By Steve Ruman

sports@vindy.com

WARREN

With 19 playoff appearances and 26 postseason wins, Warren JFK owns the richest tournament football history among all Trumbull County schools.

However, the Eagles have run into hard times in recent years. The combination of a declining enrollment and a beefed-up schedule has resulted in back-to-back 2-8 seasons, including last year under first-year head coach Jeff Bayuk.

“We believe in what we’re doing, and more importantly so do the kids,” Bayuk said. “It takes time, especially with a young group. But we believe in this program and we believe we’re heading in the right direction.”

OFFENSE

With an offense light on experience, Bayuk has a simple game plan heading into the season.

“We need to get the ball into the hands of Jacob Coates as often as possible, and as many ways as we can,” Bayuk said.

Coates will bring experience and plenty of speed. Last year, the junior was used as a receiver and running back, and even threw on occasion. His skills will be equally used this fall.

Kennedy lost its quarterback and offensive leader (Michael Roscoe) to graduation, but it may have found a replacement in Bobby Jefferson — a senior who transferred to JFK from East.

The offensive line will be anchored by a pair of returning starters at the tackle position — senior John Gartner (6-1, 250) and junior Bruce Johnson (6-2, 255).

“We’re short on varsity game experience, and that’s one thing you can’t coach, you can’t teach,” Bayuk said. “But the kids we do have back, they’re good ones. And, our younger kids are quickly developing into players.”

DEFENSE

Coates and Evan Boyd will give JFK experience in the defensive backfield, while Ross Nocera will provide both experience and leadership up front.

Ryan Lee, Zach Lewis and Alec Burczynski also return, which should help a defense which last year surrendered 33.6 points per game.

“We definitely have some strength on defense, and though we are still young on that side of the ball a lot of our guys have considerable varsity playing time under their belts,” Bayuk said. “We’re definitely going to ask our defense to carry the load.

“Our biggest concern is up front. We feel like we can be okay up front on both sides, but we simply cannot afford any injuries. If we lose anyone, we are immediately turning to players with absolutely no varsity experience.”

SPECIAL TEAMS

Last year, Justin Bofenkamp was the JFK kicker. This year, the junior will handle the kicking and punting duties.

The Eagles hope that Coates gets plenty of opportunities to return punts and kickoffs.

“We feel good about our special teams unit, and it’s a phase of the game that we place a lot of focus on, it’s a huge part of every game,” Bayuk said.

OUTLOOK

The Kennedy roster includes 41 players (grades 9 through 12), which is a solid number for a Division VII school. Unfortunately, the list includes just two seniors.

“It’s a unique situation, in that we have a very solid junior class but hardly any senior leadership,” Bayuk said. “As a program, we’re still maturing, we’re still working toward where we want to be.

“We had a tremendous off-season. The kids worked unbelievably hard, and it shows. We’re a much stronger team than we were a year ago. There’s a noticeable difference in how we look.”

Kennedy proved last year it can still play with teams its size. The Eagles defeated the only two Division VII schools on their schedule. Unfortunately, with the addition of Crestview and Steubenville Catholic Central, this year’s schedule may be even more demanding.

“The challenge is huge, but that’s why I came here,” Bayuk said. “The Kennedy community is a very committed one. They are very passionate about, and very much behind our goals.”