Newark Catholic is moving up to Division VI while Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans, Lancaster Fisher Catholic, Portsmouth Notre Dame and New Philadelphia Tuscarawas Central Catholic remain in Division VII, the division for schools with Ohio’s smallest enrollments, for this year’s high school football season.
Newark Catholic was moved to Division VI for the first time since 2018 by the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s competitive balance rules. Former Green Wave player Josh Hendershot replaces Ryan Aiello as coach as Newark Catholic attempts to extend its state record for playoff appearances to 40 since the playoffs began in 1972.
Former Florida State and NFL player James “Buster” Davis takes over for Bob Ashley at the Notre Dame helm, while Chris Zemba at Rosecrans, Luke Thimmes at Fisher and Casey Cummings at Tuscarawas Central return for another year.
Here is a look at how the coming season shapes up for the diocese’s five small high schools:
NEWARK CATHOLIC
“When I heard coach Aiello was leaving (to spend more time with his family), I was really interested in applying for the job,” said coach Hendershot, who played college football at Toledo, returned to the Green Wave as an assistant coach, then was a graduate assistant at Toledo in 2017 and 2018 and the University of Michigan under Jim Harbaugh in 2019. He spent the past three seasons at the University of Dayton, serving as offensive coordinator in 2022.
“I was at a crossroads of my career at the end of last season, trying to decide whether I should stay in college or take a high school job,” he said. “The opening here made the decision easy because Newark Catholic is the one high school where I knew I’d take a job if it were offered.”
Aiello finished with a 44-19 record in five years at Newark Catholic, with seven of those losses coming in his first year. The nine-time state champions and 16-time state finalists finished in the Division VII final four in each of his last three seasons at Newark Catholic, losing to Warren John F. Kennedy last year and Maria Stein Marion Local in 2021 in the state championship game and JFK in the 2020 state semifinals.
“Expectations are high here, and I love that burden because I know it well, having played here from 2006 to 2009 and being on a state championship team in 2007,” Hendershot said. “It’s always been a school with good, tough, hard-working players who readily buy into the team mentality. When you set the bar high, it results in some great life lessons.
“Working in some outstanding college programs these last few years gave me a chance to learn some things about structuring a program and improving player conditioning, plus some new formations and variations on what we already do. I’m anxious to bring those things I learned to the school where I grew up.”
Returning at quarterback for the Green Wave is junior Miller Hutchison, who as a sophomore was selected as a third-team all-Ohio player and completed 74 of 115 pass attempts for 1,236 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season.
Newark Catholic’s other all-Ohioans for 2022 were graduated seniors Mason Hackett (118 carries, 1,090 yards, 20 TDs), first-team running back, and second-team members Grant Moore (25 catches, 535 yards, nine TDs), wide receiver/tight end, and Kyle Wright, offensive line.
Besides Hutchison, other key players among this season’s 23 returning lettermen include seniors Nate Willis, Tristan Musgrave, Matt Spearman, Brady Yehle, Drew McKenzie, Kelly Wendt and Owen Helms and juniors Mike Hess, Joseph Couzins, Theo Talbott and Cooper Fink.
PORTSMOUTH NOTRE DAME
The Titans will have a new face on the sidelines as coach Davis takes over from coach Ashley, who coached Notre Dame to an 82-89 record over two stints totaling 18 seasons. The team finished with a 6-6 record last year that included a playoff victory over Franklin Furnace Green and a loss to Newark Catholic. Davis was chosen as the team’s new coach after a national search by Notre Dame principal J.D. McKenzie
“I’m eager to be involved with Ohio football because of the state’s reputation,” Davis said. “It’s my first time coaching in the state, but I’m not unfamiliar with it because Ohio State recruited me and I worked in Florida as an assistant for John Maronto, who was head coach at Massillon from 1985 to 1987.”
Maronto told Davis about the opening at Notre Dame.
“We had several applicants for the coaching job, interviewed four or five, and Buster stood out because of his personality and his record as a player, and we share the same moral compass,” McKenzie said.
“Our first interview was on Zoom, and though he seemed like a great candidate, I didn’t think he would be serious about the job. But then he mentioned his Ohio links, came here for a second interview, and (athletic director) Bob Boldman and I were blown away.”
Davis has been getting to know his new team for the past two months. “I’m especially excited about a couple of seniors – Cody Metzler at tight end and Jordan Davis at linebacker. Cody’s a good kid with good hands and will be a mismatch for a lot of safeties. Jordan’s strong, and the way he plays, it’s obvious he has a lot of experience.
“Another talented senior is Jake Edwards at center, who’s gotten stronger by dropping some weight.”
Sophomore Ethan Kingrey will be the quarterback. “He’s phenomenal for someone that age and goes through his reads like someone much older,” Davis said. Offensive players who can be receivers or running backs are sophomores Bryce McGraw and Luke Cassidy and junior Myles Phillips. Junior defensive end Brodie Coleman also was cited by Davis as a key player.
Davis, a 5-foot-9, 250-pound linebacker in his playing days, was described as “the face of the Seminoles’ defense from 2004 to 2006” by a Florida State fan website. He was chosen as a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association in 2006 and went on to an NFL career with Arizona, Detroit, Indianapolis and Houston.
He has been a head coach at two high schools in Florida and one in Georgia and a college assistant at Glenville (W.Va.) State, Willamette and Southern Oregon. Last year, he was defensive coordinator for Strong Rock Christian School in suburban Atlanta.
“Portsmouth’s a smaller town, and the vibe here is a little different than in Atlanta and Florida, but the football is just as intense,” he said. “We’ll be up for the challenge.”
