Knights face tough Norwalk St. Paul squad
Trending
TORONTO -- The Toronto football team faces a stiff challenge in the form of Norwalk St. Paul in the Ohio Division VII Region 25 Quarterfinals.
The No. 4 seed Red Knights and No. 13 seed Flyers are set to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday night at Clarke Hinkle Field.
Both teams enter the postseason coming off big wins.
The boys from the Gem City struggled offensively this past Friday night, however, the defense picked up the slack as Toronto defeated rival Catholic Central, 17-6, at home.
"I thought I made some calls that I would like to have back," Toronto (9-1) head coach Josh Franke said. "There were times I wish I had called something else. We had a couple of opportunities to pull away, but whether it was a poor play call or poor execution or a turnover, we shot ourselves in the foot.
"We had 400 yards of offense, but we only scored 17 points. That doesn't make you happy. We did not do a good job of executing."
The 17 points scored by the Red Knights was the second fewest the Red-and-White tallied in a game this season, however, four the fourth time this season, the defense held their opponent to seven or fewer points.
"Our defense was phenomenal," Franke said. "They played amazing. They are the reason we won that game. They were able to pick up the offense.
"Our special teams were phenomenal. Our offense wasn't executing, but they played very well.
"Whether it was a matter of missing a block or having the wrong technique or bad play calling by the coach, it was great that the two other phases were able to pick up our offense with all of the miscues we had.
"They kids played well. We just made inopportune mistakes at the worst possible time."
The victory secured the OVAC Class 2A title for Toronto. Winning the conference title was one of the team's goals at the start of the season. It is a big accomplishment for the team as it is the team's first conference championship in 25 years.
"Absolutely, it's a big deal," Franke said. "The last time we won it was 25 years ago. Winning the OVAC was a goal of ours going into the season. You walk into the gym and you see the banner, and you see you haven't won it since 1998. As a head coach, we are competitive, and it was just a reminder that our program is not where You want it to be yet.
"As a team, it was something we talked about. It was a goal of ours. We wanted to be the first team to win it in 25 years. I have to give them credit.
"Despite all the injuries we had, our kids were able to push through all of that and they were able to realize that goal. As a coach, that makes you proud. It was nice to see them step up and achieve that goal."
On the other side, the boys from Huron County enter this week coming off a 41-14 victory against Monroeville at home. The Flyers (6-4) are steep in tradition.
"No doubt," Franke said. "They are one of the Region 25 blue bloods. It is similar to last year with Lucas. They are known for making the postseason, and they are known for making deep runs in the postseason.
"Toronto played St. Paul in 1999, and they beat Toronto. It was a two-point game. It was a heartbreaking loss. It ended a deep run for Toronto.
"There is definitely some familiarity with St. Paul. We know about them. They are definitely a team we are familiar with."
St. Paul lost its first three games of the season, but the Flyers bounced back to win six out of their final seven games to make it back to the post season.
"They lost their first three, and then they lost on the 29th," Franke said. "The thing is though their losses have all come against really good teams. Huron is 7-3, Milan Edison is 9-1 and Calvert is 8-1. Then, they lost to Fort Laramie, but Fort Laramie is Fort Laramie. All of their losses have come against high caliber teams. Most of their losses have been close.
"Make no mistake, they are a very good team. Drew Pasteur has us a six-point underdog, and in the power rankings, they are ranked No. 4 in the region. We definitely have our work cut out for us.
"I think it is going to be similar to last year. It is going to come down to the fourth quarter, and it may come down to the final minutes of the game. It may be a case of whoever has the ball last wins."
St. Paul opened the season with losses to Huron (31-28), Milan Edison (42-6) and Calvert (35-25). The team won its next three games – defeating Mapleton (49-30), Plymouth (49-0) and Western Reserve (28-14) -- to go to .500. A loss followed to Fort Laramie (35-28), but St. Paul finished the season by defeating Crestview (33-7), South Central (54-6) and Monroeville.
The Flyers are primarily a running team.
"They run the ball," Franke said. "They are fine tuned, and they are a well-oiled machine. They sprint out of the huddle, they get into their splits, they get down and they snap the football. Then, they do it all over again.
"It is very taxing. You have to be prepared. You have to get set very quickly. You have to be prepared for their offense.
"They run things you don't see a lot around here. They run double tight with a power T. They run a Wing-T.
"They are very good at what they do. They don't run a lot of plays, but the ones they do run, they run them very well.
"They are underzied up front, but they fire off the power. You can tell they are a team that hits the sled for 15-20 minutes every day at practice. They are not big, but they are effective."
The Flyers run a 4-4 defense, but this week's visitors will change up their look from time to time.
"They run a base 4-4 defense," Franke said. "They play man coverage. They may switch to a 4-2 or to a 3-3 with quarters coverage.
"One thing is, they have not see a team run all the different formations that we run, and they have not seen a team run all the different motions we run on plays. There are things we can do that will force them to do things they don't like to do."
Kickoffs will play a key role in the outcome of the game.
"They are a group we are going to definitely have to be prepared for," Franke said. "They get to the middle, and they break out of it real quick and kick the ball. If you have to be paying attention. If you don't adjust, they will kick an onside kick.
"They like to squib kick. They don't like to kick the ball to your returners. Those squib kicks can be difficult to recover. They bounce around all over the place. If you don't have some one with good hand skills, they may be able to recover one of those.
"I don't think they havea very good extra point unit. They seem to go for 2 a lot. They are not very strong when it comes to punting. They're not going to want to punt the ball to Dom."
The Red Knights and Crusaders battled it out on a cold and rainy night last week, however, the forecast for this week is much more favorable.
"Absolutely," Franke said. "I think the weather had a little bit of a role with difficulties on offense. We had some botched snaps. The ball was wet, and it can be slippery.
"It is supposed to be 70 degrees. We are going to be playing in front of the home crowd. We are hoping that the community comes out and supports this team and cheers them in a memorable season."
The Red Knights have not won a playoff game since 2015.
"It is something we have talked about," Franke said. "We have to take that next step as a program. We have the opportunity to do that against an historical program. We need to be able to beat the teams.
"We lost a very close game last year. We were down by 14 points.
"Offensively, we cannot waste possessions. They can out together long drives. We are going to have to score every time we get the ball.
"Defensively, we are going to have to win first down. We are going to have to get the behind the chains. We are going to have to force them to pass the ball. We are going to have to force them to do things they don't want to do.
"The formula is the same. We want to limit big plays, we want to create big plays and we want to force turnovers. Friday, we had more turnovers than they did, but we were able to create more big plays. Ultimately, that is what won us the game.
"We are going to stick with that equation. If you win all of them, the game is not going to be close. If you win one, the game is going to be close. If you lose them all, you are going to lose."
The Red Knights lost some key players early in the season, including starting quarterback and linebacker Zeb Kinsey, however, Toronto has done a good job of overcoming those injuries heading into the postseason.
"We are as healthy as we were last week," Franke said. "We have had some injuries. Unfortunately, those injuries we sustained early in the year were all season ending injuries.
"We are pretty healthy. We are fortunate it in that regard going into Week 11, especially for a small school.
"I said at the start of the season that we could have a special season if we were able to limit the injuries. We had some injuries, but the kids have dome a fantastic job of overcoming those injuries."
The winner of this game will take on the winner of No. 12 seed Southern Local and No. 5 seed Malvern in the semifinals next week. The Hornets are the home team in that matchup. If the Red Knights win this week, they will also be at home next week.