Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Northwood football enters its 40th season under the direction of Ken James, who looks to help improve the team’s 6-4 record from last year as the Rangers move to the Sandusky Bay Conference’s River Division.
“We're just trying to become the best team we can be,” James said. “We're trying to create good teammates and get the guys to work well together. My concerns are always about trying to get good, live work and practice, and still at the same time keep guys healthy. That's always a thing that makes me worry.”
One thing James doesn’t have to worry about this year is replacing his quarterback, as junior Tyler Osley is back.
“He's strong, and he's put on probably five or 10 pounds of really good weight,” James said. “He's had a really good offseason, spring and summer, just in terms of physical development. He's getting the ball out of his hands a little quicker, too, which is what we want. He's gotten faster and stronger. He fits our style quarterback-wise as we like to run.”
The depth behind him with Ethan Leonard and Aaron Torres is good, as well.
“We feel like they can all manage our offense effectively, so we feel good about our depth there,” James said. “That's going to be important. It's easier to run your quarterback when you know you have multiple quarterbacks. It's a little safer when you have good guys who can step in if he gets hit.”
James said losing Julian Chappell to graduation is going to be tough.
“We didn’t lose a crazy amount of statistics offensively, but defensively we lost more statistics — guys with a fair amount of tackles,” James said. “We lost some dudes up front on our defensive front seven.
“Chappell was one of the biggest ones. He had a fair amount of yardage on offense playing fullback for us, and he was one of our leading tacklers on defense.”
Northwood’s leading rusher last year, Jason St. Claire, returns after averaging 13 yards per carry.
“He’s been a big part of the offense,” James said. “He had a hamstring injury from track, and we just got him back. We're trying to round him into shape now, so we're getting there with him. He's put on good weight. He’s bigger. He's stronger. And I feel like that's going to be crucial.”
Sophomore Kevin O’Donnell will get some time at fullback, too, along with a transfer from Patrick Henry — junior Skyler Rita.
The team’s backfield depth continues with the return of running back Jaymin Cannon, who started at corner, too.
A lot of the seven seniors will be replaced by committee, although Landan Kidd returns at linebacker, where he played alongside Chappell last year. Young guys like Leonard and O’Donnell also have some experience at linebacker.
“They’ve rotated and played a bunch, so that’s going to be done by committee,” James said.
Two of the team’s six seniors include Nick Reinhart, who started all year in the secondary last season, and Amadeo Munoz, who started along the defensive line.
“We have a small senior class, but we feel like we've got good ones, and ones who can help us be competitive,” James said.
James said he’s had quite a few positional battles on the defensive line. He said they’ll likely play quite a few guys there, where they feel they have some depth, and it should help them in the long haul.
“We’ve got a lot of guys just fighting for playing time there that are doing a good job,” he said. “We don’t have a starting lineup yet, but we’ve got quite a few guys who are putting themselves in the mix.
On the offensive line, Northwood has four starters back and a bunch of guys who also played JV or had good offseasons, James said.
“We feel like we're in a good position there just in terms of having some depth built up there and competition for playing time,” he said. “We feel like we've got seven or eight guys competing, at least seven, competing for playing time on the O-line, so that's a good thing.”
Those offensive linemen are also young — two are sophomores and another is a junior. The lone senior among the four starters back is Alex Ellis.
“We feel good about what we got depth-wise there,” James said. “I think that should be a strength for our team. We should be able to block well.”
Aside from the offensive line, Valyric Goings and John Sawyer return at wideout.
The secondary is a concern, though.
“We're a little thin in the secondary,” James said. “I feel pretty solid about our depth up front. We've got to develop some more guys on the edge and once we do that, I'll feel better about going into the season where we are.”
James, who carries a 228-170 career record over his 39 seasons, will guide Northwood this fall into its third league during his tenure. When he joined the Rangers, they had just joined the Suburban Lakes League. They later joined the TAAC.
“I don't think a lot of people wanted to touch the job because they were moving from the Lakeshore to the SLL. I think that's part of the reason I got the job,” James said. “I was 25 years old and wasn't from the area. I didn't know any better. It was a big jump up where we were one of the small schools in the league, so it wasn't a real attractive job.
“We struggled a little bit early, but eventually we got some guys to buy into it, got competitive, and then eventually we stayed about 15 years in the SLL before moving to the TAAC, where it was a better fit for us just for all sports, not just for football, but just getting schools more our size.”
