Spartans in midst of wild week

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Chris Slone

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The Southern Ohio Spartans have had an interesting week. First, they played half a game against the Cincinnati Hitmen (formerly called Cincinnati Xtreme) on Saturday. Then, the Spartans were forced to find a new opponent after the Dayton Bulldogs folded.

As far as the suspended contest, there are only two options: Call the game — which would give the Spartans a loss since they were trailing 21-6 at the time of the stoppage — or resume the game from where the teams left off. Aug. 8 has been mentioned as a possible makeup date, but nothing definite has come from the league office.

Southern Ohio has already made the Blue Collar Football League playoffs but the team doesn’t want to add another loss to its record without playing an entire game. Spartans owner Dusty Mogan has been lobbying to the league on behalf of the team.

“I know Dusty has been in contact with them,” Spartans defensive coordinator Troy Adams said. “I don’t know how successful she’s been.”

Adams admitted the team struggled in the first half, but he felt like they made the right adjustments at the break.

“We changed some things at halftime, felt like we had the right combinations going into the second half,” Adams said.

The Hitmen received the second-half kickoff and the Spartans held their ground, forcing a punt before Mother Nature intervened.

While awaiting word from the league office, Southern Ohio went out looking for a new opponent this week after Dayton closed its doors. The Spartans found a willing participant in the Findlay Phoenix.

“They’re a new team,” Adams said. “They just started this year. I guess they’ve had some problems fitting into a league. They haven’t played a lot. They offered to come here and we accepted just to keep from having a bye week … “

Adams admitted he doesn’t know a great deal about the Phoenix — if you take social media out of the equation.

“They have been bragging quite a bit on social media,” Adams said. “They said we won’t even score a touchdown.”

While the Spartan players have been encouraged not to respond to the taunts, Adams admitted the team will have some extra motivation Saturday night.

“We might use it as fuel for our fire,” Adams said. “If they want to trash talk, we’ll definitely use it to pump our guys up.”

Reach Chris Slone at 740-353-3101, ext 1930, or on Twitter @crslone.

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