PREP FOOTBALL
Monday: Preseason practice begins.
Friday, Aug. 26: Week 1 games.
Nov. 4-5: Playoffs start.
Dec. 1-3: State championships at Columbus.
This marks the third season of Springfield High School football with Maurice Douglass as the Wildcats’ head coach. Although the two previous seasons’ records don’t reflect it, Springfield no longer can be counted on as an easy win for Greater Western Ohio Conference opponents.
The realigned Central Buckeye Conference lost its only teams from Miami (Tippecanoe) and Montgomery (Stebbins) counties to the GWOC. Mechanicsburg and West Liberty-Salem and even surprising Greeneview have extended a power boost to the Ohio Heritage Conference. And for the first time in 37 seasons, someone other than Steve DeWitt is the head coach at Catholic Central.
Those are among the more prominent storylines to follow by Springfield-area football teams heading into the season. High school preseason practice begins statewide on Monday for all the fall sports: football, cross country, field hockey, golf, soccer, girls tennis and girls volleyball.
Last year was truly a what-if season for the Wildcats. Wayne blew out Springfield 35-0 to begin divisional play, but that was relatively close compared to what the Warriors unleashed during a 14-1 run that ended with their second straight Division I state final loss to Lakewood St. Edward.
The Wildcats posted their only GWOC Central Division win under Douglass in two seasons by beating Fairmont 28-7 in Week 8. But Springfield also absorbed crushing close losses to Beavercreek (31-28), Centerville (35-32) and Northmont (34-32) in the season finale.
Senior combo running back, receiver, returner and defensive back Danny Davis is an outstanding talent who will figure prominently for Springfield. He was fourth overall in GWOC rushing with 1,259 yards (8.6 average) and ninth in receiving with 43 catches for 700 yards (16.3). He scored 22 touchdowns and lit up his recruiting radar with at least 19 NCAA D-I offers, including Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin.
Also a basketball standout, Davis remains uncommitted.
Junior defensive tackle Leonard Taylor has verbally committed to the University of Michigan, but classmate and fellow Michigan commit Antwuan Johnson, a linebacker, transferred from Springfield to Dunbar last January.
The Wildcats also must overcome a public relations setback that involved three former players being arrested and charged with felony robbery following an attack that was recorded on cellphone video earlier this month. All three pleaded not guilty.
Springfield, in the realigned five-team GWOC National East Division, hosts Dublin Coffman in the season opener on Aug. 26.
• With Tipp and Stebbins leaving for the GWOC, the CBC drops to 10 teams but remains in two divisions. Urbana moves over from the CBC Mad River to the Kenton Trail Division in all sports for 2016-17, then returns to the Mad River in the fall of 2017.
In 2017 Greenon also will leave the CBC for the OHC and Jonathan Alder will join the CBC Kenton Trail.
Tipp was a perennial CBC football contender, winning three conference titles and going 36-9 in divisional play since 2007. Without Tipp and even upstart Stebbins — 7-3 last season — the CBC Kenton is still the dominant division with Bellefontaine, Kenton Ridge, Shawnee, Tecumseh and this season Urbana.
• Like the season before, Mechanicsburg (12-1), WL-Salem (9-3) and Greeneview (8-4) all returned to the playoffs in 2015. All won first-round games. Loaded with its best team in program history, Mechanicsburg lost 9-7 to state heavyweight Marion Local in a D-VI regional final.
Mechanicsburg senior quarterback Kaleb Romero rushed for 1,205 yards and 19 scores and passed for 1,463 yards and 14 touchdowns during the regular season. He and senior defensive lineman Dylan Hartley were first team D-VI All-Ohio last season.
• Catholic Central (4-6) snapped an 0-20 skid in last year’s opener by beating Greenon, 68-12. That marked the beginning of the end of DeWitt’s reign as the Irish head coach. A 1971 Central grad, DeWitt was an Irish assistant from 1973-76 and was named the head coach in 1977. He coached 11 playoff teams, had an overall record of 229-172-4 and was inducted into the Ohio High School Football Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame in 2012.
Also having left the Irish program as a 40-year assistant was Billy O’Neill. Former Irish assistant Mike McKenna succeeds DeWitt. McKenna has been with the program for 24 years.
Noteworthy
• GWOC, CBC and OHC Friday games all will start at 7 p.m.
• Two area teams will participate in the debut of the ABC 22 and FOX 45-sponsored Thursday night football special: Shawnee at Tippecanoe in Week 2 (Sept. 1) and Tecumseh at Bellbrook in Week 3 (Sept. 8). Those games will also start at 7 p.m. and will air live on Channel 45.2, Time Warner Cable and the Dish Network.
• There is a mandatory five-day acclimatization period before contact. Gear is limited to helmets only for Days 1-2, helmet and shoulder pads on Days 3-4 and full gear on Day 5. Teams can hit on the sixth day of practice.
• The weekly Associated Press state polls will start following Week 3 games. The first computer rankings will be released after Week 4.
• There are 716 football-playing members in the Ohio High School Athletic Association and 224 will advance to the postseason, 32 teams in each of the seven divisions. Playoff teams are determined by most computer points based on regular-season wins and wins by a defeated opponent. Each division consists of four regions. The top eight teams in each region advance to the playoffs.
• The playoffs begin Nov. 4-5 and run for five weeks, culminating with the state finals Dec. 1-3 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Divisions I, II, IV and VI will play at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Divisions III, V and VII at 7 p.m. on Saturdays. One state final will be moved to Thursday, Dec. 1. This will be the first time since 1980 that D-I playoff games will be held on Friday.
• This is the second of a two-year cycle for the OHSAA to adjust divisional alignment for all sports. Placement is based on student enrollment and a new competitive balance plan that was delayed for one year. The 2017-19 data should be released by the OHSAA next spring.
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