John Glenn football flexes muscle in big win over young Cambridge squad
NEW CONCORD − John Glenn football put forth its second consecutive impressive performance to start the 2023 season on Friday, rolling past neighboring Cambridge by a 42-14 margin at John Glenn Stadium.
JG head coach Matt Edwards would be hard pressed to script a better start to the season by his Muskies. John Glenn jumped out to a commanding 28-7 lead at the intermission.
"Obviously we are happy to be 2-0," Edwards said. "I thought tonight we played a more complete game, last week I thought our defense carried us a little bit. Tonight all three phases worked well together, especially our offense was more efficient.
That efficient John Glenn offensive attack churned out a whopping total of 512 yards of offense, with 376 yards on the ground and 136 more through the air.
"I think that's part of our secret, we have a nice stable of running backs we can put back there," Edwards said. "And we have plenty of options for Noah (Winland) to get the ball to in the passing game. It's hard for our opponents to key in on any one player."
Strength in numbers for John Glenn offense
Another impressive aspect was the depth the Muskies displayed, as that offensive workload was spread out amongst numerous players.
Senior Lincoln Gilcher paced the ground game with 141 yards on 25 carries with two TDs. Reese Metzger added six totes for 92 yards with two scores, while Ryder Rock contributed 51 yards on nine attempts.
Winland spread the ball around in his 14-for-16 for 131 yards passing performance, hitting eight different Muskies for receptions, led by Joey Wentland with four catches for 42 yards.
On the job training for Cambridge
For the young Bobcats, missed opportunities hurt their cause on back-to-back encouraging offensive drives into the red zone to open the game. Both came up empty with lost possessions on downs.
The first ended at the John Glenn 27-yard line, followed by a crushing turnover on downs at the Muskies' 3-yard line.
"We had a lot of the same issues as last week," Cambridge head coach Ray Leek said. "Lost opportunities due to beating ourselves with penalties, dropped balls and poor execution. Just a variety of reasons."
"We just have to clean that stuff up, if we want to win ball games," Leek continued. "It seems like it's especially bad at the start of the game, like tonight two solid drives to open the game. Then the mistakes happen, don't know if its nerves with us being such a young group. Got to clean it up quickly."
Next Games
John Glenn will host New Lexington next Friday, while Cambridge travels to Meadowbrook for Guernsey County bragging rights. Kickoff slated for 7 p.m. at both sites.
KSutton1@gannett.com; Twitter: @KevinDJsports; Instagram: kevinsutton_dailyjeffsports
This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: John Glenn football easily moves to 2-0 with victory vs. Cambridge