(PHOTOS BY KENT HUTCHISON)
(Story originally appeared October 10th, 2018)
By: Kent Hutchison
PIONEER – It finally happened! According to former North Central Superintendent Ken Boyer, initial discussions regarding the possibility of starting a football program began as early as 2008. At that time Boyer, then Athletic Director Daniel Slagle and Principal Gene Gooding met with Mike Vicars.
Vicars was the Head Football Coach at Genoa High School, and previously had much success locally building programs at Hilltop and Delta. The reason for the meeting was to seek Vicars input on starting a football program.
According to Boyer, after discussions with Vicars, the Board of Education determined they were not quite ready to commit to the finances necessary to begin the football program.
However after almost 10 years in the making, tackle football has become a reality at North Central. On Thursday, October 4, 2018, the North Central JH Football Team had their fifth game of the inaugural season and hosted their first ever home game against the Wayne Trace Raiders.
When asked where the credit should be given for this memorable day in the history of North Central, Athletic Director, Brian Hughes recognized several groups. “It has been a collective group effort, including the Eagle Football boosters, School Administration and the Board of Education.” Boyer also pointed to the persistence of what her referred to as the “Core group” for the program coming to fruition.
What a beginning it was for the Eagles home opener! Starting on their own 35 yard line, tailback Quin Burt broke to the right, took a pitch from quarterback Gage Kidston, and rambled down the left sideline in front of the visitor’s bench. In approximately 14 seconds, history was made in an unforgettable manner as “QB” raced 65 yards for a touchdown on the first ever play at North Central’s Eagle Field!
Community pride was evident as many parents, grandparents, other family members, friends, and several community members attended the inaugural event. Obviously this enthusiasm carried over to the field. Following Quin Burt’s touchdown jaunt, the scoring was kept in the family as younger brother Joe Burt added a two-point conversion run to put the Eagles up 8-0.
Hughes was asked to share what impact he felt the development of the football program had so far. “Football has brought a sense of unity to a group of families and kids as the “Pioneers” of football that has provided our kids with another choice in the fall. I think even the flag football excitement has helped with the younger ones.”
When asked if he noticed any difference in the players this week leading up to the first home game, Head Coach Don Parrish shared, “It has really been business as usual this week for the players. I think they are typical junior high kids, not realizing the history of a first home game in school history.”
“They just want to play the game. When the season is done, I think they will look back and understand what they have been a part of here at North Central.”
After falling behind 14-8, Quin Burt added another scoring run of about 40 yards to knot the game at 14 going into halftime. North Central took the lead 20-14 with 2:01 left in the third quarter when Joe Burt broke through the heart of the Raider defense and sprinted away from everyone for a another run of more than 40 yards.
Wayne Trace tied the score at 20 all, but from there the Eagles defense held strong thwarting two Wayne Trace scoring opportunities, including an interception by Conner Gendron on a pass tipped to him by Ethan Beard. As the clocked ticked to zero, the Eagles had battled the Raiders to a 20-20 tie in the first home contest.
Asked what his thoughts were on the first year up to this point, Coach Parrish communicated, “This first year has gone as about as I have figured it would go. I knew there would be a lot of hard work to be done and challenges along the way.”
“The big challenge has been building a positive culture of having and playing football each and every day. But both the parents and players have trusted me in the process while accepting my challenge to create a football culture of dedication and hard work that will make the school and community proud.”
“The positive I’ve taken away from this season is how hard these players have worked to get better as football players and how they have stuck together to earn their first win at Evergreen.”
When questioned about the future of the program, Coach Parrish shared his thoughts on the subject. “Right now, this year and next year (2019) we will just have a junior high football program.
Basically, two years from now we will start a JV football team while continuing to have a junior high team. I have discussed with Mr. Hughes that I would like to see North Central start a varsity schedule in a 5 year span from now.
Hughes echoed Parrish’s vision. “We will have just JH only again next year (2019), then play both JH and Junior Varsity for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. We are looking at 2022 as the first year of varsity football at North Central! We will continue the JH program, and hopefully be able to field a JV team as well at some point.
Like many other small schools in the Northwest Ohio area, as well as neighboring Hillsdale County, and Southeastern Michigan where some schools have resorted to playing 8 man football, roster size is often a concern. Currently North Central has 15 healthy players. A few other schools in the area are near or even below that number at the varsity level.
When asked about sustainability for the future, Mr. Hughes provided a cautiously optimistic outlook. “With a school our size there is always a concern with numbers, but I am not personally concerned about that with a potential HS program.”
“The JH program could face some issues with numbers, but I believe with the group of student athletes we have at the lower levels we will be fine. I think switching over to flag football at the lower grades will also help in the future with numbers in both the JH and HS. We want to build a top notch program from the ground up. I believe that we have laid the ground work to do just that.”
With two games, both at home, still remaining on the schedule there are obviously many additional opportunities for memorable events to occur in this initial season. However, Parrish was willing to share what he will most remember about the journey thus far.
“The biggest memory that I will take away from this first year is the support that has been shown. Especially by the school administration and the parents. All these people have been awesome!”
“They have supported me and the players since the first day I was introduced as the head coach. We have had great attendance at games. That’s a great feeling as a coach and for the players. There is great excitement for football here at North Central!”