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Marietta High closes out 2016 at Zanesville, seeks ECOL victory

JEFF BAUGHAN The Marietta Times Marietta’s Isaac Danford (14) carries the ball during a high school football game against Parkersburg earlier this season at Don Drumm Stadium.

With one game left in the 2016 high school football season, there is still a lot Marietta High is hoping to accomplish.

The Tigers (5-4) enter their week 10 contest against host Zanesville (1-8) with hopes of claiming their first winning season since 2002. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday.

“We met as a group on Monday, the coaches and players, and basically laid it out to them,” said Marietta head coach Jason Schob. “We have a lot to gain by winning this game. We want to end on a high note for the seniors.”

Marietta has another monkey it wants to get off its back as well — the Tigers are 0-23 in East Central Ohio League play since joining the league in 2011. A win over the Blue Devils would be MHS’ first against a Scarlet Division opponent in school history.

However, despite Zanesville’s unusually subpar record, Schob isn’t taking them lightly.

“They’re not your typical 1-8 team,” Schob said. “They play some pretty difficult teams. They still have a lot of talent from their team last year that made the state semifinal.”

The Devils are coming off a 25-0 loss to Bishop Watterson in which they dressed only 28 players and totaled only 93 yards, according to The Times Recorder.

The Chad Grandstaff-coached team’s only win came in week three against a solid Sheridan squad. Zanesville has since lost six straight.

“They’re pretty physical up front,” Schob said. “They’re going to try to do things to cause us to mis-align that we’ll have to be ready for. We need to take care of the ball.”

The Tigers are trying to bounce back from consecutive losses against New Philadelphia and Dover. In those games they were outscored 98-35. Marietta was previously 5-2 and in the thick of the Division III, Region 11 playoff race.

“Everything bad that could’ve happened, happened,” Schob said of the Dover game. “We were down 28 points within the first five minutes of the game.”

Offensively, Marietta will try to be balanced against Zanesville with a 50-50 mix of run and pass. The passing attack will be led by senior Trent Dawson, who has thrown for 2,001 yards, 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He’s completed 143 of 218 attempts.

He has a pair of receiving options who have each broken the school’s previous single-season receiving yards record according to Schob. Travis Moore leads the team with 62 receptions and 819 yards, while Isaac Danford is second with 48 catches for 794 yards. The senior duo combined for 15 catches against the Tornadoes last week.

On the ground, junior Dominic Vanfossen is the go-to option. With 965 yards on 134 carries, Vanfossen is looking for his second straight 1,000-yard campaign.

The Tigers are also expecting to get back senior tight end Bailey Wright, who missed the last three games with a hand injury, giving Zanesville even more to account for.

“I truly believe the program is turning around and heading in the right direction,” Schob said.

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