Week 3 Preview: Maumee looks to stay focused against Bowsher

Carson Graetz reaches out for a touchdown in Week 1 at Springfield. / Pride of the Panthers

By JEREMY SCHNEIDER

MIRROR SPORTS

This isn’t exactly breaking news, but Maumee football coach Evan Karchner has been really happy with what he’s seen in the first two weeks of the season.

With road wins over Springfield and Bryan by a combined total of 97-20, both with running clocks, who can blame him.

Week 3 brings a similar challenge to the first two weeks as the Panthers host winless Bowsher at Kazmaier Stadium.

The Blue Racers have been outscored 82-14 in losses at Oak Harbor and Genoa, so will Maumee have a third straight running clock?

“Our goal is to keep getting better every single week, and if that’s a running clock, I’d love to see it,” Karchner said. “Hopefully we can get everybody in our program in the game, like we did tonight.”

Simply put, Maumee (2-0) has been electric on both sides of the ball. The Panthers are averaging 439 yards per game, including 225 on the ground. On defense, they’ve allowed 363 total yards in two games, with 180 from the running game. They’ve also come up with six turnovers.

Keishon Midcalf is the team’s leading rusher with 250 yards (8.1 per carry) and four touchdowns.

Ben Kubicz has thrown for 414 yards and six touchdowns while completing 68 percent of his 28 passes. The junior has only been intercepted once.

“It doesn’t matter who we play, we could play Oak Harbor, we could play Bowsher, we could play Central Catholic, we need to come into the week and say, ‘How are we going to get better this week and improve as a football team?’ Wins will take care of themselves,” Karchner said. “We can’t just sit back and say, ‘Oh, we play Bowsher this week, we can take the week off,’ because that’s a week that the Eastwoods and Oak Harbors, the good teams are getting better.

“It’s on us as coaches and captains and team leaders to keep pushing our team forward to be that team we want to be.”

Bowsher quarterback Jordan Singer rushed for 89 yards last week, and 80 of that came on his touchdown run. In Week 1, Singler threw for 158 yards on 12-of-28 passing.

Photos courtesy of Pride of the Panthers

Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com