“We had to respond,” Lambert said. “The things that we’ve been preaching to our kids over the past 18 months, we’re starting to reap the benefits of those, and we’ve given ourselves an opportunity to do something Northwestern has never done before. We just have to take it one-by-one and continue to respond in the proper manner like our kids have done all along.”
Northwestern has won three straight games, including a 9-7 victory at North Union in Central Buckeye Mad River Division play last Friday night in Richwood. The Warriors took the lead on a safety by junior Allen Price in the second quarter and held on for their first victory over the Wildcats since the Union County program joined the CBC in 2019.
“We got our kids to compete and now we’re trying to figure out how to win,” Lambert said. “We’ve lost two games this year by a combined seven points — double overtime against KR and one point against Miami East. At that point, we were still trying to figure out how to win. Last Friday just proved to us and our kids that we’re able to win ugly right now. … It shows the maturity and the growth that’s happened over the last year-and-a-half and even in the last three weeks from the KR loss to now.”
The Warriors are tied atop the CBC Mad River standings with Indian Lake (5-2, 2-0). They’ll play their final three league games at home with a chance to win their first outright conference title in 57 years. Northwestern last earned a share of the CBC Mad River Division title in 2018.
Northwestern hosts Graham (1-6, 1-1) this week before Indian Lake and Shawnee (1-6, 0-2) come to Taylor Field in weeks 9 and 10.
“You can’t ask for a better situation I don’t think,” Lambert said. “We haven’t had a lot of success against those schools. It’s just another opportunity not only to prove ourselves again, but to do it in front of our community and do it at home. I don’t think you could ask for much better than that.”
The Warriors have two of the top players in the conference in junior quarterback/defensive back Ried Smith (981 passing yards, 7 passing TDs) and junior running back/linebacker Preston Allen (558 rushing yards, 8 TDs) . The key over the last few weeks has been their offensive and defensive lines, which are led by juniors Braiden Langston and Xander Stacey.
“They’ve really, really stepped up for us and have improved our running game and defensively in the box,” Lambert said. “We’ve given up seven points in the last three weeks and that’s been a big deal.”
The Warriors will face an improved Graham squad that’s played a tough schedule this fall. The Falcons fell to Indian Lake 13-7 in Week 6 before beating Shawnee 27-7 last week.
“They’ve gotten better every single week,” Lambert said. “We’ve got to handle ourselves and be mature enough to come in with a great sense of purpose and continue on with what we’ve been doing. It’s tough to not get complacent I think when you’re winning and competing in games you haven’t competed in before. It’s going to be on the guys in our locker room and our juniors and seniors have done a great job with their leadership in focusing on every single week and trying to win ball games any way we can.”
The Warriors are focused on the task at hand, he said.
“Every week there’s a sense of belief in the locker room,” Lambert said. “I can’t say enough about our guys in terms of that. They get up and get prepared every single week. … I couldn’t be more proud of their ability to respond to those kinds of things and get prepared even after those two heartbreakers.”
PREP FOOTBALL
WEEK 8
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Springfield at Beavercreek
Kenton Ridge at Jonathan Alder
Greenon at Catholic Central
Fairbanks at Northeastern
Cedarville at Southeastern
Tecumseh at London
Graham at Northwestern
Indian Lake at Shawnee
Bellefontaine at Urbana
Greeneview at Madison Plains
West Liberty-Salem at Mechanicsburg
Triad at West Jefferson
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