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RICHMOND -- The Edison football team is looking to get on track this week against undefeated Monroe Central.
Edison and Monroe Central will meet at 7 p.m. tomight night out at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.
Edison enters this week's game fresh off a 23-6 loss to Carrollton last week on the road out at Warrior Stadium. It has been said football teams show the most improvement from Week 1 to Week 2, and the Wildcats improved in some ways against the Warriors.
"Absolutely," Edison (0-2) head coach Mike Collopy said. "We emphasized things in practice, and we corrected those things. We still have other things we need to improve upon. Those things have been a point of emphasis. Our penalties have to decrease, and they have been decreasing. We need them to decrease even more. A lot of our penalties are self-inflicted. They are due to alignment or holding. We have made a concerted effort at practice to work on those things. We are working with our interior line and our wideouts."
Monroe Central enters the game after defeating Bellaire, 29-14, last week on the road down at Nelson Field.
"The last time we played them was in '23," Collopy said. "That was their coach's first year. They are a well-coached team. They are very disciplined. They are old school. They are big up front. They have athletes on the edges on both sides of the ball. Their quarterback is really good. He can do a lot of things. They have some good running backs. Defensively, they do some different things. They blitz. They are hard nosed. They are fundamentally sound."
The Wildcats defeated the Seminoles in 2022 and in 2023. Edison defeated Monroe Central, 42-8, in 2022 at home before winning, 34-14, the next year on the road.
Monroe Central opened this season by defeating Liberty Union, 33-12, in Week 1 on the road.
"They want to set up the pass with their running game," Collopy said about the Seminoles. "They want to throw the ball off their running game. Their quarterback can hurt you in different ways. He can break the pocket. When he breaks the pocket, he is dangerous. Their wide receivers have some speed. They want to pass through their running game."
Edison opened the season by falling to Coshocton, 24-21, on the road out at Stewart Field. The Wildcats battled to the end against the Redskins, and the boys from Jefferson County did the same thing last week against Carrollton.
"Our kids play extremely hard," Collopy said. "One of the things we really liked was in the second half, we played hard until the end of the game. We played hard until the final whistle. We improved, and we want to continue to improve."
The two teams will have one less day to prepare for this week's game with it being played Thursday night instead of the usual Friday night.
"You just have to adjust your schedule," Collopy said. "It doesn't matter if you play Thursday, Friday or Saturday. You have a schedule, and you stick to that schedule. Playing on Thursday, your preparation is a little different, your Sunday is your Monday. You want to carry over what you do in practice into the game. You want to give a good effort and hope it carries over."
The game is the first home game of the season for the Wildcats.
"I'm sure they are excited," Collopy said. "You are always excited to play your first home game of the season. I was thinking on the way over here that for the seniors this is their first last of everything. It's their first last home game. You want to play hard in front of your home crowd. It is nice. Sometimes, things take on a life of their own."
The Wildcats know what it is going to take for them to come out victorious against the Seminoles.
"We are going to have to stay ahead of schedule," Collopy said. "First-and-10 is different than first-and-15 or first-and-20. We can't have penalties. We have to the run ball. We have to mix it up. We can't be one dimensional. Defensively, we have to contain their quarterback when he breaks out of the pocket. We have to be able to tackle in open space. We have to stop the run and tackle the pass."