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YORKVILLE -- The 2023 edition of the Buckeye Local Panthers will look different than in years past in some ways, but will also feature a lot of familiar faces.
One of those is head coach Jim Hoover, who returns for a third season.
The Panthers look to bounce back after starting last season 2-3 and dropping its last five games to close at 2-8 and miss out on the Division IV postseason after ending the playoff drought at the school the previous fall.
The Panthers departed six seniors from that club in Isaac Chandler, Trey Hoover, Wyatt Kalman, Michael Kuzmicki, Dylan Palmer and Randy Wade.
Trey Hoover was a multi-time All-Ohian and led the team on both sides of the ball as he topped the club in rushing (15 TD and more than 1,100 yards) and tackles (129). He was the Herald-Star/Daily Times All-Area Player of the Year in 2021.
"We have to replace our leading tackler, rusher and leading scorer for the past three years," coach Hoover said. "That's going to be tough and it's not going to be one guy, it's going to have to be two or three guys stepping up to fill those holes."
Palmer had 38 tackles and two picks in the secondary, rushed for four touchdowns and hauled in 12 passes and had a TD catch on offense.
A lot of experience is coming back, however, despite those departures as the Panthers roster of 38 players consists of 17 returning lettermen.
Coach Jim Hoover on the upcoming season
A lot of youthful players saw the field in 2022 and coach Hoover and Co. hope that pays dividends for them this season.
"One big positive thing this year is we don't have any freshmen that are going to have to start, at least at the start of the season," coach Hoover said. "Last year we had to start a few on each side of the ball and that's not a good situation.
"This year, those guys are a year older. We played a lot of sophomores last year and this year they are juniors, we have a lot of juniors and we are going to be counting on that group with a small senior class."
Leading the group of returners will be a senior group of Noah Kourim, Carson Basich, Adam Beranek and Skyler Ebright.
The aforementioned junior class features a group of 16 kids.
One of those seniors, Ebright, is in a vital position to have that level of experience as he returns for his third full season as the Panthers' signal caller.
Ebright completed 50% of his passes last season and contributed seven touchdowns, five of which came with his feet.
"Sky is a captain this year and was last year as a junior, too," coach Hoover said. "He's somebody the kids look up to and respect as a leader."
The Panthers' style of being a run-first team will not change, with a committee of backs looking to step up with the younger Hoover's graduation.
They are Kourim, who averaged 5.8 yards per carry and hauled in five passes out of the backfield last season, Beranek, Kolton Rousch (9.7 ypc and a TD last season), Brody Keyoski, Wyatt Luyster and a host of ninth graders.
When Buckeye Local does go to the air, junior Alex McDiffit was Ebright's No. 1 target a season ago and is back after hauling in a team-leading 14 receptions last fall.
With Palmer, who led the team in receiving yards, gone to graduation, Basich, Hadyn Boyce, Brennin Takach, Maddix Richter, Andrew Jones, Gavin Edgell and a host of youngsters listed at receiver will look to step in and fill that void.
Basich, Boyce and Richter each had receptions last season.
Ayden Luyster, Shane Griffth and Landon Durbin are listed as the tight ends.
"What we do is not going to change," coach Hoover said. "We're still going to run the ball. We are looking to do a little more play action, we have some skilled kids that played last year and are grown up more this year, so we will look to throw the ball a little bit more, but we still want to run the football."
Leading the way for that running game up front is a group that has coach Hoover optimistic due to their size, with eight linemen listed as over 6-feet-tall.
"Up front, we're bigger this year than last year," coach Hoover said.
Chris Ebright (6-5, 305), Anthony Slater (6-6, 315), Austin Knight (6-4, 310) and David Edwards (6-3, 275) top the size chart. Along with them the group up front consists of Cameron Rusnak, Marek Hickman, Ryder Tibbs, Jeven Velez, Aiden Takach, Kaleb Stang, Grady Colabelli, Kai Hundley, Liam Bruder, Alex Alvarez, Keyoski and Anthony Beranek.
Everyone up front are underclassmen, meaning the entire line could return next season, too.
"We don't have any seniors up front, the starters will all be juniors and two of them are returning starters," coach Hoover said. "The line is not looking too bad, they've got to come around in order for us to have success."
On the defensive side of the ball, Rauch (33 tackles, five tackles for loss), Rusnak, Hickman, Tibbs, Takach, Colebelli, Hundley, Chris Ebright, Bruder, Slater, Knight, Alvarez, Beranek and Edwards are listed as making up the defensive front.
Behind them will be a group of linebackers made up of Kourim (five tackles for loss), Shane Griffith, Adam Beranek, Edgell, Keyoski Landon Durbin, Luyster, Stang and a host of youngsters.
In the secondary will be McDiffit (52 tackles and an INT last season), Boyce, Ebright (40 tackles, 2 INTs), Takach (INT), Basich, Richter and a host of youth.
"The secondary is going to be our strength this year," coach Hoover said. "A lot of those juniors are in the secondary and they are more mature and understand the defense better. They can pin their ears back and just play now."
Assisting Hoover in guiding the Panthers this season will be Jack Otto, Denny Taylor, Dylan Stickler, Byron Mayers, Mark Crowe and Butch Keyoski.
The goal, according to the head coach, is pretty simple.
"Win more than we lose," he said.
Their first opportunity to do so is a trip to Barnesville on Aug. 18, which starts what is again a challenging schedule.
"We have seven or eight teams on the schedule I expect to be playoff teams," coach Hoover said. "We open up with a heckuva well-coached, tough Barnesville team that's going to be a challenge for us."