SCOL gears up for 1990 gridiron slate
By
Bob Patton-
The South Central Ohio League (minus Circleville) began preparing for the 1990 football season in August. A media conference was held in mid-August at the Terrace Lounge in Washington C.H.
Three of the five remaining head coaches were new to the league this year. Only veteran mentor Jim Horne of Hillsboro and Roy Lucas of Washington, who was in his fourth season coaching the Blue Lions, had coached in the SCOL before.
Roger Ilg had replaced Jim Tsilimos at Wilmington after the Hurricane failed to win a league game last year and won only two non-league contests. Ilg was not really new to Wilmington. For several years, he had been coach of the Hurricane girls’ track team and had enjoyed a lot of success in that domain. He was new as a football coach.
Ilg’s biggest challenge was to instill enough confidence in his players that they would believe that they could win after a couple of disastrous years. He did not reveal much about his offense in the media conference, other than to say it would be a “very basic, ground-oriented offense” – quite different from Jim Tsilimos’ “House of Thrills” of a year ago. It was against Wilmington in the 1989 season that Hillsboro’s Klay Maynard intercepted four errant passes in a single game, as the ’Cane literally filled the air with footballs.
Wilmington was the most penalized team in the SCOL in 1989. The penalties contributed to eight losses. Ilg was determined to turn that around this season.
Troy Dawson had replaced Otis Wagner at McClain. The Tigers would be forced to learn a new offense and a new defense. McClain would be a junior-dominated team and would lack size and experience. But Dawson was impressed with the great attitude of his charges.
Jeff Conroy had replaced Al Riffey at Miami Trace. He would be changing from a Wing-T to an I-formation with some option and isolation plays.
Coach Roy Lucas at WCH would have 14 seniors, but several of them did not play football last season, and many of the ones who did saw very limited playing time. The Blue Lions were 0-3 before they won a game in 1989, and Lucas did not want to experience a repeat of that. A majority of the SCOL coaches, however, were putting the hat on the Blue Lions. A few picked Miami Trace to take all the marbles.
Washington’s biggest weakness would be that they had zero returning players on offense. Coach Lucas felt that the best hope for the blue-and-white was a very intricate defense, which the Lions must run to perfection. Offensively, they would come out in a pro-set and attack with a Power-I. Six-foot-one senior Ryan Lynch would handle the quarterback duties, at least in the beginning.
Hillsboro’s Indians finished third in the league in 1989 and now faced a depth problem, with only 33 players. Several sophomores figured to see a lot of game action for the red-and-white. The Indians would utilize the run-and-shoot and a 5-0 defense with a little 4-4 mixed in, basically the same thing the Indians did the last year. Hillsboro’s non-league schedule had been beefed up to some extent, with Paint Valley, Wheelersburg and Western Brown.
Coach Conroy at Miami Trace felt that the Panthers could compete fairly well with Hillsboro, McClain and Wilmington, but would have their hands full with Washington. Trace had softened their schedule a little for 1990, dropping Chillicothe in favor of Teays Valley and Dayton Stebbins replacing departed Circleville. The Panthers figured to beat both Stebbins and TV. But time would tell.
On Friday, Aug. 24, 1990, the long pre-season with two-a-day practices finally came to an end when the SCOL teams played their first round of games. Hamilton Township traveled to Miami Trace, while McClain opened their season at Frankfort Adena, Hillsboro visited Paint Valley, Washington played at West Jefferson an Wilmington tangled with Kenton Ridge on the Wilmington field.
The Wilmington game was a rugged battle. Kenton Ridge jumped out to a 13-0 first quarter lead, but Wilmington came back and tied the score, 13-13. Kenton pushed a TD across in the second quarter and another in the third period to make the score 25-13. But the determined ’Cane scored on a pass play in the final stanza to make it 25-20, which was the final score. Wilmington punted poorly, which did not help their effort. Otherwise, the game was relatively even.
Miami Trace played a hard-nosed football game,and hung in there with Hamilton Township all evening but finally fell by a 13-7 count when they were called for seven penalties and turned the ball over six times. It is difficult to overcome those handicaps.
At West Jefferson, WCH outrushed the Roughriders (which was not often done), but West Jeff came up with big plays when they needed them and took a 14-7 win over the Blue Lions.
At Frankfort, McClain’s Richie Bunner passed for 211 yards and a touchdown, and Paul Hess rushed for 113 yards as the Tigers opened their 1990 season 1-0 by downing the Adena Warriors, 16-8.
Hillsboro’s bus ride back from Bainbridge was a long one, as Paint Valley’s Todd Shoemaker ran for two touchdowns and passed for another, and the Bearcats stifled the Indians, 42-0.
One week later, the Indians entertained long-time rival New Richmond and got knocked around again. The Lions’ defense totally halted the Hillsboro ground game, holding the Indians to only 12 yards on 29 carries. New Richmond won, 27-7.
