Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Clay football program is coming off one of the most successful seasons in school history, but the Eagles graduated 30 seniors and head coach Derek Pennington takes over in what he almost considers a blank slate with so many changes.
“We lost a lot,” Pennington said. “I don't know if the dudes that left were good, or whatever. I only have the films. This first year's going to be a little bit of a mystery in terms of trying to gauge our kids versus our opponents. We also moved into the (NLL) Buckeye Division, which puts us up against bigger-enrollment teams than what they played last year.
“They had a good year, and we're trying to build off of some of that, but they had a really good quarterback obviously that left. So that's not easy.”
Pennington, who had a lot of success in the state of Michigan as a high school coach at Caledonia and Zeeland East, takes over a program that went 8-3 last year and captured the NLL Cardinal Division title — the first league title for Clay since 1982.
Highlighting the departed graduations is quarterback Mason Heintschel, who now plays for the University of Pittsburgh. The Eagles also lost their top five rushers in terms of yards — a group that accounted for all 17 of their touchdowns on the ground.
Leading receiver Troy Hazuda, now at the University of Akron, is also gone, along with seven of the top eight in receiving yards.
Pennington isn’t fretting.
“I don't really have to worry about it because I didn't coach those dudes,” he said. “I don't know how you replace them because I didn't coach them. They're good players, but I can only focus on the guys that are here.”
One reason for his lack of worry is the addition of transfer quarterback Landon Echelberry, who took over for injured University of Georgia-bound Ryan Montgomery at Findlay High School two weeks into the season last year.
The then-rookie passed for 1,511 yards and 12 touchdowns, and he scored eight more times on the ground. Already holding Division I interest, he is also a high-level baseball player.
“We’re obviously excited to have him,” Pennington said. “He could be a real dude, for sure.”
Echelberry is immediately eligible as his family moved into the district. He does have fond memories of Clay as his second varsity start last year came against the Eagles, where he threw for a Findlay single-game record 562 yards with five touchdowns, including a 96-yard strike.
“We’re excited,” Pennington said. “I don't want to make a lot of bold predictions (for the season). I think we're going to try to get better every day. We lost a big senior class, I do know that. We lost a really good quarterback.
“We're a whole new team, but we've had three or four transfers and kids that have come back that I think can help significantly. Obviously having Landon move to Oregon is huge for football and baseball here. We're just excited about our kids showing up every day and getting better.”
Echelberry is part of a talented sophomore class for Clay.
“We have a feeling about some kids based over the summer, but we're going to be young,” Pennington said. “I could see us starting four or five sophomores. Our freshman team was really solid last year.”
That class also includes Bryce Besgrove, Jimmy Derr and JJ Medina.
“We have two or three linemen who are sophomores,” Pennington said. “Having (that many sophomores potentially starting) is great for the future of the program, but it's a little scary playing who we play with a lot of 10th graders.
“I've always had the mentality you play the best kid no matter what grade they're in, and if we started the kids who we think could start for us on offense, we could have maybe only two or three seniors.”
That youth won’t be an excuse for not winning, though.
“We're going to be young, but that's not an excuse to not be good,” Pennington said. “We're going to try to put out a great product that Oregon can be proud of. I like our kids — the kids have bought in. I like their work ethic. They want to be good football players.”
In terms of key returners, reigning All-NLL linebacker Collin Greenawalt is back after leading the Eagles with 80 tackles last year.
“He looks the part,” Pennington said. “You can tell he moves around faster than a lot of our dudes in terms of knowing the game. He’s physical.”
Brodi Ostrander, who caught 40 passes for 453 yards and three touchdowns as the team’s second leading receiver last year, is back. He finished just behind Troy Hazuda, who is now playing for Akron, as the team’s top receiver.
“We're kind of playing him as our H-back,” Pennington said. “We have some evidence that he can play.”
Another key player back is Zach Rahm, who has drawn interest from Mid-American Conference schools as an offensive lineman.
“He was probably their best O-lineman (last year),” Pennington said. “He’s 6-5, 315 — so he looks like a pretty solid offensive lineman.”
Rahm is the team’s lone senior on the offensive line, but they’ve also added another transfer in former Central Catholic standout, Tyson Werner, who played quite a bit as a sophomore last year. He’s 6-3 and 310 pounds.
Joining Werner in the junior class is Cash Mahr, a 6-4, 285-pound offensive lineman.
Pennington said his two guard-tackle combinations on the offensive line will average over 300 pounds.
“I don't know about our center,” he said. “I'm messing around with two or three different kids there, but we’re going to be big. We just have to make sure we're also physical.”
One of the key overhauls Pennington has made this offseason is a revamped strength and conditioning program. He brought in famed strength coach Mike Srock, who also helped him at Caledonia and Zeeland East.
“He's actually coming back at the start of the school year to help us program our in-school stuff,” Pennington said. “Mike's a legend. If you Google his name, he's like Mr. High School Speed and Strength. He’s been a friend of mine for 10 years. We’ve implemented a lot of his stuff.”
Kyle Row, a 2014 Clay graduate who went on to play at Miami University, is currently coaching the team’s defensive backs, and he’s also invested in running the electronic timing gates, catapult and GPS systems for the Eagles. Srock is serving as a mentor for him.
“We’re getting a lot of great data on kids, seeing their growth,” Pennington said. “I feel really good about our summer speed and strength program.”
Clay opens the Pennington era at Wapakoneta on Aug. 22. They’ll make their home debut against Southview the following week.
“We have a very challenging opener,” Pennington said. “It's a long road trip, and Wapakoneta won 12 games last year. Obviously they got a pretty good program, and I think they returned their quarterback, who I think is the coach's son. They also returned a wideout who has got a bunch of offers. So it’s a challenging opener.”
Should Echelberry start, he will match up against his former team Sept. 26 on the road.
“We're just trying to build the program and upgrade things that I feel need upgraded, which is stuff like the speed and strength program,” Pennington said. “We're doing a lot of things just to try to get investment into the program, looking at how we practice and the things we use to get prepared for games, and just leaning on things that I've been successful doing at other stops along the way.
“I only know one way to coach, so I'm going to do what I've done for 20-plus years. I think it has a pretty good track record of success. We'll see.”