LANCASTER FISHER CATHOLIC
Coach Thimmes said he knew the 2022 season would be a long one for the Irish when three of the team’s four linebackers were declared out for the year before the first game was played. Things got no better from there, with Fisher finishing winless for the year.
“I’ve never had a situation like that in 20 years of coaching here,” mostly as an assistant, said Thimmes, in his third year as head coach. “The bright spot in all this is that we have 19 lettermen coming back on a roster of 25 players. All that experience makes us bound to improve.”
Despite the team’s record, wide receiver Hyde O’Rielley was impressive enough to make the Ohio Prep Sports Writers Association’s Division VII All-Ohio first team in 2022 as a sophomore.
“It’s going to be great having him back for two more years,” Thimmes said. “He’s got good size at 6-foot-3 and great hands that give him a big catching radius. He’s very good at running routes and spent most of the summer trying to perfect that aspect of his game. He also is willing to play anywhere on defense, so we had him at safety and linebacker last year. He has the talent to make an NCAA Division I team.
“We’re also hoping for a big year from Simon Messerly, a wide receiver on offense who also started at cornerback on defense as a freshman and was hurt for most of the last two seasons. He’s switched to linebacker this year, and we’re really anticipating that he will shine.”
Fisher had another All-Ohioan in 2022 – JJ Viau, who made the second all-state unit as a kicker. He’s now at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Thimmes said that, as far as he knows, Viau didn’t go out for football there.
Junior Grant Keefer is at quarterback. “He and Hyde were a strong passer-receiver team last year, and we’re looking forward to what they can do for the next two years,” the coach said.
Thimmes said last year’s difficulties didn’t discourage him. “I graduated from Fisher in 1997, went to Muskingum for college, then came back here as an assistant coach,” he said. “Records mean little. It’s the kids without a doubt that keep me coming back. I bleed green and white.”
ZANESVILLE BISHOP ROSECRANS
“I’m really ready for this year,” coach Zemba said. “We have a roster of 36 players, the most I’ve ever had and the most for the school in 10 or 11 years.”
It’s a far cry from 2019, when the Bishops had to play eight-player football because they had only 13 players. Zemba took over as coach in 2020, and the number of players has increased each season – from 17 to 23 to 31 to 36.
“Brendan Bernath is returning at quarterback for the fourth straight year, and he’s certainly earned the position,” Zemba said. “He put in the time at QB in his freshman season when no one else wanted the position, and he’s grown as a leader ever since. His brother Nick is a sophomore running back.”
A trio of Burkhart brothers are returning – seniors Mike at tight end and Maddux on the offensive and defensive lines and sophomore Max, also a two-way lineman.
“I’ve coached Mike and Maddux since first grade, and here they are as seniors,” Zemba said. “It won’t feel right without them next year.”
The Bees – senior captain Gavin and sophomore Gage – provide another set of brothers. “Gavin Bee at outside linebacker is a tremendous leader on and off the field,” Zemba said.
Other seniors on the team are Xander Daniels, Eden Lynch, Mike Dady and Evan Backus. “It’s the first time playing for Backus, but he’s a very intelligent and positive player who’s an enjoyable kid to coach,” Zemba said.
In each of the past two years, the expanded playoffs have enabled Rosecrans to reach the postseason, where the Bishops lost to Newark Catholic last year and to Sugar Grove Berne Union in 2021. “With the numbers we have, it’s a reasonable goal to finish at .500 or better and win a playoff game this year,” Zemba said.
“We’ve created an enjoyable program that’s about more than just football,” the coach said when asked about his team’s roster growth. “Last year, we got up at 4 a.m., went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and were back home early the next morning.
“This year on Sunday, Aug. 13, we’re doing the same thing, with a 4 a.m. departure; Mass at 7 at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where the Steelers train; a visit to the Flight 93 memorial in rural western Pennsylvania; and an afternoon at Kennywood amusement park near Pittsburgh.
“These trips provide great team bonding and a history lesson. The trip to Arlington to see the impressive ceremony there was all about the sacrifices the military have made for us. Going to the Flight 93 site recalls my own memories of 9/11, but for the players, it’s history. None of them were born when the people on that plane gave their lives by being willing to have it go down in a field on Sept. 11, 2001 so the terrorists on board wouldn’t crash it into the White House or the U.S. Capitol.”
TUSCARAWAS CENTRAL CATHOLIC
Coach Cummings has only 17 players but is anticipating a competitive season in his 12th year at the helm of the Saints.
“I think this is the smallest number I’ve had to start a season, but it’s nothing unusual,” he said. “In 2018, we were down to 16 by the time the season ended but made it to the playoffs against Cuyahoga Heights.
“This year’s team may lack numbers, but we have eight seniors, all of whom have played a lot and will be our backbone. We also have a lot of size. Lineman Jameson Sedlock is a 300-pounder with three years’ experience as a starter. He’s a co-captain with Casey Green, who’s at 320.
“Warren Tienarend is a junior at 245. Those three will be the backbone of a strong line. Receiver Zane Norris at 6-4, and tackle Charlie Montan at 6-3 are other top players.
“Our other co-captains are Kenton Renicker and Carson Norris. Kenton is moving from wide receiver to quarterback, and Carson at 6-2 and 220 will be the H-back and the key to our offense. Kenton’s small but dynamic. There will be a lot of pressure on him, but I think he’s going to be up to it.
“With the numbers we have, of course the big key is avoiding injury. All you can do is wait and see. If we stay healthy, we’ll be OK and will be able to see how high we can fly. There’s no reason to feel sorry for us.”