Federal coaches eye Spartans

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

CANTON — No one represented the Boardman High football program Tuesday at the annual Stark County High School Football Preview dinner at St. Haralambos Church.

It wasn’t that Boardman head coach D.J. Ogilvie was a no-show. It’s just that the event was only for football coaches at Stark County schools.

But although the Spartans weren’t officially there, that doesn’t mean they weren’t on the minds of the other coaches.

Fourteen Stark County coaches served on the panel and spoke about their upcoming seasons in front of a sold out crowd of 300 fans.

Five of the coaches were from the Federal League — North Canton Hoover’s Don Hertler, Jr., Lake’s Jeff Durbin, Canton GlenOak’s Scott Garcia, Massillon Perry’s John “Spider” Miller and Canton McKinley rookie head coach Ron Johnson.

Most were very diplomatic about the 2008 season, speaking modestly about their squads and their expectations.

Like every other year at the event, they were careful not to tip their hands too much.

But all five were certainly united in their concern for what Boardman will bring to the league race this fall. That hasn’t been the case since the Spartans joined the league several years back.

Boardman struggled immensely during the first few years of the transition, but broke through in 2007 by finishing second in the Federal League, which produced four playoff teams. The Spartans were 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the loop to finish second to Hoover.

The same type of showing seems to be expected by the coaches this season.

“Boardman is scary right now,” said Durbin, whose team qualified for the Division II playoffs last fall. “They have an excellent program right now and are tough to prepare for because what they do offensively, no one else in our league does.”

The Spartans return stud linemen Corey Linsley and Alex Lipinsky, who will pave the way for returning running backs Damien Jarrett, Cameron Shaffer and H-back Pat McFall.

Garcia, who led GlenOak to the playoffs in his first season as coach, says the difference between Boardman in 2007 and in the previous few seasons is strength.

“D.J. has really done a great job with their off-season strength training,” Garcia said. “They have really performed well at some of the power lifting competitions and all the work in the weight room is showing on the field.”

Hertler has also taken notice of the Spartans’ conditioning program and believes that added physicality will help them on the field as well as with the mental approach as well.

“It will give them confidence going into this season,” said Hertler, whose team will look to defend its league title. “Boardman has a physical group and solid tradition. D.J. has done a great job building things back up over there.”

Notes

Of the 14 coaches in attendance at the dinner, five will be entering their first seasons at their respective schools — Johnson (McKinley), Tim Wolf (Fairless), Jason Hall (Massillon), Bob Madden (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Kevin Henderson (Timken).

This will be the first season since 1999 that Massillon and McKinley will play under first-year head coaches. That season was the opening stints for McKinley’s Kerry Hodakevic and Massillon’s Rick Shepas.

Seven Stark County teams made the playoffs in 2007, including three from the Federal League — Lake, GlenOak and Hoover.