By Ryan Buck

sports@vindy.com

VIENNA

One of the unsung stories of the 2014 high school football season in the Mahoning Valley was the resurgence of the Mathews Mustangs. Third-year coach Mike Palumbo led his young team to the school’s first state playoff appearance since 2006.

While it came to an abrupt and emphatic end at the hands of Division VII state power Norwalk St. Paul, the foundation has been forged for greater heights in 2015.

“He’s a father figure,” said senior running back Bryan Leipply. “His message to us was to build a program. That’s the whole reason he came here. He treated us like family and the way the program is set up now is better than ever. That’s for sure.”

Palumbo, who teaches health in the district, has rebuilt the program from the ground up.

“My first year we went 1-9,” Palumbo said. “Then it was 5-5 and last year it was 7-3. It was good for the kids, good for the community. We’re getting more kids out and they’re buying into the system.”

Palumbo has the Mustangs thinking bigger now.

“The kids are excited,” he said. “We didn’t do too well in the playoffs, but the kids got a taste of what it takes to take that next step. Our goals are to play better week to week and not worry about the playoffs. That takes care of itself later on down the road.”

Offense

Prolific rushing quarterback Cobie Pratt graduated, so Leipply and eight returning offensive starters will all have to assert themselves.

“We just expect to run the football,” Palumbo said.

Leipply will run behind four veteran offensive linemen — Logan Culp, Zack Geer, Alec Romesberg and Dylan Glancy.

“We’ll only go as far as those offensive linemen take us,” Palumbo said.

Defense

Culp, Geer, Romesberg and Glancy will all play both ways on the lines. They form the nucleus of a defense which features nine returning starters.

“We want to attack defensively,” Palumbo said. “We’ve got the potential.”

Special teams

Palumbo was adamant that kickoff coverage needed improvement. Romesberg will kick.

Outlook

The experience and returning production is there for the Mustangs to make a return trip to the postseason.

The freshmen who arrived alongside their head coach are now a sizable, physical group ready to take the next steps.

But will the Northeastern Athletic Conference prepare them for the step up in playoff competition?

“Redemption, really,” Leipply said. “We need to put more work in. We learned outside of the NAC there’s a lot more competition. We need to set our goals to higher things.”