“I was just told, ‘Be who I was,” Lemen said Wednesday after practice. “If the reads aren’t open and I have a lane, take it and get what I can get.”
Lemen, a third-year starter who threw 32 touchdown passes the last two seasons, has produced at his typical rate in the last two weeks, and the Cougars have bounced back by routing Carlisle 34-7 and Benjamin Logan 48-6.
Through three games, Lemen ranks second in the Central Buckeye Conference in passing yards (530) and third in rushing yards (371). He has six touchdown passes and five touchdown runs.
“I’ve definitely calmed myself down from the first game,” Lemen said. “We’ve worked together better as a team. There were some things we needed to fix. We came together and looked at what we needed to do, and we fixed them. We all want the same thing, and we’re working really hard for it.
Kenton Ridge coach Joel Marratta said he talked to Lemen after the first game.
“It’s kind of like my golf game,” Marratta said. “You can’t make up for having a bad shot on the next swing. You’ve got to manage the game like you manage golf and forget about a bad play and move forward. It just seemed like when things were bad, we tried to hit a home run ball on the first play and that doesn’t necessarily work out that well when you play good teams like that.”
Lemen is the son of a quarterback. His dad John Lemen played at North High School in the mid-90s and now coaches on Marratta’s staff.
“He was a running quarterback, too,” Dylan said. “He says run the ball if you’ve got the opportunity. Throw the ball if it’s there. Make smart reads. Footwork is where it all starts is what he tells me.”
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One of Lemen’s goals every game is spreading the ball around. Calvin Dibert leads the team and the CBC with 12 receptions for 325 yards and four touchdowns. Carson Jones and Drew Miller each have seven catches.
Jones looks forward to this week’s game at Graham because his dad Michael Jones and uncle Spencer Ferst played at Graham. Both played running back like him.
Kenton Ridge beat Graham 54-33 last season. The Falcons have won two straight games since losing 41-0 in Week 1 to West Liberty-Salem.
“We’re taking every game as a big game,” Jones said. “We want to go in and work hard. We know we’ve got big games ahead of us. The second part of the season is definitely the harder part. We know we can’t take anybody lightly. Last week, we could have let up. You’ve got to keep the foot on the gas and keep going.”
Other top Week 4 games
Shawnee (2-1) at Northwestern (2-1): This game was a defensive duel two years ago, and Northwestern won 7-6. It went the other way last season with the Braves winning a shootout, 40-35.
Fairbanks (1-2) at Greenon (3-0): The Knights have outscored their three opponents 165-52. Cade Rice leads the Ohio Heritage Conference with 838 passing yards and 14 touchdowns.
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Fairbanks routed Cedarville 38-0 last week after losing 53-20 to North Union and 47-30 to Indian Lake.
Northmont (2-1) at Springfield (2-1): Northmont won this game 25-7 last season and 22-10 in 2017. Springfield quarterback Northmont's Keaton Kesling leads the Greater Western Ohio Conference with 813 passing yards, and Springfield's Te'Sean Smoot ranks fourth with 591 passing yards.
Mechanicsburg (3-0) at Cedarville (0-3): Mechanisburg has outscored its opponents 123-15, while Cedarville has been outscored 114-14.
Northeastern (0-3) at Catholic Central (0-3): These teams meet for the first time since 2016. Northeastern has won four of the last five meetings.
Madison Plains (3-0) at West Liberty-Salem (3-0): West Liberty-Salem has won its first three games by a combined score of 158-14. Trevord Woodruff ranks third in the OHC in passing yards (551). Madison Plains quarterback Jarrett Vallery ranks second (629).
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