At the beginning of the season, Athens' offense was explosive, especially with long passes.
The first throw of the season from quarterback Clay Davis was an 81-yard touchdown to Treyce Albin.
Lately, the Bulldogs offense has slowed some. Less vertical passing seems to be a big part of the equation.
The offense was scoring early and often from those long passes. In the first four games of the season, the Bulldogs scored 134 points. In the last four, they have scored 82 — the equivalent of over a seven touchdown drop.
“We haven’t had a good opportunity to take advantage of it,” coach Ryan Adams said. “Teams know that’s a part of our bread and butter.”
Friday night against River Valley, Athens needs to get their offense going again in preparation for the rivalry matchup next week against Nelsonville-York, who is undefeated. Barring any upsets this week, next week’s game will decide the Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division.
Even though the deep passing game game has gone away for the Bulldogs offense as of late, the passing game has still found some success.
“You got to find a way to make it happen,” Adams said. “A lot of that has to do with catching a lot of short balls up front and sucking the defense down in.”
Short passes have been the focus, with a lot of wide receiver screens thrown to get the ball in the hands of the Bulldog playmakers in Albin and Robert Dickelman.
While the short passes have found some success, the offense hasn’t put up as many points and kept some games closer than they probably should have been.
Even if it looks as if the final game of the season will decide the conference, the Bulldogs can’t afford to look ahead.
The last two games — Meigs and Wellston — have been decided by a point each.
“I don’t think our guys are taking anyone for granted at this point,” Adams said. “They know they have to put a really nice performance together again.”
