Visit ThisWeekNews.

com for Live Friday Night Football Coverage

M I D- ST A T E L E A G U E- BU C K E Y E
Overview

New coaches have great credentials

By GARRETT DOWNING lowed by Bloom-Carroll (3-4), Canal we have been able to stay there,” said
ThisWeek Contributor Inside the division Winchester (2-5), Logan Elm (2-5),
TeaysValley (2-5) and Hamilton Town-
Hinton, whose team will open Friday
at home against Newark Catholic. “I
The MSL-Buckeye Division looks 2006 STANDINGS Bloom-Carroll at Teays Valley ship (0-7). think that is more difficult than get-
Team League Overall Canal Winchester at Fairfield Union
a whole lot tougher as three new Amanda-Clearcreek 6-1 12-2
With a new group of proven ting there.”
Hamilton Township at Logan Elm
coaches bring impressive resumes to Circleville 6-1 8-3 Oct. 5 coaches, the MSL-Buckeye could see Amanda-Clearcreek handled its
a league that qualified three teams to Fairfield Union 6-1 8-3 Amanda-Clearcreek at Canal Winchester more teams contending for league expectations last season, winning the
the playoffs last season. Bloom-Carroll 3-4 3-7 Fairfield Union at Bloom-Carroll titles and playoff spots. league and advancing to a Division V
Canal Winchester 2-5 2-8 Circleville at Hamilton Township
“Our league has improved Logan Elm 2-5 4-6 Teays Valley at Logan Elm
“The whole league is going to be a state semifinal. It finished 12-2 over-
immensely with these new coaches,” Teays Valley 2-5 4-6 Oct. 12 dogfight,” Logan Elm coach Ron all.
Amanda-Clearcreek High School Hamilton Township 0-7 1-9 Hamilton Township at Amanda-Clearcreek Stephens said. “I could see the league Amanda-Clearcreek has moved up
coach Ron Hinton said. “They are vet- 2007 SCHEDULE Canal Winchester at Bloom-Carroll champs having two to three losses in to Division IV. With most of its skill
Sept. 14 Circleville at Teays Valley
eran coaches who are well-tested.” Bloom-Carroll at Amanda-Clearcreek Logan Elm at Fairfield Union the league.” players back on offense, theAces plan
The league’s new coaches are Bob Canal Winchester at Teays Valley Oct. 19 to continue their reign atop the MSL.
Jacoby at Hamilton Township, Mike Logan Elm at Circleville Amanda-Clearcreek at Teays Valley AMANDA-CLEARCREEK “Good teams win championships,
Burkhardt at Bloom-Carroll and Phil Fairfield Union at Hamilton Township Bloom-Carroll at Logan Elm Success has become a way of life but great teams repeat,” Hinton said,
Sept. 21 Hamilton Township at Canal Winchester
Mauro at Canal Winchester. Jacoby Logan Elm at Amanda-Clearcreek Fairfield Union at Circleville for Amanda-Clearcreek. The Aces referencing a Vince Lombardi quote.
came from DeSales, where he coached Hamilton Township at Bloom-Carroll Oct. 26 have established themselves as a top “It is very nice to win a league cham-
for 19 seasons and won two state cham- Circleville at Canal Winchester Amanda-Clearcreek at Fairfield Union contender in the MSL-Buckeye and pionship, but we are expected to.”
pionships. Burkhardt coached at Fisher Teays Valley at Fairfield Union Circleville at Bloom-Carroll a mainstay in the playoffs, appearing A crucial part of the offense is senior
Sept. 28 Canal Winchester at Logan Elm
Catholic for four seasons and took his Amanda-Clearcreek at Circleville Teays Valley at Hamilton Township in four state championship games in quarterback Dalton Smith, who rushed
teams to playoffs every year. Mauro the past eight years. and passed for more than 1,000 yards
coached for 12 seasons at Massillon “A lot of times (a new coach) can Last season, Amanda-Clearcreek, “When you look at what we have last season.
Jackson, where he earned four league sometimes wake up a sleeping giant,” Circleville and Fairfield Union shared been able to accomplish, the (impres-
titles and four playoff bids. Teays Valley coach Steve Evans said. the MSL-Buckeye title at 6-1, fol- sive) thing is that once we got there See MSL-BUCKEYE, page 72

