Week 3 has brought the start of the Greater Miami Conference season, and it wasn’t a great nonconference run for the GMC. Seven of the 10 teams are 0-2.
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The Indians and Lakota West are among the winless squads. They’ll square off in West Chester Twp. on Friday night.
“It’s going to make for a pretty competitive contest,” West coach Larry Cox said. “After two weeks, we’ve got a pretty good idea of who can do what. Now how do you take that and keep moving forward? I think Fairfield’s trying to find their identity much like us.”
Fairfield has lost to Centerville (30-23) and Northmont (28-21), while the Firebirds have lost to Elder (21-7) and Centerville (42-21). Special teams have been detrimental to both local squads.
West gave up just 183 yards of offense against Centerville, but two punt returns and a kickoff return were turned into touchdowns.
“When our punt unit was on the field, it basically accounted for 21 points. The kickoff return accounted for another seven,” Cox said. “It’s not scheme, it’s personnel. We addressed it first thing this week.”
Tackle Tyler Bentley, linebackers Landon Rosier and Daved Jones, and cornerback Jeremiah Ross have been the most consistnet players on the Firebirds’ defense.
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West’s offense is headed by a pair of sophomores, quarterback MyJaden Horton (13 of 33, 130 yards, no TDs) and running back David Afari (32 carries, 225 yards, two TDs). The Firebirds have only turned the ball over once, and that was at the end of the Elder game.
“Turnovers were a big problem last year, so that’s a big step,” Cox said. “I think we got better from Week 1 to Week 2 offensively and defensively. The biggest thing for us is that we see the progression. A lot of times it sounds trite, but I think if you sit and push winning as your only objective, you forget the big picture.”
Said Krause, “Afari kind of reminds us of the Zelwyn Robinson kid they had. He’s a pretty explosive player.”
The Indians have some young talent as well, and Krause said it’s improving. Junior quarterback Jeff Tyus is 22 of 60 for 281 yards and a TD through the air while gaining 92 yards on 18 carries.
Senior running back Taimar Boykin has missed the first two games with a knee injury, but he’s returned to practice this week and might play Friday. Krause said Fairfield is working to find special-teams consistency after the departure of place-kicker/punter Jerred McGuire and snapper Zack Waddell.
Defensively, the Indians have had two first-time Friday night guys (linebackers Del Thomas and Phoenix Porter) as their tackling leaders in the first two games.
“We’ve had some guys learning on the fly and getting better heading into league play,” Krause said. “Our mentality this week is that this is a big game. Not necessarily because it’s West, but because of where we sit. We’ve had two tight losses where we feel like we kind of gave things away in both of them.”
Fairfield finally started school Tuesday. Krause said settling into a routine after an extended vacation could be beneficial for the Indians.
“It’s good to be back in school,” the FHS coach said. “I guess we’ll never know if that was a factor (in our two losses), but I didn’t like it.”
Friday’s game
What: Fairfield (0-2) at Lakota West (0-2), 7 p.m.
Where: Firebird Field, 8940 Union Centre Blvd., West Chester Twp.
Last year: Fairfield won 29-7
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