Sidney has rearranged some players on defense and added a couple, too, since the start of the season. One new player on defense has been a familiar face on offense for the last three years.
Sidney senior Sam Reynolds played extensively at defensive back in last Friday’s win over Greenville. He finished with 2.5 tackles and had one interception when he ripped away a pass from a receiver in the second quarter.
He had played sparingly on defense last year and earlier this season but could be a key part of Sidney’s secondary moving forward.
“He can do some good things with his height and athleticism,” Sidney coach Adam Doenges said of Reynolds, who is 6-foot-2.
With the move to defensive back, sophomore Tank Fleming has taken over for Reynolds on kickoff returns.
He didn’t need long to make an impact in his first week as a returner. After the Green Wave scored on the first play of the second quarter to take a 7-0 lead, Fleming, who moved to Sidney from Springfield, returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.
Fleming pairs on kickoff returns with sophomore Julius Spradling, who returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in Week 1 against Bellefontaine. He also returned one kickoff for a touchdown his freshman year.
“With Sam playing so much more, we wanted to give him some breaks,” Doenges said. “We feel having Tank back there is a solid choice. Unless you want to kick it short, if you don’t want to kick it to Julius, you’ve got to kick it to Tank or Jy (Foster-Wheeler).
“We’ve got some threats back there, and we’ll continue to build off that.”
Senior middle linebacker Myles Vordemark is again leading the team in tackles. Vordemark, who has moved from outside to inside linebacker in the last couple of weeks, has made a team-high 30 tackles and forced one fumble.
The Yellow Jackets bottled up Greenville for the first three quarters but couldn’t in the last eight minutes of regulation. The Green Wave scored three touchdowns in the last eight minutes of regulation to rally from a 35-14 deficit and force overtime. Sidney eked out a 49-48 victory in double overtime.
Sidney will try to earn a second consecutive win when it travels to Vandalia-Butler (1-2, 1-1) on Friday.
The Aviators lost in lopsided fashion to Northmont (49-13) in Week 1 and Tippecanoe (35-0) last week. The squad beat winless Fairborn 35-21 in Week 2.
The Aviators are averaging 216 yards of offense per game while giving up an average of 312 to opponents.
Junior quarterback Luke Seibert ranks fourth in the MVL with 472 passing yards to his credit. He’s thrown two touchdown passes and had two passes intercepted.
Butler’s rushing attack has struggled; the squad is averaging 2.0 yards per carry.
Fort Loramie opponent has played one game
Fort Loramie (2-1) returns to Redskin Stadium this week to face Newark Catholic, which enters with a 1-0 record.
The Green Wave’s first scheduled game of the season against Columbus Bishop Ready was canceled due to thunderstorms. The squad beat Nelsonville-York 45-0 in Week 2 but didn’t play last week, either.
Newark Catholic was scheduled to travel to Columbus Academy (which will play at Fort Loramie on Sept. 30) last week, but the game was canceled due to the death of a Columbus Academy student.
The Green Wave edged the Redskins 41-40 in a Week 4 game in Newark last season. Newark Catholic advanced to the Div. VII state championship game and lost 42-7 to Marion Local, which beat the Redskins 42-6 in a regional quarterfinal.
Fort Loramie is averaging 412 yards of offense per game. Senior quarterback Caleb Maurer has thrown for 800 yards and eight touchdowns with three interceptions.
First Associated Press state polls released
The Associated Press released the first state polls of the season on Monday.
Fort Loramie received votes in Division VII but did not crack the top 10. Newark Catholic is ranked No. 4.
Undefeated Mechanicsburg — which lost 42-6 to Coldwater in a D-VI regional semifinal last year — is the top-ranked team in the first Div. VII poll. The Indians’ first three opponents are a combined 3-6.
New Bremen (3-0) is ranked third in D-VII.
Versailles (3-0), which won the D-V state title last year, is ranked third in Div. VI. Marion Local (3-0), which won the D-VII title last year, is ranked first in D-VI. Perennial power Kirtland (3-0), which Versailles edged in the D-V title game, is ranked No. 2.
Versailles is scheduled to travel to New Bremen this Friday.
