Fairbanks quarterback Jacob Nicol (5) watches while running back Mason Cushman (6) picks up yardage against Fort Frye. The Panthers earned their first state playoff berth in more than a decade this fall.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
––––
We’ve basically had a week to sit back and reflect on the overall season for Union County-area high school football squads.
The first thing that anyone will notice is that if you take in what all five teams did, it was one of the more successful campaigns in recent memory.
Granted, we’ve had years in which we’ve gotten more teams into the state playoffs.
Fairbanks was the lone squad that qualified for the post-season. However, we actually had all five teams in line for a possible playoff berth at one time or another during the regular season.
Going into the final week of regular games, both North Union and Jonathan Alder were also on the cusp of a playoff berth.
The Pioneers’ hopes ended with a 17-14 loss to Springfield Shawnee.
JA went into that game with a No. 9 ranking in Region 16 of Division IV. As such, it was just one spot away from playing in Week 11.
The setback, which snapped Alder’s streak of five victories in six weeks, squashed its hopes of a fourth consecutive post-season berth.
North Union won its regular season finale, but still didn’t qualify for the playoffs.
The Wildcats went into their last game in eighth place in Region 18 of D-V.
Even with a 38-6 win over River Valley, NU was leap-frogged by Millbury Lake for the last post-season position.
The Flyers jumped past NU after a win over 6-4 Eastwood.
Both Marysville and Triad were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs during the last couple of weeks.
The Monarchs and Cardinals at one time or another, however, were in the running for the post-season as the campaign ran its course.
The 2018 season also marked the first time that I can remember when all five of our teams went .500 or better at the same time.
The Panthers led the way with a 7-4 mark (including their playoff loss a week ago to Fort Frye).
North Union was 7-3, Jonathan Alder finished at 6-4 and Marysville and Triad were both 5-5.
There were a handful of story lines during the season.
Fairbanks earned its first state playoff berth since 2007 and shared the co-championship of the Ohio Heritage Conference North Division with West Jefferson.
Along the way, the Panthers claimed a huge signature victory over Mechanicsburg. It was the first time in 15 years that Fairbanks had defeated the always-tough Indians on the gridiron.
Another big story involved the Triad Cardinals.
After painfully limping through consecutive 1-9 finishes, Triad won five of its first six games under third-year head coach Joe Cardinal.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals faced their toughest part of the schedule during the final four weeks. They went up against West Liberty, Mechanicsburg, Fairbanks and West Jefferson.
Mechanicsburg, FHS and West Jefferson were all post-season qualifiers.
Triad trailed by a wide margin against Fairbanks on a windy, rainy night. However, the Cardinals battled fiercely before finally falling, 48-33.
JA began the season with a big loss to Marysville, but went on a four-game winning streak from mid-September until early October.
That streak helped produced coach Brett Glass’ fifth straight winning season.
It also saw the curtain rise on a new starting quarterback as sophomore JT Keith took over from the graduated Preston Eisnaugle.
Although Keith won’t be able to reproduce Eisnaugle’s feat of three consecutive playoff berths, I don’t think Alder’s absence from the post-season is going to last very long.
Marysville produced its best record since 2013’s 7-4 mark that included a D-I playoff berth.
The recently-completed campaign, however, may leave the bad taste of “what might have been” in some folks’ mouths.
MHS dropped overtime contests to Delaware Hayes and Dublin Coffman and was in the game against Olentangy Liberty until late.
An Upper Arlington squad that was ripe for the picking also beat Marysville by drastically shutting down the Monarchs’ offense.
A couple of victories against any of those four teams would probably have awarded MHS with a post-season berth.
The inability to finish games, however, denied the Monarchs a shot at Week 11.
While it’s difficult to predict what lies ahead for any given team, we can always take a fun look into a crystal ball.
Fairbanks has some very good players coming back as coach Patrick Cotter’s program pushes ahead.
However, there will be some serious talent absent next year, including seniors Jacob Nicol (quarterback), Tyler Beem (receiver-defensive end) and linebacker Charlie Scheiderer.
Cotter has some holes to plug and it will be interesting to see how this year’s success plays out toward keeping the Panthers on the right path.
Triad loses 1,400-plus yard running back Dylan Rice, but has quarterback Jordan Simonelli back in the fold.
It will help if the signal-caller can stay healthy all season… something he wasn’t able to do this past season.
My question is… has the Ohio Heritage Conference become too big for the Cardinals with the additions of teams like Fairbanks and West Jefferson?
Triad may – and I’m just saying may – want to explore at some point other possibilities (perhaps the Northwest Central Conference) that could be a better fit.
A year’s experience for Keith may be just what JA needs to reclaim its accustomed spot in the post-season.
The Pioneers have several skill position players returning who could once again make noise in Division IV.
North Union will lose quarterback-punter Anthony Padovano, among others, to graduation.
The Wildcats’ run-oriented offense, though, will be in good hands for the next couple of years as sophomore Trevor Moran rushed for 1,400-plus yards this year.
Marysville also has some key positions to fill next year after graduation, namely at linebacker (Mike Powers), quarterback (Walker Heard) and on the O-line (Tyler Connolly).
The Monarchs had some decent victories this season, but must still find a way to earn a signature win against the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division’s “Big Three” of Coffman, UA and Hilliard Davidson.
Marysville has one more year in the division before realignment takes hold in 2020. After that, Coffman, Upper Arlington and Davidson will no longer be MHS’ divisional rivals.
It would be nice to beat one of them in 2019.