High school football season can't get here soon enough for many and with that, the Ashland Times-Gazette will give you a little snippet of what each team in Ashland County has been up to on the practice field ahead of the 2024 season.
We visited a practice session for eight of the nine Ashland-area teams before the season starts on August 23, giving the readers details and info of what took place.
August 2, Friday
New London
The first practice session attended was at New London, who will return to play 11-man varsity football for the first time since 2020. It was Day 2 of practice for the Wildcats and since they were short on players, they got creative and a few coaches participated in a light offensive session. There was a coach lining up at as a wideout and head football coach Jon Harrison was there to add some much needed muscle on the offensive line.
During the practice, you could hear one player on defense yelling out "Watch the Tom Foolery." He and the defense stayed on high alert. Then New London ended the practice running through an up-tempo offense they called "NASCAR" to close it out. Get ready Wildcat fans... Football is back!
August 5, Monday
Mapleton
With first-year head coach Mitchell Young, from the start of practice there was an high impetus on tackling. "We have to learn how to tackle. Big, small or fast," he said in a team huddle. The Mounties went right to it. Tackling drills were aplenty.
One tackling drill consisted of two players being face-to-face, while the defensive player sprints, chops his feet, breaks down and then lightly tackles his teammate.
"Make sure you get a good solid wrap," Young yelled out.
Transition over to another. There were two separate lines where offensive and defensive linemen got in a low position and when the whistle blows, both players sprinted to a coach and slapped his hand.
"We want to be disciplined," Young says. "I don't like penalties."
Then there's the chute. If you don't know, a football chute is a training tool offensive and defensive linemen use to help them stay low and keep their balance while getting in a better attacking position. The Mounties used that, then the linemen practiced using active hands while ripping through the chest of their teammate in a stand-up drill.
Fundamental tackling could be at the center of Mapleton's success in 2024 and improving on their 5-6 record in 2023.
South Central
The Trojans had two sides of the field working in camp. On one side, one of the coaches seemed to be focusing on winning the line of scrimmage. The offensive line worked on holding their blocks, as they matched up against the defensive line, who were trying to get off their line quick. On the other side, you could see starting quarterback Aaron Hauler tossing passes to receivers running go-routes.
That "winning the line of scrimmage" gist carried over into the one quite unique pass-blocking drill one coach calls "five seconds of heck." O-lineman vs D-lineman. A football sits on top of a blocking dummy, and the defensive lineman has five seconds to knock the football off the dummy, as the offensive lineman tries to hold his block and prevent his guy from knocking over the dummy.
Offense won some. Defense won some. Good stuff.
Ashland
The last school visited for the day was Ashland High. The Arrows went 5-6 last season, with a fifth-place finish in the Ohio Cardinal Conference. With a good portion of quality players returning this season, the Arrows are poised to make a run at the OCC title. With the graduation of last year's leading rusher in running back Cayden Spotts, who the Arrows leaned on to carry the offense a good deal in 2023, they just might be looking to put the ball in the air more and lean more on highly-recruited quarterback Nathan Bernhard to control the offense.
At least, it looked that way in Monday's practice session. As the offense ran through plays, Bernhard and the other quarterbacks that got reps were throwing to five wide receiver sets routinely. A sign of things to come? Maybe.
August 7, Wednesday
Northwestern
After a rough 2023 season where Northwestern finished 1-9 with an inexperienced group, after a 9-3 campaign the following year, head coach Steven Carozza feels this year's team being a year older will be beneficial. "I feel like overall we have a lot more experience back, especially our quarterback Isaac Beun," said Carozza. "He's got another year under his belt. Our guard Will Hamey is our leader on the line."
Speaking of seniors Beun and Hamey, along with their offensive teammates, they had things moving quickly in practice. "Be quick, be quick," shouted Carozza, as his team got on the line of scrimmage in a hurry to snap the ball. Fast-tempo and short passes were at the forefront for the Huskies this afternoon.
Crestview
After winning the Firelands Conference title three straight years (2020-2022), that included going undefeated in league play in 2022 and 2023, Crestview dropped down to earth in 2023 with a 4-7 record and a third-place finish in the league. 2024 is expected to be a bounce back year for the Cougars, as they bring back a number of all-conference and all-district performers.
On Wednesday, the Cougars were taking part in some 7-on-7 action, with players receiving instructions throughout from head coach Steve Haverdill and Scott Durbin. After one play where a receiver caught the ball, a defensive back was credited for cutting off the receiver's outside angle as he neared towards the sideline but jumped on a linebacker for not being able to take away the middle of the field to make the tackle.
Details. Details. And more details for the Cougars.
Hillsdale
Special teams play just might be the most overlooked aspect of football. Don't tell that to Hillsdale. During an evening workout, the Falcons focused fully on just that. Hillsdale's starting kicker last season AJ Brown, who went 35-of-38 on extra points and was 4-for-4 on field goals was at the center of things early. They zeroed in on field goal kicking, as they shifted the field goal spot from center to right to left. Either way, Brown was nailing them through the post.
Add kickoff coverage and punt coverage work to the mix, and the Falcons, one of the top offensive teams in the Ashland/Wayne County area in 2023, put in a full evening of special teams activity.
August 12, Monday
Loudonville
Coming off a 3-7 season in 2023, Loudonville welcomed Ed Honabarger as the new head coach. Honabarger is known for his time at Danville, a Knox Morrow Athletic Conference opponent for Loudonville, where he had an successful tenure in his 16 seasons as the head coach (1999-2004, 2010-2019). He led the Blue Devils to four regional titles and made the playoffs 12 times during his time at Danville.
Honabarger will look to bring some of his winning ways to Loudonville. During a Monday afternoon practice session, Honabarger, along with a few other coaches, stayed on the defensive unit continuously. Instructions were given and expected to be carried out against the offense. Making sure defensive players knew their assignment, whether before or after a play. Pursuing the football with real purpose seemed to be the message going along. That end of the field could just be the Redbirds calling card this fall.
jsimpson@gannett.com
Twitter/X:@JamesSimpsonII
James Simpson II is a sports reporter with the Ashland Times-Gazette, and was recently at the Mansfield News Journal. He is a self-published author and has gotten the opportunity to interview sports figures like Bernard Hopkins, Norm Nixon, Vince Dooley, Jimmie Johnson, etc., for stories at different publications. He also produced a pretty cool feature on late NBA great Wilt Chamberlain.
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Football Camp Visits: A look into each Ashland County team ahead of 2024 season
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