Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Gibsonburg football team is loaded with experience under first-year head coach Shane Dyer, who takes over for Joe Wyant.
“Hopefully we can put on a good show out there,” Dyer said. “That's the whole goal — to get fans at your games and put forth a good effort as a team. Hopefully they can see what kind of great kids we have here.”
Dyer, who has coached at different levels in Napoleon, Patrick Henry and Mohawk, also coaches track and physical education at Gibsonburg. He’ll take over a team that finished 9-3 last season and advanced to the Division VII regional quarterfinal round.
“I've always wanted to do this,” he said. “My kids are grown now and successful, so I thought it was a perfect time for me because I know it's a lot of work and energy and effort to put into the program, and Coach Wyant left me with a good group of kids. I'm excited for this year.”
A stabilizing force for the Golden Bears this year should be its line play, where they return all four starting defensive linemen and four of the five starting linemen on offense.
And the fifth offensive lineman started several games after splitting time last year, so it could be argued Gibsonburg has all nine starters back on the two lines combined.
Several of them play on both sides of the line, including juniors Hunter Wasserman and Haydin Brown, and seniors Jett Linton and Dasch Sutter. Senior Luke Foster will be moving to the defensive line from the linebacker spot for added depth, and junior Zach Fruth is the other offensive lineman.
“I've coached them in junior high, so I kind of know the kids, which helps,” Dyer said. “I know they're a good group of kids. It's not just about them. They help the other kids get better on the team so if they're holding the bag and the second or thirds are in, they're there telling them, ‘Hey, it's this play, you need to come here, not there.’
“They're helping each other, not just giving each other some grief and doing that. They're really good kids. They work hard. We've got a good group of upperclassmen that really work hard.”
On offense, junior Grant Smith returns at fullback, as does senior wing backs Aiden Morant and Aiden Nims.
As far as quarterback, junior Reece Walby will be shifting from running back to take over that starting spot. He replaces Camden Mooney.
“We're not going to run a true wing T, we'll have a hybrid wing T type-of-an-offense,” Dyer said. “There'll be a few little changes, but it's a similar offense. Defensively we’ve had a little bit of a change. It's still 4-2-5 but it's just a little different how we do some coverages and other things from blitzers. The kids are picking it up fairly quick.”
Senior Aiden Senters also returns after taking a few years off. He’ll play some combination of defensive back, running back and receiver.
“He’s got good speed,” Dyer said. “It’s good to have him back.”
A couple other graduations that Gibsonburg will have to make up for is Grant Dawson, who was a starter at running back and corner, and Antonio Salazar, who was a running back and linebacker.
One of Dyer’s focuses going forward will be getting more young kids out for the football team. The JV squad has only played five games the past two years by his estimation.
At the time this preview went to print, Gibsonburg had 30 players on its roster.
“We’re trying to get more kids out so we can hopefully maintain some of the success we have this year — at least that's our goal,” he said. “We're trying to make sure we have enough for a JV team.”
This year, though, Gibsonburg is focused on winning as they return four three-year letterwinners as seniors and six two-year lettermen as juniors.
“We expect to have a pretty good season,” Dyer said. “Our goal is just like almost any other team — we want to win the league and become the best team we can be. We need to get better every day. Hopefully our experience pays off and we stay healthy”