(Continued next week.)
Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
Three of the five remaining head coaches were new to the league this year. Only veteran mentor Jim Horne of Hillsboro and Roy Lucas of Washington, who was in his fourth season coaching the Blue Lions, had coached in the SCOL before.
Roger Ilg had replaced Jim Tsilimos at Wilmington after the Hurricane failed to win a league game last year and won only two non-league contests. Ilg was not really new to Wilmington. For several years, he had been coach of the Hurricane girls’ track team and had enjoyed a lot of success in that domain. He was new as a football coach.
Ilg’s biggest challenge was to instill enough confidence in his players that they would believe that they could win after a couple of disastrous years. He did not reveal much about his offense in the media conference, other than to say it would be a “very basic, ground-oriented offense” – quite different from Jim Tsilimos’ “House of Thrills” of a year ago. It was against Wilmington in the 1989 season that Hillsboro’s Klay Maynard intercepted four errant passes in a single game, as the ’Cane literally filled the air with footballs.
Wilmington was the most penalized team in the SCOL in 1989. The penalties contributed to eight losses. Ilg was determined to turn that around this season.
Troy Dawson had replaced Otis Wagner at McClain. The Tigers would be forced to learn a new offense and a new defense. McClain would be a junior-dominated team and would lack size and experience. But Dawson was impressed with the great attitude of his charges.
Jeff Conroy had replaced Al Riffey at Miami Trace. He would be changing from a Wing-T to an I-formation with some option and isolation plays.
Coach Roy Lucas at WCH would have 14 seniors, but several of them did not play football last season, and many of the ones who did saw very limited playing time. The Blue Lions were 0-3 before they won a game in 1989, and Lucas did not want to experience a repeat of that. A majority of the SCOL coaches, however, were putting the hat on the Blue Lions. A few picked Miami Trace to take all the marbles.
Washington’s biggest weakness would be that they had zero returning players on offense. Coach Lucas felt that the best hope for the blue-and-white was a very intricate defense, which the Lions must run to perfection. Offensively, they would come out in a pro-set and attack with a Power-I. Six-foot-one senior Ryan Lynch would handle the quarterback duties, at least in the beginning.
Hillsboro’s Indians finished third in the league in 1989 and now faced a depth problem, with only 33 players. Several sophomores figured to see a lot of game action for the red-and-white. The Indians would utilize the run-and-shoot and a 5-0 defense with a little 4-4 mixed in, basically the same thing the Indians did the last year. Hillsboro’s non-league schedule had been beefed up to some extent, with Paint Valley, Wheelersburg and Western Brown.
Coach Conroy at Miami Trace felt that the Panthers could compete fairly well with Hillsboro, McClain and Wilmington, but would have their hands full with Washington. Trace had softened their schedule a little for 1990, dropping Chillicothe in favor of Teays Valley and Dayton Stebbins replacing departed Circleville. The Panthers figured to beat both Stebbins and TV. But time would tell.
On Friday, Aug. 24, 1990, the long pre-season with two-a-day practices finally came to an end when the SCOL teams played their first round of games. Hamilton Township traveled to Miami Trace, while McClain opened their season at Frankfort Adena, Hillsboro visited Paint Valley, Washington played at West Jefferson an Wilmington tangled with Kenton Ridge on the Wilmington field.
The Wilmington game was a rugged battle. Kenton Ridge jumped out to a 13-0 first quarter lead, but Wilmington came back and tied the score, 13-13. Kenton pushed a TD across in the second quarter and another in the third period to make the score 25-13. But the determined ’Cane scored on a pass play in the final stanza to make it 25-20, which was the final score. Wilmington punted poorly, which did not help their effort. Otherwise, the game was relatively even.
Miami Trace played a hard-nosed football game,and hung in there with Hamilton Township all evening but finally fell by a 13-7 count when they were called for seven penalties and turned the ball over six times. It is difficult to overcome those handicaps.
At West Jefferson, WCH outrushed the Roughriders (which was not often done), but West Jeff came up with big plays when they needed them and took a 14-7 win over the Blue Lions.
At Frankfort, McClain’s Richie Bunner passed for 211 yards and a touchdown, and Paul Hess rushed for 113 yards as the Tigers opened their 1990 season 1-0 by downing the Adena Warriors, 16-8.
Hillsboro’s bus ride back from Bainbridge was a long one, as Paint Valley’s Todd Shoemaker ran for two touchdowns and passed for another, and the Bearcats stifled the Indians, 42-0.
One week later, the Indians entertained long-time rival New Richmond and got knocked around again. The Lions’ defense totally halted the Hillsboro ground game, holding the Indians to only 12 yards on 29 carries. New Richmond won, 27-7.
(Continued next week.)
Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]