Edison looks to continue strong start hosting Woodward | News, Sports, Jobs

CELEBRATING — Edison has celebrated a lot of touchdowns this season and will look to celebrate a few more on Saturday.
— Andrew Grimm

RICHMOND — The Edison football team has gotten off to a strong start to the season, but the same cannot be said for Toledo Woodward.

The Wildcats have outscored their two opponents, 83-8, while the Polar Bears have been outscored 125-6.

Edison looks to continue its winning ways, while Woodward looks to get on track when the teams meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.

Edison enters the game coming off a 41-0 victory against Wellsville Friday night at home.

“I think we played really hard,” Edison (2-0) head coach Mike Collopy said. “One big thing is I thought Wellsville did an outstanding job. They played extremely hard. Coach Ramsey is a great coach.

“We played hard, but we made some mistakes. We got behind on the sticks. We had some turnovers. Our special teams and our defense did an extremely good job. We were able to create some turnovers.

“Whenever you win a game, you are happy you are able to come out with the win. We are pleased about that, but we still have room to improve. Our kids play hard. They play together.

“We want to take our strengths and continue to build off those. The things we have to improve upon, we are going to keep working on those.”

Woodward comes into the game coming off of a 68-0 loss to Bishop Ready Friday night on the road.

“Woodward has had a brutal start to their schedule,” Collopy said. “They played Sandusky Perkins, who is state ranked. Bishop Ready is an outstanding program. They have played two really tough opponents to start the season.”

Perkins defeated Woodward, 57-6, in Week 1.

“Offensively, they have a lot of athletes,” Collopy said. “They have good team speed. Their quarterback, we probably are not going to see another athlete like him. They have an offensive lineman who is 6-7 and weighs 300 pounds. They have a lot of speed on offense.

“Defensively, they like to attack. They like to bring pressure off the edge and up the middle. They get to the ball. They are aggressive. They are fast.”

The Polar Bears have some talented players at the skill positions.

“Offensively, they like to mix it up,” Collopy said. “Their quarterback is a running threat. He can get out of the pocket. We are going to have to watch out for him. He can make plays with his arm and his legs. We haven’t seen an athlete like him in years. He’s slippery. He’s fast. He’s elusive. He has breakaway speed.

“They have a good running back. They like to mix it up. They can spread you out.”

Edison opened the season by rallying to defeat Monroe Central, 42-8, in Week 1. After three weeks, the Wildcats will have played a game on Thursday night, Friday night and one on Saturday afternoon.

“You play the game at the time it is scheduled,” Collopy said. “It’s an early game. You have to make sure your kids our hydrated, that they are in at curfew and they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. When it comes down to it, it is just a different day and a different time. You do the same things, you have just have to adjust to when you do them.”

Edison is looking to get back to basics this week.

“First off, we have to be disciplined and fundamentally sound,” Collopy said. “We have played disciplined, but we have not been fundamentally sound.

“We are going to have to know our assignments on defense. We are going to have make the right reads. We are going to have to be in the right stance.

“Offensively, our offensive line is going to have to make the right reads. They are going to have to communicate. Our receivers are going to have to run the right routes. Our running backs are going to have to look for the right holes. They are going to have to follow their blocks and run to the hole that is going to be there.

“On special teams, we are going to have to defend what they do, and we are going to have to do what we do. We want to have good field position. We don’t want to give up any deep returns. There is no magic wand.

“They have a lot of dangerous athletes. When you just watch clips of them you don’t know whether they are winning or losing based on how hard they play. We want to perform the way we are capable of performing.”

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