Newark, Licking Valley taking flight behind new quarterbacks this fall

NEWARK ― Newark's Bodie Smith and Drayson Peterson had been preparing for life without Steele Meister, and that moment has arrived.

The burly lefty with 1,883 yards and 23 touchdowns has graduated, but in Tuesday's seven-on-seven passing scrimmage against Licking Valley at White Field, it was evident that Smith, who takes over at QB as a junior, and Peterson, a senior wide receiver who enjoyed a stellar 2023, already have quite the rapport.

Peterson hauled in 57 passes with 12 touchdowns, averaging over 17 yards a catch last season. He caught four TDs Tuesday against a Valley team also breaking in a new quarterback in sophomore Brody Rodgers.

"I love it," Peterson said. "I've worked with (Smith) since my sophomore year and his freshman year. Whenever Steele wasn't here, we were still throwing, and we've done a lot of work off the field, too."

Smith said their days together go back to when they were roughly eight years old.

"The relationship has been good since we were kids," he said. "We were in the backyard, throwing the ball around and going up against the pitching machine."

While Peterson and Smith were hooking up on two long post routes for scores Tuesday, as well as a couple of shorter TDs, Rodgers was spreading it around. As he takes over for older brother Hayden, who passed for 1,778 yards and 20 touchdowns, multi-talented senior Kam Walker, who was slowed by injury the last couple of seasons, is his only receiver with much experience, but you wouldn't have known it at White Field.

The younger Rodgers twice found Walker for scores, but also hit Owen Hottinger for two touchdowns, including a brilliant leaping catch in the end zone, and senior Auggie Conley latched on to one as well. Evan Lohr and Braiden Barrows were also involved in the attack.

"He (Rodgers) has raw talent," said Walker. "He's a special player now, and he's going to be even more special as a senior when it's time to be done. He's mature. For a 15-, 16-year-old, he scans the field like he's 18 and is able to find open guys."

It helps having Hayden break things down.

"I've played quarterback since seventh grade, and I've been taught things, especially by my brother," Brody said. "We sit down at home, watch film, and we talk about coverages, reading defenses and what routes to look for."

Smith is working with a seasoned group of receivers at Newark that also includes big targets in Preston Lunsford, Austin Rose and K.K. Winbush, who made a couple of tough catches along the sidelines, but others may also be ready to emerge. Bentley Johnson turned a pass along the sidelines by Xander Martin into a long touchdown, and Daniel Cutliff snagged a short one from Smith for a score.

"I'm going to look for Drayson and get him the ball, but we have a lot of other receivers, too," Smith said.

Peterson is expecting extra attention from opponents this fall, which includes Logan, Teays Valley and Canal Winchester in the new Ohio Capital Conference-Buckeye Division, as well as Licking Heights in the season opener.

"But we are ready for it," he said. "We lost a lot of close games last year, and we need to win them this year."

Tuesday was Newark's third passing scrimmage. The Wildcats also host expected Licking County League powerhouse Granville at 6 p.m. Thursday.

"I'm getting better with each one and want to build some momentum and carry it into the season," Smith said.

Both teams had their moments defensively Tuesday. Alex Irvin, Johnson and Kai Comedy broke up potential TD passes for the Wildcats, while Walker and Brandt Lichtenauer had interceptions for the Panthers and Quinn Hornfeck made some new nice plays in the secondary.

"It was a competitive scrimmage. We stepped up our defense towards the end, but we need to come out better at the beginning," Walker said. "We had a lot of leadership from last year's (senior) class, and it's our turn to carry it over."

Rodgers has big shoes to fill but is confident he can do the job.

"We lost just one off the offensive line, and we should be able to replace them, so that should help," he said. "We have a lot of good receivers. We watched film from the Academy scrimmage, saw what we needed to do and got better today."

dweidig@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark, Licking Valley taking flight behind new quarterbacks this fall