Monday, August 18, 2008

Turpin and Loveland kick off the 2008 Cincinnati Bell Fusion WiFi Tour

Both teams have a lot of holes and questions to fill coming into the season

by Bret Sims

Turpin High School ended their 2007 season as the No. 1 seed in the region with a heart breaking 24-23 loss in regional finals to rival Anderson.

Gone from last year’s team are quarterback Ryan Martin (district player of the year and first-team All-Ohio) who threw for almost 2,000 yards and his star receiver Andy Cruse (first-team all-district performer / second-team All-Ohio) who will be wearing a Miami of Ohio uniform this season. This years squad only returns four starters from last season.

Said head coach Rob Stoll: “We don’t have many guys with a lot of experience, so we’ll be young and learning on the run this year. If we can mature quickly, we can be competitive again.

The Spartans who went undefeated in the FAVC Cardinal division last year will need to rely on Wayne Dunham who lead the team in rushing with 1172 yards to anchor the offense. Dunham will be without the services of OT Aaron Van Kuiken a first-team All-Ohio player who graduated

Loveland comes into this season looking to improve on a disappointing 2007 campaign where the Tiger went winless in the FAVC Buckeye Division and had a combined record of 4-6. It will be an uphill climb without TJ Howard who generated most of their offense.

Charles Mather who led the team in rushing will continue to deliver a one-two punch on offense with leading receiver Brian Wozniak returning for another season. Like Turpin the Tigers may need to rely on their ground game until their passing attack is in full stride.

Fans should expect a low scoring affair in the season opener as both teams should be playing for field position while grinding it out on the ground and running down the clock. The winner of this game will more than likely be held under 21 points.