After just two years, the Olentangy Orange High School football team has set the bar high for future teams.
The Pioneers finished 9-3 overall after losing to Marion-Franklin 36-25 last Friday in a Division II regional semifinal at Dublin Scioto.
Orange had many program-firsts this season, including:
˘First winning season after going 3-7 last year;
˘First league title after going 6-1 in the OCC-Capital Division to share the championship with New Albany;
˘First postseason win after beating Dresden Tri-Valley 28-21 on Nov. 6, in what was the school's first home playoff game.
"These kids, especially the seniors, already have set a standard for the underclassmen to look up to," said Brian Cross, who was the district Coach of the Year in Division II. "They started some traditions that will go on for a long time."
The Pioneers won their first four games to quickly set the standard for wins in a season. They beat Olentangy 27-6 on Aug. 29, Mifflin 35-6 on Sept. 4, Bellville Clear Fork 24-21 on Sept. 11 and Mount Vernon 35-0. They then lost to Big Walnut 31-15 on Sept. 25, before rebounding to beat New Albany 37-22 on Oct. 2 and Watkins Memorial 17-10 on Oct. 9.
Orange lost to non-league Upper Arlington 21-16 on Oct. 16 and concluded the regular season with wins over Hilliard Bradley (42-0 on Oct.23) and Delaware (17-14 on Oct. 30).
The 23-player senior class was led by three first-team all-district performers in offensive lineman Kyle Bogner, kicker Lucas Rice (37 extra-point kicks, 11 field goals for 70 points) and defensive lineman Jason Tomlinson, as well as second-team all-district linebacker Alexander Chekanoff. Quarterback Corey Joe and wide receiver Ross Smith were special mention all-district.
Other seniors included Eric Barnes (OL/DL), Alec Bartz (OL/DL), Alec Dickman (OL/DL), Samuel Dingess (OL/DL), Andrew Ebersbach (TE/DL), Eric Fulton (DB), Jacob Harris (LB), Brock Heller (RB/DB), Kyle Henderson (LB), Tyler Hughes (OL/DL), Kievon Jackson (WR/DB), Andrew Laws (OL/DL), Nathan Metzger (WR/DB), Terrance Rode (WR/DB), Chase Swisher (WR/DB), Chaz Weisenstein (DL) and Joshua Winn (OL/DL).
"This (senior class was) just a tremendous group of hard-working young men," Cross said. "They were very competitive and really wanted to excel. They were just a good group of kids."
The senior-laden Orange defense had two shutouts and held opponents less than seven points four times.
"Our front line and our linebackers were all seniors," defensive coordinator Ted Papas said. "We really didn't have any all-stars, but we played as a team and everyone just did their job. They were as good as any defense that I have been around in my 20 years of coaching."
Expected to return are the Pioneers' three leading rushers. Sophomore Brandon Schoen, who was honorable mention all-district, was the team's leading rusher with 620 yards on 78 carries with eight touchdowns and did not start until the seventh game. Junior Daniel Watson had 373 yards rushing on 84 carries with two scores and junior Blake Joe had 323 yards on 17 carries with five touchdowns. Corey Joe had 248 yards rushing on 71 carries with two touchdowns.
"We have some talent coming back, but our entire offensive line and most of their backups were all seniors," Cross said. "Then, we had two quality receivers like Chase Swisher (25 receptions for 471 yards, 7 touchdowns) and Ross Smith (32 catches for 579 yards, 4 touchdowns) who will be gone. They both had good speed and good hands."
The Pioneers used two quarterbacks, but not by choice. Corey Joe suffered a knee injury against New Albany and missed the final four regular-season games. Junior Jared Leet filled in admirably by completing 38 of 77 passes for 559 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions. Corey Joe was 40 of 75 through the air for 677 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions.
"Corey Joe will be hard to replace at quarterback, but it was both fortunate and unfortunate that he got hurt," Cross said. "When Corey went down, we put in Jared and he got some time that he normally wouldn't have seen during the season. Jared came in and proved he could be a good quarterback in the future for us."
Leet was also the punter, with 33 attempts for 1,142 yards, an average of 34.6.
Also expected back are the fullback rotation of junior Andrew Howdyshell and sophomore Jonathan Peddicord.
Key defensive players expected to return are junior Marquise Boykin (LB), junior Joshua Enneking (LB), junior Pablo Kirigiti (DB), Howdyshell (LB), Blake Joe (DB) and Schoen (DB).
"We'll have some good skill guys back in Blake Joe, Schoen and Pablo ... and Zack Warner played lot at safety for us," Papas said. "The big thing will be filling the holes up front."