Madonna moving forward
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WEIRTON -- Madonna and Beallsville, two teams that have football programs moving forward, will clash at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Jimmy Carey Stadium.
Both teams go into the fray with some similarities, such as both being forced this year to use underclassmen.
"We had some guys dinged up last week, so we had some young kids get playing time," said Blue Don boss Darrin Hicks, whose club defeated Vincentian Academy, 25-14, on Saturday and now sports a 2-1 record. "Obviously, we're happy with the win. I guess that's the silver lining of that.
"At the end of the day, I don't think the injuries are a long-term situation, which is a positive. We battled. Our kids played hard. With the adversity, we were able to push through those things and get better."
The Blue Dons lost senior quarterback Gavin Dietrich in the first quarter and, a little later in the game, sophomore H-back Evan Daniels was on the sideline with a similar injury.
After losses to the Zanesville Rosecrans and Frontier, the Blue Devils are coming off a 64-6 romp over Hundred. Coach Larry Deem, who is in his fourth year at the helm, is confident his club is heading in the direction to improve on it's 4-6 mark of a year ago.
Like Vincentian of last week, the Blue Devils are lean as far as bodies are concerned. Seventeen answered the call, but that is exactly half of the total number of boys attending Beallsville High School, so Deem feels that's a pretty good percentage.
"With our numbers, staying healthy is obviously the biggest key to our success," Deem said before the season. "We have only three seniors, but we have a lot of experience with our sophomores and juniors. They have played a lot of football. We only graduated two seniors."
Leading that list of returnees is junior Dakota Phillips, the signal caller. Phillips had a solid sophomore season last year, throwing for nearly 900 yards and 16 touchdowns, while running for more than 500 yards.
Deem also has four starting linemen returning, with seniors Mathen Decker at center, Logan Rutter at tackle, junior Spencer Jarrett at guard and sophomore Garrett Schafer at the other tackle.
"Beallsville is very athletic," Hicks said. "They are another program that has got it back on solid footing. The coach (Deem) has done a nice job with this group of kids. They struggled a little bit the first two weeks but seemed to be able to put it together last week against Hundred. So, we have another challenge before us."
Hicks said the films show Phillips is a very athletic quarterback, and the Blue Devils have a tight end and a couple of receivers that seem to be able to do some things with the ball in their hands. Hicks said they are pretty talented.
"They use a multiple offense," he said. "They'll be in an empty set then use a quad, and the next snap might be with two tight ends and a Power I. They are very multiple in what they do. From what I've seen on film, they appear to be about 50-50 as far as run and pass is concerned."
Hicks added that the Blue Devils use those same linemen on the defensive side and have a pretty good corp of linebackers, both inside and outside.
"They will be a good challenge for us both offensively and defensively," he said. "They finished with four wins last year and, after a rough few weeks to start, they figured it out."
Freshman quarterback Santino Arlia, who saw considerable action in Madonna's first two games as a type of designated passer, was under center after Deitrich left the game. There was foul weather throughout the game, and Arlia finished with just three completions on 14 tosses. Hicks said Arlia will start if Dietrich is unable to play.
Dietrich, who is the Blue Don leading rusher with 292 yards, didn't return to the game but was walking along the sideline the entire second half.
Sophomore Tom Sessi carried the load last week as far as rushing after the Dietrich injury. He ran for a game-high 124 stripes on 20 carries and scored on a 15-yard sprint in the third quarter.
Another Blue Don sophomore that stepped up was wing back Ty Ingram, who had some nifty runs out of the jet sweep. He gained 41 yards on six carries and scored on runs of 28 and 5 yards.
The WVSSAC standings came out for the first time this week, and the Blue Dons will go into the game against the Blue Devils ranked 17th.