Canal Winchester
New coach plans to
spread offensive wealth
By CORY STEGER
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Last year, coach Gary Metzger believed the
Canal Winchester High School football team
would break though with a winning record. He
thought he had a combination of a good defense,
speed at the skill positions and a new offensive
coordinator that would produce that winning
combination.
But the Indians sputtered and went 2-8 over-
all and 2-5 in the MSL-Buckeye Division. They
scored in double digits just once, and in their
two wins they combined for 21 points.
At a glance
CANAL WINCHESTER INDIANS
Colors: Maroon and white
Coach: Phil Mauro, first season
Key players: Zack Brown, Andy Burns, O.J. Green,
Ryan Huff, Cory Mauro, Jesse Meade, Anthony Nixon,
Matt Romanowski, Mike Romanowski, Ryan Rose,
Ryan Sabin, T.J. Seelig, Cory Spelman, Travis Stevens
and Tyler Thompson
On the Web: canalwin.k12.oh.us
2007 SCHEDULE
Aug. 24..............Bexley ..............................Home
Aug. 31..............Lakewood...........................Away
Sept. 7...............Whitehall ..........................Home

Metzger since has been replaced for former
Massillon Jackson coach Phil Mauro, and Mauro
likes what he has seen since he started meeting
the players last June in conditioning sessions.
“I was very excited about their receptiveness
and how eager they are to learn,” said Mauro,
whose team will open Friday against Bexley.
“We’re doings thing differently here than in the
past and they’ve been very adaptable and coach-
able.”
One positive to last season is that a lot of
younger players got plenty of playing time.
Mauro still is in the process of evaluating the
players but has been impressed with what he’s
seen and is beginning to form an idea of what
the team will look like.
The Indians will run a spread offense, which
Mauro used at Jackson.
“The spread, it does a couple things,” Mauro
said. “It’ll do a good job of getting the ball to
our skill guys. It will open running lanes and
help isolate the skill guys so we can get them
the ball in space. We’ll try to use the whole width
of the field. Plus it’s fun and the kids enjoy it.”
The top offensive players will be seniors Zack
Brown (OL/DL), Jesse Meade (OL/DL), Kyle
Gibson (OL/LB), Mark Keene (OL/DL),Anthony
Nixon (RB/LB), Dominique Cosby (RB/DB)
and Antonio Davis (RB), juniors Matt
Sept. 14 ............Teays Valley........................Away
Sept. 21 ............Circleville..........................Home
Sept. 28 ............Fairfield Union ....................Away
Oct. 5 ................Amanda-Clearcreek ...........Home
Oct. 12 ..............Bloom-Carroll......................Away
Oct. 19 ..............Hamilton Township ............Home
Oct. 26 ..............Logan Elm..........................Away
2006 RESULTS
(2-8 overall, 2-5 MSL-Buckeye)
Bexley.......................................................L, 20-8
Pickerington Central...................................L, 35-0
Liberty Union.............................................L, 20-7
Logan Elm................................................W, 12-7
Teays Valley..........................................L, 7-6 (OT)
Circleville ..................................................L, 40-0
Fairfield Union ...........................................L, 37-6
Amanda-Clearcreek....................................L, 40-0
Bloom-Carroll ............................................L, 21-6
Hamilton Township .....................................W, 9-3
BE THE ONE to
champion
life for patients in need.
1-800-GIVE-LIFE
BloodSavesLives.org
Romanowski (WR/DB), Mike Romanowski
(WR/DB), Ryan Sabin (WR/DB) and sopho-
more Tyler Thompson (WR/DB).
On defense, the Indians have depth, which
will allow Mauro some flexibility. The Indians
The Indians’ Ryan Sabin tries to elude New Albany’s Gerald Nixon on Aug. 11. Sabin is
expected to play both wide receiver and defensive back.
will use an even front defense predicated on
blitzes from both the strong and weak sides as
well as stunts on the defensive line. The aim is
to confuse the offense and disrupt blocking
assignments, stopping the play before it can be
executed.
“We like to mix up the pressure and we hope-
fully have the guys in the secondary with the
ability to help us do that,” Mauro said. “We want
to play great defense and so far we’ve put a lot
of emphasis on defense.”
The top defenders will be seniors Brown,
Cosby, Keene, Meade, Andy Burns (DE) and
Nixon, juniors Cory Spelman, T.J. Seelig (DE)
and Harrison Rosch (LB/OL) and sophomores
O.J. Green (ILB), Ryan Rose (S), Cory Mauro
(LB), Zach Hitchens (DE) and Mike Maniella
August 22, 2007 • Central Ohio High School Football Preview ’07
By Jeff Mills/ThisWeek
(LB/RB). Perhaps Mauro’s biggest challenge is
turning around a team that has grown accus-
tomed to losing.
“We’re just going to play,” he said. “Our goal
is to play hard for the whole game every week.
We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.
“If you were successful last year, that does-
n’t guarantee you anything for this year. We’re
going to practice hard and play hard and not get
too hung up on where we’re at.”
For the long term, Mauro has visions of turn-
ing Canal Winchester into a championship-cal-
iber program.
“There’s no reason we can’t do that,” he said.
“That’s the way we’re approaching things how
we want to conduct ourselves. We just want to
be the best team on the field every Friday night.”
69