Sports
Rams, Orphans struggling
Prep football preview
By JOHN ROARK
john.roark@register-news.com
MT. VERNON — The Centralia Orphans have lost 39 consecutive South Seven Conference games, and 31 of 32 regular season contests.
And wouldn’t you know it, the Mt. Vernon Township High School football team just might be the tonic.
Both teams come into Friday night’s league finale at the Orphans’ Evers Field nursing themselves through tough times at 1-6 overall. The winner of this matchup of 0-4 S-7 teams moves out of the basement, leaving the cellar all to the loser.
In 2000, Rams coach Dan Mings lost to the Orphans 21-13 in his first season at MVTHS. Since then, his clubs have rolled up seven in a row against their heated rivals of Marion County, and own a 360-94 edge on the scoreboard.
But that streak is in jeopardy; Mt. Vernon, at times playing so well defensively last week at Cahokia, is banged-up and short-handed for the remainder of the season.
Place-kicker/defensive back Michael Swinnen suffered a concussion in the 33-6 loss to the Comanches, and will miss the rest of the regular season.
Injuries and what-not have MVTHS extremely limited for Friday’s contest.
Linemen Calvin Jackson, David Price and two other underclassmen are likely out, as is defensive back Markeize Haynes.
“This is worse than usual,” Mings said. “It’s been pretty bad at times, but it doesn’t get much worse than this. We’d planned on having two new kids at tackle. Now,”What bothers Mings most is that his team might not be able to defend the pass against the Orphans; opposing quarterbacks have preyed on the Rams’ lack of secondary prowess.
“Every team in the conference has thrown on us,” Mings said. “They play to our weakness, and Centralia will do the same thing Friday.”
The Orphans, in their first year under former Mater Dei coach Ray Kauling, got things jazzed in Week One in beating Salem.
Since then, the Orphans have indeed been stormed, having been shredded defensively. Kauling’s team has allowed no less than 34 points in any game.
In the last two games, the Orphans have been outscored 105-0 against Cahokia and Marion. In the 63-0 loss last week to the latter, Orphans quarterback Brady Greaar and wide receiver Daniel Els didn’t play.
Mings expects the Orphans best shot on offense in this week’s rivalry game.
Conversely, the Rams have hit 28 points just once — in their only win, against Triad — and have scored but six touchdowns and kicked two field goals in the other six games.
With no vertical passing game to speak of, the Rams continue to grind things out on the ground. And, as the lack of scoring tells, the offense usually comes grinding to a halt.
When asked who would replace Swinnen as placekicker, Mings countered, “We’ll worry about scoring first.”
Last week, Mings gave junior quarterback Kellin Edwards a few snaps at Cahokia last week, and indicated he would continue that process.
“Kellin’s done everything else for us this season,” Mings said “He’s played tight end and caught a touchdown pass, carried the ball, and played linebacker and defensive end.
“He’s going back to his usual position, and we want to see if (quarterbacking) is what he really wants to do as a senior.
“(Starting quarterback) Jim Mulvaney will still see his reps,” Mings said.
With a long, final Week Nine trip to Geneseo staring his team in the eyes, Mings knows Friday’s game is the best shot getting a second win.
“Centralia scores a heckuva lot of points,” Mings said. “Sure, we’d like to get another win, say we won two and stayed out of the basement. But with all we will be without Friday, I’d be shocked if (Centralia) wasn’t favored.”
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