Medfield Football Hosts Winless Bellingham in Non-League Game Friday

After suffering Tri-Valley League Large Division losses in back-to-back weeks, the football team will look to rebound Friday night when Bellingham comes to town.

On paper, this matchup looks to be just what the Warriors (1-4, 0-2) need, lining up against a winless Blackhawks team (0-5, 0-1). But Medfield head coach Erik Ormberg knows these games are not played on paper.

“At 0-5, they are hungry and want to win,” Ormberg said of visiting Bellingham. “Their quarterback [Kevin McTomney] is 6-feet 2-inches and 225 pounds and can throw the ball a mile and is accurate with his out patterns and
slants. They have a disciplined offensive line and two brothers, Matt and
Mike Kupiec, who are the pulse of that team. Those two only know how to go 100 miles per hour.”

, displayed poor execution on special teams, primarily the punting unit, which committed three bad snaps – one resulting in a safety. Ormberg said he is confident after this week’s practice the execution in the punting game will be improved.

“Our punt snaps were an area of focus this week,” Ormberg said. “We try to cover all possible aspects of special teams each week and our goal is to eliminate
turnovers on special teams.”

Other areas of focus in practice have been the fundamentals of football as the season shifts to the midway point.

“We wanted to focus on conditioning, form tackling and execution,” Ormberg said.

A bright spot for the Warriors through the first five games of the season has been the team’s defense. The unit has shown the ability to overcome adversity on the field in terms of field position and can rise to the occasion when Medfield needs a stop.

“The defense has responded to a variety of sudden change situations,” Ormberg said.  They have been challenged in the red zone, they have faced top-notch talent in all the games we've played and they have never backed down from a challenge or situation.”

Ormberg credits the work of his defensive coordinator for the team’s strong play on that side of the ball.

“Our defensive coordinator, Brian Gavaghan, takes tremendous pride in
preparing them for any and all situations,” Ormberg said. “Brian understands how to develop a scheme, teach it to the kids, rep the strategy, adjust on the
fly and motivate the kids to take pride in every play win or lose. Our
kids respond to Brian's approach and he empowers the kids to rise up to
every challenge.”

Medfield’s defense is prepared to play an up-tempo offense with big-play capability Friday.

“They run a no huddle, up tempo-offense,” Ormberg said. “They pass almost 65 percent of the time so the challenge will be to cover a lot of areas on the field and pressure the quarterback. They are very effective at getting the ball to the wide receivers in a short amount of time. Their quarterback is a great decision maker.”

To counter Bellingham’s attack, Medfield will look to win the field position battle and control the ball on offense to build a lead for its defense.

“Our hope is to win the field position battle and let the defense perform with a lead so they don't have their back against the wall during the game,” Ormberg said.

Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the MHS turf. Friday night is also Youth Football Night and the town’s flag football program, Pop Warner players and middle school football program will be honored at halftime.