The Press
Football Preview Cardinal Stritch • Clay Eastwood • Genoa Gibsonburg • Lake Northwood • Oak Harbor Waite • Woodmore
Coaches Emans, Lee return By J. Patrick Eaken Press Sports Editor sports@presspublications.com Two coaches with roots in the community have returned to take over football programs at Clay and Lake. New Clay coach Mike Lee is the brother of Jeff Lee, who coached for eight seasons, resigning in 2006. Mike now assumes the same position that Jeff once held. But many local prep football aficionados remember Mike Lee for his role as Woodmore’s coach from 1992-98. But Lee has to fill the shoes of a coach who never really gave himself a chance on the field. It was originally announced last January that Mike Vicars, who led both Delta and Genoa to state playoffs and semifinal appearances, would be accepting the assistant principal and head coaching positions. In April, before anything was solidified, he changed his mind and declined the positions. At Clay, Vicars was supposed to replace Mike Donnelly, a Clay alumnus who stepped away from his role as gridiron coach but remains athletic director. Vicars since has been hired as a middle school principal in the Pike-Delta-York school district as well as Delta’s football coach. The good news for Clay fans — the return of quarterback Josh Pennington (2,025 passing yards, 53.9 percent passing efficiency) and 106 showed up to play football this year, including 20 seniors, 22 juniors, 27 sophomores, and 37 freshman. New Lake coach Mark Emans, a 1980 Eastwood graduate, knows Wood County and knows the school district he is now coaching at. It’s right up the road from the Luckey home he grew up in. “The Lake (coaching) job always intrigued me – their facilities, the school’s size,” Emans said. “Being an old Wood County guy, I remember Lake always had tough, physical kids when they played in the Northern Lakes League back in the day.” Emans, 51, was hired to lead the Flyers on April 20. He is replacing Bob Olwin, who resigned after leading the Flyers to a 4-6 record (3-4 in the Northern
Buckeye Conference) in his only season in 2012. They are not the only new coaches on the block — Brian Wical comes to Cardinal Stritch Catholic from his role as an assistant at Lima Central Catholic, a school that is feared by other Northwest Ohio athletic programs. Wical says that no one should expect him to turn Stritch into an LCC overnight, but he believes that success is on the horizon — maybe this year. “We are young and that will probably hurt us at times,” Wical said. “We probably have an advantage on our opponents because they have no expectations for us. Because of that, I think we may be able to sneak up on some teams.” Otherwise, it’s the same two teams, Genoa and Northwood, which are picked to defend their respective conference championships. Genoa is now led by second-year coach Tim Spiess, a long time assistant under Vicars, and Northwood is under the auspices of veteran Ken James, although the Rangers are expecting a challenge from Gibsonburg and other Toledo Area Athletic Conference teams. In the NBC, the Comets’ “bowl them over” offense is always a force, but their defense will have to deal with passing attacks from veteran quarterbacks Jared Rettig of Lake (2,838 passing yards) and Jake Matwiejczyk of Woodmore (2,112), who combined threw for nearly 5,000 yards and 55 touchdowns last year. Both are high efficiency, too, as Rettig completed 176 of 278 passes (63.3 percent) and Matwiejczyk completed 190 of 347 (54.8) and will be under the watchful of state media and college scouts. The same goes for Clay’s Pennington, who started his schooling in the Lake district before transferring. Waite coach Gardner Howard has witnessed about 60 players show up to play football as the Indians feel they have a chance to win the school’s first Toledo City League championship in about five decades. Meanwhile, Mike May is also looking for his first Sandusky Bay Conference title ever since showing up at Oak Harbor from St. Mary’s, Ohio, and May believes his Rockets have the athleticism to do it.
A supplement to The Press Newspapers August 19, 2013