3-2, 0-2 NBC) are coming in on their own losing streak, falling to Oak Harbor and Eastwood the last two weeks.

Maumee has rushed for 784 yards this season while passing for 1,040 yards. It’s allowed 785 on the ground and 754 through the air.

Wulf leads the team with 303 rushing yards (4.4 yards per carry) and nine touchdowns.

Ben Kubicz has thrown for 993 yards while completing 63 percent of his 90 attempts for 10 TDs. Carson Graetz has 20 catches for 258 yards and three scores, and Eli Dodson adds 12 catches and 280 yards with three TDs.

“That was a gauntlet for us,” Karchner said of facing Oak Harbor and Eastwood in back-to-back weeks. We’ll have Genoa in a couple of weeks, and they’re another tough football team. We have Otsego at the end.

“We’ll have to get better. Those teams get better throughout the season. I’m just glad we took a step forward (against Eastwood), if we’re looking at the silver lining. … We’re going to focus on Lake and take care of business, get back on the winning side of things.”

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers

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