“I would say we were definitely pleased with with where our guys are, especially as far as the chemistry of our team,” Springboro head coach Ryan Wilhite said. “It’s a great group to be around. They’re not resistant to work. You’re able to coach them hard. They have a good togetherness about them.”
The visitors will be taking on the No. 1 defense in the GWOC in terms of total yards, rushing yards, yards per carry and yards per pass attempt.
Springfield is tied with Springboro and Beavercreek for the lead in points allowed per game (11.2), but the Panthers are bringing a balanced offensive attack to town.
While 6-foot-2, 180-pound sophomore Max Miller leads the league in passing yards (806), senior Brayden Wilhite and junior Jaxon Long rank 1-2 in receiving yards with 402 and 315, respectively.
But they have taken a backseat lately to Mattias Brunicardi, a junior who has hit triple digits in rushing yards the last three games, including a 212-yard effort against Northmont last week.
“We always strive to have balance offensively,” Wilhite said. “We’ve definitely come a long way in certain areas on that. I think earlier on in the season, we were a little more challenged in our in our run game. Our quarterback is not a runner, so I think it’s a little easier to get that run game jump started if he is. But he is more of a distributor in the pass game. And then Mattias Brunicardi has combined with our offensive line to really start to establish themselves over the last couple weeks as having the ability to run the football.”
The Springfield offense has been a work in progress all season, but there are signs it is rounding into form with the return of senior quarterback Brent Upshaw and the addition of freshman running back Amileo Norvell Jr.
Norvell ran for 75 yards on 26 carries in the first extensive action of his career last week at Centerville.
Upshaw was injured early in the season but has been working his way back into the lineup sharing snaps with sophomore Braylon Keyes the last two weeks.
“He’s just a natural,” Springfield head coach Maurice Douglass said of Upshaw. “He’s a quarterback by nature. Braylon was a quarterback, but has been a quarterback that could play multiple positions because of the speed that he that he brings to the table, which allows us to put another explosive kid out in space with Brent at quarterback. Now we can use Braylon and Sherrod Lay at the slot, which allows us to try to exploit and take advantage of some some matchups.”
Upshaw’s return has the added impact of letting Keyes move back to receiver, where he can inject more play-making into the Wildcats attack.
That should also prevent teams from keying on Zy’Aire Fletcher, the 6-foot-6, 221-pound senior tight end who is verbally committed to Kent State.
“He’s gonna have a chance to make a lot of money one day as a tight end,” Douglass said of Fletcher, who played offensive talkie last season but has 15 catches for 175 yards this season, including five for 63 last week. “He just allows you to have a lot of matchup problems because he runs so well. He’s just getting used to catching the ball in different angles and things like that.”
Douglass said the offense is also benefiting from John Wortham, who previously worked with him at Trotwood-Madison, taking over as the play-caller two weeks ago.
“We kind of retooled some stuff from not being under the center as much to going back to being in the shotgun and spread look, and just things that I thought that would help Brent with what he’s been comfortable with,” Douglass said. “This is more geared toward our personnel.”
Springfield and Springboro have played annually since 2019, and Wildcats have won all five meetings.
Ironically, the Panthers’ last win over a Springfield school came in the 2006 season-opener, a 33-6 win over North in what was Wilhite’s first game as head coach.
“That’s a hill that we’re trying to get over,” Wilhite said. “So we just trying to take one week at a time and this is the opponent and let’s go after it the best we can.”
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