DELPHOS — St. John’s head football coach Todd Schulte had some reasons to be happy and other reasons not to be.
His team finished its preseason preparations with a 14-0 victory over Celina on a cool Friday night at Stadium Park.
“We showed flashes offensively — but just flashes. What I was most disappointed in was that we played with no emotion on either side of the ball,” he said. “That was true in both the varsity and junior varsity. We started to play like that toward the end of our first scrimmage Saturday (versus Elida) and continued that tonight. This is where our leaders need to step up in that area because it carries over from practice.”
The Jays did get a 1-yard plunge by Wes Ulm at 5:10 of the opening period and later a 37-yard TD toss from Ulm to Matt Brinkman with 7:55 left in the third (final stanza). Jordan Rode added both extra points.
As well, the defense never allowed Celina to get closer than the Blue Jay 42 in seven possessions.
“The defense did very well. Again, it was just our lack of emotion that disappointed me,” Schulte continued. “At the same time, it was just a scrimmage. There were some things we did and did not do and we know what we need to work on. We just have to get back to work and try to get better.”
They will need to, with Lima Central Catholic looming as the opener Saturday at Lima Stadium.
“It’s for real now and we have the best team in Division V as our opener. We had better be ready to play,” Schulte added.
The JV Blue Jays got a pair of back-to-back TDs on their first series of 10 plays — a 40-yard toss from Tim Clark to Justin Backus and a 65-yard run by Clark; and another 2-yard Clark TD burst on their second series.
Celina scored on the last play of its second possession on a 2-yard run.