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ASHLAND -- A new opponent creates a new challenge for the Indian Creek football team.
Indian Creek had a rough night this past Friday as Buckeye 8 North Division rival Beaver Local came to town and left Kettlewell Stadium with a 48-6 victory.
"Sometimes when you look at a game, sometimes it is better to just move on from it," Indian Creek (1-7) head coach Andrew Connor said. "I think last week was one of those games."
This week, Indian Creek hits the road to take on Mapleton at 5 p.m. Saturday on the road at John E. Camp Stadium.
"We have never played them before," Connor said.
Mapleton (4-4) enters this week coming off a 35-26 loss to Monroeville last Friday night on the road.
So far this season, Mapleton has defeated Wellington (42-18), Northmor (40-33), Plymouth (42-12) and South Central (37-6). Along with the loss to Monroeville, Mapleton has been defeated by Loudonville (35-20), St. Paul (49-30) and Western Reserve (53-14).
The Redskins have studied film on the Mounties.
"We are lucky, we have three games of them on film," Connor said. "They have a very good quarterback – No. 5. He runs a lot. He's skillful. He distributes the football.
"They have a good offensive line. They like to run Jet. They like to get out on the perimeter. They like to get outside.
"They have a nice tailback – No. 9. He does a good job grinding out yards between the tackles.
"They don't throw the ball a lot. They kind of lull you to sleep because they run the ball so much, but then they throw it.
"They have a good offense. They have scored a lot of points. They are well coached. They have won four games. They are in the middle of the playoff hunt.
"We have a long trip. We have to travel 2hours and 15minutes. We are going to have to come off the bus prepared. We are not going to make any excuses."
Mapleton does some things similar to what Harrison Central does on offense. The Huskies defeated the Redskins, a couple of weeks ago.
"They do a lot of things similar," Connor said. "They will fake the Jet and give the ball to their tailback. They are very similar to what Harrison Central did two weeks ago."
The Mounties play a physical style of defense.
"Defensively, they run a 4-4 with a Cover 3," Connor said. "They like to blitz their inside linebackers a little bit. They have a couple big defensive tackles. Their inside linebackers like contact. They make a lot of tackles. They are good defensively."
Both team's are of a similar size and speed.
"We're about the same when you talk about heights and weights," Connor said. "They have a couple guys 250, 260 like we do. Speed-wise, we are about the same. Their quarterback matches up with our quarterback."
The game will be Indian Creek's first one played on grass this season.
"It has been a while," Connor said. "We practiced on it today, but we have not played on it for a while. They have a nice stadium.
"We know they are dealing with a tragedy. They had that girl who died on Homecoming."
Breanne McKean, 17, collapsed on the field after suffering a medical emergency during Homecoming festivities prior to the team's game against South Central Sept. 29. McKean, who was on the Homecourt Court, died that night at Ashland Hospital. Her father, Tim McKean, is Mapleton's Athletics Director. The game against South Central was suspended at halftime after the news came that she had died.
The Redskins are looking forward to their trip to Ashland County.
"It's going to be nice to take a trip," Connor said. "We have the idea that is us against the world."
Indian Creek is going to have to prevent Mapleton from creating big plays on offense, and the Redskins are going to have to be able to generate points when they have the ball if they want to be successful this week.
"We have to do a couple of things, we are going to have to tackle better and we are going to have to maintain our blocks longer," Connor said. "Offensively, we have to sustain drives, and we have to finish our drives. We have to score points. Defensively, we can't give up the big play."
The Redskins have been eliminated from postseason contention.