September 24, 1999
Columbian seeks to rebound in first road game
By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor
Steve Gilbert is a man who is remaining calm these days.
Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be very noteworthy, but after last Friday night's turn of events, the mood of the Columbian coach is worth monitoring.
To put it bluntly, Gilbert's Tornadoes got smacked by Shelby.
After the 14-7 defeat, the dreams of an unbeaten regular season are over, but there's no time for head-hanging. The Tornadoes face another tall test when they travel to Willard tonight.
There would seem to be a lot going against Columbian:
Even so, optimism reigns for the Tornadoes.
"It's just like a weekend after a win; you just have to get ready for the next game," the Columbian coach said. "You can't dwell on the past because we've got our hands full, and we know that. We've been working like heck to try and get ready for (Willard).
"And we've had a good week," he said. "The focus has been on stepping up and playing better."
They'll have to because by all accounts Willard appears to be for real. The unbeaten Flashes opened the season with a 55-0 win over Edison and have rolled past Margaretta (41-18), Huron (41-13) and Upper Sandusky (41-0) since.
Quarterback Charlie Frye leads the NOL with 1,057 yards on 53-of-81 passing. He's thrown 11 touchdown passes and no interceptions.
Frye throws almost exclusively to receivers Chad Carr and Jarrod West. Carr has caught 31 passes for 568 yards and four TDs, while West has 12 grabs for 352 yards and five scores.
The Flashes aren't all about passing, though. They're equally adept with a ground game that features five backs with more than 100 yards rushing.
The ringleaders there are Nick Bailey (35 carries, 286 yards) and Trent Harris (52-239). Frye (101), Gabe Sanders (111) and Jared Vogel (106) are also threats.
"They're good," Gilbert said. "And I thing the big change is that they're playing with great confidence. And that's how we have to approach the game. We have to go over there knowing that we're a great football team and play like it, 'cause that's what they're doing right now.
"They've been a good team, and it's basically the same group of kids that have been playing since they were sophomores. But the big difference is confidence. They're playing like good teams do."
The Tornadoes carried that same swagger, but had it taken away by the Whippets last week.
"We had some kids play very well, but the bottom line was that we didn't win the game," Gilbert said. "That's what we have to address. We have to find out where we broke down and why. We just made too many mistakes. We turned the ball over, and we hadn't been doing that. At crucial times we turned it over, or we got outhustled on key plays. We just didn't make plays when we had to make them."
The Tornadoes had committed just one turnover in the first three games, but gave it up five times against Shelby. They still lead the league in turnover ratio with a plus 16.
That makes the matchup between Frye and TC secondary crucial. Frye hasn't been picked off yet, but Columbian defenders have collected 12 interceptions this season.
Nate Nahm is second in the NOL with three interceptions, and Todd Focht, Chris Brooks and Drew Hanley have two apiece.
Offensively, the Tornadoes could get a boost with the return of sophomore running back Brett Krupp. Krupp, who has 345 yards on 39 carries, missed last week's game with an ankle injury suffered in practice.
Krupp offers a change of pace to the power running of Jeremiah Johnson, who is second in the NOL with 401 yards on 69 carries.
"We have to go out and set the tempo right away," Gilbert said. "We can't go out and stand around and wait for things to come to us. We have to go out and force the issue right away. We have to put them in a pressure-cooker where they feel challenged right away because they've pretty much had their way with every game."
The Tornadoes are hoping that buck stops right here.