OxfordPress.com

Talawanda head football coach Mike Wright has become the answer man.

He had questions. Now, he has answers.

The biggest question for any football coach is: Who's the quarterback?

Wright and his coaching staff found the answer to that one in last Friday's scrimmage and it was fairly resounding.

Sophomore Braden Park will open the season tonight as the Braves' starting quarterback after an impressive performance last Friday at Lebanon.

"We spotted them 24 points and came back with 21 unanswered points," Wright said Monday. "It ended up 24-21 but we got questions answered. I'm not out to win scrimmages."

Park was one of three players in the mix for the starting quarterback position in tonight's opener with Eaton and he left no doubt that he wanted the spot.

"Braden led all three touchdowns. He scored all three touchdowns, two on quarterback sneaks," the second-year head coach said. "He's the guy. For a sophomore, the leadership he showed was phenomenal."

It is even more astounding when you consider that Park broke his hand in baseball earlier this year.

Junior Ryan Napier, another of the three in the hunt for the quarterback spot, will contribute after also returning from injury.

"He will be a part offensively and defensively," Wright said of Napier.

Another question heading into last Friday's scrimmage involved the Braves' linebackers. Again the answers were to the coach's liking.

"We have a couple guys who can rotate in and do the job," Wright said. "Some are back from injuries this week, but we found six or seven defensive backs in the scrimmage."

That's especially good because Eaton is more likely to throw the ball than run it, the coach said, and they have a quarterback who threw for more than 2,000 yards last year, in a season opened by beating the Braves.

The coaching staff got more good news about their kicking game.

Senior Zac Wilhelm stepped up and will do double duty this year, playing soccer and kicking for the football team.

"The kicking game is in good hands. Zac had three PATs go right through," Wright said. "Before this season is over, we'll get to the 20 and he will nail a fieldgoal for us."

One of those linebackers the coach mentioned was co-captain Matt Murphy who is looking forward to getting into live action, buoyed by the showing last week.

"We stepped up when we had to, down by that much," Murphy said. "We did a good job making up that deficit."

Murphy, who also plays receiver on the offensive side of the ball, said he prefers defense.

"Hitting is the best part," he said. "The defense (this season) should be really tough. We have a lot of young players who need to step up."

Senior co-captain Tyler Williams also plays on both sides of the ball at running back and free safety, but he grew up with offense and he prefers carrying the ball to defending it. He said he plays defense because he's needed there, but loves the offensive action.

His focus is on the field and winning tonight.

"Beating Eaton would help us mentally get out to a good start," Williams said. "The last four or five years we started 0-1. It would be a positive to get that first win."

The third co-captain is Jimmy Rasche, who plays line on both offense and defense.

Sitting next to Williams, he quietly nodded toward his offensive-minded teammate and said, "I start up front so he can get something going."

With Eaton's talented and tested quarterback, they face "a dangerous weapon" in tonight's game.

"He is a very talented thrower and he has targets to throw to," Wright said. "Their defense likes to blitz, likes to gamble. They like to mix it up and keep you off track."

He said he expects Eaton to go on to a fine season and make the playoffs again, so a win for the Braves tonight would be that much more meaningful.

"This is a good situation for us," he said. "We are not opening with a cupcake but it is also not a D-I team with 110 guys on the sideline."

Contact this reporter at (513) 523-4139 or bratterman@coxohio.com.