The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Titans, Rangers strong offensively in three-team scrimmage
Typically during training camps, offenses need to catch up with defenses, and on Aug. 17 that was playing out for two area teams.
Lorain and host North Ridgeville were joined by Brush for a scrimmage, and the Titans and Rangers looked strong on offense.
North Ridgeville began the scrimmage on offense against Lorain’s defense and struggled to move the ball. That didn’t last long, however, as the Rangers’ offense came out of its shell in its second series.
The Rangers began their second offensive series by moving the ball quickly down the field. North Ridgeville had a long run followed by a touchdown pass from one fellow quarterback to another. Caden Masterson connected with Tyler Richman for the score.
North Ridgeville head coach Luke Durbin said that the two are competing for the starting quarterback position.
North Ridgeville wasn’t done as it scored two more times on touchdown passes. The Rangers played well on both sides of the ball as their defense made some nice defensive plays against Lorain’s offense.
“We try to be very balanced and I thought our balance was good today,” Durbin said. “I thought our execution was way better than it was last Friday so we took a big step forward. The key is we can’t go home and feel all satisfied and happy. We have to work Monday in order to get better and take the next step forward.”
Durbin said his team has a mixed group of players in all grades this season and added he is pleased with how his young players have stepped up due to injuries.
“We have a mix of seniors, juniors and sophomores and we even had a freshman out here with the varsity defense today playing corner,” Durbin said. “It’s the process of finding the best 11. Due to some injuries, we only had five senior starters playing in today’s scrimmage. The young guys stepped up and that’s exactly what you want to see.”
Lorain looked sharp offensively during the scrimmage. It moved the ball down the field with ease on a couple of scoring plays. The Titans capped off one of their first offensive series’ with a touchdown run. On their next offensive series, running back Daylin Dower took the hand off from quarterback Kameron Thomas, bounced it outside and scored on a 15-yard touchdown run.
“I thought we got a lot of reps and that was the important thing today,” Lorain head coach Dave McFarland said. “It’s also important to come out healthy and we did that.”
Despite the strong offensive performance, McFarland was not too pleased with his team’s physicality in the scrimmage.
“We need to be a little more physical and come out and everyone do their job and execute,” McFarland said. “The week before I thought we were really physical, this week I didn’t think we were very physical.”
North Ridgeville opens their season at home against North Royalton while Lorain plays at Brunswick on Aug. 30.