Football Xtra

Toronto staying focused on task at hand

EAST PALESTINE -- The Toronto football team is not looking past East Palestine.

The Red Knights will look to continue its good start to the season as they take on the Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Friday night inside Reid Memorial Stadium.

Toronto (1-0) enters the game coming off of a 34-0 victory against East Canton at home.

"We had a couple underthrows. Zeb (Kinsey) has the arm to get the ball there," Toronto head coach Josh Franke said. "Last week at practice, he had some overthrows. He was trying to put some touch on it. He just needs to let it go and throw it.

"We had a couple times where we did not execute the way she should have. We rushed things.

"Defensively, we had some missed coverages. They were able to get some deep passes on us for first downs. When it is 3rd-and-long, you don't want to give up deep passes for first downs, and they had success with that.

"Those are things we have to correct. We're working on them at practice. We also gave up a log kickoff return. We have to address that, so that doesn't happen again."

On the other hand, East Palestine (0-1) lost to Newton Falls, 48-34, on the road.

"It was the first week, and it is hard to gauge," Franke said. "You don't know how much of it was nerves, or how much of it was players starting for the first time or Newton Falls running different sets they did not see in scrimmages. After the first week, you don't know how to gauge your opponent."

The Tigers led the Bulldogs, 42-12, at halftime and 48-18 with less than five minutes to go before East Palestine tallied a pair of late touchdowns.

Quarterback Owen Jurjavcic completed 7-of-11 passes for 67 yards, while also rushing for 61 yards on 11 carries.

"They return some key players," Franke said. "Their quarterback is a nice athlete. They have a big line. We are going to have to be prepared for anything.

"We learned a lesson last year. We got caught looking ahead. This is a trap game for us. We are not going to fall into that trap. We are going to be prepared."

East Palestine ran the ball 37 times for 196 yards and four touchdowns. Jesse Lipp produced 86 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.

RJ May caught three passes for 36 yards and a touchdown, he ran the ball six times for 21 yards and he scored the Bulldogs' first touchdown on an 85-yard kickoff return.

"We are going to see a lot of quarterback runs," Franke said. "Their quarterback is athletic. He can run. He can throw. He is going to test us deep. They are going to lean on their offensive line."

The Tigers recorded 406 yards of offense against the Bulldogs.

"Defensively, they run a 4-4 and a 3-4. That is going to present a challenge for us," Franke said. "Sometimes, they are going to run a 4-4 with one high safety, and sometimes they are going to run a 3-4 with two high safeties.

"Our quarterback is going to have to make a lot of reads based what they are doing in the game."

Kinsey threw two touchdowns passes last week against the Hornets, while also rushing for more than 100 yards. Mason Marchbank, who finished the night with 85 receiving yards, hauled in both touchdown receptions from Kinsey.

Kinsey did throw an interception in the end zone to bring one Toronto drive to an end. The interception was the lone turnover of the night for the Red Knights.

"We are going to have to take care of the football," Franke said. "We can't have turnovers, and we have to eliminate the big play. We can't have them in 3rd-and-long, and then give up a big pass play for a first down.

"We are going to have to come out and execute. If we do that, we should be fine."

The village of East Palestine is still dealing with the effects of the train derailment that occurred back on Feb. 3.

"When it happened, I contacted Coach (Michael) Dempster and offered our help and our support," Franke said. "It is a fragile situation. I used to have family who lived up there. It's bigger than football."

Toronto defeated East Palestine, 42-7, last season at Clarke Hinkle Field.