Northwood alum Nate James leads Start Spartans to CL title

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

In just two seasons, Nate James has done some great things at Start High School.
The Northwood alum just saw his Spartans win the City League title last week after defeating Lima Senior, 48-20, at home, avenging a loss to Senior in the finale last year that gave them the league title in 2023.
It was a fitting end to a regular season that saw Start go 7-3 and 6-0 in the conference.
Now, it’s on to the playoffs for Start.
The win over Senior saw a number of players like Jonah Tall, J’siah Jefferson, Dru Archer, Tai’Rese Highsmith, Marvon Thompson, Preston Edwards, J’Khai Jefferson, Neair Moore and Jeremie Jones play well for the duration of the contest, if not in valuable spurts where Start showed it was the best team in the conference.
Start punched Lima Senior in the mouth in the first quarter, scoring three touchdowns and two-point conversions to take a 24-0 lead. Senior, which had a high-powered offense that averaged nearly 50 points per game, was held in check by the Start defense.
James was particularly appreciative of the efforts of Moore and Jones.
“Those guys all played really well. Two guys that really played well on Friday that were a little beneath the surface were Neair Moore and Jeremie Jones,” said James. “We had to be able to defend their screens, and those guys, they were responsible for communicating everything and getting everyone on the same page. Just playing out of their minds on the screen game, we did a much better job this year than they did the year before. Defensively, we want the offense to get deeper into their bag as early as possible. Those two are pretty quiet kids. They’re both seniors, great leaders by example with their preparation and consistency.
“Our kids took care of the ball and were able to force some turnovers and get them off schedule, and it allowed us to call a pretty aggressive game on both sides of the ball. That put us in a position to go make some big plays. The kids played out of their minds. They knew what was on the line. They came out with great energy, and some things went right for us early on. The biggest thing we tried to emphasize, after things started to break our way in the first quarter, I told the guys not to get too high or too low. We knew Lima Senior would make a run. Our guys did a good job of keeping their composure.”
Start outscored its six league foes by a combined 258-74, putting up at least 34 games in the games.
Start lost to Norwalk, 26-7, in the opener and its two other defeats came at the hands of two good teams – Clyde (49-25) and Anthony Wayne (48-12).
James, who learned from his father, Ken, a legendary coach in his 38th year coaching at Northwood, talked about the possibilities.
“I think it’s huge (the potential) with the athletes we have. Long term, it’s just trying to continue to build the infrastructure of the program,” he said. “Our kids are trying to show and improve that we’re not just trying to limp along and go 5-5 every year. We’re trying to have a serious program (where) winning league championships is a huge goal. Part of the fun and the journey, finding out what that is and how far we can take it.
“I’m grateful for our kids and how they played, and dating back to the winter, spring and summer. They showed they’re for real. And we’ve got to go right back to work,” he said.