Hoover @ Lexington Minutemen

Friday, September 9, 2011

SITE: Minuteman Field (7:30 PM)

RECORDS: Lexington 2-0, Hoover 0-2

LAST WEEK: Lexington 44-Shelby 6, Louisville 50 - Hoover 7

SHELBY — Junior Brandon Henderson rushed for 192 yards and three TDs on just six carries Friday night to lead Lexington a 44-6 non-league win against the Shelby Whippets at Skiles Field.

The 5-8, 166-pounder scored on three long runs, the longest a 79-yarder. It was his first start at TB for the Minutemen (2-0), working primarily as a wide receiver during his varsity career.

Lexington rushed for 420 yards on 30 carries, averaging 14 per attempt. The Minutemen gained 104 yards passing for a total offense of 524. Shelby (0-2) rushed for 168 yards on 40 carries, much of it coming after Lexington starters had been sent to the bench. The Whippets passed for 96, finishing with 264 yards.

Lexington built a 10-0 edge after one quarter and 24-0 at halftime. The Minutemen built 38-0 edge after the third quarter. (1)

LAST MEETING: Lexington won 10-7, last year

SCOUTING REPORT:

The night he was hired as the new football coach at Lexington High School, B.J. Payne made clear his coaching philosophy.

“Players, formations, plays,” said Payne, set to begin his sixth season leading the Minutemen on Friday night at Mount Vernon in a non-league game.

It’s the philosophy he learned playing for Larry Kehres at Mount Union, where Payne’s teams finished 54-1 with three national titles.

“We look at the players we have in order to pick out the formations we will use and we create plays based upon that. You have to use schemes to fit your personnel,” he said.

The past six years have proven Payne is a man of his word. The Minutemen, with about 60 players this year in grades 9-12, have shown a variety of offenses and defenses.

Offensively, Lexington has operated from an I-formation when Payne had big backs and a big offensive line and a shotgun-based, 5-wide look when he had a speedy quarterback and a bevy of receivers. On defense, his teams have used various fronts from a 3-3-5 to 4-3-4 and even a little 5-2-4.

Fans this year will see the evolution continue as Lexington looks to improve on last year’s 5-5 record (2-5 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.)

“As many kids as we have back, we are still doing lots of new things on offense and defense,” Payne said. “The key for us this season is to stay healthy and continue to improve.

“You can expect to see us with our quarterback (senior Collin Michael) more under center this year than in the past three years,” Payne said. “He is comfortable there.

“On defense, we will use a lot more 4-man fronts while still keeping five defensive backs on the field. We still have a lot of 3-man front principles, but we have more safety-type kids than we do big defensive lineman-type kids,” Payne said.

“We love the 30-stack. It has been very good to us. The (4-2-5) defense we’re using this year will get more kids to the point of attack quicker and faster and still give us five guys to cover passes as well.”

The Lexington offense, which averaged an OCC sixth-best 22 points per game in 2010, features three three senior starters who have already made verbal commitments to play D-1 college football next season.

Michael (6-6, 220) returns at QB, wearing a brace on the surgically repaired right knee he injured during week four last year. He is headed to the University of Buffalo.

Tanner Kearns (6-6, 223) is back at tight end. He will play for Indiana University next season. Tyler Jackman (6-3, 200) is back at one receiver slot, though defense is where he will play for Youngstown State next fall.

Other starters on offense against Mount Vernon may include senior running back A.J. Byrne (6-0, 202), junior receivers Brandon Henderson (5-8, 166), Bryant Switzer (6-0, 170), junior center Chaz Hester (5-7, 219), senior right guard Tyler Elder (5-11, 191), senior right guard Cody Thompson (6-0, 214), sophomore left tackle Zach Temple (6-1, 203) and senior right tackle Ryan Schropp (6-2, 205).

“We have improved on the offensive line this summer, especially in our last scrimmage (against defending D-III state champion Columbus Bishop Watterson). All of our linemen bring something different and each has gotten better.

“They have the potential to be like our 2008 offensive line. Pass protect well and give us a crease to hit in the run game. We are not going to line up and blow people 10 yards off the ball,” he said.

The defensive ends will be Kearns and Temple with Thompson and senior Vince Vickers (6-0, 226) inside. Linebackers will be Bryne and Schropp. Defensive backs will include Jackman, Switzer, senior John Webster (6-1, 166), and either Henderson or sophomore Trent Richwine (5-11, 158). The Lexington defense allowed 22 points per game a year ago, fifth best in the OCC.

Some starters may be changing the weeks ahead.

“We have had a couple of guys out with injuries and we are not sure when they will be back,” Payne said. “They are on a week-to-week basis.

“It has been hard to get a look at what you have on offense and defense when you have so many starters on the sideline (during scrimmages),” Payne said.

“We stepped up our conditioning this year, which we will know we will need with so many guys going both ways. We play in a very tough conference. We tell the kids we set up a great conditioning program for them – and we tell them they will get out of it what they put into it,” said Payne, 32-21 in his first five years with two playoff teams. (2)

Sources:

Mansfield News Journal, September 3, 2011

Lexfootball.org, August 25, 2011

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