Milan offense has progressed without starting QB
It was Week 4 when Milan and Westview met in the regular season in a football game that proved to be an important one for both teams.
Westview came back from a two-touchdown halftime deficit to win 15-14 after Milan starting quarterback Marshall Harrison went down with a broken leg.
Knowing the results that happened since that night, Milan could have claimed district runner-up since the Bulldogs went 3-0 in district play after that, but no one knew that night when the Bulldogs and head coach Jeff Morris what would happen from that point on when they loaded the bus to leave Martin.
They weren’t even sure what would happen six nights later after Milan had taken a 42-7 loss to Christ Presbyterian Academy, who spent the season ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press poll.
“That game was the opposite of ideal for a first-time starting quarterback,” Morris said of the CPA game, in which junior Landon Walker made his first start. “The situation and the opponent weren’t good for us, and then you add in it was a short week with the Thursday night game and it adds up to a not-great night for us.”
But Morris had more optimism that probably a lot of other people coming out of that loss.
“I knew Landon would be OK,” Morris said. “We’d been working with him as the starter for less than a week at that point, and we knew what kind of an athlete he is.”
The second half of the season has gone better for the Bulldogs than some would’ve expected. That CPA game was the final loss in which Milan lost three of four games.
Since then, the Bulldogs beat South Gibson on a last-second play, scored twice late to beat Dyersburg, shut out Huntingdon on the road and pulled away from Obion County.
Morris said one reason the Bulldogs have been so successful as of late is the play of running back Isiah Ross, who scored five touchdowns against Obion County.
“He’s had four straight 100-yard rushing games when we didn’t have any 100-yard rushers in the first five games,” Morris said. “That’s unheard of around here.”
Morris added Ross’ increased production on the ground is because of better play of the big guys in front of him.
“They’ve played much better as a unit up on the offensive line,” Morris said. “Just about everybody has played better – linebackers, special teams, the secondary.
“And that includes Landon. He’s gotten more comfortable back there leading the offense and managing what we’re trying to do. He’s done a good job.”
This week the Bulldogs will return to Martin with hopes of getting another first-half lead they don’t lose this time.
Morris and Westview coach Don Coady have coached against each other 23 times, so there won’t be many secrets or schematic wrinkles either will throw in the other hasn’t seen.
“One thing Don has done since we played them is throwing it more than usual,” Morris said. “He and I come from the same school of thought in which you run first to set up the pass or pass when you need to.
“But they’ve got a good quarterback [Dallas Callins] and some good receivers [Jason Hicks and Parker Beal] for him to throw to, and their play selection has actually been about 50-50 between the pass and the rush the last few games. We’ll see how our guys deal with that.”
Brandon Shields, 425-9751
This week’s game
What: Milan at Westview
When: Friday at 7 p.m.
Radio: WTKB-FM 93.7