Schedule gets no easier for St. Paul

NORWALK — Few scenarios could have been drawn up worse. Not only did first-year St. Paul football coach Chris Doughty see his team take a tough 38-0 loss on Aug. 23 at Huron in the season opener. But the former player and longtime assistant also saw arguably his top two skilled players — Brock Houck and Jack Stieber — leave because of injuries just a couple of minutes into the second quarter. Those two won't be back this week as the Flyers host an Edison team that could be a top 10 team in Division V at 7 p.m. Friday at Contractors Stadium. In limited time in 2023, Houck and Stieber combined for 461 yards and eight touchdowns on 84 attempts. Defensively, Stieber at linebacker was third on the team in tackles last season with 86 (10 for loss) and added a sack, which earned him second team Firelands Conference honors. Houck was honorable mention with 36 tackles, one interception, one sack and two fumble recoveries. "The big message we've had this week is we need to focus on us getting individually better at our positions, and playing together better as a unit," Doughty said. "Obviously we've got some holes right now, so a lot of it will just be plugging different kids into those positions and focusing on getting better. "That's where we are at. We have to improve and get better from last week to this week." That won't be easy against the Chargers, who returned 18-of-22 starters to a team that was 11-2 last season. Edison already looked the part in its 47-16 win at Firelands. The Chargers turned a 21-16 lead into a blowout in the second half. The score was even a bit misleading, as the Edison defense did not allow the Falcons in the end zone. Firelands scored two touchdowns on an interception return and a blocked kick. The three-headed monster of Luke Blatnik, Cy Finnen and Bryson Wittmer combined to score 4 TDs, while quarterback Abe Hermes added one, and Cayden Clare (5-9, 175) scored twice. Finnen (5-11, 215) and Wittmer (6-0, 225) are the fullbacks with Blatnik (5-11, 205) at halfback. In 2023, Finnen rushed for 1,082 yards and 14 TDs on 150 attempts (7.2 average), while Blatnik had 723 yards and 12 TDs on 81 attempts (8.9 average), and Wittmer added 594 yards and 4 TDs on 67 attempts (8.9 average). "They are clearly a very talented team," Doughty said of Edison. "They brought back just about everyone from last year with (quarterback and safety) Marcus Medina being one of the key losses. "But then Abe Hermes has stepped in nicely now — and there really hasn't been any kind of a drop off. He has a different skill set than Marcus, but ultimately he is still a really talented quarterback. And Finnen, Witmer and Blatnik are very physical, hard-nosed football players. They definitely present some challenges that will be a struggle for anyone to match up with." From 1968-85, the Flyers and Chargers met yearly as members of the FC. Edison left for the Sandusky Bay Conference prior to the 1986-87 school year, but the teams began scrimmaging in 1987 and continued it all the way through 2022. The series restarted last season in Milan, a 42-6 win by the Chargers. St. Paul is also catching Edison at a time its fielding one of its best teams, though the Chargers have been a consistent playoff regular for the last decade. Huron's successful tradition dates back more than a half-century, and the Flyers also scrimmaged Div. III Elyria Catholic on Aug. 16. "The thing is, with our schedule, we front load it heavily on purpose," Doughty said. "That was always Coach (John) Livengood wanting to build strong opponents early to be prepared for later in the season — and we still want to continue to do the same thing. "That's an important component to this. We have the ability to play some quality opponents who happen to be nearby. Not only do you see where you are doing well, but also these teams will definitely show you where you need to improve." There wasn't much in the way of statistics last week, as the Tigers put the Flyers two TDs after one quarter — then the injuries altered things further. Quarterback Grant Kuhnle was 5-of-10 for 30 years, while Nate Sandor ran 10 times for 41 yards. Nick Pocos made 11 tackles, followed by Sandor (10) and Tristan Nickoli (8). "I think overall we need to play more physical this week," Doughty said. "I thought we did play physical in our scrimmages, but as that game went on last week, we kind of shied away at times. "To just be physical from start to finish is something we have to do a little bit better with, and our hustle to the football. Our overall hustle throughout the game has to improve as well."