Football Preview 2018

Key Seniors Will Lead Youthful University

By CODY TOMER MORGANTOWN—The 2017 season will go down in the history books for head coach John Kelley and the University football program. The Hawks completed a perfect regular season and were toward the top of the high school rankings all year, before falling in the second round of the postseason to finish with a final record of 11-1. Kelley is entering his 32nd season with the program but he will be without 21 seniors from last year’s squad. “We had a tremendous season last year,” Kelley said. “We were undefeated, ranked third in the state and had high hopes of ...

Gaydos, Caldwell Seek Return to Winning Ways

By MIKE MORRISON CALDWELL — After a combined total of seven wins over the past two seasons, the Caldwell Redskins have their sights set on playing winning football once again in 2018. Third-year coach Grant Gaydos will got to battle with a team reminiscent of the Redskins team that made the postseason three consecutive times from 2013-15. This year’s squad hopes to have an athletic quarterback, a strong running game and an experienced offensive line to go along with a stingy defense, the ingredients that led to the most successful class in Redskins history a few years ...

Ohio University Loaded for Long Haul in MAC

By RICK THORP DETROIT — Ohio University ended its 2017 season with a bang, crushing UAB, 41-6, in the Bahamas Bowl. Despite that, the Bobcats cleaned out their lockers with a bitter taste in their mouths. A 9-4 campaign was one that failed to yield a Mid-American Conference championship, nor an appearance in the MAC title game, something Ohio was picked by many to do in the preseason. “Some of the guys watched the MAC Championship game and we weren’t in it,” Ohio redshirt senior running back AJ Ouellette said during MAC Media Day at Ford Field. That sparked an active ...

Meyer’s Availability Clouds Season at Ohio State

By RICK THORP COLUMBUS — Ohio State will take the field a week from Saturday. And when it does, it will need to put the turmoil that’s surrounded the program during the last month aside and focus on the Week 1 opponent — Oregon State. No matter who’s steering the ship — Urban Meyer, Ryan Day, or someone else — more than 100,000 rabid fans are sure to be on hand inside Ohio Stadium to watch what they hope will be another banner year for the defending Big Ten champs. The promise of another successful campaign became somewhat clouded late last month when allegations of ...

Edison Graduate Shane O’Brien Takes Over at Alma Mater

By AARON PETCHAL RICHMOND — A new chapter for the Edison football team begins this season. In February, Shane O’Brien was named head coach of his alma mater, replacing Nate Moses who resigned after one season. O’Brien, a 2012 graduate, served as an assistant coach for the Wildcats for four seasons, including serving as the team’s offensive coordinator last year. Edison ended last season at 2-8. Its wins came against Oak Glen and Buckeye Local, a combined 2-18 mark. Edison lost seven seniors in Dustin Calhoun, Seth Cade, Kenny Cranston, Tim McCoy, Hunter West, Dylan ...

Barnesville Looking to Apply Lessons Learned

By SETH STASKEY BARNESVILLE — In many ways, the 2017 Barnesville season was a learning experience. Coach Blake Allen, who experienced his fair share of learning last season, is now looking for his team to take what it learned and apply it to the upcoming season. How quickly they’re able to do that may just go a long way in determining the amount of success the Shamrocks can enjoy as they bid to rebound from an uncharacteristic 3-7 campaign. “Our kids maintained a good attitude and got better each week last year,” Allen said. “Obviously, we were disappointed in the end ...