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CADIZ -- The good news in Cadiz is the Harrison Central run game is working well--quite well actually.
Through three games, the Huskies are averaging 393.7 yards rushing per game, including a 462-yard effort against Buckeye Trail.
The downside? The team's record stands at 0-2 after Harrison fell at home to undefeated Malvern, 38-34.
Harrison is 0-2 in its last two games, losing by a combined seven points to two teams with a combined 5-1 record. That one loss between the two teams? Buckeye Trail suffered a humbling defeat to Barnesville, a fate which many teams apparently will experience this season.
Despite being 1-2, the Huskies quite easily could be entering Week 4's matchup at Union Local with a spotless record.
"The run game is going well. We're doing what we had hoped we'd be able to do," head coach Anthony Hayes said. "We've had too many self inflicted wounds, whether it be a blown coverage or a bad snap, putting the ball on the turf -- those things lead to disappointments.
"Our kids are working hard to fix those problems.
"One thing that's always stayed true, if you work hard enough and smart enough, sooner or later, good things will happen if you stay the course and that's what we've been doing."
Hayes admitted that his team had limited some of those self inflicted wounds, the record most likely would look a little different, a little more positive.
Now the Huskies face a Jets' team that has a multitude of weapons, a solid offensive line, and the momentum and self confidence that comes with a three-game win streak.
The Jets started the season with a win against Southern Local, then followed that with triumphs against Buckeye Local and Indian Creek.
UL's opponents thus far have a combined 3-6 record, but wins are wins and a confidence boost is a confidence boost.
The Jets are certainly playing with a lot of confidence.
"I think the have two good quarterbacks, each with their own specific skill set," Hayes said. "They both create a lot of problems. They have a really nice run game with (Brody) Perzanowski, plus another kid that's really fast.
"They also have (Dre) Saunders in the slot. He's got good quickness."
Hayes also feels that everyone loses sight of UL's line as it lost some experience from 2023. He admitted he feels it's a "pretty darn good unit myself" and that many teams would like to have some of those linemen.
In the win against Indian Creek, Jets' QB Colby Carpenter threw for only 69 yards on eight completions, but three of those went for touchdowns.
Saunders caught two of them, while Sean Alkire added the other.
Perzanowski ran for 184 yards without a touchdown, but averages 171.3 per game and has four touchdowns.
Harrison also features a solid, experienced line, one that's withstood the rigors of blocking against teams loading up to stop the run.
"I think just based on what we do, we will always see 8, 9, even 10 in the box. I don't think it matters," Hayes said. "It's really hard to simulate what defenses will do and we've seen some really odd-looking defenses, but that also creates problems for the opposition, because people can't play their base defense."
Learning an entirely new defensive alignment for one week limits a team's ability to be diverse as time to learn and retain the new information is limited.
It doesn't help that teams can't just gameplan to try to slow down Mykel Quito.
Yes, Quito averages 213 yards a game, better than eight yards per carry and has reached the end zone six times via the run.
But he's far from Harrison's only backfield weapon.
Cam McAfee, Beau Rinkes, Blake Atkins, and Quito's younger brother Jacob all have shown flashes of being the feature back when needed, so focusing 100 percent of the defensive attention on the elder Quito has proven a poor plan.
Hayes and his staff know this, and work to get everyone involved in the action.
"We have a lot of backs and skill guys to get the ball too, whether that's Michael or Blake, or Jacob, or Zander (Stabile), Chaz or Brady. We have seven or eight guys to give the ball too without batting an eye.
"Who has the hot hand that night is how we figure it out. We're averaging almost 400 yards rushing a game and that's coming through a company of ballcarriers."