Looking to bounce back from a 51-7 loss to Clinton-Massie in the season opener, the Blanchester football team will have to do it with someone other than starting quarterback Tristan Greene.
Greene was injured during last week’s loss to Massie but was extremely sharp in leading the Wildcats to a touchdown drive and a 7-0 lead.
Greene and backups Jordan Stroud and Jared Monhollen all left the game against CMHS leaving Nick Grogg to quarterback the ’Cats.
O’Rourke said Greene would not play, but other than that everything is up in the air at this time.
“Our quarterback situation is interesting,” said O’Rourke. “We will be without Tristan this week but all the rest of our QBs are available. We are still looking at who will be the starter this week. We might play more than one against this week.”
Blanchester will host East Clinton 7 p.m. Friday night at Barbour Memorial Field. BHS is 0-1 while EC opened with a win over Batavia 25-19.
“East Clinton has an aggressive defense,” the BHS coach said. “They play man to man in the secondary and will take chances. They run the I-formation on offense and have two nice tailbacks.”
Astro runner Anthony Osburn had 122 yards on the ground and scored three touchdowns on offense and another on defense with an interception return.
Greene was 3-for-4 passing for 87 yards and had four rushes for 25 yards and a touchdown against the vaunted Clinton-Massie defense.
The remaining BHS quarterbacks were a combined 4-for-11 passing for 48 yards and four interceptions, and 10 rushes for a zero yards.
“We made many mistakes in pass protection and this led to our four interceptions,” said O’Rourke.
Travis Nelson led Blanchester in rushing with 51 yards. Grogg caught three passes for 90 yards while Quenton Miller had two catches for 29 yards.
On defense, Miller and Austin Jennett had five solo tackles each. Nelson was credited with three tackles and Jed Turpin had two solos.
Looking down the road, O’Rourke said Blanchester’s ability to win games this season hinges on something other than physical ability, which he believes his squad has.
“We need to improve a great deal on the mental side to be successful this season,” said O’Rourke.
