Quarterback Michael Bonczak gets set to run a play during a Marysville High School football workout Monday afternoon. The Monarchs are using the next two weeks for 10 days of off-season coaching as permitted by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Preseason practice will begin on July 31.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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When the Fourth of July comes and goes, most folks realize that summer is rapidly flying away.
The Marysville High School football team is already gearing up for fall mode as the Monarchs will be using the next two weeks as a lead-in to the 2018 preseason.
“This week and next will be used as our 10 days of off-season coaching,” said second-year head coach Brent Johnson.
Those workouts are permitted during the off-season by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
The Monarchs began sessions on Monday and were scheduled to conduct one more today on their practice field.
The team will then practice at Ohio Northern University on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.
The Monarchs will compete in a seven-on-seven passing scrimmage against Urbana on Thursday evening.
Next week’s activities will include passing scrimmages on Thursday (July 19) at Dublin Scioto against the host Irish, Olentangy Orange and Hamilton Township.
“We’re putting in our offensive, defensive and special teams packages for players in grades 10-12,” said Johnson. “Our freshmen are doing the same thing during morning sessions.
“Day 1 this summer has been a lot easier than Day 1 last year,” said Johnson, reflecting on his first season as the Monarchs’ head coach. “The guys are picking up on the terminology much quicker this year.”
Johnson has 67 athletes in the upper three grades in camp. That’s up approximately five athletes from 2017.
“We’ve had great weight lifting sessions during the winter, spring and summer,” said Johnson as the Monarchs hope to improve upon last year’s 4-6 record. “We’ve also been running them pretty hard.
“We’ll back off a little bit on the conditioning once we get into preseason practices.
“The guys have really bought into our off-season conditioning,” he said. “They’ve been working hard, but they’ve also been having a lot of fun.”
After two weeks of camp, the Monarchs will take off the week of July 23 for the Union County Fair.
Preseason two-a-day practices will begin on July 31.