“The Vegas line is probably a pick ’em,” FHS coach Jason Krause said. “They’ve got the home-field advantage. Maybe they’re the favorite. All I can say is that we’re playing well, and we’ve got to continue to play the way we want to play to get us where we want to get.”
LAST SEASON: Fairfield 35, Sycamore 27
Krause’s Indians are 3-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference. The Aviators are 4-1, 2-1, and took a 42-0 beating from Colerain in Week 4.
Sycamore is allowing 176 yards and 12.6 points per game.
“I think the fact that they’ve got nine seniors on their defense says a lot,” Krause said. “They take a lot of pride in playing Sycamore defense. They’re anchored by (6-foot-4, 275-pound senior) Tate Goodyear, who plays O- and D-line. You don’t see that a lot. That’s kind of a throwback thing when you get a kid that plays both ways in the interior.”
Aviators coach Scott Dattilo also pointed to another trio of seniors — inside linebacker Kyle Fehr (6-1, 215), outside linebacker Jonny Bothen (6-1, 195) and defensive back Patrick Tueimeh (5-11, 190) — as defensive standouts.
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“Physical and mental maturity are important, so we’re hoping they can play like a bunch of seniors Thursday,” Dattilo said. “We’re still playing a 3-4. We’ve done that for years and haven’t really changed much.
“It’ll be a great challenge for us trying to defend Fairfield. Although Jason’s been running it more than he has in the past, they still throw it more than most of the opponents that we’ve played.”
Tribe junior Jeff Tyus has completed 53 of 113 passes for 607 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions. He’s had no picks in the last two weeks.
Fairfield’s backfield is getting stronger and should be near 100 percent Thursday. Sophomore Jutahn McClain, expected to be a full-time receiver this year, has developed into a dual threat and has a team-best 538 yards and four TDs on 67 carries.
Sycamore had to replace multiple major weapons on offense this season, but it’s starting to come together behind the play of sophomores Drew Altemuehle (25 of 41, 355 yards, four TDs) at quarterback and Jordan McConnell (53 carries, 268 yards, four TDs) at running back.
Senior Jonathan Malek is a receiver who stepped in at QB when Altemuehle was hurt. Malek will still run out of the Wildcat formation on occasion — he’s got 11 receptions for 166 yards, 35 carries for 159 yards and 161 aerial yards on 9-of-19 throwing.
“We’re young and growing on offense,” Dattilo said. “We lost a bunch last year, but we returned a lot of talent too. It’s just taken us a while — and you can point the finger at me — to figure out which kids can do what. At the end of the day, we want to run the ball, and we want to get the ball to our guys that can make plays.”
Krause said the Aviators’ shifting offense is difficult to defend.
“They’re the Sycamore that they’ve been since I’ve been coaching in the GMC,” the Fairfield coach said. “A lot of movement, a lot of formations. You can’t get caught up in all that window dressing. Our guys have got to read their keys and get their eyes right.
“They remind me of the Anderson teams that played in the mid-2000s. They pulled a lot of linemen and a lot of up-backs and always had you outnumbered at the point of attack.”
The Indians will look to counter that attack with one of the GMC’s top defenses. Senior tackle Malik Vann headlines a fast, talented unit that blanked Princeton 27-0 last week.
“They’ve forced nine turnovers in the last two games. If we get up into that number, we’ll get beat bad,” Dattilo said. “They have more size than we do, that’s for sure. They’re probably faster than us if we lined up in a track meet. So we’ve got to play good football.”
He said the Aviators “played terrible” against Colerain, yet Sycamore has lost only twice in its last 12 games. The Aviators made it to the Region 4 final last season.
“It doesn’t play any role with anything on the field — we’ve got new guys and new leaders — but I do think it has helped our confidence level,” Dattilo said of last year’s playoff surge. “This is a confident group, and not in a bad way.”
Fairfield leads this series 16-10-1 and has won the last three meetings.
Thursday’s game
What: Fairfield (3-2, 3-0 GMC) at Sycamore (4-1, 2-1 GMC), 7:05 p.m.
Where: Coach Bud Acus Alumni Field at Sycamore Stadium, 5757 Cooper Road, Montgomery
Last year: Fairfield won 35-27
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