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Lisbon aims for a playoff turnaround

LISBON–The Lisbon football team has lost three straight games and heading into its third straight playoff appearance the team is looking to turn it around this week.

“Going into the playoffs its a whole other monster,” senior Mason Rance said, “Anything can happen and it is intense.

“We’ve been there the past three years and we know how it feels so we are ready to go.”

In Division VII Region 25, Lisbon (6-4) is the fifth seed as the Blue Devils go on the road to face the fourth-seeded Windham Bombers (8-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Windham High School.

“We ended on a disappointing note,” Lisbon coach Jim Tsilimos said. “The last two games we didn’t play well on both sides of the ball.”

“We are fortunate to make the playoffs and I told the kids we are starting new this week. Let’s refocus and try to come out.”

Windham is coming off a blowout win over Pymatuning Valley 54-24 and season highlights include wins over playoff-qualified Mathews (41-14).

Tsilimos feels that the Blue Devils stack up well with Windham.

“We are very similar teams,” Tsilimos said. “They are explosive and have some skill kids very similar to us.”

The losing streak for the Blue Devils included Columbiana (19-24), East Palestine (28-55) and United (33-51).

The Blue Devils had four turnovers in the past two weeks including three fumbles lost in week 9 against East Palestine.

“Those last two games are on me,” Tsilimos said. “As a head coach, I’ve got to correct the problems and get at it. We need to take care of the ball.”

The Blue Devil defense has allowed 500 plus yards of offense last two weeks.

“We’ve got to come out with some intensity this week.” Tsilimos said. “It’s the playoffs we have got to get things taken care of.”

Lisbon made a late comeback against Columbiana but fell short.

“Against Columbiana we were there,” Tsilimos said. “It’s a credit to our kids that they didn’t quit but I was expecting more out of them in week 9 and 10.”

The Blue Devils scored 12 points in the fourth quarter in that game.

“We just ran out of time against Columbiana,” senior receiver Seth Stokes said. “We have got to come out this week from the beginning. If we lose this week that’s it. There is no fixing what happens in practice if we lose this week.”

In the last two weeks Lisbon has allowed 55 points in each game after only allowing less than 21 points in each of the five games prior.

“I know we had it locked up coming into week 10 but they have got to come out and play this week,” Tsilimos said. “Our defense has got to come out with intensity and make some tackles. If we don’t we are in for a long night.”

Senior lineman Justin Larkins says that something the team needs to get back to is running the ball well like they have in previous weeks with the game against Toronto being a high point.

“We came out the first half and put the ball to Toronto,” he said.

Lisbon had 358 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground that night.

“We were talking about momentum going into the United game,” Larkins said. “We would need momentum for week 11, but I think we can still come out hard this week after a good week of practice.

“We have to fix a few small things and come out strong both halfs.”

Coming into this week against Windham, Tsilimos says an encouraging sign was his team performing well in a scrimmage with Mogadore (8-1).

“We were competitive this whole season except the last two games,” Tsilimos said. “We are prepared playing what we have played against this season but we have to get back to playing our type of football.”

The Blue Devils are ready for this weeks matchup and the opportunity ahead of them to turn it around.

“These last three weeks haven’t been that great,” Rance said. “We have got to come ready to play and have the mindset we are going to make a deep run.”

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