Maumee’s defense shines in season-opening win at Springfield
- Jeremy Schneider
- Aug 30, 2024
- 3 min read
By JEREMY SCHNEIDER
IMA SPORTS
The narrative surrounding the Maumee football team’s defense last year was getting on Evan Karchner’s last nerve.
So the coach decided to do something about it.
The Panthers made improving their defense a focal point of the offseason, and it was wholly apparent during their 41-8 win over host Springfield last Friday night.
“We took that personally last year,” Karchner said. “We heard the media, ‘Maumee is an athletic team that has to outscore people to win. That’s why they’re 5-5’
“I told our guys we should take that personally. There’s no reason we can’t go play good defense with the strength and speed that we have. Just having another solid year with our scheme, getting guys to know what they’re doing.”
Last year’s defense gave up 34 points and more than 340 yards per game. Those Panthers won many games simply by outsourcing their opponents, winning games by scores of 51-38, 50-42 and 56-21. They held one team, Bowsher, to fewer than 21 points.
On Friday, though, that changed. The Blue Devils managed just 15 first downs and 298 yards, 50 of which came on the game’s final play that resulted in Springfield’s only points.
“We showed it tonight,” Karchner said. “We played a really good game. We made some mistakes, we have to get better, but I was really happy with how they played.
“We’d like to play sound defense and fix those mistakes so we can beat the top dogs, like Oak Harbor and Eastwood. I told our guys, ‘That’s our goal on Monday, we have to take that step forward.’ It’s good to learn from a win.”
While admitting he doesn’t have all the answers, Karchner said 90 percent of defense is running to the football, which is all energy and attitude.
“I can come up with all these schemes and put them in a perfect position, but if we can’t tackle a guy, there’s only so much I can do,” Karchner said. “We worked a ton on that. We worked a ton on turnovers.”
How about some more numbers? Maumee forced four turnovers, held the Devils to 1-of-5 on third-down conversions, and allowed them only one trip inside the red zone.
The defense’s success started up front on the line, where starters Ryan Patterson, Donnie Mays, Pierce Simpson and Robbie Burlew controlled the line of scrimmage. It allowed the linebacking corp, led by Cody Wulf, to do their job and clean up.
“That’s our main deal, we come out here to win, we come out here to play football,” senior running back and defensive back Keishon Midcalf said. “We let everyone else do the talking and we come out to do what we have to do.
“We wanted a shutout, but I’ll take the 41-8. A win is a win.”
Midcalf made his presence known on the offensive side, rushing for a game-high 129 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Wulf added 101 yards and a score as the Panthers (1-0) put up 240 rushing yards (5.9 yards per rush).
The Panthers scored on their first three possessions, including a nearly 9-minute drive to open the game. Ben Kubicz found Carson Graetz on a 7-yard touchdown for the first score, Wulf pushed in from 1-yard out for the second, and Graetz hauled in a 41-yard bomb from Kubicz for the third score.
“The first drive, we took up almost the whole quarter,” Karchner said. “We went down and scored, and that was pretty demoralizing. It’s hard on a defense when someone takes up a whole quarter, runs 15 plays right down your gullet. It’s hard to recover from that. I don’t think Springfield did.”
Kubicz found brother Will Kubicz on a 42-yard TD in the second half. Ben Kubicz finished with 154 yards on 11-of-16 passing with three scores and one interception.
Graetz had six catches for 73 yards and two scores, and Will Kubicz added two catches for 59 yards and a TD.
The Panthers totaled 394 yards, right around last season’s average. They converted 4-of-6 third downs and were 4-for-4 on red zone trips, all for touchdowns.
Maumee goes back on the road to take on Bryan at 7 p.m. Friday. The Golden Bears lost in Week 1, 48-8, at Van Wert. They won last year’s meeting over the Panthers, 42-35.
Photos courtesy of Pride of the Panthers
Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com
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