John Marshall Hosts Unbeaten Union Local
Photo by Joe Lovell WHEELING -- Friday's game between the visiting Union Local Jets (2-0) and the John Marshall Monarchs (0-1) is a little extra special for head coaches Bernie Thompson and Mark Cisar.
While they will stand on opposing sidelines Friday night as competing coaches, some years ago the two shared a sideline as a player-coach combo.
Cisar and his Monarchs will host the Jets tomorrow, the team that Cisar coached from 2006-2012. Thompson was a receiver for Union Local within those years, setting OVAC records for receptions in a season and in a single game with Cisar as his head coach.
"I think very highly of coach Cisar, I have a ton of respect for him not only as a football coach but as a man," Thompson said. "He's really helped mold me into the guy that I am, it's going to be super exciting. Coach Cisar was well-liked in the Union Local community, he brought the first playoff victory to Union Local so this is going to be fun not only for me and him but for the whole community to travel down and see him."
"I'm excited about that, he was one of the best young men I ever coached," Cisar said of coaching against Thompson. "Not just athletically, he's an outstanding human being, he has great morals and great values. It's going to be a great crowd, they're 2-0 and they travel pretty well. I was there, I know how it is when you're winning. Should be a great crowd, should be a great game."
While Friday will be a nice reunion, it will also be a hard-nosed battle in the trenches. Both team spoke about the importance of winning the line of scrimmage Friday.
"They're very big. They're very big up front, they've got a big offensive and defensive line, and that's going to be challenging," Thompson said. "They're big, they're physical up front. They've got a hard-nosed running back and a few athletes on the outside who they can get the ball to. I know they're going to be well-coached, they're going to be ready to play. They're going to be physical up-front and we have to be ready to withstand that, we have to take the battle to them and we have to be ready to fight for four quarters."
"They've got some receivers that can run so our d-backs need to have an outstanding game," Cisar said. "We also look at a mobile quarterback who can move and throw the ball, we've got to do a good job keeping him in the pocket. The biggest matchup comes up front. Our line needs to play a lot better than they did last week. That's probably where the game is going to be won, along the line. Who can execute better? Sometimes it doesn't come down to who's the better guy, it's which guy can execute better."
Union Local is coming off a 48-7 win over Buckeye Local in which everything was working for the Jets.
"They're 2-0, and they've played well in both games," Cisar said. "They came back against Shenandoah and they had a big win against Buckeye Local. They've moved the ball extremely well, they've played good defense, forced turnovers, and they're athletic. They've got some big guys up front, and they've got some athletes. They got their starting quarterback back against Buckeye and he threw the ball extremely well. Should be a good game, they come in with all the confidence in the world so we've got our hands full."
John Marshall, on the other hand, started the year with a tough 42-7 loss against University. Thompson wants his team to focus on what they've been doing right, while Cisar said his team must correct what went wrong in week one.
"Some things that we've done well, one thing is playing well as a team," Thompsons said. "That's been our M.O. this year, all 11 on either side of the ball have to contribute. We're trying to spread the ball around on offense, get multiple guys involved. Then on defense, getting everybody involved, flying to the ball and being aggressive. We've done a great job of that so far, and we just need to continue to build on that. This is going to be a challenge this weekend controlling the line of scrimmage, and we're going to be up for the challenge."
"The biggest thing is come out and play hard, with good intensity and detail," Cisar said. "We went back through and fixed some things that we screwed up last week which we could've done better on both sides of the ball. We need to eliminate penalties, we've got to play smarter, be a little more physical and we need to finish plays. Everybody needs to do their job, this is a team sport. That's what good teams do, and we can be a pretty good team if we do that."
Kickoff is set for 7:00 at Monarch Stadium.